I eagerly devoured the stories of PERN as a high school, wishing I could have a dragon or a firelizard as my personal companion. But I never really noticed the sexual nature of the books. Mating dragons broadcasting their sexuality to entire communities; gay sex and gay relationships; and, of course, non-monogamy. The original books
were written in the late 60s, so maybe the stuff just seaped into by way of the decade, like references to Shakespeare in Victorian era fiction, but I find it fascinating.
There are some literary conveniences, heroines are less likely to be highly promiscuous than more ambitious females with fewer scruples. But there is an understanding in the books that sometimes a woman might partner with a man because he was good at his job while reserving her passion for another. (Later stories highlight this, in some ways allowing PERN to evolve in similar fashion to real life gender politics ... although the more gender equitable stories are set in the past ... )
