Women in a Post-Apocalypse
Aug. 25th, 2011 02:52 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysabetwordsmithHere's an interesting essay about the portrayal of female characters in post-apocalyptic scenarios.
This is, um, mind-blowingly narrow-minded. Yes, it's a common scenario. It is by no means universal. Warrior women are another common PA trope, and there's matriarchal PA fiction if you know where to look. Plus some oddball examples like Sarah Connor, who is kind of pre-post-apocalyptic and trains her son to survive the apocalypse before it happens.
Then too, I'm writing in a post-apocalyptic setting, Torn World. Its various remnants had a lot of different ways of dealing with population pressures shortly after the Upheaval. Some places needed to push population up, while others needed to limit it. In the current period, the Southern Empire has rebuilt a thriving society and they have quite good birth control, and citizens are required to practice reproductive responsibility. The Northerners don't have that kind of birth control, and they are trying to keep their population up which is a challenge in their situation. Childbearing is expected and respected, but still voluntary. They've made some serious social adaptations to solve problems in ways that are least stressful; for instance, they practice serial monogamy rather than permanent marriages, and they have raisers to care for children so that people unsuited to parenthood can reproduce then return to their real work.
Seriously, if people make a post-apocalypic setting suck more than is absolutely necessary, it's just another case of humanity being stupid. There are saner ways to do things, and some people have used them. I will say, if you're planning to write post-apocalyptic fiction, do yourself a favor and read some anthropology books. It's a lot more fun to write about societies that find unusual solutions, rather than Yet Another Broodmare Fic or Five Millionth Story About Testosterone Poisoning.
This is, um, mind-blowingly narrow-minded. Yes, it's a common scenario. It is by no means universal. Warrior women are another common PA trope, and there's matriarchal PA fiction if you know where to look. Plus some oddball examples like Sarah Connor, who is kind of pre-post-apocalyptic and trains her son to survive the apocalypse before it happens.
Then too, I'm writing in a post-apocalyptic setting, Torn World. Its various remnants had a lot of different ways of dealing with population pressures shortly after the Upheaval. Some places needed to push population up, while others needed to limit it. In the current period, the Southern Empire has rebuilt a thriving society and they have quite good birth control, and citizens are required to practice reproductive responsibility. The Northerners don't have that kind of birth control, and they are trying to keep their population up which is a challenge in their situation. Childbearing is expected and respected, but still voluntary. They've made some serious social adaptations to solve problems in ways that are least stressful; for instance, they practice serial monogamy rather than permanent marriages, and they have raisers to care for children so that people unsuited to parenthood can reproduce then return to their real work.
Seriously, if people make a post-apocalypic setting suck more than is absolutely necessary, it's just another case of humanity being stupid. There are saner ways to do things, and some people have used them. I will say, if you're planning to write post-apocalyptic fiction, do yourself a favor and read some anthropology books. It's a lot more fun to write about societies that find unusual solutions, rather than Yet Another Broodmare Fic or Five Millionth Story About Testosterone Poisoning.
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(no subject)
Date: 2011-08-25 07:24 pm (UTC)It does not seem to have occurred to these PA authors that women may need to take many partners to spread the gene pool as widely as possible. And that gene testing, birth control and abortion for non-viable, less than healthy fetuses would be vital. But then, I'm just a woman....
Yes...
Date: 2011-08-25 10:40 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-08-25 08:52 am (UTC)Putting it simply, sperm are little packages of DNA with no ability to self-repair, unlike eggs, and a male's testicles are rather more exposed than ovaries.
To be blunt, after any nuclear war, there's going to be a lot more infertile men than women. In point of fact, in virtually any apocalyptic scenario that does genetic damage and/or cellular stress, [disease, environmental stress, anything that involves lots of running and poor diet etc.] men's reproductive health generally fares worse than women's, simply because it's evolved to be throw-away... the species as a whole doesn't need that many men to survive.
So, essentially the reality is that post-apocalypse, there'd probably be more women then men, and far more fertile women than men. It's pretty much a given that the women would be doing the rebuilding, at least in terms of numbers.
But as you say, people make post-apocalyptic scenarios suck worse. I can see some group of alpha-male types taking that as license to have a harem.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-08-25 05:26 pm (UTC)Yes...
Date: 2011-08-25 07:52 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-08-26 12:14 am (UTC)And, while it's more a case of gendercide, there's also Y The Last Man, a graphic novel series about, well, the last man on Earth.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-08-25 09:05 am (UTC)I cannot vouch for the English translation, but the original French was stunning.
Cool!
Date: 2011-08-25 07:57 pm (UTC)In Torn World, some of the cultures have genetic quirks due to historic bottlenecks where the population was very small. The Glifai have a substantial number of "no-gender" people and a tendency toward very sensitive skin. The Duurludirj are almost all blonds, with some redheads, and they have a healthy form of dwarfism through much of the population. The Northerners have a rare, not-so-healthy form of dwarfism and they run to dark hair. And the Northerners also still have a smallish population that requires care to maintain, so they track relationships carefully and encourage people to reproduce diligently.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-08-25 09:12 am (UTC)Yes...
Date: 2011-08-25 06:56 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-08-25 05:20 pm (UTC)*laugh*
Date: 2011-08-25 06:54 pm (UTC)Counterpoint: It is actually possible to create elaborate hairdos with almost no technology, and people do that routinely in many cultures. I'm sure Hollywood didn't do that on purpose, but it is plausible.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-08-25 05:23 pm (UTC)My point being, there's no sane reason to force women to have lots of children. No "force" would be required, and it would be counterproductive to most inheritor culture's other social interests. Especially because a big mostly-empty world makes flight a distinct option available to the dissatisfied.
Things might be worse in an extreme catastrophe, where the survivors all lived in a shelter of some kind for decades. A lot would depend on the sanity of the leadership, in that case.
Yes...
Date: 2011-08-25 10:39 pm (UTC)Germ warfare followed by genocide, yes, so the crisis never ended.
>>Especially because a big mostly-empty world makes flight a distinct option available to the dissatisfied.<<
Hence the counterpoint motif of warrior women and matriarchies.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-08-25 07:24 pm (UTC)However, it is very much a man's world 5 years down the road. Some places have decent equality, the university area for one. Most are pretty much male-dominated. One place has gone all female with males admitted for breeding purposes and no more. In a world where women are trade-goods, and one settlement has decided to live out John Norman's Gor, it seems the only way to stay free. Mobile gangs of (male) outcasts--mostly gay--serve as vigilante police, circuit court judges, circuit riding preachers and traders. Pregnant women are a valuable commodity and bring the gangs a high price.
Just as my romance characters will never hesitate to throw away love for obsession, so too, I believe groups of humans will never hesitate to fuck things up as much as possible.
Hmm...
Date: 2011-08-25 10:39 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-08-26 12:07 am (UTC)Thank you!
Date: 2011-08-26 12:34 am (UTC)Re: Thank you!
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