Beatrice the Sixteenth: Being the Personal Narrative of Mary Hatherley, M.B., Explorer and Geographer is a 1909 feminist utopian novel by the English lawyer, writer and activist Irene Clyde—who is remembered as non-binary, transgender, or as a trans woman—about a time traveller who discovers a lost world, which contains a postgender society. Plot summary The protagonist Mary Hatherley, M.B., an explorer and geographer, travels through the desert somewhere in Asia Minor. A kick from a camel sends her into another plane of existence, which seems to exist in a time before Christ. Mary is rescued by a group of fair, clean-shaven people wearing robes and escorted back to their kingdom, known as Armeria. It is a slave-owning monarchy ruled over by Queen Beatrice the Sixteenth. The Armerians live in luxurious palaces and fight with darts, javelins and swords; despite their fighting abilities, the natives are familiar with both agriculture and government. There are two classes of people, free and slave; slaves can apply to change households if they wish. They follow a strict vegetarian diet, having ceased to slaughter animals for over a thousand years. Life partnerships are known as a "conjux" and divorce is unknown; relationships appear to be based on love and companionship, rather than sex. The Armerians are unable to reproduce, so infants are purchased from a neighbouring tribe. The Armerian language is a combination of Latin and Greek, which Mary is familiar with and contains no gendered nouns. Mary is soon able to understand and communicate with them and is drawn to Ilex, one of the leading figures in the kingdom. Mary uncovers a plot to dethrone Queen Beatrice in favor of the queen of Uras, a neighbouring kingdom. This results in the dismissal of the perpetrators and a war with the kingdom of Uras, in which Mary aids the people of Armerias and they eventually win. After the war, Mary is offered a way to return home by the court astrologer, but decides to remain and form a conjux with Ilex. Mary uses the astrologer's help to send a manuscript to a friend in Scotland in our world, who arranges for it to be published by Irene Clyde. Themes Defamiliarization Beatrice the Sixteenth has been described as a successful example of defamiliarization, in that it places the reader in a world initially without any indications of gender and this places strain on the reader's attempt