Marrying In

From: Bender the Robot <bendertherobot_at_earthlink.net>
Date: Tue, 30 Jan 2001 20:44:51 -0500


Glorantha Digesters:
 In Robert Sapolsky's book "A Primate's Memoir," he mentions elements of baboon social interaction which also apply to humans. In baboons, females
(almost) always stay with the troop and males must find a new troop to join
at adolescence. A female's social status is largely a product of her mother's status, while a male's social status is earned through strength, cunning, and good relationship skills.

 Among the Orlanthi, males (almost) always stay with the clan and females
(almost) always marry out of their birth clan. The conclusions are
obvious: Male Orlanthi social status is largely a product of birth, while women must earn their place.

 Now, some big differences to note: Orlanthi are monogamous, and females join the clan through marriage to a particular male, thus entering society more or less at the male's level. Baboons, on the other hand, are promiscuous but not indifferent; high ranking males tend to monopolize mating, particularly with high-status females, when females are most likely to conceive, but one strategy used by males is to monopolize all matings with a particular (non-high ranking) female and thereby guarantee paternity.

 Still, I think there's some validity to the baboon analogy, and we can expect female Orlanthi to have to work on their social status more than males do. This need may translate into social climbing, or simply more effort into networking, or a convert's zeal for the organization. I think we can agree that people work harder for things when they can't take them for granted.

End of The Glorantha Digest V8 #242


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