Re: OT: [Let_It_Be_Forever_Islam] THE WORLD OF THE JINN

On 18 Oct 2003 at 17:53, Joe wrote:

> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Stone Gordonssen" <stonegordonssen@...>
> To: <CONLANG@...>
> Sent: Saturday, October 18, 2003 5:36 PM
> Subject: Re: OT: [Let_It_Be_Forever_Islam] THE WORLD OF THE JINN
>
>
> > >Now I'm curious.  I can't come up with a full 7 social or cultural gender
> > >categories.  I can think of 3 immediately: male, female, and eununch.  I
> > >can think of several other possibilities, but 7 is a lot.  Can you
> > >enlighten me?
> >
> > I studied it as part of my classes in anthropology - I remember
> specfically
> > a culture in Siberia used to have 7 - but my books ae packed away still. A
> > number of North American Native cultures had 4 genders.
> >
> > If you associate gender with social role rather than sex & genitalia &
> > ability to produce or not produce children(male, female, eunuch), the
> vista
> > should open for you.
> >
> >
>
> Let me think...
>
> Male, Female, Male Transvestite, Female Transvestite, Primarily Male Eunuch,
> Primarily Female Eunuch, Hermaphrodite/Neutral Gender Role.
ISTR (and it was a *very* long time ago) reading that there are/were
three primary gender roles in Comanche society. To drastically
oversimplify and paraphrase these: Warrior, Mystic (this is not the
right term, but I can't think of a better one-word term) and
Homemaker, being traditionally Masculine Male, Effeminate Male and
Female in constituency.

IMO, the great question in social gender is "what distinguishes a
social gender from a social caste?" A mere collocation of social
behaviors into a number of distinct social roles that are mantained
throughout ones life are not sufficient grounds (in my imagination).
For example: Does it have to be common (or at least allowable) for
romantic / sexual connections to exist between members of any two
social genders? Is there even any lusty implication to social genders
at all in that society? What is it that distinguishes a mere
customary social role, adopted by a person for their livelihood, from
a situation where actual social genders can be said to exist? Is
"storyteller" ever a social gender, or merely an occupation /
calling? How about "shaman"? Or "prostitute"?





Paul