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Ahhhh wall of text! Some good points, though beetnemesis Send a noteboard - 20/09/2009 04:04:48 PM
And a bit too "rant-y," but you do have some good points.

The Third Age in general definitely has women in a general position of power. In-universe, I'd say this stems from the simple fact that saidin is (was) tainted. Much of our world's patriarchy stems from millenia-old "men are stronger than women" attitudes. Even in situations where that attitude is not blatent, it can still show in small, unconscious ways (holding open a door for a woman, for example, or a mechanic assuming a woman won't understand him).

In a world where there are women (and only women) with superpowers, running around manipulation people and nations, shooting fire out of their hands, and generally being all Aes Sedai-ish, it's harder for that unconscious attitude to grab hold. Throw in that the Aes Sedai hunt channeling men, who broke the world, and that Aes Sedai rarely find men they consider as equals, a different unconscious attitude forms- "Women have to stick together and make sure men don't screw things up, as they inevitably will without female oversight." Again, just a subtle, unconscious attitude, but I think most female characters in WoT would agree with it- at least to a certain extent.


As for which countries DON'T have this? Not many, as far as we've seen. We haven't seen a lot of the Borderlands, so it's hard to tell. Malkier was definitely extremely super-woman. tGH was Shienar, right? They had more of it. The men "ruled," and were respected and honored for their war against the Shadow, but any soldier would shift nervously if a woman glared at him.

Cairhein seemed pretty evenhanded- lords and nobles were lords and nobles, and both women and men could be dastardly (though the most dangerous nobles have tended to be women, haven't they?).

Tear didn't seem to have any "Super Woman's Circle" like Far Madding, either.

Saldea is an interesting one. Their marriages are almost a microcosm of gender relations in the Wheel of Time (and falls very well into your A and B divisions of government). The man is technically "in charge," when he asserts his authority over his wife she is demure. He in turn is supposed to respect her and her strength (by shouting at her, but whatever). However, the wife has much, much more power than it seems on the surface- she tries to influence her husband as much as possible in private, schemes and plots, often in secret if she thinks he'll just put up a fuss. Of course, she sees this as being done for his/the family's own good- and this is exactly the attitude I mentioned at the beginning of this post.



I amuse myself.
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What do you consider to be the most pro-masculine culture/country in WoT? The most anti-female? - 19/09/2009 07:32:03 AM 1443 Views
I would say Tear. - 19/09/2009 08:08:18 AM 874 Views
I guess it's a toss up between Tear, Illian and Amador - 19/09/2009 12:28:24 PM 840 Views
What about male-only organizations? - 19/09/2009 02:00:55 PM 785 Views
Yeah, Aiel warrior societies. - 19/09/2009 03:44:36 PM 880 Views
Hm, you never do see a female Whitecloak. Do they ever talk about why? - 20/09/2009 04:11:30 PM 831 Views
Distrust of women because they hate channelers, IMHO. - 21/09/2009 03:47:43 AM 868 Views
Sort of the reverse of the attitudes I talked about below - 21/09/2009 07:21:05 PM 714 Views
Yeah, I'd go with the military thing. - 21/09/2009 05:45:47 AM 699 Views
The Asha'man are less prejudiced than the Tower. - 21/09/2009 05:48:43 AM 760 Views
I was taking you seriously - 19/09/2009 03:29:16 PM 786 Views
Amadicia - 19/09/2009 07:28:43 PM 882 Views
I'll go with Amadicia, as well. - 23/09/2009 07:36:10 PM 616 Views
No question. - 19/09/2009 08:43:47 PM 860 Views
The ogier all have masculine features. - 19/09/2009 09:06:14 PM 888 Views
Re: The ogier all have masculine features. - 19/09/2009 11:54:54 PM 739 Views
I'm not sure the Dark One can be called male... - 20/09/2009 12:27:56 AM 782 Views
Re: I'm not sure the Dark One can be called male... - 20/09/2009 06:43:09 AM 968 Views
Re: The ogier all have masculine features. - 25/09/2009 05:25:49 AM 624 Views
Re: The ogier all have masculine features. - 13/10/2009 09:01:27 AM 728 Views
Ahhhh wall of text! Some good points, though - 20/09/2009 04:04:48 PM 765 Views
Do you have anything against paragraphs? *NM* - 20/09/2009 10:03:48 PM 330 Views
White space is space with no words in it. Wasted. *NM* - 21/09/2009 07:10:41 AM 304 Views
Whitespaceisspacewithnowordsinit.Wasted.Thereifixeditforyou. - 01/10/2009 01:55:21 PM 683 Views
I agree, but I also think there is a purpose. - 21/09/2009 03:43:45 AM 717 Views
Oh, I wasn't criticizing this phenomenom, just noting it. - 21/09/2009 06:17:34 AM 809 Views
that's why they deserve 3 male taveren - 21/09/2009 05:10:52 PM 722 Views
Re: Oh, I wasn't criticizing this phenomenom, just noting it. - 21/09/2009 06:59:36 PM 858 Views
I think the Shienaran custom of protecting women is both patronizing and submissive ATST. *NM* - 21/09/2009 02:33:58 PM 767 Views
There's actual cultural reasons for that. - 23/09/2009 04:25:52 AM 655 Views
Far Madding, Elayne's bodyguards, and Tar Valon *NM* - 21/09/2009 07:40:09 PM 336 Views
Amadicia, and possibly the Borderlands - 13/10/2009 08:19:11 AM 799 Views

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