How to achieve physical gender equality?How can genetic enchancements allow male and female sports leagues to...
Rudeness by being polite
How to not forget my phone in the bathroom?
Current measurement op-amp calculation
Are encryption algorithms with fixed-point free permutations inherently flawed?
80-bit collision resistence because of 80-bit x87 registers?
Why is ra lower than re while la is higher than le?
Why don't reads from /dev/zero count as I/O?
How many copper coins fit inside a cubic foot?
Why is Bernie Sanders maximum accepted donation on actblue $5600?
How do I write a maintainable, fast, compile-time bit-mask in C++?
Manager has noticed coworker's excessive breaks. Should I warn him?
Is Apex Sometimes Case Sensitive?
Why is Shelob considered evil?
Stream.findFirst different than Optional.of?
Why Third 'Reich'? Why is 'reich' not translated when 'third' is? What is the English synonym of reich?
Is opening a file faster than reading variable content?
The Longest Chess Game
我可不觉得 - agree or disagree?
Sauna: Wood does not feel so hot
Identical projects by students at two different colleges: still plagiarism?
Which was the first story to feature space elevators?
How bad is a Computer Science course that doesn't teach Design Patterns?
What dissuades people from lying about where they live in order to reduce state income taxes?
How to write painful torture scenes without being over-the-top
How to achieve physical gender equality?
How can genetic enchancements allow male and female sports leagues to intertwine with each other?Physical speed of insectoid lifeformsNo Limits Humans - Physical SideWhat would be the most important consequence of decreasing sexual dimorphism in humans?Gender ratio in a three gender systemMax humanoid physical strengthPhysical strength of replicantsIn a species of simultaneous hermaphrodites, would there be any meaningful difference between siblings of the same parents in opposite roles?Celebrity Super Soldier - How Strong Could a “Realistic” Humanoid Be Designed to Be?Virtual Reality and Physical TraumaAlternative options to change sex-based characteristics in a non-modern world setting?
$begingroup$
Now, I am constructing a human-like civilization that has more advanced technology than our own. They share genes through sexual reproduction.
I hope in this world, there will be fewer rape caused by physical difference.
And in dailylife, male|female will not be influence by the difference of strength (either inherently no difference, or the difference is offset by some technique), they also don't need to consider it.
How I can achieve this?
In addition, I don't means everyone need to be superman. One person can still be physically bullied by a group of people.
p.s. It can be achieved by some technique armour and something like energy shield powered by WPT.
EDIT(AFTER 10 ANSWERS)
THE CONCLUSION OF THOSE ANSWER:
- improving laws
- external fertilization( eliminate the asymmetrical impact of reproduction )
- hermaphrodites, no gender, transgender in biology
- go digital
- Pheromones
- Govern control( Monitoring Everyone )
- bonobos-like
WHAT I THINK:
I aimed to create a martial arts world close to ancient Chinese(also have modern technique ), every individual can become superman through something like QiGong(or yoga). Maybe super-super-superman can go digital at last by QiGong(I know it's anti-science).
But there are ordinary person too, I hope they won't worry about natural physical differences, and so there are not such culture like "women do housework",""etc..
I want to keep the gender dimorphism, so as to keep classic heterosexual. And I also don't hope there is something like world government to forcing it on everyone on ideological grounds(cuz not freedom).
For the sake of understanding, suppose the numerical Defense of each man vary from $0-10$, then I hope after THIS equality mechanism, each one increse $>=100$ Defense , so the original body strength $variance$ can be ignored.
biology weapons genetic-engineering
New contributor
$endgroup$
|
show 7 more comments
$begingroup$
Now, I am constructing a human-like civilization that has more advanced technology than our own. They share genes through sexual reproduction.
I hope in this world, there will be fewer rape caused by physical difference.
And in dailylife, male|female will not be influence by the difference of strength (either inherently no difference, or the difference is offset by some technique), they also don't need to consider it.
How I can achieve this?
In addition, I don't means everyone need to be superman. One person can still be physically bullied by a group of people.
p.s. It can be achieved by some technique armour and something like energy shield powered by WPT.
EDIT(AFTER 10 ANSWERS)
THE CONCLUSION OF THOSE ANSWER:
- improving laws
- external fertilization( eliminate the asymmetrical impact of reproduction )
- hermaphrodites, no gender, transgender in biology
- go digital
- Pheromones
- Govern control( Monitoring Everyone )
- bonobos-like
WHAT I THINK:
I aimed to create a martial arts world close to ancient Chinese(also have modern technique ), every individual can become superman through something like QiGong(or yoga). Maybe super-super-superman can go digital at last by QiGong(I know it's anti-science).
But there are ordinary person too, I hope they won't worry about natural physical differences, and so there are not such culture like "women do housework",""etc..
I want to keep the gender dimorphism, so as to keep classic heterosexual. And I also don't hope there is something like world government to forcing it on everyone on ideological grounds(cuz not freedom).
For the sake of understanding, suppose the numerical Defense of each man vary from $0-10$, then I hope after THIS equality mechanism, each one increse $>=100$ Defense , so the original body strength $variance$ can be ignored.
biology weapons genetic-engineering
New contributor
$endgroup$
3
$begingroup$
Get rid of one sex, and have it a completely unisex society.
$endgroup$
– Justin Thyme
14 hours ago
1
$begingroup$
You might like the film Antz: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antz it may give some inspiration.
$endgroup$
– Agrajag
14 hours ago
1
$begingroup$
I also think weapons play a big role in this. Usually an attacker is better armed than the attacked, regardless of biological differences.
$endgroup$
– PyRulez
11 hours ago
1
$begingroup$
You may want to look at the (poorly received) question about gender in sports with genetic enhancements. I think genetic enhancements is on-par with the idea of making them physically equal. It's a tricky argument. More tricky because there's mental differences as well (which may or may not follow the physical differences... that's still an unknown in science). More tricky because it's not 100% clear what motivates rape.
$endgroup$
– Cort Ammon
10 hours ago
2
$begingroup$
That being said, I expect that if I did some digging into statistics, women who know martial arts probably don't get raped as often, so there's probably a good argument that some tactics can offset brute strength, and that we may even already know what those tactics are.
$endgroup$
– Cort Ammon
10 hours ago
|
show 7 more comments
$begingroup$
Now, I am constructing a human-like civilization that has more advanced technology than our own. They share genes through sexual reproduction.
I hope in this world, there will be fewer rape caused by physical difference.
And in dailylife, male|female will not be influence by the difference of strength (either inherently no difference, or the difference is offset by some technique), they also don't need to consider it.
How I can achieve this?
In addition, I don't means everyone need to be superman. One person can still be physically bullied by a group of people.
p.s. It can be achieved by some technique armour and something like energy shield powered by WPT.
EDIT(AFTER 10 ANSWERS)
THE CONCLUSION OF THOSE ANSWER:
- improving laws
- external fertilization( eliminate the asymmetrical impact of reproduction )
- hermaphrodites, no gender, transgender in biology
- go digital
- Pheromones
- Govern control( Monitoring Everyone )
- bonobos-like
WHAT I THINK:
I aimed to create a martial arts world close to ancient Chinese(also have modern technique ), every individual can become superman through something like QiGong(or yoga). Maybe super-super-superman can go digital at last by QiGong(I know it's anti-science).
But there are ordinary person too, I hope they won't worry about natural physical differences, and so there are not such culture like "women do housework",""etc..
I want to keep the gender dimorphism, so as to keep classic heterosexual. And I also don't hope there is something like world government to forcing it on everyone on ideological grounds(cuz not freedom).
For the sake of understanding, suppose the numerical Defense of each man vary from $0-10$, then I hope after THIS equality mechanism, each one increse $>=100$ Defense , so the original body strength $variance$ can be ignored.
biology weapons genetic-engineering
New contributor
$endgroup$
Now, I am constructing a human-like civilization that has more advanced technology than our own. They share genes through sexual reproduction.
I hope in this world, there will be fewer rape caused by physical difference.
And in dailylife, male|female will not be influence by the difference of strength (either inherently no difference, or the difference is offset by some technique), they also don't need to consider it.
How I can achieve this?
In addition, I don't means everyone need to be superman. One person can still be physically bullied by a group of people.
p.s. It can be achieved by some technique armour and something like energy shield powered by WPT.
EDIT(AFTER 10 ANSWERS)
THE CONCLUSION OF THOSE ANSWER:
- improving laws
- external fertilization( eliminate the asymmetrical impact of reproduction )
- hermaphrodites, no gender, transgender in biology
- go digital
- Pheromones
- Govern control( Monitoring Everyone )
- bonobos-like
WHAT I THINK:
I aimed to create a martial arts world close to ancient Chinese(also have modern technique ), every individual can become superman through something like QiGong(or yoga). Maybe super-super-superman can go digital at last by QiGong(I know it's anti-science).
But there are ordinary person too, I hope they won't worry about natural physical differences, and so there are not such culture like "women do housework",""etc..
I want to keep the gender dimorphism, so as to keep classic heterosexual. And I also don't hope there is something like world government to forcing it on everyone on ideological grounds(cuz not freedom).
For the sake of understanding, suppose the numerical Defense of each man vary from $0-10$, then I hope after THIS equality mechanism, each one increse $>=100$ Defense , so the original body strength $variance$ can be ignored.
biology weapons genetic-engineering
biology weapons genetic-engineering
New contributor
New contributor
edited 20 mins ago
rambler
New contributor
asked 14 hours ago
ramblerrambler
367
367
New contributor
New contributor
3
$begingroup$
Get rid of one sex, and have it a completely unisex society.
$endgroup$
– Justin Thyme
14 hours ago
1
$begingroup$
You might like the film Antz: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antz it may give some inspiration.
$endgroup$
– Agrajag
14 hours ago
1
$begingroup$
I also think weapons play a big role in this. Usually an attacker is better armed than the attacked, regardless of biological differences.
$endgroup$
– PyRulez
11 hours ago
1
$begingroup$
You may want to look at the (poorly received) question about gender in sports with genetic enhancements. I think genetic enhancements is on-par with the idea of making them physically equal. It's a tricky argument. More tricky because there's mental differences as well (which may or may not follow the physical differences... that's still an unknown in science). More tricky because it's not 100% clear what motivates rape.
$endgroup$
– Cort Ammon
10 hours ago
2
$begingroup$
That being said, I expect that if I did some digging into statistics, women who know martial arts probably don't get raped as often, so there's probably a good argument that some tactics can offset brute strength, and that we may even already know what those tactics are.
$endgroup$
– Cort Ammon
10 hours ago
|
show 7 more comments
3
$begingroup$
Get rid of one sex, and have it a completely unisex society.
$endgroup$
– Justin Thyme
14 hours ago
1
$begingroup$
You might like the film Antz: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antz it may give some inspiration.
$endgroup$
– Agrajag
14 hours ago
1
$begingroup$
I also think weapons play a big role in this. Usually an attacker is better armed than the attacked, regardless of biological differences.
$endgroup$
– PyRulez
11 hours ago
1
$begingroup$
You may want to look at the (poorly received) question about gender in sports with genetic enhancements. I think genetic enhancements is on-par with the idea of making them physically equal. It's a tricky argument. More tricky because there's mental differences as well (which may or may not follow the physical differences... that's still an unknown in science). More tricky because it's not 100% clear what motivates rape.
$endgroup$
– Cort Ammon
10 hours ago
2
$begingroup$
That being said, I expect that if I did some digging into statistics, women who know martial arts probably don't get raped as often, so there's probably a good argument that some tactics can offset brute strength, and that we may even already know what those tactics are.
$endgroup$
– Cort Ammon
10 hours ago
3
3
$begingroup$
Get rid of one sex, and have it a completely unisex society.
$endgroup$
– Justin Thyme
14 hours ago
$begingroup$
Get rid of one sex, and have it a completely unisex society.
$endgroup$
– Justin Thyme
14 hours ago
1
1
$begingroup$
You might like the film Antz: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antz it may give some inspiration.
$endgroup$
– Agrajag
14 hours ago
$begingroup$
You might like the film Antz: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antz it may give some inspiration.
$endgroup$
– Agrajag
14 hours ago
1
1
$begingroup$
I also think weapons play a big role in this. Usually an attacker is better armed than the attacked, regardless of biological differences.
$endgroup$
– PyRulez
11 hours ago
$begingroup$
I also think weapons play a big role in this. Usually an attacker is better armed than the attacked, regardless of biological differences.
$endgroup$
– PyRulez
11 hours ago
1
1
$begingroup$
You may want to look at the (poorly received) question about gender in sports with genetic enhancements. I think genetic enhancements is on-par with the idea of making them physically equal. It's a tricky argument. More tricky because there's mental differences as well (which may or may not follow the physical differences... that's still an unknown in science). More tricky because it's not 100% clear what motivates rape.
$endgroup$
– Cort Ammon
10 hours ago
$begingroup$
You may want to look at the (poorly received) question about gender in sports with genetic enhancements. I think genetic enhancements is on-par with the idea of making them physically equal. It's a tricky argument. More tricky because there's mental differences as well (which may or may not follow the physical differences... that's still an unknown in science). More tricky because it's not 100% clear what motivates rape.
$endgroup$
– Cort Ammon
10 hours ago
2
2
$begingroup$
That being said, I expect that if I did some digging into statistics, women who know martial arts probably don't get raped as often, so there's probably a good argument that some tactics can offset brute strength, and that we may even already know what those tactics are.
$endgroup$
– Cort Ammon
10 hours ago
$begingroup$
That being said, I expect that if I did some digging into statistics, women who know martial arts probably don't get raped as often, so there's probably a good argument that some tactics can offset brute strength, and that we may even already know what those tactics are.
$endgroup$
– Cort Ammon
10 hours ago
|
show 7 more comments
10 Answers
10
active
oldest
votes
$begingroup$
Your not-quite-humans are amphibians, and reproduce via external fertilization in water.
This eliminates any need for males to physically penetrate females, and thus any reason to evolve a desire to do so. It also significantly restricts the environments in which sexual activity is even possible, let alone forcible.
It also reduces the impact of reproduction on female bodies, so from a strictly reproductive standpoint they need not be significantly structurally different from males. It is entirely possible that males and females could be externally physically indistinguishable (in which case, much like Terry Pratchett's dwarfs, courtship might involve a tactful process of attempting to discover just what gender all of your friends actually are...).
This doesn't mean that there would necessarily be no gender differences. Plenty of externally-fertilizing fish, for example, still have distinct gender morphs. Simply that it is no longer necessary that there be gender differences, either. Maybe the genders are distinguished by purely aesthetic characteristics, like different colorings or hair patterns--or maybe not. Maybe there are psychological differences that make one gender or the other naturally inclined towards caring for children vs. fighting and hunting... or maybe not. Just eliminate the asymmetrical impact of reproduction on one gender vs. the other, and you can have all of the equality, or keep all of the inequality, that you want.
$endgroup$
4
$begingroup$
You could even have temporary gender differences during the mating season, plenty of species do that. Most of the year you woudn't notice but for a few weeks half of the population has a colourfull mohawk.
$endgroup$
– Borgh
6 hours ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
Go digital.
Come the Technological singularity, it would becomes possible for people to exist in virtual worlds.
If people are just programs, there are no physical differences. Everybody is as strong and as fast as they want to be. The only differences are mental.
$endgroup$
$begingroup$
yes, this is one trivial way to go.
$endgroup$
– rambler
13 hours ago
$begingroup$
@JBH I changed my question after he answer this
$endgroup$
– rambler
12 hours ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
If we assume that biological males and females on your world are physically (from the perspective of strength) equal, there is still a tremendous amount of variation. Here on Earth, Japanese men and women are, on average, considerably more delicate than Samoan men and women. (Honestly, who isn't?)
My point is, from the perspective of strength (body build, muscle and bone density, etc.), the physiological differences between ethnic groups are considerably greater and more widely varied than the physiological differences between genders.
But that doesn't completely express the problem, because I've seen very tall and very short Japanese men. And don't even get me started about Sumo Wrestlers. Even the physical build within the same ethnic group can vary widely (and wildly).
And even that doesn't completely express the problem, because there are substantial differences between people depending on their health choices. Is our specimen a professional body builder? A regular exerciser? Walk every day? Eat ice cream all the time? ...
And we still haven't compared the basic differences between human biological genders.
Solution Part 1: Your planetary people is 100% homogeneous. For inexplicable and completely impossible reasons, the males (for the basic example) are on average the same physical build everywhere on your planet.
Solution Part 2: Your planetary people have an unrealistically and improbably small variation in physical build. For example: two men picked randomly from anywhere on the planet have the same height, weight, build, etc.
Solution Part 3: Your people planet-wide are very healthy, never over eat, get regular exercise, and none of them are interested in body building.
Now we get to deal with the differences between biological genders. This is easy by comparison. Almost.
Solution Part 4:
- Equal skull thicknesses
- Equal bone density
- Equal height
- Equal weight
- Equal muscle mass
- Equal muscle types
- Equal proportions (legs, arms, torso...)
Except for the hips. That's a problem unless you radically change the nature of biology. Big creatures need big babies or big eggs. Either one needs a large way of exiting the female body, which means you'll never get equal hips. We'll need to handwave this one. You could assume a much smaller egg/fetal stage such that it exits the body much smaller than human babies do or human eggs would. That's a neat trick biologically, but like I said... handwaving....
Solution Part 5 We ignore the concept of gender identity completely. Of course, having made everyone physiologically similar, it might not matter any more anyway.
And what you now have is the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "The Outcast."
In the end, I wonder if all this effort even makes sense. I don't know of whether or not the statistics of rapes include non-alcohol, non-drug rapes where the aggressor was measurably stronger than the victim. I'm sure it's a valid point. But considering the number of rapes that include alcohol and/or drugs, I don't know if your society is really all that much better off.
$endgroup$
$begingroup$
"Big creatures need big babies or big eggs." Are kangaroos big enough to disprove that rule?
$endgroup$
– alephzero
2 hours ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
Pheromones. Males are genetically engineered to require the presence of desire in females to achieve erection. In this case, physical arousal is not the same as desire, so men are just as interested in women as before, it's just that the woman has to be receptive to his advances before the plumbing starts working appropriately. And the scent of arousal is what does the trick.
Note that this will not prevent sexual assault. It is by now a cliche that rape is about power, not sex, so women will still be beaten, and presumably substitutes for the "normal" instrument will be often used. This may well result in a higher incidence of injuries above the "regular" levels common to rape, but no pregnancies will result.
Also, of course, a black market in pheromones will arise, and the really dedicated rapists will manage to get hold of the necessary to allow erection.
$endgroup$
add a comment |
$begingroup$
Make them all hermaphrodites.
You should have a look at Ursula K. Le Guin's The Left Hand of Darkness. In this story there is a new species of humans. All members of this species have both sexes. They stay androginous for 21 or 22 days at a time, then for four or five days they will manifest the characteristics of one gender.
That is regulated by a hormonal cycle. Someone in a place where one gender expression is having a majority will tend to express the other gender, as a way to balance things out. Otherwise the gender they will manifest is random.
This means everybody will experience both genders multiple times throughout their lives. In the book there was a clan that took pride in having all its members have their first sex manifestation as female, but other than that they were pretty equalitarian about gender.
$endgroup$
$begingroup$
JBH mentioned that, ,The Left HoD is really a classic book
$endgroup$
– rambler
3 hours ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
Consider our close relatives the bonobos. They simply don't have the sexual dimorphism that makes human men, on average, bigger and stronger than women.
If you want a more equal society, consider making your close-to-human species more like bonobos.
Similarly, you can change family structure to reduce the importance of males wanting to raise their own biological children. (I'm thinking of an Orson Scott Card novel where men helped raise their sisters' children and it was considered rather rude to ask what man sired any given child.)
$endgroup$
$begingroup$
For which novel?
$endgroup$
– rambler
8 hours ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
One thing to consider if you specifically rape is that the majority of sexual violence is not due to strangers overpowering their victim, but someone abusing an existing relation. A SciFi gadget is not going to do anything about that.
If you want to prevent rape in your verse, I would suggest you go about structuring society:
Give Gender Equality a few centuries
Right now this is a real world topic, plenty of famous people have been caught by #metoo. It will take time and possibly more scandals until this sinks into the base behavior of people, which may require the current generations to die out which don't have this institutionalized yet.
Monitoring Everyone
If everyone is chipped and connected to some network, everyone can be monitored. If the chip can interface with thoughts, it can monitor people, and send an alert on any possible rape, or a victim may be able to trigger the alert.
This may or may not have more dystopian consequences depending on who has access to data from these chips.
Gene Engineering
If you don't trust gender equality to work out on its own, you might engineer oneself to suppress violent impulses, and make everyone more socially compatible. This may have dystopian consequences too if the wrong people get access to this.
Neural Education
You might alternatively educate your population in proper behavior in some way that becomes instinct, and very hard for the recipient to act against to suppress rape. Again this device may have unintended consequences.
New contributor
$endgroup$
add a comment |
$begingroup$
Improve laws
Even in a world where's men and women have the same strength on average there's plenty of room for variance: some men (and women) will be stronger than others. But that's besides the point, because most of the time the rape is commited by someone who knows the victim - and who already knows he can subdue her - and in the case of rape by a complete stranger they are usually armed (with knives, most of the time), while the victim is not.
So, if your main goal is preventing rape you just have to move these posts further away than we are currently trying to do:
Empower the victims, shame the rapists. Currently most of the sexual abuse, including rape, is never denounced and thus never prosecuted. Rapists benefit from this culture of silence, they know they can get away with it and it helps them rationalize that what they are doing "is not that bad".
Improve conviction ratio. It's hard to prove abuse, even rape. Contrarily to what is depicted in the movies, most rapes leave no physical traces - and counterintuitively rape by a stranger is less likely to produce injuries besides the ones the penetration has caused, if any. Many women don't fight back when raped (because it's better to be raped than to be raped and beaten up, maimed or killed). Your highly advanced civilization must have ways to prove rape, which can be much more difficult than it seems at first glance, since it's consent what tells apart rape from sex and most cases won't be "random-stalker-puts-knife-at-her-throat-makes-her-undress".
And basically, that's all. Remember that harsh punishments are no deterrent for criminals; high chances of being caught are. Since rape is a crime that always leave a witness behind (unless it's rape and murder) your only chances of getting away is either not being denounced or failing to prove the rape. Put a remedy to those two and rape will become a rarity.
$endgroup$
$begingroup$
This is even useful in our own society.
$endgroup$
– rambler
4 hours ago
$begingroup$
@rambler Yes, that's what I was trying to say with the line "moving the posts farther than we are currently trying to do". We are already moving in that direction.
$endgroup$
– Rekesoft
4 hours ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
A short answer. If everyone is equal in strength, you could have everyone be very dangerous. I no like you, I explode dangerous. If everyone has terrible defense and fantastic offense, rape might be less likely. Everyone could either have superpower of some sort, or a cyberpunk type weapon implanted. The cold war of rape basically. Basically the US right to bear arms on a mandatory species wide level. How effective it is to deter rapists would depend on what you give them as a weapon.
Alternatively, you could just rule sexual intercourse as difficult or enjoyable to undergo? It would normally kill off a species, but maybe humans would have some self created reason to go through with the torturous process. Enough drive to continue the species but not enough to want to rape a person maybe.
$endgroup$
add a comment |
$begingroup$
If you want to retain all other differences between males and females, simply make females bigger. This way you can still have muscle-bound men and slender women, but the difference in size can balance out the difference in muscle-mass.
$endgroup$
$begingroup$
No, there are still big individual variance. I am editing my question. Thank you.
$endgroup$
– rambler
32 mins ago
add a comment |
Your Answer
StackExchange.ifUsing("editor", function () {
return StackExchange.using("mathjaxEditing", function () {
StackExchange.MarkdownEditor.creationCallbacks.add(function (editor, postfix) {
StackExchange.mathjaxEditing.prepareWmdForMathJax(editor, postfix, [["$", "$"], ["\\(","\\)"]]);
});
});
}, "mathjax-editing");
StackExchange.ready(function() {
var channelOptions = {
tags: "".split(" "),
id: "579"
};
initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);
StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function() {
// Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled) {
StackExchange.using("snippets", function() {
createEditor();
});
}
else {
createEditor();
}
});
function createEditor() {
StackExchange.prepareEditor({
heartbeatType: 'answer',
autoActivateHeartbeat: false,
convertImagesToLinks: false,
noModals: true,
showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
reputationToPostImages: null,
bindNavPrevention: true,
postfix: "",
imageUploader: {
brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
allowUrls: true
},
noCode: true, onDemand: true,
discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
});
}
});
rambler is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fworldbuilding.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f139624%2fhow-to-achieve-physical-gender-equality%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
10 Answers
10
active
oldest
votes
10 Answers
10
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
$begingroup$
Your not-quite-humans are amphibians, and reproduce via external fertilization in water.
This eliminates any need for males to physically penetrate females, and thus any reason to evolve a desire to do so. It also significantly restricts the environments in which sexual activity is even possible, let alone forcible.
It also reduces the impact of reproduction on female bodies, so from a strictly reproductive standpoint they need not be significantly structurally different from males. It is entirely possible that males and females could be externally physically indistinguishable (in which case, much like Terry Pratchett's dwarfs, courtship might involve a tactful process of attempting to discover just what gender all of your friends actually are...).
This doesn't mean that there would necessarily be no gender differences. Plenty of externally-fertilizing fish, for example, still have distinct gender morphs. Simply that it is no longer necessary that there be gender differences, either. Maybe the genders are distinguished by purely aesthetic characteristics, like different colorings or hair patterns--or maybe not. Maybe there are psychological differences that make one gender or the other naturally inclined towards caring for children vs. fighting and hunting... or maybe not. Just eliminate the asymmetrical impact of reproduction on one gender vs. the other, and you can have all of the equality, or keep all of the inequality, that you want.
$endgroup$
4
$begingroup$
You could even have temporary gender differences during the mating season, plenty of species do that. Most of the year you woudn't notice but for a few weeks half of the population has a colourfull mohawk.
$endgroup$
– Borgh
6 hours ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
Your not-quite-humans are amphibians, and reproduce via external fertilization in water.
This eliminates any need for males to physically penetrate females, and thus any reason to evolve a desire to do so. It also significantly restricts the environments in which sexual activity is even possible, let alone forcible.
It also reduces the impact of reproduction on female bodies, so from a strictly reproductive standpoint they need not be significantly structurally different from males. It is entirely possible that males and females could be externally physically indistinguishable (in which case, much like Terry Pratchett's dwarfs, courtship might involve a tactful process of attempting to discover just what gender all of your friends actually are...).
This doesn't mean that there would necessarily be no gender differences. Plenty of externally-fertilizing fish, for example, still have distinct gender morphs. Simply that it is no longer necessary that there be gender differences, either. Maybe the genders are distinguished by purely aesthetic characteristics, like different colorings or hair patterns--or maybe not. Maybe there are psychological differences that make one gender or the other naturally inclined towards caring for children vs. fighting and hunting... or maybe not. Just eliminate the asymmetrical impact of reproduction on one gender vs. the other, and you can have all of the equality, or keep all of the inequality, that you want.
$endgroup$
4
$begingroup$
You could even have temporary gender differences during the mating season, plenty of species do that. Most of the year you woudn't notice but for a few weeks half of the population has a colourfull mohawk.
$endgroup$
– Borgh
6 hours ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
Your not-quite-humans are amphibians, and reproduce via external fertilization in water.
This eliminates any need for males to physically penetrate females, and thus any reason to evolve a desire to do so. It also significantly restricts the environments in which sexual activity is even possible, let alone forcible.
It also reduces the impact of reproduction on female bodies, so from a strictly reproductive standpoint they need not be significantly structurally different from males. It is entirely possible that males and females could be externally physically indistinguishable (in which case, much like Terry Pratchett's dwarfs, courtship might involve a tactful process of attempting to discover just what gender all of your friends actually are...).
This doesn't mean that there would necessarily be no gender differences. Plenty of externally-fertilizing fish, for example, still have distinct gender morphs. Simply that it is no longer necessary that there be gender differences, either. Maybe the genders are distinguished by purely aesthetic characteristics, like different colorings or hair patterns--or maybe not. Maybe there are psychological differences that make one gender or the other naturally inclined towards caring for children vs. fighting and hunting... or maybe not. Just eliminate the asymmetrical impact of reproduction on one gender vs. the other, and you can have all of the equality, or keep all of the inequality, that you want.
$endgroup$
Your not-quite-humans are amphibians, and reproduce via external fertilization in water.
This eliminates any need for males to physically penetrate females, and thus any reason to evolve a desire to do so. It also significantly restricts the environments in which sexual activity is even possible, let alone forcible.
It also reduces the impact of reproduction on female bodies, so from a strictly reproductive standpoint they need not be significantly structurally different from males. It is entirely possible that males and females could be externally physically indistinguishable (in which case, much like Terry Pratchett's dwarfs, courtship might involve a tactful process of attempting to discover just what gender all of your friends actually are...).
This doesn't mean that there would necessarily be no gender differences. Plenty of externally-fertilizing fish, for example, still have distinct gender morphs. Simply that it is no longer necessary that there be gender differences, either. Maybe the genders are distinguished by purely aesthetic characteristics, like different colorings or hair patterns--or maybe not. Maybe there are psychological differences that make one gender or the other naturally inclined towards caring for children vs. fighting and hunting... or maybe not. Just eliminate the asymmetrical impact of reproduction on one gender vs. the other, and you can have all of the equality, or keep all of the inequality, that you want.
edited 12 hours ago
answered 12 hours ago
Logan R. KearsleyLogan R. Kearsley
10.5k13052
10.5k13052
4
$begingroup$
You could even have temporary gender differences during the mating season, plenty of species do that. Most of the year you woudn't notice but for a few weeks half of the population has a colourfull mohawk.
$endgroup$
– Borgh
6 hours ago
add a comment |
4
$begingroup$
You could even have temporary gender differences during the mating season, plenty of species do that. Most of the year you woudn't notice but for a few weeks half of the population has a colourfull mohawk.
$endgroup$
– Borgh
6 hours ago
4
4
$begingroup$
You could even have temporary gender differences during the mating season, plenty of species do that. Most of the year you woudn't notice but for a few weeks half of the population has a colourfull mohawk.
$endgroup$
– Borgh
6 hours ago
$begingroup$
You could even have temporary gender differences during the mating season, plenty of species do that. Most of the year you woudn't notice but for a few weeks half of the population has a colourfull mohawk.
$endgroup$
– Borgh
6 hours ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
Go digital.
Come the Technological singularity, it would becomes possible for people to exist in virtual worlds.
If people are just programs, there are no physical differences. Everybody is as strong and as fast as they want to be. The only differences are mental.
$endgroup$
$begingroup$
yes, this is one trivial way to go.
$endgroup$
– rambler
13 hours ago
$begingroup$
@JBH I changed my question after he answer this
$endgroup$
– rambler
12 hours ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
Go digital.
Come the Technological singularity, it would becomes possible for people to exist in virtual worlds.
If people are just programs, there are no physical differences. Everybody is as strong and as fast as they want to be. The only differences are mental.
$endgroup$
$begingroup$
yes, this is one trivial way to go.
$endgroup$
– rambler
13 hours ago
$begingroup$
@JBH I changed my question after he answer this
$endgroup$
– rambler
12 hours ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
Go digital.
Come the Technological singularity, it would becomes possible for people to exist in virtual worlds.
If people are just programs, there are no physical differences. Everybody is as strong and as fast as they want to be. The only differences are mental.
$endgroup$
Go digital.
Come the Technological singularity, it would becomes possible for people to exist in virtual worlds.
If people are just programs, there are no physical differences. Everybody is as strong and as fast as they want to be. The only differences are mental.
answered 14 hours ago
ThorneThorne
15.6k42149
15.6k42149
$begingroup$
yes, this is one trivial way to go.
$endgroup$
– rambler
13 hours ago
$begingroup$
@JBH I changed my question after he answer this
$endgroup$
– rambler
12 hours ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
yes, this is one trivial way to go.
$endgroup$
– rambler
13 hours ago
$begingroup$
@JBH I changed my question after he answer this
$endgroup$
– rambler
12 hours ago
$begingroup$
yes, this is one trivial way to go.
$endgroup$
– rambler
13 hours ago
$begingroup$
yes, this is one trivial way to go.
$endgroup$
– rambler
13 hours ago
$begingroup$
@JBH I changed my question after he answer this
$endgroup$
– rambler
12 hours ago
$begingroup$
@JBH I changed my question after he answer this
$endgroup$
– rambler
12 hours ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
If we assume that biological males and females on your world are physically (from the perspective of strength) equal, there is still a tremendous amount of variation. Here on Earth, Japanese men and women are, on average, considerably more delicate than Samoan men and women. (Honestly, who isn't?)
My point is, from the perspective of strength (body build, muscle and bone density, etc.), the physiological differences between ethnic groups are considerably greater and more widely varied than the physiological differences between genders.
But that doesn't completely express the problem, because I've seen very tall and very short Japanese men. And don't even get me started about Sumo Wrestlers. Even the physical build within the same ethnic group can vary widely (and wildly).
And even that doesn't completely express the problem, because there are substantial differences between people depending on their health choices. Is our specimen a professional body builder? A regular exerciser? Walk every day? Eat ice cream all the time? ...
And we still haven't compared the basic differences between human biological genders.
Solution Part 1: Your planetary people is 100% homogeneous. For inexplicable and completely impossible reasons, the males (for the basic example) are on average the same physical build everywhere on your planet.
Solution Part 2: Your planetary people have an unrealistically and improbably small variation in physical build. For example: two men picked randomly from anywhere on the planet have the same height, weight, build, etc.
Solution Part 3: Your people planet-wide are very healthy, never over eat, get regular exercise, and none of them are interested in body building.
Now we get to deal with the differences between biological genders. This is easy by comparison. Almost.
Solution Part 4:
- Equal skull thicknesses
- Equal bone density
- Equal height
- Equal weight
- Equal muscle mass
- Equal muscle types
- Equal proportions (legs, arms, torso...)
Except for the hips. That's a problem unless you radically change the nature of biology. Big creatures need big babies or big eggs. Either one needs a large way of exiting the female body, which means you'll never get equal hips. We'll need to handwave this one. You could assume a much smaller egg/fetal stage such that it exits the body much smaller than human babies do or human eggs would. That's a neat trick biologically, but like I said... handwaving....
Solution Part 5 We ignore the concept of gender identity completely. Of course, having made everyone physiologically similar, it might not matter any more anyway.
And what you now have is the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "The Outcast."
In the end, I wonder if all this effort even makes sense. I don't know of whether or not the statistics of rapes include non-alcohol, non-drug rapes where the aggressor was measurably stronger than the victim. I'm sure it's a valid point. But considering the number of rapes that include alcohol and/or drugs, I don't know if your society is really all that much better off.
$endgroup$
$begingroup$
"Big creatures need big babies or big eggs." Are kangaroos big enough to disprove that rule?
$endgroup$
– alephzero
2 hours ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
If we assume that biological males and females on your world are physically (from the perspective of strength) equal, there is still a tremendous amount of variation. Here on Earth, Japanese men and women are, on average, considerably more delicate than Samoan men and women. (Honestly, who isn't?)
My point is, from the perspective of strength (body build, muscle and bone density, etc.), the physiological differences between ethnic groups are considerably greater and more widely varied than the physiological differences between genders.
But that doesn't completely express the problem, because I've seen very tall and very short Japanese men. And don't even get me started about Sumo Wrestlers. Even the physical build within the same ethnic group can vary widely (and wildly).
And even that doesn't completely express the problem, because there are substantial differences between people depending on their health choices. Is our specimen a professional body builder? A regular exerciser? Walk every day? Eat ice cream all the time? ...
And we still haven't compared the basic differences between human biological genders.
Solution Part 1: Your planetary people is 100% homogeneous. For inexplicable and completely impossible reasons, the males (for the basic example) are on average the same physical build everywhere on your planet.
Solution Part 2: Your planetary people have an unrealistically and improbably small variation in physical build. For example: two men picked randomly from anywhere on the planet have the same height, weight, build, etc.
Solution Part 3: Your people planet-wide are very healthy, never over eat, get regular exercise, and none of them are interested in body building.
Now we get to deal with the differences between biological genders. This is easy by comparison. Almost.
Solution Part 4:
- Equal skull thicknesses
- Equal bone density
- Equal height
- Equal weight
- Equal muscle mass
- Equal muscle types
- Equal proportions (legs, arms, torso...)
Except for the hips. That's a problem unless you radically change the nature of biology. Big creatures need big babies or big eggs. Either one needs a large way of exiting the female body, which means you'll never get equal hips. We'll need to handwave this one. You could assume a much smaller egg/fetal stage such that it exits the body much smaller than human babies do or human eggs would. That's a neat trick biologically, but like I said... handwaving....
Solution Part 5 We ignore the concept of gender identity completely. Of course, having made everyone physiologically similar, it might not matter any more anyway.
And what you now have is the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "The Outcast."
In the end, I wonder if all this effort even makes sense. I don't know of whether or not the statistics of rapes include non-alcohol, non-drug rapes where the aggressor was measurably stronger than the victim. I'm sure it's a valid point. But considering the number of rapes that include alcohol and/or drugs, I don't know if your society is really all that much better off.
$endgroup$
$begingroup$
"Big creatures need big babies or big eggs." Are kangaroos big enough to disprove that rule?
$endgroup$
– alephzero
2 hours ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
If we assume that biological males and females on your world are physically (from the perspective of strength) equal, there is still a tremendous amount of variation. Here on Earth, Japanese men and women are, on average, considerably more delicate than Samoan men and women. (Honestly, who isn't?)
My point is, from the perspective of strength (body build, muscle and bone density, etc.), the physiological differences between ethnic groups are considerably greater and more widely varied than the physiological differences between genders.
But that doesn't completely express the problem, because I've seen very tall and very short Japanese men. And don't even get me started about Sumo Wrestlers. Even the physical build within the same ethnic group can vary widely (and wildly).
And even that doesn't completely express the problem, because there are substantial differences between people depending on their health choices. Is our specimen a professional body builder? A regular exerciser? Walk every day? Eat ice cream all the time? ...
And we still haven't compared the basic differences between human biological genders.
Solution Part 1: Your planetary people is 100% homogeneous. For inexplicable and completely impossible reasons, the males (for the basic example) are on average the same physical build everywhere on your planet.
Solution Part 2: Your planetary people have an unrealistically and improbably small variation in physical build. For example: two men picked randomly from anywhere on the planet have the same height, weight, build, etc.
Solution Part 3: Your people planet-wide are very healthy, never over eat, get regular exercise, and none of them are interested in body building.
Now we get to deal with the differences between biological genders. This is easy by comparison. Almost.
Solution Part 4:
- Equal skull thicknesses
- Equal bone density
- Equal height
- Equal weight
- Equal muscle mass
- Equal muscle types
- Equal proportions (legs, arms, torso...)
Except for the hips. That's a problem unless you radically change the nature of biology. Big creatures need big babies or big eggs. Either one needs a large way of exiting the female body, which means you'll never get equal hips. We'll need to handwave this one. You could assume a much smaller egg/fetal stage such that it exits the body much smaller than human babies do or human eggs would. That's a neat trick biologically, but like I said... handwaving....
Solution Part 5 We ignore the concept of gender identity completely. Of course, having made everyone physiologically similar, it might not matter any more anyway.
And what you now have is the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "The Outcast."
In the end, I wonder if all this effort even makes sense. I don't know of whether or not the statistics of rapes include non-alcohol, non-drug rapes where the aggressor was measurably stronger than the victim. I'm sure it's a valid point. But considering the number of rapes that include alcohol and/or drugs, I don't know if your society is really all that much better off.
$endgroup$
If we assume that biological males and females on your world are physically (from the perspective of strength) equal, there is still a tremendous amount of variation. Here on Earth, Japanese men and women are, on average, considerably more delicate than Samoan men and women. (Honestly, who isn't?)
My point is, from the perspective of strength (body build, muscle and bone density, etc.), the physiological differences between ethnic groups are considerably greater and more widely varied than the physiological differences between genders.
But that doesn't completely express the problem, because I've seen very tall and very short Japanese men. And don't even get me started about Sumo Wrestlers. Even the physical build within the same ethnic group can vary widely (and wildly).
And even that doesn't completely express the problem, because there are substantial differences between people depending on their health choices. Is our specimen a professional body builder? A regular exerciser? Walk every day? Eat ice cream all the time? ...
And we still haven't compared the basic differences between human biological genders.
Solution Part 1: Your planetary people is 100% homogeneous. For inexplicable and completely impossible reasons, the males (for the basic example) are on average the same physical build everywhere on your planet.
Solution Part 2: Your planetary people have an unrealistically and improbably small variation in physical build. For example: two men picked randomly from anywhere on the planet have the same height, weight, build, etc.
Solution Part 3: Your people planet-wide are very healthy, never over eat, get regular exercise, and none of them are interested in body building.
Now we get to deal with the differences between biological genders. This is easy by comparison. Almost.
Solution Part 4:
- Equal skull thicknesses
- Equal bone density
- Equal height
- Equal weight
- Equal muscle mass
- Equal muscle types
- Equal proportions (legs, arms, torso...)
Except for the hips. That's a problem unless you radically change the nature of biology. Big creatures need big babies or big eggs. Either one needs a large way of exiting the female body, which means you'll never get equal hips. We'll need to handwave this one. You could assume a much smaller egg/fetal stage such that it exits the body much smaller than human babies do or human eggs would. That's a neat trick biologically, but like I said... handwaving....
Solution Part 5 We ignore the concept of gender identity completely. Of course, having made everyone physiologically similar, it might not matter any more anyway.
And what you now have is the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "The Outcast."
In the end, I wonder if all this effort even makes sense. I don't know of whether or not the statistics of rapes include non-alcohol, non-drug rapes where the aggressor was measurably stronger than the victim. I'm sure it's a valid point. But considering the number of rapes that include alcohol and/or drugs, I don't know if your society is really all that much better off.
answered 10 hours ago
JBHJBH
45k696212
45k696212
$begingroup$
"Big creatures need big babies or big eggs." Are kangaroos big enough to disprove that rule?
$endgroup$
– alephzero
2 hours ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
"Big creatures need big babies or big eggs." Are kangaroos big enough to disprove that rule?
$endgroup$
– alephzero
2 hours ago
$begingroup$
"Big creatures need big babies or big eggs." Are kangaroos big enough to disprove that rule?
$endgroup$
– alephzero
2 hours ago
$begingroup$
"Big creatures need big babies or big eggs." Are kangaroos big enough to disprove that rule?
$endgroup$
– alephzero
2 hours ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
Pheromones. Males are genetically engineered to require the presence of desire in females to achieve erection. In this case, physical arousal is not the same as desire, so men are just as interested in women as before, it's just that the woman has to be receptive to his advances before the plumbing starts working appropriately. And the scent of arousal is what does the trick.
Note that this will not prevent sexual assault. It is by now a cliche that rape is about power, not sex, so women will still be beaten, and presumably substitutes for the "normal" instrument will be often used. This may well result in a higher incidence of injuries above the "regular" levels common to rape, but no pregnancies will result.
Also, of course, a black market in pheromones will arise, and the really dedicated rapists will manage to get hold of the necessary to allow erection.
$endgroup$
add a comment |
$begingroup$
Pheromones. Males are genetically engineered to require the presence of desire in females to achieve erection. In this case, physical arousal is not the same as desire, so men are just as interested in women as before, it's just that the woman has to be receptive to his advances before the plumbing starts working appropriately. And the scent of arousal is what does the trick.
Note that this will not prevent sexual assault. It is by now a cliche that rape is about power, not sex, so women will still be beaten, and presumably substitutes for the "normal" instrument will be often used. This may well result in a higher incidence of injuries above the "regular" levels common to rape, but no pregnancies will result.
Also, of course, a black market in pheromones will arise, and the really dedicated rapists will manage to get hold of the necessary to allow erection.
$endgroup$
add a comment |
$begingroup$
Pheromones. Males are genetically engineered to require the presence of desire in females to achieve erection. In this case, physical arousal is not the same as desire, so men are just as interested in women as before, it's just that the woman has to be receptive to his advances before the plumbing starts working appropriately. And the scent of arousal is what does the trick.
Note that this will not prevent sexual assault. It is by now a cliche that rape is about power, not sex, so women will still be beaten, and presumably substitutes for the "normal" instrument will be often used. This may well result in a higher incidence of injuries above the "regular" levels common to rape, but no pregnancies will result.
Also, of course, a black market in pheromones will arise, and the really dedicated rapists will manage to get hold of the necessary to allow erection.
$endgroup$
Pheromones. Males are genetically engineered to require the presence of desire in females to achieve erection. In this case, physical arousal is not the same as desire, so men are just as interested in women as before, it's just that the woman has to be receptive to his advances before the plumbing starts working appropriately. And the scent of arousal is what does the trick.
Note that this will not prevent sexual assault. It is by now a cliche that rape is about power, not sex, so women will still be beaten, and presumably substitutes for the "normal" instrument will be often used. This may well result in a higher incidence of injuries above the "regular" levels common to rape, but no pregnancies will result.
Also, of course, a black market in pheromones will arise, and the really dedicated rapists will manage to get hold of the necessary to allow erection.
answered 8 hours ago
WhatRoughBeastWhatRoughBeast
23k23280
23k23280
add a comment |
add a comment |
$begingroup$
Make them all hermaphrodites.
You should have a look at Ursula K. Le Guin's The Left Hand of Darkness. In this story there is a new species of humans. All members of this species have both sexes. They stay androginous for 21 or 22 days at a time, then for four or five days they will manifest the characteristics of one gender.
That is regulated by a hormonal cycle. Someone in a place where one gender expression is having a majority will tend to express the other gender, as a way to balance things out. Otherwise the gender they will manifest is random.
This means everybody will experience both genders multiple times throughout their lives. In the book there was a clan that took pride in having all its members have their first sex manifestation as female, but other than that they were pretty equalitarian about gender.
$endgroup$
$begingroup$
JBH mentioned that, ,The Left HoD is really a classic book
$endgroup$
– rambler
3 hours ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
Make them all hermaphrodites.
You should have a look at Ursula K. Le Guin's The Left Hand of Darkness. In this story there is a new species of humans. All members of this species have both sexes. They stay androginous for 21 or 22 days at a time, then for four or five days they will manifest the characteristics of one gender.
That is regulated by a hormonal cycle. Someone in a place where one gender expression is having a majority will tend to express the other gender, as a way to balance things out. Otherwise the gender they will manifest is random.
This means everybody will experience both genders multiple times throughout their lives. In the book there was a clan that took pride in having all its members have their first sex manifestation as female, but other than that they were pretty equalitarian about gender.
$endgroup$
$begingroup$
JBH mentioned that, ,The Left HoD is really a classic book
$endgroup$
– rambler
3 hours ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
Make them all hermaphrodites.
You should have a look at Ursula K. Le Guin's The Left Hand of Darkness. In this story there is a new species of humans. All members of this species have both sexes. They stay androginous for 21 or 22 days at a time, then for four or five days they will manifest the characteristics of one gender.
That is regulated by a hormonal cycle. Someone in a place where one gender expression is having a majority will tend to express the other gender, as a way to balance things out. Otherwise the gender they will manifest is random.
This means everybody will experience both genders multiple times throughout their lives. In the book there was a clan that took pride in having all its members have their first sex manifestation as female, but other than that they were pretty equalitarian about gender.
$endgroup$
Make them all hermaphrodites.
You should have a look at Ursula K. Le Guin's The Left Hand of Darkness. In this story there is a new species of humans. All members of this species have both sexes. They stay androginous for 21 or 22 days at a time, then for four or five days they will manifest the characteristics of one gender.
That is regulated by a hormonal cycle. Someone in a place where one gender expression is having a majority will tend to express the other gender, as a way to balance things out. Otherwise the gender they will manifest is random.
This means everybody will experience both genders multiple times throughout their lives. In the book there was a clan that took pride in having all its members have their first sex manifestation as female, but other than that they were pretty equalitarian about gender.
answered 3 hours ago
RenanRenan
48.5k13111245
48.5k13111245
$begingroup$
JBH mentioned that, ,The Left HoD is really a classic book
$endgroup$
– rambler
3 hours ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
JBH mentioned that, ,The Left HoD is really a classic book
$endgroup$
– rambler
3 hours ago
$begingroup$
JBH mentioned that, ,The Left HoD is really a classic book
$endgroup$
– rambler
3 hours ago
$begingroup$
JBH mentioned that, ,The Left HoD is really a classic book
$endgroup$
– rambler
3 hours ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
Consider our close relatives the bonobos. They simply don't have the sexual dimorphism that makes human men, on average, bigger and stronger than women.
If you want a more equal society, consider making your close-to-human species more like bonobos.
Similarly, you can change family structure to reduce the importance of males wanting to raise their own biological children. (I'm thinking of an Orson Scott Card novel where men helped raise their sisters' children and it was considered rather rude to ask what man sired any given child.)
$endgroup$
$begingroup$
For which novel?
$endgroup$
– rambler
8 hours ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
Consider our close relatives the bonobos. They simply don't have the sexual dimorphism that makes human men, on average, bigger and stronger than women.
If you want a more equal society, consider making your close-to-human species more like bonobos.
Similarly, you can change family structure to reduce the importance of males wanting to raise their own biological children. (I'm thinking of an Orson Scott Card novel where men helped raise their sisters' children and it was considered rather rude to ask what man sired any given child.)
$endgroup$
$begingroup$
For which novel?
$endgroup$
– rambler
8 hours ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
Consider our close relatives the bonobos. They simply don't have the sexual dimorphism that makes human men, on average, bigger and stronger than women.
If you want a more equal society, consider making your close-to-human species more like bonobos.
Similarly, you can change family structure to reduce the importance of males wanting to raise their own biological children. (I'm thinking of an Orson Scott Card novel where men helped raise their sisters' children and it was considered rather rude to ask what man sired any given child.)
$endgroup$
Consider our close relatives the bonobos. They simply don't have the sexual dimorphism that makes human men, on average, bigger and stronger than women.
If you want a more equal society, consider making your close-to-human species more like bonobos.
Similarly, you can change family structure to reduce the importance of males wanting to raise their own biological children. (I'm thinking of an Orson Scott Card novel where men helped raise their sisters' children and it was considered rather rude to ask what man sired any given child.)
answered 8 hours ago
arparp
91138
91138
$begingroup$
For which novel?
$endgroup$
– rambler
8 hours ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
For which novel?
$endgroup$
– rambler
8 hours ago
$begingroup$
For which novel?
$endgroup$
– rambler
8 hours ago
$begingroup$
For which novel?
$endgroup$
– rambler
8 hours ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
One thing to consider if you specifically rape is that the majority of sexual violence is not due to strangers overpowering their victim, but someone abusing an existing relation. A SciFi gadget is not going to do anything about that.
If you want to prevent rape in your verse, I would suggest you go about structuring society:
Give Gender Equality a few centuries
Right now this is a real world topic, plenty of famous people have been caught by #metoo. It will take time and possibly more scandals until this sinks into the base behavior of people, which may require the current generations to die out which don't have this institutionalized yet.
Monitoring Everyone
If everyone is chipped and connected to some network, everyone can be monitored. If the chip can interface with thoughts, it can monitor people, and send an alert on any possible rape, or a victim may be able to trigger the alert.
This may or may not have more dystopian consequences depending on who has access to data from these chips.
Gene Engineering
If you don't trust gender equality to work out on its own, you might engineer oneself to suppress violent impulses, and make everyone more socially compatible. This may have dystopian consequences too if the wrong people get access to this.
Neural Education
You might alternatively educate your population in proper behavior in some way that becomes instinct, and very hard for the recipient to act against to suppress rape. Again this device may have unintended consequences.
New contributor
$endgroup$
add a comment |
$begingroup$
One thing to consider if you specifically rape is that the majority of sexual violence is not due to strangers overpowering their victim, but someone abusing an existing relation. A SciFi gadget is not going to do anything about that.
If you want to prevent rape in your verse, I would suggest you go about structuring society:
Give Gender Equality a few centuries
Right now this is a real world topic, plenty of famous people have been caught by #metoo. It will take time and possibly more scandals until this sinks into the base behavior of people, which may require the current generations to die out which don't have this institutionalized yet.
Monitoring Everyone
If everyone is chipped and connected to some network, everyone can be monitored. If the chip can interface with thoughts, it can monitor people, and send an alert on any possible rape, or a victim may be able to trigger the alert.
This may or may not have more dystopian consequences depending on who has access to data from these chips.
Gene Engineering
If you don't trust gender equality to work out on its own, you might engineer oneself to suppress violent impulses, and make everyone more socially compatible. This may have dystopian consequences too if the wrong people get access to this.
Neural Education
You might alternatively educate your population in proper behavior in some way that becomes instinct, and very hard for the recipient to act against to suppress rape. Again this device may have unintended consequences.
New contributor
$endgroup$
add a comment |
$begingroup$
One thing to consider if you specifically rape is that the majority of sexual violence is not due to strangers overpowering their victim, but someone abusing an existing relation. A SciFi gadget is not going to do anything about that.
If you want to prevent rape in your verse, I would suggest you go about structuring society:
Give Gender Equality a few centuries
Right now this is a real world topic, plenty of famous people have been caught by #metoo. It will take time and possibly more scandals until this sinks into the base behavior of people, which may require the current generations to die out which don't have this institutionalized yet.
Monitoring Everyone
If everyone is chipped and connected to some network, everyone can be monitored. If the chip can interface with thoughts, it can monitor people, and send an alert on any possible rape, or a victim may be able to trigger the alert.
This may or may not have more dystopian consequences depending on who has access to data from these chips.
Gene Engineering
If you don't trust gender equality to work out on its own, you might engineer oneself to suppress violent impulses, and make everyone more socially compatible. This may have dystopian consequences too if the wrong people get access to this.
Neural Education
You might alternatively educate your population in proper behavior in some way that becomes instinct, and very hard for the recipient to act against to suppress rape. Again this device may have unintended consequences.
New contributor
$endgroup$
One thing to consider if you specifically rape is that the majority of sexual violence is not due to strangers overpowering their victim, but someone abusing an existing relation. A SciFi gadget is not going to do anything about that.
If you want to prevent rape in your verse, I would suggest you go about structuring society:
Give Gender Equality a few centuries
Right now this is a real world topic, plenty of famous people have been caught by #metoo. It will take time and possibly more scandals until this sinks into the base behavior of people, which may require the current generations to die out which don't have this institutionalized yet.
Monitoring Everyone
If everyone is chipped and connected to some network, everyone can be monitored. If the chip can interface with thoughts, it can monitor people, and send an alert on any possible rape, or a victim may be able to trigger the alert.
This may or may not have more dystopian consequences depending on who has access to data from these chips.
Gene Engineering
If you don't trust gender equality to work out on its own, you might engineer oneself to suppress violent impulses, and make everyone more socially compatible. This may have dystopian consequences too if the wrong people get access to this.
Neural Education
You might alternatively educate your population in proper behavior in some way that becomes instinct, and very hard for the recipient to act against to suppress rape. Again this device may have unintended consequences.
New contributor
New contributor
answered 8 hours ago
WhitecoldWhitecold
13618
13618
New contributor
New contributor
add a comment |
add a comment |
$begingroup$
Improve laws
Even in a world where's men and women have the same strength on average there's plenty of room for variance: some men (and women) will be stronger than others. But that's besides the point, because most of the time the rape is commited by someone who knows the victim - and who already knows he can subdue her - and in the case of rape by a complete stranger they are usually armed (with knives, most of the time), while the victim is not.
So, if your main goal is preventing rape you just have to move these posts further away than we are currently trying to do:
Empower the victims, shame the rapists. Currently most of the sexual abuse, including rape, is never denounced and thus never prosecuted. Rapists benefit from this culture of silence, they know they can get away with it and it helps them rationalize that what they are doing "is not that bad".
Improve conviction ratio. It's hard to prove abuse, even rape. Contrarily to what is depicted in the movies, most rapes leave no physical traces - and counterintuitively rape by a stranger is less likely to produce injuries besides the ones the penetration has caused, if any. Many women don't fight back when raped (because it's better to be raped than to be raped and beaten up, maimed or killed). Your highly advanced civilization must have ways to prove rape, which can be much more difficult than it seems at first glance, since it's consent what tells apart rape from sex and most cases won't be "random-stalker-puts-knife-at-her-throat-makes-her-undress".
And basically, that's all. Remember that harsh punishments are no deterrent for criminals; high chances of being caught are. Since rape is a crime that always leave a witness behind (unless it's rape and murder) your only chances of getting away is either not being denounced or failing to prove the rape. Put a remedy to those two and rape will become a rarity.
$endgroup$
$begingroup$
This is even useful in our own society.
$endgroup$
– rambler
4 hours ago
$begingroup$
@rambler Yes, that's what I was trying to say with the line "moving the posts farther than we are currently trying to do". We are already moving in that direction.
$endgroup$
– Rekesoft
4 hours ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
Improve laws
Even in a world where's men and women have the same strength on average there's plenty of room for variance: some men (and women) will be stronger than others. But that's besides the point, because most of the time the rape is commited by someone who knows the victim - and who already knows he can subdue her - and in the case of rape by a complete stranger they are usually armed (with knives, most of the time), while the victim is not.
So, if your main goal is preventing rape you just have to move these posts further away than we are currently trying to do:
Empower the victims, shame the rapists. Currently most of the sexual abuse, including rape, is never denounced and thus never prosecuted. Rapists benefit from this culture of silence, they know they can get away with it and it helps them rationalize that what they are doing "is not that bad".
Improve conviction ratio. It's hard to prove abuse, even rape. Contrarily to what is depicted in the movies, most rapes leave no physical traces - and counterintuitively rape by a stranger is less likely to produce injuries besides the ones the penetration has caused, if any. Many women don't fight back when raped (because it's better to be raped than to be raped and beaten up, maimed or killed). Your highly advanced civilization must have ways to prove rape, which can be much more difficult than it seems at first glance, since it's consent what tells apart rape from sex and most cases won't be "random-stalker-puts-knife-at-her-throat-makes-her-undress".
And basically, that's all. Remember that harsh punishments are no deterrent for criminals; high chances of being caught are. Since rape is a crime that always leave a witness behind (unless it's rape and murder) your only chances of getting away is either not being denounced or failing to prove the rape. Put a remedy to those two and rape will become a rarity.
$endgroup$
$begingroup$
This is even useful in our own society.
$endgroup$
– rambler
4 hours ago
$begingroup$
@rambler Yes, that's what I was trying to say with the line "moving the posts farther than we are currently trying to do". We are already moving in that direction.
$endgroup$
– Rekesoft
4 hours ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
Improve laws
Even in a world where's men and women have the same strength on average there's plenty of room for variance: some men (and women) will be stronger than others. But that's besides the point, because most of the time the rape is commited by someone who knows the victim - and who already knows he can subdue her - and in the case of rape by a complete stranger they are usually armed (with knives, most of the time), while the victim is not.
So, if your main goal is preventing rape you just have to move these posts further away than we are currently trying to do:
Empower the victims, shame the rapists. Currently most of the sexual abuse, including rape, is never denounced and thus never prosecuted. Rapists benefit from this culture of silence, they know they can get away with it and it helps them rationalize that what they are doing "is not that bad".
Improve conviction ratio. It's hard to prove abuse, even rape. Contrarily to what is depicted in the movies, most rapes leave no physical traces - and counterintuitively rape by a stranger is less likely to produce injuries besides the ones the penetration has caused, if any. Many women don't fight back when raped (because it's better to be raped than to be raped and beaten up, maimed or killed). Your highly advanced civilization must have ways to prove rape, which can be much more difficult than it seems at first glance, since it's consent what tells apart rape from sex and most cases won't be "random-stalker-puts-knife-at-her-throat-makes-her-undress".
And basically, that's all. Remember that harsh punishments are no deterrent for criminals; high chances of being caught are. Since rape is a crime that always leave a witness behind (unless it's rape and murder) your only chances of getting away is either not being denounced or failing to prove the rape. Put a remedy to those two and rape will become a rarity.
$endgroup$
Improve laws
Even in a world where's men and women have the same strength on average there's plenty of room for variance: some men (and women) will be stronger than others. But that's besides the point, because most of the time the rape is commited by someone who knows the victim - and who already knows he can subdue her - and in the case of rape by a complete stranger they are usually armed (with knives, most of the time), while the victim is not.
So, if your main goal is preventing rape you just have to move these posts further away than we are currently trying to do:
Empower the victims, shame the rapists. Currently most of the sexual abuse, including rape, is never denounced and thus never prosecuted. Rapists benefit from this culture of silence, they know they can get away with it and it helps them rationalize that what they are doing "is not that bad".
Improve conviction ratio. It's hard to prove abuse, even rape. Contrarily to what is depicted in the movies, most rapes leave no physical traces - and counterintuitively rape by a stranger is less likely to produce injuries besides the ones the penetration has caused, if any. Many women don't fight back when raped (because it's better to be raped than to be raped and beaten up, maimed or killed). Your highly advanced civilization must have ways to prove rape, which can be much more difficult than it seems at first glance, since it's consent what tells apart rape from sex and most cases won't be "random-stalker-puts-knife-at-her-throat-makes-her-undress".
And basically, that's all. Remember that harsh punishments are no deterrent for criminals; high chances of being caught are. Since rape is a crime that always leave a witness behind (unless it's rape and murder) your only chances of getting away is either not being denounced or failing to prove the rape. Put a remedy to those two and rape will become a rarity.
answered 5 hours ago
RekesoftRekesoft
6,1301235
6,1301235
$begingroup$
This is even useful in our own society.
$endgroup$
– rambler
4 hours ago
$begingroup$
@rambler Yes, that's what I was trying to say with the line "moving the posts farther than we are currently trying to do". We are already moving in that direction.
$endgroup$
– Rekesoft
4 hours ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
This is even useful in our own society.
$endgroup$
– rambler
4 hours ago
$begingroup$
@rambler Yes, that's what I was trying to say with the line "moving the posts farther than we are currently trying to do". We are already moving in that direction.
$endgroup$
– Rekesoft
4 hours ago
$begingroup$
This is even useful in our own society.
$endgroup$
– rambler
4 hours ago
$begingroup$
This is even useful in our own society.
$endgroup$
– rambler
4 hours ago
$begingroup$
@rambler Yes, that's what I was trying to say with the line "moving the posts farther than we are currently trying to do". We are already moving in that direction.
$endgroup$
– Rekesoft
4 hours ago
$begingroup$
@rambler Yes, that's what I was trying to say with the line "moving the posts farther than we are currently trying to do". We are already moving in that direction.
$endgroup$
– Rekesoft
4 hours ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
A short answer. If everyone is equal in strength, you could have everyone be very dangerous. I no like you, I explode dangerous. If everyone has terrible defense and fantastic offense, rape might be less likely. Everyone could either have superpower of some sort, or a cyberpunk type weapon implanted. The cold war of rape basically. Basically the US right to bear arms on a mandatory species wide level. How effective it is to deter rapists would depend on what you give them as a weapon.
Alternatively, you could just rule sexual intercourse as difficult or enjoyable to undergo? It would normally kill off a species, but maybe humans would have some self created reason to go through with the torturous process. Enough drive to continue the species but not enough to want to rape a person maybe.
$endgroup$
add a comment |
$begingroup$
A short answer. If everyone is equal in strength, you could have everyone be very dangerous. I no like you, I explode dangerous. If everyone has terrible defense and fantastic offense, rape might be less likely. Everyone could either have superpower of some sort, or a cyberpunk type weapon implanted. The cold war of rape basically. Basically the US right to bear arms on a mandatory species wide level. How effective it is to deter rapists would depend on what you give them as a weapon.
Alternatively, you could just rule sexual intercourse as difficult or enjoyable to undergo? It would normally kill off a species, but maybe humans would have some self created reason to go through with the torturous process. Enough drive to continue the species but not enough to want to rape a person maybe.
$endgroup$
add a comment |
$begingroup$
A short answer. If everyone is equal in strength, you could have everyone be very dangerous. I no like you, I explode dangerous. If everyone has terrible defense and fantastic offense, rape might be less likely. Everyone could either have superpower of some sort, or a cyberpunk type weapon implanted. The cold war of rape basically. Basically the US right to bear arms on a mandatory species wide level. How effective it is to deter rapists would depend on what you give them as a weapon.
Alternatively, you could just rule sexual intercourse as difficult or enjoyable to undergo? It would normally kill off a species, but maybe humans would have some self created reason to go through with the torturous process. Enough drive to continue the species but not enough to want to rape a person maybe.
$endgroup$
A short answer. If everyone is equal in strength, you could have everyone be very dangerous. I no like you, I explode dangerous. If everyone has terrible defense and fantastic offense, rape might be less likely. Everyone could either have superpower of some sort, or a cyberpunk type weapon implanted. The cold war of rape basically. Basically the US right to bear arms on a mandatory species wide level. How effective it is to deter rapists would depend on what you give them as a weapon.
Alternatively, you could just rule sexual intercourse as difficult or enjoyable to undergo? It would normally kill off a species, but maybe humans would have some self created reason to go through with the torturous process. Enough drive to continue the species but not enough to want to rape a person maybe.
answered 11 hours ago
LonhaLonha
239111
239111
add a comment |
add a comment |
$begingroup$
If you want to retain all other differences between males and females, simply make females bigger. This way you can still have muscle-bound men and slender women, but the difference in size can balance out the difference in muscle-mass.
$endgroup$
$begingroup$
No, there are still big individual variance. I am editing my question. Thank you.
$endgroup$
– rambler
32 mins ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
If you want to retain all other differences between males and females, simply make females bigger. This way you can still have muscle-bound men and slender women, but the difference in size can balance out the difference in muscle-mass.
$endgroup$
$begingroup$
No, there are still big individual variance. I am editing my question. Thank you.
$endgroup$
– rambler
32 mins ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
If you want to retain all other differences between males and females, simply make females bigger. This way you can still have muscle-bound men and slender women, but the difference in size can balance out the difference in muscle-mass.
$endgroup$
If you want to retain all other differences between males and females, simply make females bigger. This way you can still have muscle-bound men and slender women, but the difference in size can balance out the difference in muscle-mass.
answered 34 mins ago
JeffUKJeffUK
1,5431312
1,5431312
$begingroup$
No, there are still big individual variance. I am editing my question. Thank you.
$endgroup$
– rambler
32 mins ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
No, there are still big individual variance. I am editing my question. Thank you.
$endgroup$
– rambler
32 mins ago
$begingroup$
No, there are still big individual variance. I am editing my question. Thank you.
$endgroup$
– rambler
32 mins ago
$begingroup$
No, there are still big individual variance. I am editing my question. Thank you.
$endgroup$
– rambler
32 mins ago
add a comment |
rambler is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
rambler is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
rambler is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
rambler is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
Thanks for contributing an answer to Worldbuilding Stack Exchange!
- Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!
But avoid …
- Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.
- Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.
Use MathJax to format equations. MathJax reference.
To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fworldbuilding.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f139624%2fhow-to-achieve-physical-gender-equality%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
3
$begingroup$
Get rid of one sex, and have it a completely unisex society.
$endgroup$
– Justin Thyme
14 hours ago
1
$begingroup$
You might like the film Antz: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antz it may give some inspiration.
$endgroup$
– Agrajag
14 hours ago
1
$begingroup$
I also think weapons play a big role in this. Usually an attacker is better armed than the attacked, regardless of biological differences.
$endgroup$
– PyRulez
11 hours ago
1
$begingroup$
You may want to look at the (poorly received) question about gender in sports with genetic enhancements. I think genetic enhancements is on-par with the idea of making them physically equal. It's a tricky argument. More tricky because there's mental differences as well (which may or may not follow the physical differences... that's still an unknown in science). More tricky because it's not 100% clear what motivates rape.
$endgroup$
– Cort Ammon
10 hours ago
2
$begingroup$
That being said, I expect that if I did some digging into statistics, women who know martial arts probably don't get raped as often, so there's probably a good argument that some tactics can offset brute strength, and that we may even already know what those tactics are.
$endgroup$
– Cort Ammon
10 hours ago