Themes in The Star Pit such as unusual gender relationships and the social struggles of youth are principal concerns in most of Delany's fiction.

Dhalgren examines a society where the interests and concerns of a youth culture are of paramount importance, dominating the larger social organism.

Triton presents a society in which sexual identities are fluid and gender relationships are organized in new and different ways. In Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand, a complex culture is created in order to explore ethical questions, somewhat as Delany does in The Star Pit.