The more I think about this, the more complicated that character's position gets.
On the one hand, Aran'gar reinforces the gender binary that drives this entire series. Balthamel was a man; ergo that soul will continue to channel saidin, regardless of the flesh it's housed in. (Gendered souls, I believe, are not a common feature of real-world reincarnation beliefs, though I could be wrong.)
On the other hand, that reincarnation undermines the gender binary -- because it gives an explicit and unambiguous case of gender being separate from biological sex. Aran'gar is "a man in a woman's body" in the most literal sense possible.
On the third hand, there's strong reason to believe this is, in the context of the setting, an unnatural exception, occurring only because of the Dark One's interference. There are, after all, no instances -- not even *hints* of instances -- of female-bodied individuals channeling saidin before, or male-bodied individuals channeling saidar.
On the fourth hand -- and at this point I can't even tell whether these points are supporting or undermining the gender binary anymore -- Aran'gar aggressively performs the feminine gender expected of that body, apart from channeling saidin.
On the fifth hand, I'm not sure Aran'gar actually sleeps with any men. Halima certainly gets accused of being a trollop, but I seem to recall that Egwene defends her from being slut-shamed, on the grounds that just because she dresses in a provocative fashion doesn't mean she's actually sleeping with every man who will have her. Halima flirts with Mat, but do we have any evidence of her having sex with anybody other than Delana? So sexuality, as well as gender, may remain fixed as they were in Balthamel's original life.
It's a complicated situation. My gut instinct is to say that the balance of the equation falls on the side of "problematic depiction of sex, gender, and sexuality, in ways that reinforce a binary view of the first two," but there's room to read it in a different way. Mainly you just have to assume that trans-sexual reincarnation has happened before.
no subject
On the one hand, Aran'gar reinforces the gender binary that drives this entire series. Balthamel was a man; ergo that soul will continue to channel saidin, regardless of the flesh it's housed in. (Gendered souls, I believe, are not a common feature of real-world reincarnation beliefs, though I could be wrong.)
On the other hand, that reincarnation undermines the gender binary -- because it gives an explicit and unambiguous case of gender being separate from biological sex. Aran'gar is "a man in a woman's body" in the most literal sense possible.
On the third hand, there's strong reason to believe this is, in the context of the setting, an unnatural exception, occurring only because of the Dark One's interference. There are, after all, no instances -- not even *hints* of instances -- of female-bodied individuals channeling saidin before, or male-bodied individuals channeling saidar.
On the fourth hand -- and at this point I can't even tell whether these points are supporting or undermining the gender binary anymore -- Aran'gar aggressively performs the feminine gender expected of that body, apart from channeling saidin.
On the fifth hand, I'm not sure Aran'gar actually sleeps with any men. Halima certainly gets accused of being a trollop, but I seem to recall that Egwene defends her from being slut-shamed, on the grounds that just because she dresses in a provocative fashion doesn't mean she's actually sleeping with every man who will have her. Halima flirts with Mat, but do we have any evidence of her having sex with anybody other than Delana? So sexuality, as well as gender, may remain fixed as they were in Balthamel's original life.
It's a complicated situation. My gut instinct is to say that the balance of the equation falls on the side of "problematic depiction of sex, gender, and sexuality, in ways that reinforce a binary view of the first two," but there's room to read it in a different way. Mainly you just have to assume that trans-sexual reincarnation has happened before.