>Just to clarify:
>It's more challenging to get a sex partner while you are currently
>pregnant. Even when you have an ongoing sex partner, there are still
>challenges. Ask any mother. That was the issue I was referring to when
>I said that being pregnant affects your ability to continuously be
>lascivious. Not the child that follows.
I didn't realise you were referring specifically to during pregnancy.
>Also, I was not referring to the idea of sin or morality when I
>pointed out that available sex partners (female Yinkinings) can
>affect the motivation and incentives for men regarding marriage.
>Take the South Pacific Islands, were some cultures are renown for
>promiscuity and group-rearing of their children. The woman following
>their traditional roles (non-Yinkinings) take note of that and it's
>sure to affect their behavior as well.
>
>Example: It's hard to be close friends with your Yinkining sister
>if she is flirting or sleeping with the man you are hoping to draw
>into marriage. Perhaps a request to your mother asking for a reining
>in of your sister's behavior might be called for? Or asking father
>to send her on a long hunting trip?
You could. Alternatively you snub him and get a friend to tell him you don't think he's serious because he can't keep his hands off your sister. Thunder Rebels makes it clear that Orlanth courts Ernalda and an eligible woman will usually have several suitors. Young Orlanthi men will realise pretty quickly that getting married involves commitment and their potential wives expect them to show they are capable of that beforehand. I'm assuming there is usually no large surplus of females which would create greater competition for husbands.
>And while sexual infidelity is accepted by the Orlanthi, according
>to Thunder Rebels (I think that's the right reference), it is still
>a grounds for divorce. In fact, devotion to aspects of Orlanth that
>expect promiscuous behavior alone is grounds for immediate divorce,
>before such behavior has begun.
Grounds for divorce doesn't mean actual divorces on those grounds. I'm part way throught writing a story which explores these issues and in that case the social pressures on the people involved prevent divorce because it isn't in anyone's real interests. Now I'm not suggesting that divorces don't happen but that they are far rarer than sexual infidelity in marriage.
>Question for extra credit: What happens when a society with strict
>sexual morals (Dara Happa or England) sends a military force to
>explore or occupy a land with much more free sexual morals (Sartar
>or Fiji)? Mutiny on the Bounty?
Mutiny on the Bounty was 1789 and 18th Century England didn't have strict sexual morals.
In terms of Dara Happens in Sartar there will be soldiers having relationships with local women and a consequent resentment from Orlanthi men who lose out. But the same happened in Britain during WWII when large numbers of American troops were over here. An influx of foreigners of one sex has the same effect whatever the circumstances. Societies develop social structures which cope with the proportions of males and females they have and any change disrupts that society.
-- Donald Oddy http://www.grove.demon.co.uk/
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