An Insight
Jan. 27th, 2009 11:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bloodyrosemccoyAnother sign that my science-fiction-writing brain has been destroyed by the internet:
While trying to figure out a culturally-constructed gender role dichotomy for my arhode aliens that was not just some kind of variation on the common human provider/nurturer one,* I realized that the roles I did come up with still fit a dichotomy known to humans.
That’s right, apparently my aliens’ gender roles can be defined in terms of pirate vs. ninja.
I leave you to guess which is male and which is female.
*This is actually rather hard, what with my 23 years of cultural conditioning. I can see why writers default to Crazy Backwards Land where cultural norms dictate men are nurturers and women are providers. At least then you still have your bearings.
While trying to figure out a culturally-constructed gender role dichotomy for my arhode aliens that was not just some kind of variation on the common human provider/nurturer one,* I realized that the roles I did come up with still fit a dichotomy known to humans.
That’s right, apparently my aliens’ gender roles can be defined in terms of pirate vs. ninja.
I leave you to guess which is male and which is female.
*This is actually rather hard, what with my 23 years of cultural conditioning. I can see why writers default to Crazy Backwards Land where cultural norms dictate men are nurturers and women are providers. At least then you still have your bearings.
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Date: 2009-01-28 06:30 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-28 06:34 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-28 06:51 am (UTC): P
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Date: 2009-01-29 08:44 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-30 06:23 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-28 06:53 am (UTC)Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot!
Date: 2009-01-28 06:57 am (UTC)Re: Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot!
Date: 2009-01-28 07:32 am (UTC)Does it change anything if I tell you that males have about the same size range as human men and the females average about 1-2 feet taller and correspondingly heftier than that? (Seriously, I have a female arhode played flawlessly in my head by Ron Perlman.)
Re: Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot!
Date: 2009-01-28 07:33 am (UTC)Re: Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot!
Date: 2009-01-29 08:55 am (UTC)Of course, then you gotta make the culture surrounding their biological beginnings. It gets complicated fast.
Re: Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot!
Date: 2009-01-28 04:36 pm (UTC)Re: Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot!
Date: 2009-01-28 05:32 pm (UTC)I hope,anyway. I'm pretty much a pirate.
Re: Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot!
Date: 2009-01-28 07:33 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-28 11:24 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-29 08:52 am (UTC)Except now I'm wondering which is the pirate and which is the ninja among sea horses.
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Date: 2009-01-28 11:50 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-29 08:43 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-29 11:28 am (UTC)Or you could be like FISHES, and have none, for you are all independant creatures coming together only to mate.
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Date: 2009-01-30 05:03 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-30 05:19 am (UTC)It does make "And this must be your husband" a particularly asinine thing to say, doesn't it?
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Date: 2009-01-30 06:15 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-30 05:13 am (UTC)Diversity.
This is what I have been saying.
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Date: 2009-01-30 03:47 pm (UTC)Some fish do have childcare. It's the males that do that - making and maintaining the bubble nest, for example. Seahorses are the famous example, and there are some that will protect their spawn for a while, and I think there's this one species that will carry its hatched young in its mouth to protect and hide them.
There's not a whole lot of parental investment or anything, but there are some that care for their young. And a lot of fish really aren't independent, schooling together and all.
About who cares for the young, humans may have the child-tenders stay at camp or gather plants, but not all species are like that. Bats go on the hunt with their pups clinging to their bodies until the pups get too big, which is when they end up hanging on the ceiling until their mothers return. A lot of animals don't have the same division of labor that we do; they can't, since no one's going to feed the adults that can't feed themselves. Birds, some of them, have both parents working to feed and raise the chick.
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Date: 2009-02-08 02:58 am (UTC)Once the child is weaned, the principle qualification is to be expendable enough to go running toward a leopard, waving one's arms and shouting "Hey Leopard!!! OOGABOOGA!!! OOGABOOGA!!!"
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Date: 2009-01-29 07:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-30 06:22 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-30 06:53 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-30 11:20 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-30 12:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-30 12:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-31 07:39 pm (UTC)One way it could work biologically is for the DNA-equivalent to use a three-part chemical structure for each of its A, B and C variants, where a full pattern with all three parts is semi-neutralised because it's locked to itself instead of having free bonds available.
Individual 1 would be type A and have chromosomes AABBBCCC. The B and C structures would not become involved in the growth of the individual. They would physically express the A characteristics and their gametes would be constructed as AABC.
Likewise, #2 would have AAABBCCC, express B, and have gametes ABBC, and #3 would have AAABBBCC, express C, and have gametes ABCC.
Combining any two four-chromosome gametes would result in the relevant eight-chromosome building block for the child of the third type.
The physical characteristics of the three forms, the actual fertilisation process, and any carrying to term, could be symmetrical in all directions or wildly asymmetrical. A and B might mate and childbear like mammals, A and C might lay eggs, and B and C might spawn like fish or coral.
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Date: 2009-02-01 05:33 am (UTC)This post has been really cool; I'm getting to hear a lot of people's great ideas for alien reproduction. If you develop this any further, let me know.
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Date: 2009-02-01 09:42 am (UTC)As for the assorted family structures... rock, paper, scissors?
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Date: 2009-02-01 12:46 am (UTC)But also, on the topic, one other variant I've seen: an alien species that is always born male, and then at about their equivalent of 30 goes through a metamorphosis and comes out female. Thus the female role is that of the elder authority, while the male is that of the student.
A particular ship dominated by these aliens had a single human crewmember as well. Biologically male, but because of his age and experience, they all called him a "her." The females on the crew were also, I believe, totally unattracted to "her" because culturally they liked the brash immaturity of their own species' men. I don't remember if any of their males were attracted to the level-headed human.
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Date: 2009-02-01 05:24 am (UTC)Do you remember the author and the book this species? I'm always interested in those. It reminds me of one of another series with interestingly alien gender roles and the Single Human Crewmember--CJ Cherryh's Chanur Saga. It's not quite on the level of metamorphosis, but it's pretty interesting and well done.
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Date: 2009-02-01 07:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-02-01 09:55 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-02-09 06:16 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-08 02:11 am (UTC)So like hi! :D
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Date: 2009-05-09 03:23 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-09 03:32 am (UTC)