Re: OT: Gender Bending Moro

Patrick Littell wrote:

>This issue -- gender in language and its relationship with sexual
>politics -- is one I've always wondered about, but I've never managed
>to find much cross-linguistic data about it.  Or really any data at
>all; usually I just hear it asserted as a truism.  Does anyone have
>any pointers to studies about this?  Especially about, as Pascal
>mentioned, societies that are more female-dominant?
Yes that may be interesting

Before asking what you mean by "female-dominant" you should precise what is
"domination" for you?

Is it the fact of doing the majority of the tasks? the fact of making the
major decisions in the family's house? in the tribe/village? the fact of
being the financial support? the fact of bringing/gaining/finding/hunting
food?

Sexual domination's not easy to define because one may say that even in the
most male-centered, if the women disapeared, the men would not be able of
taking good care of children and cooking food and that this makes the women
important enough to mean they dominate..


***
I've recently made an essay at school about such kind of thing and this post
may be an occasion to talk about it:

I've analysed the conditions that led to the humanity and the leading of
most of the countries and politics by men. It is a comparision between human
civilisations (of european origins and from other independant ethnies) and
animals societies (ants, pinguins(those of antartica, not from the North
Pole, I think they're both called "pinguins" in english), lions, naked mole
rats, elephants..)

My searchings led me to the conclusion that, for all animal species, "the
males will do only what the females are unable to do alone because of the
surrounding environment or of the animal's physiology" and the only reasons
why men had got responsabilities that, in fact, women can do is because of
some factors that no more exist now.

Like the giving of birth that's now safer for women, the way to getting food
is now easier with agriculture, the huge cities now reducing the possibility
of having to face predators etc..

I included the fact that some inferior animals totally or almost totally got
rid of the males

My final conclusion is that the women who ask for more political and social
rights are simply the consequence of the societythat divated from the
natural path and that now tend to get back to the natural equilibrium of the
women being the center of the specie and the man doing what they really
can't do alone

I predict that someday, women will probably lead and men will follow them
like male lions and elephants


When I explain my conclusion to my friends, I add this that's not in the
written version:

The good point for women: You'll someday get the superiority you asked and
fight so long for and get rid of those violent men that ruined the world
with wars and fights

The good point for men: We'll someday have nothing to do with women bringing
you food and caring your children and we sleeping and taking no important
and risked decisions
***


I've not tought of what would be a language spoken in such world of woman's
leading and man's "vedging" concerning the genders but if the majority of
the actions would be done by women it's probably them that would determine
the gender of a group

That's to ask if men would even talk.. what would they have to say? "ho
great! food's there, I'll finally can get a sixth nap before going to sleep
my night." Nothing very useful, they'd only have to understand women to
follow their directions

Are there precedents of tribes, ethnies, groups in witch one of the genders
had no right (or use) of speaking?

I know the recently dead nushu language were spoken only by women, but I
don't think it's the same thing...


- Max

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