Content Warning: This section of the guide discusses rape.

In Imago, the nature of consent between Oankali and humans has progressed since their first encounter a century earlier. In Dawn, the Oankali drugged humans and attached their tentacles to them while they were unconscious. Nikanj impregnated Lilith with a fertilized egg without her verbal consent, though in this speculative world, Nikanj had consulted Lilith’s body for approval. Butler includes several scenes of consent in the novel to suggest a closer understanding between the two species and the ambiguities of forming a radically interdependent relationship while honoring an individual’s autonomy.

The novel provides multiple scenes where Jodahs does not behave like the previous Oankali and considers humans’ permission before it acts. Even when Marina Rivas gives her verbal consent and allows Aaor and Jodahs to sleep beside her and touch her, Jodahs is “careful not to touch her in any way that would alarm her” (60). Likewise, Jodahs refrains from touching Tomás and Jesusa as they sleep, declaring, “I wanted them to let me do it” (101). In the mountain village, Jodahs treats Santos but “never drugged him in the way ooloi usually drugged resisters” (185).