Awassi Gender Roles
Although it is impossible to speak for every single Awassian culture and individual regarding their views about gender and gender expression, most Awassi cultures have a history of rigid, binary gender roles.
Awassi females are called ewes and Awassi males are called rams. Some communities, though not all and certainly not most, regard wethers as a unique, third gender category. Regardless of whether an Awassi follows a bi- or tri-nary system of gender, ewes always seem to come out on top in terms of freedoms and visibility in the public sphere. In fact, in certain Wassi cultures, the goal of a ram was to be invisble and obedient, seen but not heard...
And sometimes not even seen, as was the case for the early Zylperians, where ewes and rams were strictly segregated outside of the home and, usually, even inside of the home as well. In extreme cases, a ram might not be able to name any ewes other than those of his family and the household of the ewe he's sent to live with once he reaches adulthood. A Zylperian, whether ewe, ram, or something in between, believed strongly that ewes and rams have their own separate, uncrossable cultures despite their proximity to one another. This was often true in their day-to-day lives, which were conducted quite differently from one another.
This extreme, early Zylperian concept of gender was already antiquated by the time of the plague that decimated Awassi populations and led to a reorganization of the whole of Kivria's social hierarchy.
Despite this, echos of these beliefs are still found today, in various forms. For example, rams are expected to smell as neutral as possible and dress plainly, making them coincidentally invisible by sight and smell. For a ram point this out and make the connection between old traditions and today, however, is frequently met with denial from all corners. After all, no one wants to association themselves with such an oppressive system, and you know how influenced the young rams are these days by Henin men.
Comments