Poem: "Kokopelli Returns"
May. 24th, 2021 09:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysabetwordsmithThis poem is spillover from the April 20, 2021 Bonus Fishbowl. It was inspired by a prompt from scrubjayspeaks. It also fills the "Taking on a new role" square in my 1-3-21 card for the Fresh Starts Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by fuzzyred. It belongs to the Daughters of the Apocalypse series.
Warning: This poem contains intense and controversial topics. Highlight to read the warnings, some of which are spoilers. It includes personal difficulties, two unplanned pregnancies despite using protection, the apocalypse, the Grunge, mass casualties, refugees, environmental casualties, the Mescalero Apache shooting refugees, dangerous contamination of goods scavenged from cities, food issues, Navajo expansionism, and other challenges. If these are sensitive issues for you, please consider your tastes and headspace before reading onward.
"Kokopelli Returns"
[0 A.E.]
Joe's life was hard enough
even before the world
actually went to hell.
He had knocked up
his first girlfriend at 16
(while using a condom)
and his second at 17
(while using a condom
and birth control pills) so
he couldn't even blame
them for dumping him.
Then the bombs fell,
and while the Pueblos
were spared because
of their modest size,
the rest of New Mexico
was not so fortunate.
Albuquerque was just gone.
So were Las Cruces,
Rio Ranch, and Santa Fe.
Even the larger towns got hit,
and the only saving grace
was that lots of the state was
very sparsely populated and
thus not much of a target.
With cities largely reduced
to ruins, the refugee losses ran
high due to the harsh environment.
The reservations of Isleta, Laguna,
Sandia, Santa Ana, Jemez Canyon,
and San Felipe were all flooded with
refugees pouring out of Albuquerque.
Tesuque and Cochiti Lake got a lot
of the refugees from Santa Fe.
The Pueblos who had good relations
with their neighbors took in as many
as they could afford to -- especially
children, who seemed less prone to die
of whatever crud the bombs were spewing.
Those with less positive relations, or
worse neighbors depending how you
looked at it, were not as sympathetic.
Refugees fleeing northeast from
Alamagordo ran into the guns of
the Mescalero Apache, who were
fed up with white people, and
few of them escaped alive.
As far as Joe was concerned,
they got what they deserved.
Nobody with a lick of sense tried
to fuck with the Mescalero Apache.
More sensibly, Joe and his people
huddled in the Jemez Indian Reservation
and just concentrated on surviving.
[1 A.E.]
After a year, most of the refugees
had either died off or adapted
to life in a totally changed world.
To the Pueblos, not a lot had
changed. They were used to
shortages. It was kind of nice
not to have the government
bugging them anymore, though.
The Jemez People began to shift
back toward traditional practices.
They also reached out to other Pueblos
in the area, sending runners to see
who had survived the End Times.
Joe was among those chosen,
because he was tall and athletic,
able to run fast and far, going
all day long over rough ground.
He learned that the Pueblos
closest to the big cities had fared
the worst, while more isolated ones
had survived with less damage.
People were trying to start up
trade again, but it was hard,
because things scavenged
from the cities could kill,
often without any warning.
Joe did a little trading,
only things that he and
his people had made, but
everyone was understandably
wary of outside supplies now.
He didn't know how to fix that.
Frustrated, he went home and
flopped into his bed, exhausted.
Joe dreamed of the baking desert sun
and woke with his bed soaked in sweat,
even though the nights got cold.
At first he felt confused,
unsure of the connection.
Then he realized -- the sun!
The power of the sun
would keep them safe,
destroying the threat.
Joe went out and found
some stuff brought out by
a few daring scavengers,
mostly tools made of metal.
First he rinsed each item
with water and let it dry.
Next he cleansed it all
with white cornmeal and
scrubbed it with wads of
pxuah on a cedar stick.
Then he let it sit in the sun
for four days, using sticks
to turn each piece at dawn.
Afterwards he repeated
the cleansing process.
Finally, he put the items
in a pen with a cow.
Brutal trial and error
after the End had
revealed that what
killed humans wouldn't
always kill small animals,
but would kill big ones.
The cow lived, so
the method worked.
That night, Joe dreamed
of flute music and the feel
of a heavy pack on his back.
In the pale light of dawn,
he scrubbed his face,
stunned by the revelation.
The Kokopelli Spirit had returned.
He had returned, and he had
chosen Joe to do his work.
So Joe fetched his pack and
took the sun-blessed things
as his starting trade stock.
He would need to find
a seed bank, if he could,
because food was an issue.
The commercial farms had
grown potatoes and grapes
in his area, which propagated
readily enough, but many others
didn't reproduce nearly as well.
The Penasco Cheese Squash,
the Blue Corn, the Anasazi Beans,
they were all doing just fine.
It was the same with the livestock.
The bison were expanding, while
the Criollo cattle and Churro sheep
were fine. The Angus beef cattle
and Holstein dairy cows were all
struggling to survive the Aftermath.
Kokopelli Joe shouldered his pack,
called his dog, and set out walking.
He played flute music to let
the Pueblos know that he
was approaching, and
they welcomed him.
When he explained how
to purify things that might
have come from a city,
the people rejoiced.
They eagerly took
what he had to trade,
and gave him new items.
Someone had indeed found
a seed bank, and shared
packets of Chimayo Chile
and White Posole Corn.
Yes, Kokopelli was back,
and that was good.
[3 A.E.]
Word came from the west,
and it was not good.
The Navajo had survived
the End a little too well.
Now they were looking
to expand beyond
the borders of
their reservation.
Well, who wasn't?
Except they'd started
by overrunning the Hopi
inside their own borders,
then turned outward and
gobbled up a lot of land.
The Apaches had pushed back,
stopping the Navajo at Fort Apache
in the south and Jicarilla in the east.
That wouldn't hold forever, though;
the Navajo Reservation had been
bigger than everyone else even
before they started expanding.
The Pueblos were all much smaller,
but they had one thing going for them:
they were damn good at teamwork.
Runners went out from Jemez.
Kokopelli Joe traveled light and fast,
packing only enough to get him
to the next Pueblo on the trail.
At each stop, the people listened
and began to make plans for defense.
Something else happened, too,
that he hadn't been expecting.
Old women began to approach him,
saying they had noticed that he
carried the Kokopelli power, and
asking if he could bless fertility.
Kokopelli Joe blushed and
admitted to his surprise babies.
The next thing he knew, he
was buried in young women
determined to become mothers.
He couldn't blame them; there
were so few people left now.
If he could help fix that, even
a little, it was his duty to serve.
Kokopelli Joe assisted the maidens
in every Pueblo he passed through.
Hopefully it would be enough.
[4 A.E.]
The Navajo had come
boiling out of their reservation
to be met with stiff resistance
from the Pueblo Peoples.
The old rivalry, gone cold
for many years, went hot again.
If the Navajo had expected
to roll right over them as they
had the scattered ranchers,
they were in for a surprise.
This was the Pueblo Territory
now, and they would hold it hard.
They had allied with some of
the Apache tribes, tentatively,
but nobody wanted to get overrun
by the Navajo so that was an incentive.
Kokopelli Joe even took a string of horses
southeast to visit the Mescalero Apache.
They deserved to know about the Navajo,
what was now called Dinneyland, in case
the expansion eventually threatened them.
The Mescalero were as prickly as ever,
and it turned out they were expanding
south toward the heart of their old lands.
They didn't shoot at Kokopelli Joe, but
they weren't enthusiastic about him either.
Except, that night, four Mescalero women
caught up to him on the trail so they
could ask him to bless them with babies.
Kokopelli Joe did his duty, and then
he showed them the symbol that
Pueblo mothers were tattooing
on his babies to mark them as kin.
It was inspired by rock art of
the old ithyphallic Kokopelli Spirit,
his cock proudly erect like the codpiece
that Joe had taken to wearing as a way
of advertising his personal services.
The maidens giggled at the image,
but promised to follow the custom.
Kokopelli Joe even told them about
plans to arrange gathers among
the Pueblos, so that people could
trade and hopefully exchange mates.
They looked at each other and
promised to consider that.
In the Aftermath, you couldn't
have too many friends.
Kokopelli Joe made his way
back to Pueblo Territory.
He traveled northwest,
toward home, but he
stopped at every Pueblo
along the winding trail.
At each stop, young mothers
brought out their new babies,
proudly showing off the tattoos
that marked Kokopelli's children.
The world might be a wreck,
but it was beginning to recover.
Kokopelli's blessing had seen to that.
* * *
Notes:
This poem is long, so its notes appear elsewhere.
scrubjayspeaks. It also fills the "Taking on a new role" square in my 1-3-21 card for the Fresh Starts Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by fuzzyred. It belongs to the Daughters of the Apocalypse series.Warning: This poem contains intense and controversial topics. Highlight to read the warnings, some of which are spoilers. It includes personal difficulties, two unplanned pregnancies despite using protection, the apocalypse, the Grunge, mass casualties, refugees, environmental casualties, the Mescalero Apache shooting refugees, dangerous contamination of goods scavenged from cities, food issues, Navajo expansionism, and other challenges. If these are sensitive issues for you, please consider your tastes and headspace before reading onward.
"Kokopelli Returns"
[0 A.E.]
Joe's life was hard enough
even before the world
actually went to hell.
He had knocked up
his first girlfriend at 16
(while using a condom)
and his second at 17
(while using a condom
and birth control pills) so
he couldn't even blame
them for dumping him.
Then the bombs fell,
and while the Pueblos
were spared because
of their modest size,
the rest of New Mexico
was not so fortunate.
Albuquerque was just gone.
So were Las Cruces,
Rio Ranch, and Santa Fe.
Even the larger towns got hit,
and the only saving grace
was that lots of the state was
very sparsely populated and
thus not much of a target.
With cities largely reduced
to ruins, the refugee losses ran
high due to the harsh environment.
The reservations of Isleta, Laguna,
Sandia, Santa Ana, Jemez Canyon,
and San Felipe were all flooded with
refugees pouring out of Albuquerque.
Tesuque and Cochiti Lake got a lot
of the refugees from Santa Fe.
The Pueblos who had good relations
with their neighbors took in as many
as they could afford to -- especially
children, who seemed less prone to die
of whatever crud the bombs were spewing.
Those with less positive relations, or
worse neighbors depending how you
looked at it, were not as sympathetic.
Refugees fleeing northeast from
Alamagordo ran into the guns of
the Mescalero Apache, who were
fed up with white people, and
few of them escaped alive.
As far as Joe was concerned,
they got what they deserved.
Nobody with a lick of sense tried
to fuck with the Mescalero Apache.
More sensibly, Joe and his people
huddled in the Jemez Indian Reservation
and just concentrated on surviving.
[1 A.E.]
After a year, most of the refugees
had either died off or adapted
to life in a totally changed world.
To the Pueblos, not a lot had
changed. They were used to
shortages. It was kind of nice
not to have the government
bugging them anymore, though.
The Jemez People began to shift
back toward traditional practices.
They also reached out to other Pueblos
in the area, sending runners to see
who had survived the End Times.
Joe was among those chosen,
because he was tall and athletic,
able to run fast and far, going
all day long over rough ground.
He learned that the Pueblos
closest to the big cities had fared
the worst, while more isolated ones
had survived with less damage.
People were trying to start up
trade again, but it was hard,
because things scavenged
from the cities could kill,
often without any warning.
Joe did a little trading,
only things that he and
his people had made, but
everyone was understandably
wary of outside supplies now.
He didn't know how to fix that.
Frustrated, he went home and
flopped into his bed, exhausted.
Joe dreamed of the baking desert sun
and woke with his bed soaked in sweat,
even though the nights got cold.
At first he felt confused,
unsure of the connection.
Then he realized -- the sun!
The power of the sun
would keep them safe,
destroying the threat.
Joe went out and found
some stuff brought out by
a few daring scavengers,
mostly tools made of metal.
First he rinsed each item
with water and let it dry.
Next he cleansed it all
with white cornmeal and
scrubbed it with wads of
pxuah on a cedar stick.
Then he let it sit in the sun
for four days, using sticks
to turn each piece at dawn.
Afterwards he repeated
the cleansing process.
Finally, he put the items
in a pen with a cow.
Brutal trial and error
after the End had
revealed that what
killed humans wouldn't
always kill small animals,
but would kill big ones.
The cow lived, so
the method worked.
That night, Joe dreamed
of flute music and the feel
of a heavy pack on his back.
In the pale light of dawn,
he scrubbed his face,
stunned by the revelation.
The Kokopelli Spirit had returned.
He had returned, and he had
chosen Joe to do his work.
So Joe fetched his pack and
took the sun-blessed things
as his starting trade stock.
He would need to find
a seed bank, if he could,
because food was an issue.
The commercial farms had
grown potatoes and grapes
in his area, which propagated
readily enough, but many others
didn't reproduce nearly as well.
The Penasco Cheese Squash,
the Blue Corn, the Anasazi Beans,
they were all doing just fine.
It was the same with the livestock.
The bison were expanding, while
the Criollo cattle and Churro sheep
were fine. The Angus beef cattle
and Holstein dairy cows were all
struggling to survive the Aftermath.
Kokopelli Joe shouldered his pack,
called his dog, and set out walking.
He played flute music to let
the Pueblos know that he
was approaching, and
they welcomed him.
When he explained how
to purify things that might
have come from a city,
the people rejoiced.
They eagerly took
what he had to trade,
and gave him new items.
Someone had indeed found
a seed bank, and shared
packets of Chimayo Chile
and White Posole Corn.
Yes, Kokopelli was back,
and that was good.
[3 A.E.]
Word came from the west,
and it was not good.
The Navajo had survived
the End a little too well.
Now they were looking
to expand beyond
the borders of
their reservation.
Well, who wasn't?
Except they'd started
by overrunning the Hopi
inside their own borders,
then turned outward and
gobbled up a lot of land.
The Apaches had pushed back,
stopping the Navajo at Fort Apache
in the south and Jicarilla in the east.
That wouldn't hold forever, though;
the Navajo Reservation had been
bigger than everyone else even
before they started expanding.
The Pueblos were all much smaller,
but they had one thing going for them:
they were damn good at teamwork.
Runners went out from Jemez.
Kokopelli Joe traveled light and fast,
packing only enough to get him
to the next Pueblo on the trail.
At each stop, the people listened
and began to make plans for defense.
Something else happened, too,
that he hadn't been expecting.
Old women began to approach him,
saying they had noticed that he
carried the Kokopelli power, and
asking if he could bless fertility.
Kokopelli Joe blushed and
admitted to his surprise babies.
The next thing he knew, he
was buried in young women
determined to become mothers.
He couldn't blame them; there
were so few people left now.
If he could help fix that, even
a little, it was his duty to serve.
Kokopelli Joe assisted the maidens
in every Pueblo he passed through.
Hopefully it would be enough.
[4 A.E.]
The Navajo had come
boiling out of their reservation
to be met with stiff resistance
from the Pueblo Peoples.
The old rivalry, gone cold
for many years, went hot again.
If the Navajo had expected
to roll right over them as they
had the scattered ranchers,
they were in for a surprise.
This was the Pueblo Territory
now, and they would hold it hard.
They had allied with some of
the Apache tribes, tentatively,
but nobody wanted to get overrun
by the Navajo so that was an incentive.
Kokopelli Joe even took a string of horses
southeast to visit the Mescalero Apache.
They deserved to know about the Navajo,
what was now called Dinneyland, in case
the expansion eventually threatened them.
The Mescalero were as prickly as ever,
and it turned out they were expanding
south toward the heart of their old lands.
They didn't shoot at Kokopelli Joe, but
they weren't enthusiastic about him either.
Except, that night, four Mescalero women
caught up to him on the trail so they
could ask him to bless them with babies.
Kokopelli Joe did his duty, and then
he showed them the symbol that
Pueblo mothers were tattooing
on his babies to mark them as kin.
It was inspired by rock art of
the old ithyphallic Kokopelli Spirit,
his cock proudly erect like the codpiece
that Joe had taken to wearing as a way
of advertising his personal services.
The maidens giggled at the image,
but promised to follow the custom.
Kokopelli Joe even told them about
plans to arrange gathers among
the Pueblos, so that people could
trade and hopefully exchange mates.
They looked at each other and
promised to consider that.
In the Aftermath, you couldn't
have too many friends.
Kokopelli Joe made his way
back to Pueblo Territory.
He traveled northwest,
toward home, but he
stopped at every Pueblo
along the winding trail.
At each stop, young mothers
brought out their new babies,
proudly showing off the tattoos
that marked Kokopelli's children.
The world might be a wreck,
but it was beginning to recover.
Kokopelli's blessing had seen to that.
* * *
Notes:
This poem is long, so its notes appear elsewhere.
(no subject)
Date: 2021-05-25 07:33 pm (UTC)I really enjoyed this one!
Thank you!
Date: 2021-05-25 07:48 pm (UTC)Re: Thank you!
Date: 2021-05-28 12:41 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2021-05-25 08:44 pm (UTC)Thank you!
Date: 2021-05-25 09:36 pm (UTC)Yay! You can always prompt for more if you want it. Lots of potential in this part of the world with all the sociopolitical upheavals going on. Next up is the June 1 fishbowl on "I never thought I'd have to say that."
>> There are going to be some interesting marriage customs for the next couple generations. <<
Definitely. Southwestern tribes tend to be matriarchal so they are well prepared for this situation. Historically, some tribes tended to have sisters sharing a husband, if there was a shortage of men due to battles.
>> I wonder if some of Kokopelli's children will have a mild form of super fertility? <<
Any of them could inherit some or all of it. Fertility tends to pass along very well. Also, the Kokopelli Spirit will probably choose some other avatars, who may or may not be related. At this point, anyone with strong fertility is a good candidate.
Re: Thank you!
Date: 2021-05-25 10:44 pm (UTC)(I'm discounting A Brother's Price as younger sibs are expected to fall in line with the oldest sibling, prospective husbands get no say, and the expectation is for arrainge marriages.)
Re: Thank you!
Date: 2021-05-25 11:04 pm (UTC)It's most common with twins, who often dislike separating. In tribes, it typically happened with several sisters who were close in age and friendship. When you have a group already compatible and bonded, it's a lot easier to find one additional compatible person than if you're trying to assemble a foursquare from scratch. This is the one I expect to see frequently in After tribes. Another common pattern is that if a woman's husband was killed, she could approach her sisters to see if any of them were willing to share theirs. We are also likely to see a newer version, where one woman scores a husband and her sisters then consider whether they would also like him (and vice versa).
>> (I'm discounting A Brother's Price as younger sibs are expected to fall in line with the oldest sibling, prospective husbands get no say, and the expectation is for arrainge marriages.) <<
I concur. While it worked out well in the novel, there were a lot of skeevy parts in there, and I would not call the society remotely healthy.
Re: Thank you!
Date: 2021-05-26 01:05 am (UTC)There's a Real Life culture that gender-inverts this; it helps limit population growth.
The story I was referencing upthread had more men than women; and sets of brothers were expected to court a lady in tandem. This caused problems for the male leads as they were very different personality wise and had a hard time finding a woman they both liked who liked them both in return - I dont think separate marriages was culturally acceptable, and the lady they ended up courting was from a different culture.
>>When you have a group already compatible and bonded, it's a lot easier to find one additional compatible person than if you're trying to assemble a foursquare from scratch. This is the one I expect to see frequently in After tribes.<<
[Shrug] Why limit to blood-kin? A group of unrelated close friends could choose to share a guy, if everyone agreed.
...there was one story I read where skewed gender ratios were the norm, so it was considered good manners for the woman in a heterosexual dyad relationship to introduce some of their single friends to the guy. (Also, being bisexual was the normal sexuality, and straight or gay folks were culturally considered queer.)
>>I concur. While it worked out well in the novel, there were a lot of skeevy parts in there, and I would not call the society remotely healthy.<<
I suspect it may improve once they invent sperm banks. (Someone did a fanfic mentioning the concept.)
Of course, then you'll still get traditionalists, who insist on the sanctity of the family, or family honor or whatever...which are well and good as concepts, but should /not/ be used as a reason to hurt people or deprive them of their rights.
It would be interesting to see what that 'verse is like in their version of the Roaring 20s, or WWII, or the '60s sexual revolution, or the #MeToo era.
Re: Thank you!
Date: 2021-05-26 02:13 am (UTC)Yeah, that's a challenge.
>> Why limit to blood-kin? A group of unrelated close friends could choose to share a guy, if everyone agreed. <<
It's not limited, and close friends do share husbands. But sisters often do it because they're already close-knit; they don't have to find friends first, and share a common background.
>> ...there was one story I read where skewed gender ratios were the norm, so it was considered good manners for the woman in a heterosexual dyad relationship to introduce some of their single friends to the guy. <<
Like the gimel females in Feathered Nests bringing their 'special friend' modor females along for a mating. When they can manage it, they all enjoy a five-way.
>> (Also, being bisexual was the normal sexuality, and straight or gay folks were culturally considered queer.) <<
It seems to be leaning toward bisexuality as a popular orientation, because of its flexibility. Lesbians are fairly well accepted due to the superfluity of females, but still get pressure to try reproducing. Gay men are generally considered selfish.
>> I suspect it may improve once they invent sperm banks. (Someone did a fanfic mentioning the concept.) <<
That requires more tech than most places have left. It's not impossible, but is far-fetched.
>> Of course, then you'll still get traditionalists, who insist on the sanctity of the family, or family honor or whatever...which are well and good as concepts, but should /not/ be used as a reason to hurt people or deprive them of their rights.<<
They have families. It's just that most of those families have very different structures than Before. There are still some man/woman marriages, but those are in the minority, simply due to statistics. For most women, if they want a lifepartner, it's going to be another woman; a man is someone they borrow long enough to get pregnant, if they're lucky.
>>It would be interesting to see what that 'verse is like in their version of the Roaring 20s, or WWII, or the '60s sexual revolution, or the #MeToo era.<<
Well, men become more vulnerable over time, as the memory of their dominance fades under the pressure of becoming a minority valued primarily for their stud service. Even 10-15 years After, the young women who grew up after the End are more inclined to view men as prizes -- sometimes to the point of running them down and riding them. The results can get messy.
Re: Thank you!
Date: 2021-05-26 03:10 am (UTC)With all the upheaval, a lot of families are likely comprised of adoptees and heart-kin. I think it may settle into sororal polygyny being more common down the line, but I think there'll still be some cases of heart-siblings or dear friends or a business-trading-partner team deciding "Well, we all get along well enough, so..."
>>It seems to be leaning toward bisexuality as a popular orientation, because of its flexibility.<<
Same in the other story - one character's response to hearing that a friend was from a monogamous culture was to assume that there were a lot of female-female couples (because mistakenly assuming the gender ratios were the same).
People get less fussy under stress or restricted conditions. I'm reminded of some old British Navy laws...and France after WWI.
>>They have families.<<
>>Well, men become more vulnerable over time...<<
I was actually thinking about the A Brother's Price 'verse for these two original comments. (Seriously, I want to see the suffragists teaching each other hatpin-jutsu, and male birth control being a controversially radical decision, and their version of One-Eyed Charlie.)
>>Even 10-15 years After, the young women who grew up after the End are more inclined to view men as prizes -- sometimes to the point of running them down and riding them. The results can get messy.<<
Yep, not good.
Re: Thank you!
Date: 2021-05-26 04:02 am (UTC)I'd still expect a slight variance towards female infants, due to environmental contamination and stressors.
Also, an uptick in intersex infants compared to Fora times, for the same reasons as above.
And 'recalibration' would likely be a gradual curve, as the contaminants fade out.
Also, highly contaminated areas would keep a higher skew than less contaminated or totally uncontaminated areas.
Re: Thank you!
Date: 2021-05-26 04:29 am (UTC)From my notes:
Births in 1 A.E.
Ages 12-14, 15-17, 18-24, and 25-64 have fertile adults. Younger and older ages have negligible fertility. Surviving birth rate in 1 A.E. ~ 10 per 1,000 (very low). Ratio of surviving infants was 1 in 10 boys/girls and 1 in 50 sex/gender variant. There were 359,670 surviving births in 1 A.E. consisting of 35,248 boys to 317,229 girls and 7,193 sex/gender variant
By the year 1 A.E. the proportion of male to female among teen and younger survivors (45,151,500) was about 1 in 10, or 4,515,150 boys to 40,636,350 girls. The proportion in adult survivors (41,099,395) was about 1 in 20, or 2,054,970 men and 39,044,425 women. The surviving birth rate was about 10 per 1,000 (very low). By 15 A.E. the proportion of male to female infants one year after birth is up around 1 in 5, and improvement has slowed to a crawl, likely due to the fragility of the Y chromosome. That means any male death has a disproportionate impact, and the ratio can easily drop back down to 1 in 10. The balance is slow to recover, and it may never get back to the 49 in 51 ratio of men to women that it used to be. The surviving birth rate is up to 20 per 1,000 (still low) and continuing to creep upward. As the death rate is higher After than Before, while the birth rate is lower, the population is probably still dwindling slowly. It should stabilize in the next several years, and then begin to climb as people stake out more of a civilization in the Aftermath. Society is still scrambling to catch up with what all of that may mean for interpersonal relationships and social responsibilities.
>>Also, an uptick in intersex infants compared to Fora times, for the same reasons as above.<<
From my notes:
People with sex/gender variations had a considerably higher rate of survival due to differing from the target sample. They remain a larger proportion of the population after the End. Rates remain elevated among births in the Aftermath, likely due to a combination of factors including baseline numbers, aftereffects of the Grunge, and overall pollution of the environment with hormone-mimicking substances. Estimates before the End range from less than 1% to about 3% of the Before population, trending upward. They probably make up 2-5% of the After population, with some variations based on age and location.
[---8<---]
About 2-5% of the population is sex/gender variant. They may have male, female, mixed, or neuter physical traits and any combination of gender identity and social role. However, they are less often fertile and reproductive compared to the conventional male-female population. Their most common contributions to repopulation are helping with childcare and adopting orphan or abandoned children. Society is still trying to figure out how to fit this into a rapidly shifting sex/gender dynamic.
>>Also, highly contaminated areas would keep a higher skew than less contaminated or totally uncontaminated areas.<<
This is likely true.
Re: Thank you!
Date: 2021-05-26 05:12 am (UTC)Something else to consider: there are likely groups of people who are capable of reproducing but current circumstances will not allow it.
A commune with only biologically female members can't really procreate.
Any feral children may need some version of the talk...or help with delivery, or someone to explain how to raise a /human/ infant. (Remember the scene where baby Tarzan keeps falling of Kala's back before she figures out she needs to cradle him?)
And there's probably a few people who put off procreating until they have establish resources or access to specific medical care. Not everybody, but at least a few people would manage.
(Seriously, why do the time-travel romance heroines waltzing off to live in Elizabethian England or wherever never seem to worry about the risks of childbirth? How many of your kids will die young? Or, like, plague? To be fair, the thought of explaining that hubby can't be deported back to modern-day Canada or wherever doesn't exactly fill me with joy either...)
Anyway, overall, my point is that some of the Afta survivors may start procreating once society recombines and knits itself together a bit more.
Re: Thank you!
Date: 2021-05-26 05:41 am (UTC)True, and these are key reasons why the birthrate was extremely low in the first year After, recovering to very low and then low by 15 A.E.
>> A commune with only biologically female members can't really procreate. <<
Not by themselves, but remember: a man needs a woman for 9 months, a woman needs a man for 9 minutes.
>> Any feral children may need some version of the talk...or help with delivery, or someone to explain how to raise a /human/ infant. (Remember the scene where baby Tarzan keeps falling of Kala's back before she figures out she needs to cradle him?)<<
True.
>> And there's probably a few people who put off procreating until they have establish resources or access to specific medical care. Not everybody, but at least a few people would manage. <<
Anyone with basic knowledge of where babies come from can prevent pregnancy. Don't put the P in the V and you're safe. Other orifices and hands may be used for pleasure.
>> (Seriously, why do the time-travel romance heroines waltzing off to live in Elizabethian England or wherever never seem to worry about the risks of childbirth? How many of your kids will die young? Or, like, plague? To be fair, the thought of explaining that hubby can't be deported back to modern-day Canada or wherever doesn't exactly fill me with joy either...) <<
Because it makes a horrible story. Read Doomsday Book for a historically accurate, aesthetically awful example. 0_o
>> Anyway, overall, my point is that some of the Afta survivors may start procreating once society recombines and knits itself together a bit more.<<
People fuck. Sometimes that makes babies. There were a few born even in the first year After, but it didn't really get significant until 1 A.E.
Re: Thank you!
Date: 2021-05-26 06:19 am (UTC)Yeah, but you need the guy to be wandering nearby before you can get those nine minutes.
>>Because it makes a horrible story. Read Doomsday Book for a historically accurate, aesthetically awful example. 0_o <<
Already read it. And it seems fairly true to life, from what I know about societal breakdown and apocalypses.
Life is a mix of horrible and wonderful, and that's true now just as it was in the past. It would be interesting seeing someone choose between different types of wonderful, and different types of horrible.
A world full of wonderful life (that might kill you) or a world with only a handful of relatively safe domestic megafauna? Dying at thirty or forty of something preventable with modern medicine but surrounded by loved ones, or dying at a hundred and three in a modern hospital, having had no close family for over half your life? Having boring, Department of Health approved food...or totally unregulated stuff made with heritage ingredients? [Courtesy of whoever is racing their engine at this late hour] all the convenience and bother and side effects of vehicles ... or the convenience and bother and side effects of using horses and feet to travel?
...I still want a time travel romance where the lady refuses to marry the man until they've discussed legalities of property and her requirements for producing kids ("Well, I want it in writing that I retain legal possession of my money and property. And if we have kids I want an uptime-trained midwife..." "Dear, are you sure all this is neccesary?" "Yes. Now as I was saying...")
>>People fuck. Sometimes that makes babies. There were a few born even in the first year After, but it didn't really get significant until 1 A.E.<<
Some people somewhere will always be producing offspring (assuming enough people of the right configuration.)
I think recombining some of the societal puzzle pieces and solving a few of the major stressors might increase intentional reproduction. And possibly add a few more chances for accidental reproduction. (And a greater social network would increase infant survival overall.)