tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6320269312957801390.post450299977571017968..comments2024-03-29T03:45:01.236-07:00Comments on TalkToYoUniverse: The Shape of FamiliesJuliette Wadehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02879627074920760712noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6320269312957801390.post-19639474737342227162010-04-24T11:38:21.722-07:002010-04-24T11:38:21.722-07:00Great example, Jaleh. Thanks for your comment!Great example, Jaleh. Thanks for your comment!Juliette Wadehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02879627074920760712noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6320269312957801390.post-23413326544683488312010-04-24T06:07:45.505-07:002010-04-24T06:07:45.505-07:00Marion Zimmer Bradley used differing family struct...Marion Zimmer Bradley used differing family structures in her Darkover books. Thinking of the way alien biologies affect family structure, there are the Chieri. They are predominantly either male or female, but can change to the other sex under certain conditions. She even has at least one story that revolved around that change. The race is very long-lived leading to lowered reproductivity rate. But they are similar enough to humans that they can interbreed. Many of the human bloodlines have Chieri blood from way back, sometimes showing a visible sign such as sporting an extra finger on each hand. (Chieri have 6 fingers.) <br /><br />Darkover societies are based on family structuring and mind gifts. Those with stronger gifts tend to correspond with greater political and economic power. (And also with madness, but such leads to some interesting stories.) Bradley makes use of several different family groupings and marriage rules depending on culture. Very interesting stuff.Jaleh Dhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04942272578488986874noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6320269312957801390.post-86589335840063631522010-04-18T21:48:22.995-07:002010-04-18T21:48:22.995-07:00Thanks to all of you for your support and great co...Thanks to all of you for your support and great comments. I'm glad you found this interesting.Juliette Wadehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02879627074920760712noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6320269312957801390.post-78651438337618484862010-04-18T19:45:23.729-07:002010-04-18T19:45:23.729-07:00Great post and comments. I was vaguely aware that...Great post and comments. I was vaguely aware that the American definition of family was very modern, but I need to watch for (and allow) different types of families in my writing. Thanks!Deb Salisbury, Magic Seeker and Mantua-Makerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01513482264195697450noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6320269312957801390.post-51689340098558875572010-04-18T11:17:42.483-07:002010-04-18T11:17:42.483-07:00A very interesting post, Juliette. I've yet t...A very interesting post, Juliette. I've yet to need alternate family structures in any of my stories, but it's a concept I find interesting and have some idea scraps for. Thanks for addressing it in so much detail.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6320269312957801390.post-84810746056132248532010-04-18T11:02:43.251-07:002010-04-18T11:02:43.251-07:00One interesting point is that the nuclear family, ...One interesting point is that the nuclear family, which is the default concept of contemporary Americans, is rather rare through history. The usual working unit was either a small clan or an extended family.<br /><br />The configurations were necessitated by requirements for living -- most economy was home-based and women could not be full-time mothers because they were needed as workers. Ditto for adolescent children; there were no "teenagers" back then, disaffected or otherwise...<br /><br />As you pointed out indirectly, Juliette, in some matrilineal/matrilocal societies the maternal uncles assumed the father's role because men stayed and worked in their mother's household and "visited" their wives. This meant that if they liked each other they could court throughout their lives, among other things.<br /><br />Lifelong courtship is also the ideal/ized case of liaisons in societies with arranged marriages, a paradigm brought to its apex of glory by Heian court ladies and Provençal troubadours.Athena Andreadishttp://www.starshipreckless.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6320269312957801390.post-70750183883491301142010-04-18T09:39:37.226-07:002010-04-18T09:39:37.226-07:00Ah, Athena - thanks for the clarification. I know...Ah, Athena - thanks for the clarification. I know about polygyny/polyandry but it slipped my mind as I wrote... indeed, I may go back and correct it. <br /><br />Thanks also for the extra examples. I knew while writing that there would be a lot more than I could actually delve into in one blog post! It's great that now readers can have more examples to think about.<br /><br />I invite readers who can think of still further examples from sf/f contexts (their own or others' work) to explain them here.Juliette Wadehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02879627074920760712noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6320269312957801390.post-41927600909322057732010-04-18T06:55:23.284-07:002010-04-18T06:55:23.284-07:00A tiny nitpick first -- polygamous means "man...A tiny nitpick first -- polygamous means "many mates" and subsumes both polygyny (multiples wives) and polyandry (multiple husbands).<br /><br />Then there are group marriages. The best examples in SF are Ursula Le Guin's four-person sedoretu (2 men, 2 women, in which each partner has one homosexual and one heterosexual union and the children from the two heterosexual matings are called "germanes" and can marry) and Donald Kingsbury's Courtship Rite.<br /><br />Then there are the Gethenian families in The Left Hand of Darkness and related short stories which are extended and "matrilocal" by necessity: since Gethenians can change gender whenever they come into kemmer (heat), the children of the body stay with the parent of the body.<br /><br />In one of the universes I created, shown in my story Planetfall (http://crossedgenres.com/archives/013/planetfall-by-athena-andreadis/), scarcity of women has resulted in polyandry. On earth it has usually resulted in kidnappings and women ending up as trophies; I wanted to introduce a fresh paradigm. Neither is it "reverse Islamic" with the co-husbands competing; instead, they feel and act like brothers.<br /><br />Such a wife is called a night, and her co-husbands are called her stars. The rare one-to-one unions and the men who are not affiliated with wives also have corresponding celestial terms.Athena Andreadishttp://www.starshipreckless.com/noreply@blogger.com