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gryphonseggI had a book post in mind at the start of the week, but I decided to delay it because I had to deal with an upsetting situation mid-week and the topic of my intended post is rather grim. So I'm eventually going to get around to posting about the unfortunate treatment of madness in an otherwise good series. In the meantime, I thought I'd post about something more cheerful.
Last week, I linked this post about non-monogamous relationship structures in fictional societies. I found myself getting really into sedoretu and troll romance and thinking about different ways to structure marriage customs in otherworld cultures. And then I realized that I was at least as interested in the (presumed) non-sexual relationships in these structures as the (presumed) sexual ones. Yes, it's also interesting to consider a culture in which a typical person is not only allowed but encouraged to have a partner of each sex. But what intrigued me just as much, if not more, was having a socially endorsed non-sexual relationship that is supposed to be as important as any sexual relationship (in a context that's not loaded with the misogyny and homophobia that are so common in RL discourse that elevates "friendship"-- implicitly for men only!).
Last week, I linked this post about non-monogamous relationship structures in fictional societies. I found myself getting really into sedoretu and troll romance and thinking about different ways to structure marriage customs in otherworld cultures. And then I realized that I was at least as interested in the (presumed) non-sexual relationships in these structures as the (presumed) sexual ones. Yes, it's also interesting to consider a culture in which a typical person is not only allowed but encouraged to have a partner of each sex. But what intrigued me just as much, if not more, was having a socially endorsed non-sexual relationship that is supposed to be as important as any sexual relationship (in a context that's not loaded with the misogyny and homophobia that are so common in RL discourse that elevates "friendship"-- implicitly for men only!).
(no subject)
Date: 2011-04-17 03:09 am (UTC)Uh...not a very exciting comment. :/
(no subject)
Date: 2011-04-17 02:14 pm (UTC)I also like how the discussion itself had room for possibilities like a character having two spouses for social/economic/magical reasons but not having sex with one of them because they just don't want to and a character being cool with troll romance conceptually but leaving a quadrant or two empty because the character just doesn't have those feelings for anyone and a line marriage that exists as an economic institution but every woman in it is NOT expected to have sex with every man in it (oh, Heinlein).