Answering my own questions - Dara Happan tradition

From: Theo Posselt <tposselt_at_dttus.com>
Date: 24 Feb 2000 15:59:05 -0600

     I thought I would take a stab at answering my own questions, at least 
     for the one culture I can claim to know anything about.  I take as my 
     baseline the view of Dara Happa as being patriarchal, indeed male 
     dominated, and extremely rule-bound.  
     
     As John noted, sex for the DHn male is polluting and dangerous. 
     Presumably this carries over for the DHns to their view of women, and 
     so they view women as carriers of this pollution, and as essentially 
     traps that keep men from achieving Yelmite purity.
     
     (In RW terms I see the DHns as being almost Deuteronomic in their 
     proscriptions.  Contrast this with the model of the Roman, for 
     example; for the Roman, the be-all and end-all of male virtue was the 
     proof of dominance.  DHns and Romans are similar in that the male was 
     dominant, and that the culture was strongly patriarchal; but for the 
     Roman, unlike the DHn man, all was essentially allowed as long as it 
     didn't lessen the dominant virtue of another citizen.  For me the new 
     Lunar society may subscribe to something more along the Roman way.)
     
     In any case, on to my questions:
     

> 1. how are women expected to behave in public in each of these
> cultures? for example do they need to be veiled, are they expected
> to be accompanied by chaperones at all times, etc?
Women are essentially prohibited from independent public activity in traditional DHn society. All virtuous women and all female children are to be accompanied by chaperones while in public, and virtuous women are expected to conceal themselves with cloth over their hair and bodies. Extremely traditional DHn women shave their heads entirely, in order to prevent the lustful enticement of their hair from polluting the men around them.) Note the term 'virtuous' women. There are prostitutes, but in traditional DHn society these are officially prohibited to be DHn - thus all prostitutes are (officially) foreigners and are thus deprived of citizenship rights.
> 2. what spaces are all-male? all-female?
All public spaces are all-male, with the exception of the women's markets. Most of the home is reserved for women, especially the kitchen; generally the men are isolated in the public reception rooms and their bedrooms. Women and men have separate sleeping areas. Women are only allowed in public during the great festivals (see below).
> 3. what is the legal status of women? are they allowed to own
> property on their own? divorce their husbands? be educated?
Poor, no, no, and not formally. Women are always subject to the will of their closest male relative or their husband. They can be divorced only if their husband agrees to it, or if their father or, after his death, closest remaining male relative, can prove that the husband was negligent in his duties. Women's formal education is limited to religious instruction - essentially on their duties as women. However, there is a fair amount of illicit education, especially in the urban areas.
> 4. if divorce occurs, what is the legal status of the woman
> afterwards? can she remarry? does she receive alimony?
The women cannot remarry. She receives alimony if the husband was deficient in his duties; however, if she was divorced with cause, she receives no payments (and often is not supported by her family afterwards)
> 5. how are female children treated? is there infanticide? are they
> educated? all the time or only for upper classes?
Female children are treated as household servants-in-training by the men. Infanticide is, however, not practiced.
> Hot topic #2 is sexuality. Again, for each of the cultures above:

> 1. how public is personal sexuality? are married couple allowed to
> touch in public? kiss?
Public sexuality is forbidden at most times in DHn society. Physical contact between men and women is heavily discouraged, though not legally forbidden. The exceptions to this are the great festivals, the Lodrilalia and the Deezolan festival. In the Lodrilalia the proscriptive rules are generally relaxed. In the Deezolan festival, the position of men and women are reversed: men are expected to be obediant to the women, are confined to house, whereas the women get to make the public decisions. The nature and extent of those decisions varies by location
> 2. how public is representational sexuality? are there nude
statues?
> sexual art in public?
Traditional DHn culture has no representational sexuality. There was male nudity in statues, but no female nudity.
> 3. what is the view towards pre-marital and extramarital sexual
> relationships? if discouraged/forbidden, what is the effect of
> getting caught, on the man and the woman?
Both premarital and extramarital relationships are forbidden. The punishment for men in both cases is up to the male representative of the woman; generally the choice is between banishment from the community and restitution. For women, the punishment is usually death by sun exposure.
> 4. what is the view of bisexuality? of adult male homosexuality? of
> paedophilia?
All forbidden. The punishment is usually death by sun exposure. ------------------------------

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