Where did you get that idea? AFAIK, this is a contemporary western ideological construct which is not in any sense universal.
No culture I know (except western culture and only since the 19th century) has ever defended the idea that man are *always* better then women at everything. In most societies what we find is the notion that men are *better then women* in public affairs, which must be reserved for men. But women are better then men at home affairs (unless those affairs mix with public affairs). That's why women reign at home.
> and that women need to be protected from the nasty harsh world
> outside the home.
Please, read the Arabian Nights (an example of a society were there is a strict division of roles) and you can fiind plenty of examples that proof that the word inside the home can be harsher then the word outside (something that statistics about home violence sadly demonstrate to be a contemporary reality). And many of those examples will show that it was not always men that had the upper hand, far from that.
> Cedric the Orlanthi farmer comes home from the fields, and he's
> hungry. So he makes a meal, and eats it, and when his wife gets
> back she'll have some as well. But Cedric is unlikely to boast about
> how good his cooking is, and if they're entertaining friends then
> Rowena will be the one in the kitchen all day.
>
> Similarly if broo attack the stead, Rowena will pick up a spear and
> do her best to drive them off. But she's unlikely to boast about it, or
> to go cattle-raiding.
This example corresponds, AFAIK, to the norm in European societies, a norm
that goes back for centuries, even millenia. Men always did housework,
specialy in the lower classes. And women always had to assume the role of
men when needed, even in war (I have several examples of this from
Portuguese history, and am sure you can find similar examples in most
European countries' history).
Since your Orlanthi farmers are shaped from European peoples, there is
nothing strange in such behavior.
> Does that make sense? Gloranthans are in a primitive universe: in
> everyday life they can't afford to specialise the way we do. If you
> want a meal, you cook it, male or female, you don't phone for a
> pizza. But in the one skill where each person chooses to excel,
> they will tend to pick gender-norms.
Our RW has lots of examples of different societies. Most of them share a common thread: they're male oriented. A few are female oriented, but not many. But in all of them the role of man and woman is not all black or white, there are shades. And the position of man in relation to woman is seldom reduced to one of master to subject. It usualy stresses their complementarity. I assume that the same can be said of Glorantha.
> The stereo-typical western male who can't cook, won't cook, and
> buys a burger if a meal isn't provided would starve in Glorantha.
As you say, this is a stereo-type, far away from what is the median behavior of a western male (at least in my experience). BTW, in Europe we tend to think that the stereo-typical AMERICAN FEmale can't cook, won't cook, and buys a burger if a meal isn't provided...
> Of course, this would make role-swapping easier than it is for us.
You're talking about role-swaping at a private, ocasional level. I don't see why Glorantha makes it easier then in the RW. But, more important, this type of role-swaping is unusable from an RPG POV. You can't build a character on it, since being ocasional, the role-swaper will get back to its basic role as soon as possible.
If I understand you well, what you're searching for is a game word where
either:
- - Permanent role-swaping (maybe limited in the skills that define each
role) can occur - the case of Vinga. This is a question of definition of
man and woman social roles.
- - Roles are not defined like in the RW (frex cooking, healing, housekeping,
or fighting, lawgiving, governing are not role-specific activities). This
can be done, but requires a lot of social reframing. IMO this is the most
difficult, but also the most interesting approach.
But what I really think would be the correct approach would be to design campaigns where women fulfilling their traditional roles would be interesting characters. This would allow-us to depart from onedimensional, male-oriented settings.
Sergio
End of The Glorantha Digest V6 #218
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