[Wiki Article] Gender and Sexuality

rillani

Recognized Sexualities:

Heterosexual
Arranged marriages are common
“True love” is not considered necessary for a marriage
Heterosexual couples are expected to have children

Homosexual
Males ok (man/man marriage is legal, but still not preferred, especially for first-born men)
Lesbians not ok (see: women’s gender roles)
Underground lesbian counter culture

Polygamous marriage
Certain wick tribes, not thul ka natives
Typically 3-5 persons
Rarely all female

Gender Roles in Thul Ka:

Men:
Historically have held official power
Strongly pressured to defeat rivals, judge men’s worth (they are expected to have no idea how to judge women) 
Mildly pressured to marry women and have children
Traditional roles: fathers, boatmen, fishermen, farmers, lawyers, politicians, judges, competitive sports and games, pipefitters
Newer roles: accounting, indoor factory workers, teaching children
Anti-traditional: hospitality, sex workers, homekeeper


Women:
Historically held less official power-- second in command at best (usually worse)
Strongly pressured to marry a man and have children, judge everyone’s worth
Mildly pressured to nurture peace, have more boys than girls
Traditional roles: mother, homekeeper, cottage industries (inside the house), hospitality, accounting, farmers, sex workers
Newer roles: factory workers, judge, competitive indoor games
Anti-traditional: traders, travelers, outdoor competitive sports

Third-gendered (Onjira):
Traditionally hold very little official powerSmall, well-established community in a neighborhood in slowwater
Adopt runaways
Middle-class, collectivist - they take care of their own kind
Traditional roles: actors, guards/bouncers (eunuchs), sex workers, certain priests, weaving, tailors/clothiers/costumers
Newer roles: politician, lawyer, medicine, candymaking, pastries
Anti-traditional: farming, fishing, baking (traditionally they are not allowed to prepare food for others)
Can be male-bodied, female-bodied, trans, intersex, or other
Legally “sexless,” they can marry either sex… but they’re often “married to Hulali” (i.e. never marry a person)
Though they try to be accepting, racism, sexism, and homophobia are still present in their community

Mochi

digging the underground lesbians and the third gender thing that's really, really neat

a+ good job

JaderGader

This may have spawned a character idea. Lesbian counter-culture, indeed...

JaderGader

As part of my musings: What neighborhoods would this underground counter-culture be most likely to appear in? Are there any races where this would be most likely, despite lack of acceptance?

Satyrette

What are Mugrobi thoughts on premarital and extramarital sex? :o It'd probably vary by race (and, in the case of wicks, maybe by tribe?). I remember Anaxi galdori were pretty serious about discouraging it, I don't know if Mugs would be the same. 

Sular

Considering the emphasis on the production of offspring and, presumably, family formation, I can see premarital sex being discouraged. Marriage being greatly encouraged. Considering the quantity of arranged marriages, affairs and things might be considered slightly more acceptable even if they are not actually encouraged. This it for the Mugrobi proper of course. 

As to the wick tribes, I think it varies a bit. For the Athig I can the the youngish men encouraged to sow their proverbial wild oats among non-athig and then settle into a respectable marriage. The women might be encouraged to take lovers as a status symbol. 

The Bethaj might be a little less strickt about it, provided the relations don't rock the boat, as it were. Cause chaos on-board and your goose is cooked.  Bad for discipline and all that.  

Nanthi I can see marying young, so there's probably a discouragement there. 

I am not sure about the Kazleen or the Ibyama at this time. 

The traditional imbali positivly are required to have extra-marital sex as they do not get married at all. One of their taboos. The produce offspring of course, and encourage loyalty between partners, but marriages are strictly forbidden. 

Also, we need some human tribes. They are mentioned in the original wiki and we've got nothing on them. Tribe identity could be a thing and an area we've not really explored.

Satyrette

These are unrelated to the characters I'm making but I'm just curious now lol. Widows/widowers and divorcees: what are the general views them of them? If divorce is an option at all, I see it as a very last resort kind of thing, given how focused they are on family units (in that same vein, I could also see women having little to no power to call for divorce?) Are divorcees and widow/ers still seen as viable marriage options, or are they passed over in favor of partners with less... experience, we'll say?

austeyre

ok so I'm rly into this alternate gender thing and I have a few questions/ideas

so if onjira are legally sexless, I'm assuming that gender-neutral pronouns would be used in official documents?  would it just be "they" or would it be something different altogether, like "sie" or "xe", and how widely accepted would that be in everyday speech? would pronouns be a point of contention among the community since it seems to encompass such a variety of trans* identities who may prefer other pronouns?

ugh this one is hard to word but if a trans individual decided not to identify as onjira and and "pretended" to be say male while they were female bodied, would there be repercussions?  would that be common, even though onjira are legally recognized, because they have such low status?

I'm thinking about making an onjira activist basically so I want to know kind of where they would stand socially and what issues they would be focussing on

austeyre

basically I'm hella genderqueer irl so I'm by proxy kind of knowledgeable/interested in gender issues and I'm wondering how much of this stuff I'm allowed to kind of make up as I go along or if there's already kind of an established canon

rillani

The onjira are brand new to canon, so they don't have any history built up yet.  There's lots of room for development!

About pronouns, I have no idea.  There may be a distinct pronoun like "xe" that's on the law books, but maybe it's seen as too formal for everyday conversation.  

I can definitely see contention between those who want to live as onjira and those who want to live as legally-defined men or women.  Some may even want to live outside of "onjira culture" and outside of the neighborhood in Slowwater, where they can be seen as men and women and get masculine and feminine jobs.  Some probably already do, but they have to keep it secret or risk being recognized as onjira, which will change how everyone sees them.  If they were benefiting from a gendered law (like a non-onjira transwoman married to a woman when normally two women can't marry), it could lead to charges of fraud, annulments, etc.

There's plenty for an activist to want done.  I'm sure some laws are very specific as to which sex they apply (marriage and divorce laws especially).  Since onjira are sexless as far as the law is concerned, they can technically get the best of both worlds, but often they get the worst.

Within the onjira neighborhood, they may have their own system for dealing with disputes, since the official courts serve them badly.  However, that prevents the official court from building up a body of precedence concerning onjira, which just perpetuates the problem.  The legal precedence could be very old, from less 'progressive' times, too.  An activist might want to tackle that mess, and I'm sure we can come up with more!