Pern and Pernish observings

[deird1]

Guide to characters on Pern

Women:
- If you are a dreamy virgin until deflowered by the love of your life in a quasi-rape scene... you are GOOD.

- If you are sensual and like sex with manly men of manliness... you are EVIL.


Men:
- If you used to sleep with the evil sensual women, but grew tired of them and deflowered a virgin in a quasi-rape scene... you are GOOD.

- If you still sleep with the evil sensual women... you are EVIL... probably. But not as evil as the evil women. At best, you are a minion.


Girls:
- If you are a tomboy... you are GOOD.

- If you care about clothes and your appearance... you are EVIL.

- If you grow up and then care about your appearance... you are GOOD.

- If you grow up and then become slovenly... you are EVIL. And probably sensual.


Benden:
- If you live there... you are GOOD.

- If you like people who live there... you are GOOD.

- If you like their caves... you are GOOD.

- If you like their wine... you are GOOD.

- If you despise the people, the caves, the wine, the weather, the fashion, the food, the music, and anything and everything remotely Bendenese... you are EVIL.


Fire Lizards:
- If you like them... you are GOOD.

- If you dismiss them... you are EVIL. (Unless you're Lessa, in which case you are the BESTEST OF ALL BEST PEOPLE, and everyone who dislikes you will die horribly.)



Here endeth the lesson.

Comments

[vass]

Ekaterin in the later Miles Vorkosigan books is like that (starting from Komarr.) And Fawn in the Sharing Knife books is like that.

[lliira]

I don't see that in Ekaterin's story at all. Her entire society denigrates women's abilities, but her brothers seem to be pretty cool, relatively speaking. Not as cool as Miles, but who is? Anyway, I adore that story.

[vass]

Her brother who tried to take custody of her son away from her because he didn't trust her to be able to make good decisions for him?

I adore it too, it was just when I started reading The Sharing Knife and went "oh. Clearly this is a thing for her."

[lliira]

I see that as a Barrayaran thing, not a brother-sister thing. Same with The Sharing Knife. If someone writes books in which the society is misogynistic, and there are brothers and sisters, if they don't have brothers sometimes behave in a sexist way towards the sisters, the story doesn't work at all.

But really, it comes down to what someone likes. I like stories set in misogynistic societies in which women triumph. After all, I live in a misogynistic society, and I would like to triumph.