In the Left Hand of Darkness, Ursla K Le Guin breaks down the difference of gender. The main character in the book is a diplomat of a space federation sent down to a planet as an envoy. The planet consists of a humanoid species that is neither male or female. During certain periods of the month, each of this humanoid species can have either male or female parts depending on the way they feel about whomever they’re with. In this text, there is a part where the envoy analyses some of the basic aspects of both males and females. Each with their own vulnerability. Males are “givers” in that they are the ones who give themselves unto the females. They are typically (perhaps historically) seen as providers and while society has moved away from this traditional notion there is still a large attraction to the traditional giving man. To give is also to be without. To have something less. It is a vulnerability because giving does not necessarily guarantee something in return. Giving requires there to be less of what you had to give. It’s a sharing.
Women, in the text, are described as receivers. Receivers not in a way that is to mean that they take. But that they open themselves up. They allow the outside in. There is a pure and beautiful vulnerability to that.