[the_af]

> Murderbot frequently blends into the crowd as a dude though, that's a recurring theme in the series.

Murderbot blends as a human. Can you remember a specific passage where it's a dude? It could be your brain playing tricks on you.

I'm a man and I'm guilty of assuming a male gender for characters where the text says "a guard", "a doctor", "a soldier", etc. When I was told some readers thought Murderbot was female, I re-read several passages and nowhere does Martha Wells state its gender either way (even by stating Murderbot passes for a man or woman).

[inanutshellus]

I'm with you, my recollection is that the author worked hard to not apply a gender, and I think I just visualized the bot as an actual android with no gender, but when the casting happened I realized at some point I assumed female in there. Best guess is that I applied the author's gender onto the first-person perspective of the character.