More relevantly, the revelation that Frank is Frances and that she became he because of a homegrown science experiment connects us to the practice, widespread in the Culture, of voluntary sex change. The difference in circumstances--in the Culture, the change is always completely successful, entirely reversible, and bioengineered inside the individual from birth--lies at the heart of Banks' conviction that the ability to switch between genders at will is essential to the creation of a more just society--once one has lived as both man and woman, misogyny becomes substantially more difficult to embrace.