Sugar and Spice and Everything Gethenian

To Genly, the Gethenian's world is mind boggling. Genly can't seem to wrap his head around the androgyny of the Gethenian people. This reveals a lot about the world Genly comes from. We know from the book that in Terra, everyone is either male or female. Because of this, Genly is constantly trying to mentally label people as one gender. He also recognizes certain male and female characteristics traits in androgynous people. A great example of this is when Genly goes to Estraven's home for dinner. Genly describes Estraven's table manners as "womanly, all charm and tact and lack of substance, specious and adroit" (12). He also comments on Estraven's "dark, ironic, powerful... masculinity" (12). This juxtaposition of male and female traits, as is seen in Estraven, confuses Genly. 
We can further take from the text that beyond having clearly defined gender, Genly's world has defined gender roles in which men are more important than women. We can infer this from a variety of subtle comments Genly makes about women and sexuality. He mentions disliking Estraven's "soft supple femininity", and also comments that "[The Gethenians] lacked, it seemed the capacity to mobilize. They behaved... like women" (12, 49). These quotes seem to reveal Genly's opinion that men are the ones meant to lead, conquer, war, and provide. Genly also refers to all people that he meets with the pronoun of "he", which I find interesting. This might also indicate the dominance of men in Genly's society. Even in regards to his "landlady", who he describes as a "a prying, spying, ignoble, kindly" woman, the pronoun he is used (48). 
The very fact that Genly is so bothered by the Gethenian's sexuality also tells us that Genly's world does not have the kind of egalitarianism (in regards to gender) that Gethenians have. In Genly's world, whether a person is male or female matters. Women have certain roles, and so do men. In Gethen, there are no such roles, and "nobody [in Gethen] is quite so free as a free man anywhere else"(94). With the label of "Male" or "Female" comes attached gender roles. In Terra, women bear and raise children; in Gethen, every reproductive age person can become pregnant, and children are cared for in big groups. In Terra, males protect and provide for their families; in Gethen, a lack of gender means everyone has the opportunity for every job.The world of Winter is a place where "there is no division of humanity into strong and weak halves, protective/protected, dominant/submissive, owner/chattel, active/passive" (94). 
Thus Genly is trying to live in a confusing world where all gender inequality is torn down, and he is left to ponder if this is for better or for worse.