Re: Girls will be boys and boys will be girls

From: Andrew Solovay <asolovay_at_...>
Date: Wed, 21 Jul 2004 17:10:57 -0700

Bruce Ferrie <bruceferrie_at_...> wrote:

>

> I think it's exactly analogous to the fact that people think that
> Vingans are "odd". I find it interesting, though, that everyone (and
> I'm talking about players here, not Gloranthans) seems able to accept
> Vingans who act like men without batting an eyelid, but the converse -
> Nandani men who act like women - is seen as incredibly weird and
> mind-boggling. Something of a double-standard, no?

Well, I expect that in Heortling culture (and, for that matter, among the players) there's a difference between the Vingan who can out-fight and out-drink any man in the hall, and the Vingan who settles down and marries the girl next door. Even if "marrying the girl next door" is socially and religiously acceptable for the Vingan.

Though I don't think that's true, is it? Vingans must be initiates of Ernalda. As near as I can tell, they're regarded as women by themselves and by Heortlings, though they are seen as women doing men's work (thus their customary costume of a skirt over pants?). So they aren't really an equivalent to Nandans--they're tomboys, not transsexuals.

I'd think if a Heortling (anatomical) woman really regarded herself as male, her best option would probably be to initiate to Heler--which, at the very least, signals that she doesn't intend to follow anyone else's sexual conventions. But there doesn't seem to be a Nandan-equivalent, for the (anatomical) woman who likes the sexual conventions just fine, but wants to follow the male ones instead of the female ones.

FWIW, I don't find the idea of Nandans marrying men to be "incredibly weird and mind-boggling". I just didn't know whether Heortling custom for "women in men's bodies" allowed them to marry men, or only extended as far as allowing them to dress/work/worship like women but not marry.