It’s quite heteronormative for the lack of a better term. Everyone is kind of athletic and pretty (explained as being due to new kind of physical and mental education and upbringing). One of the main female characters laments how women in the past were treated as inferior and as property, but also notes she enjoyed being defended by her male friend after they get attacked by a bull. Said character is also some kind of world class archaeologist, but the main introduction point is her being stunningly beautiful, to the point where men need to be snapped out of it. Another female character basically considers one of her main duties as a starship crew member as “being there” for the captain. I guess it’s meant to be sort of pleasant in a humanist way, to show that unlike our world of strife, in their society it is the norm to help and support others. But it comes across awkwardly.

Then there’s a bit where a famous painter is said to be making a series of paintings of, essentially, racial stereotypes - he’s said to have painted “Daughter of Gondwana”, which features a woman of African descent coming out of the jungle with a spear in hand. And the next painting is about Crete/Greek archetype. Again, probably well intended, but awkward.

Then there’s the bits about treating various fauna as “evil”. One of the characters is mentioned to having passed his “trials of Hercules” (some kinda social exam) by “exterminating sharks off the coast of Australia”. Likewise, when cosmonauts on another planet get attacked by local fauna, they treat it as malice, despite acknowledging that they’re visitors and need to take care not to bring anything dangerous (i.e. their own microbes).

So yeah, kind of odd, but it’s an old book. On the other hand, one of the main characters is named “Dar Veter”, and I am convinced that’s where Lukas stole Vader from