"Nearly everything seems "fixable", which in and of itself is a little creepy. For instance, the Donna transformation implies that Beta Colony can successfully adjust mental self-image from male to female and possibly even sexual orientation."
'Mental self-image' is by nature very mutable, and Donna seems to have been something of a psychosocial tomboy anyway (at least, by Barrayar's standards).
Sexual orientation is a very complex topic, but it's known that female sexual orientation is far less rigid than male, most likely because it's a recent development. Female sexual response has far more to do with the nature of a relationship than male. It's entirely possible that the Donna-Dono transformation involved no neurological alterations or conditioning at all.
Even if there were changes made to Donna's mind, many male/female differences arise from gross neuroanatomy and simply can't be changed, even with Beta Colony's implied level of technology.
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2011-10-19 08:21 pm (UTC)'Mental self-image' is by nature very mutable, and Donna seems to have been something of a psychosocial tomboy anyway (at least, by Barrayar's standards).
Sexual orientation is a very complex topic, but it's known that female sexual orientation is far less rigid than male, most likely because it's a recent development. Female sexual response has far more to do with the nature of a relationship than male. It's entirely possible that the Donna-Dono transformation involved no neurological alterations or conditioning at all.
Even if there were changes made to Donna's mind, many male/female differences arise from gross neuroanatomy and simply can't be changed, even with Beta Colony's implied level of technology.