Prime Junta
RPGCodex' Little BRO
- Joined
- October 19, 2006
- Messages
- 8,540
I think it says something about the game that a topic like this isn't completely ridiculous in the context. ("Gender relations in NWN2? Uh... ok...")
First off, it goes way, way beyond the sex minigame. There's a pretty complex underlay of mores and structures there that determines how stuff works. I think I can discern at least four distinct but interrelated sets of mores that determine gender relations. I'm just starting Act III, so I've seen Temple Quarter and a part of Trade Quarter.
I'll try to keep spoilers to a minimum here, but some might be inevitable.
(1) Agrarian/traditionalist -- most evident in the Outskirts
This is a strongly patriarchal society. Women are pretty much powerless -- a raped girl resorts to suicide, a barmaid plays the role of the "decent girl" if there's anyone looking but seems quite eager for a tryst when there isn't; a young woman living on her own is assumed to prostitute herself, is despised and feared, and is ready to resort to bartering sexual favors to solve her problems.
(2) Urban/clerical-bourgeois -- most evident in Temple Quarter and a part of the Trade Quarter
Here there's also a pretty clear division of roles, and a clearly patriarchal society. Women are presented as female companions, wives, nurses, or prostitutes. Men are merchants, craftsmen, clerics, or militiamen. People from the agrarian/traditionalist layer of society clearly aspire to join this class (as evidenced by Mikul and the respect accorded to Reverend). Women of this class with ambitions of their own don't have many options open to them -- the only example of an independent woman here is Carmen the leader of the Temple Quarter prostitutes. Probably not exactly every girl's dream job. Sexual mores seem quite tight and traditionalist (as evidenced by Granny's desire to chaperone Shani).
(3) Educated/upper class -- in Trade Quarter, as well as some individuals in the other areas
In this class, women clearly have much more liberties than in the other classes: we have a princess blithely ordering a duke about, a sorceress freely mixing with the (male) movers and shakers of the world, and a doctor pursuing an independent career. These are no shrinking violets; they're women who know what they want and are able to get it. It's also clear that they're not rebels against the system, but parts of it: society treats upper-class women much the same way as men, if that's the role they take on themselves. Sexual mores are clearly very liberal: there's very little to no social penalty for sexually active women (or men, for that matter). Dalliances between aristocrats (married or not) seem common, and high-class courtesans are fairly highly regarded.
(4) Barbarian/primitivist?
I haven't run into this much, but it seems pretty clear that dryads, druids, and elves have some fairly different ideas about gender relations than the other groups discussed above. Elven resistance fighters include women fighting alongside the men, dryad society appears to be exclusively female, and druids don't seem to find anything out of place about a buck-naked (and absolutely knock-down gorgeous) dryad living with them.
Thoughts, anyone?
First off, it goes way, way beyond the sex minigame. There's a pretty complex underlay of mores and structures there that determines how stuff works. I think I can discern at least four distinct but interrelated sets of mores that determine gender relations. I'm just starting Act III, so I've seen Temple Quarter and a part of Trade Quarter.
I'll try to keep spoilers to a minimum here, but some might be inevitable.
(1) Agrarian/traditionalist -- most evident in the Outskirts
This is a strongly patriarchal society. Women are pretty much powerless -- a raped girl resorts to suicide, a barmaid plays the role of the "decent girl" if there's anyone looking but seems quite eager for a tryst when there isn't; a young woman living on her own is assumed to prostitute herself, is despised and feared, and is ready to resort to bartering sexual favors to solve her problems.
(2) Urban/clerical-bourgeois -- most evident in Temple Quarter and a part of the Trade Quarter
Here there's also a pretty clear division of roles, and a clearly patriarchal society. Women are presented as female companions, wives, nurses, or prostitutes. Men are merchants, craftsmen, clerics, or militiamen. People from the agrarian/traditionalist layer of society clearly aspire to join this class (as evidenced by Mikul and the respect accorded to Reverend). Women of this class with ambitions of their own don't have many options open to them -- the only example of an independent woman here is Carmen the leader of the Temple Quarter prostitutes. Probably not exactly every girl's dream job. Sexual mores seem quite tight and traditionalist (as evidenced by Granny's desire to chaperone Shani).
(3) Educated/upper class -- in Trade Quarter, as well as some individuals in the other areas
In this class, women clearly have much more liberties than in the other classes: we have a princess blithely ordering a duke about, a sorceress freely mixing with the (male) movers and shakers of the world, and a doctor pursuing an independent career. These are no shrinking violets; they're women who know what they want and are able to get it. It's also clear that they're not rebels against the system, but parts of it: society treats upper-class women much the same way as men, if that's the role they take on themselves. Sexual mores are clearly very liberal: there's very little to no social penalty for sexually active women (or men, for that matter). Dalliances between aristocrats (married or not) seem common, and high-class courtesans are fairly highly regarded.
(4) Barbarian/primitivist?
I haven't run into this much, but it seems pretty clear that dryads, druids, and elves have some fairly different ideas about gender relations than the other groups discussed above. Elven resistance fighters include women fighting alongside the men, dryad society appears to be exclusively female, and druids don't seem to find anything out of place about a buck-naked (and absolutely knock-down gorgeous) dryad living with them.
Thoughts, anyone?
- Joined
- Oct 19, 2006
- Messages
- 8,540