I can imagine a version of the book without it, and it would still be very good.
Honestly, I can’t imagine finding a book about gender “mindblowing.” The Left Hand of Darkness probably enjoys more consensus as one of the greatest sci-fi books than anything else, except pretty non-genre stuff like 1984 and Brave New World (and it’s better than both of those books). It’s not my #1, but the major classics I like more generally have less disputable flaws (Dune) or are less accessible (Book of the New Sun).

Maybe I should have put this in one of my other posts but I forgot to so I’ll put it here: Hyperion is great, but it’s usually in the top 5 on these lists, and I’m glad that it’s lower here, because it’s only the first half of the story and the second book is way more conventional and not that good.