Evolution of a non-human species with no concept of gender?
In the world I'm building, there's a non-human race that I want to have no concept of gender. Their language doesn't contain gendered words like "man" or "woman," and sexual attraction is not based on biological sex. They are roughly humanoid in shape - two legs, two arms, stand upright - but have very few characteristics that would distinguish biological sex.
How would such a species develop?
One possibility that occurred to me is that they don't reproduce at all like humans and have only one biological sex, but I'm not sure how this would work for a species that's vaguely mammalian.
They may have had genetic engineering at some point in the distant past (thousands of years ago), but certainly no longer have it, if that changes anything.
Edited to specify that I'm asking about gender not biological sex. The two are different. The species I'm developing has no concept of gender, but they could still have two biological sexes.
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Why not make them parasites - on their parent?
Take, for example, the parasitoid wasp. Female adult wasps lay eggs in or on another creature - the host. The young them develop inside the host, feeding on it and taking in some of its nutrients. Eventually, the host dies and the young come out through its skin from the inside. And so the joyous circle of life begins once more.
These wasps are part of a class of parasites called paratisoids, whose members grow inside a host and often kill them from the inside out. Quite frankly, it's gross. But perhaps some entomologists see it differently. The majority of creatures in this class are insects (and yes, there are some plants). There are some crustaceans that follow this behavior; they're typically barnacle-like creatures, and pretty tiny. It appears that the largest animals that are paratisoids are insects.
Let's say that each of these creatures, at some point in its life, creates a copy of itself via asexual reproduction - just an embryo - in a womb-like part of its body. Over time, the embryo grows until it begins taking over the creature's digestive system. Note that the hosts of paratisoids may exhibit normal behavior, so it's quite possible that the adults will go on living normal lives. Eventually, though, the young spring out, killing the adults.
And so the joyous circle of life begins once more.
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