Beta colony sexism

[jack]

I'm so used to reading about the ways beta colony is utopian, I've often not stopped to add up the ways it isn't.

People elsewhere in the galaxy talk about it as one of the most progressive places -- certainly in comparison to Barrayar.

Many of the downsides are -- as you might expect -- in increased conformity, like how in Sweden sex equality is overall better, but there's a big public database of everyone's salary.

Everyone WILL have a contraceptive implant. No-one will have children unless authorised. When the living space on the planet is Full, that might be needed. But is that process even handed and free from discrimination against people who don't 'deserve' to have children? It doesn't say, but it's certainly open to that sort of problem.

Everyone WILL have mandatory mental health treatment. Not always for the condition you actually have :(

But I hadn't actually totted up the evidence of how egalitarian it was. Obviously, many of the dystopian elements above will affect people in gendered ways. And this reflects Bujold's awareness at the time of writing, including some catastrophes, but even apart from that, what's there is mixed.

There's an expectation of equal opportunities in education and employment, even risky or specialised employment. There's a basic living stipend of some sort, which makes a massive difference in people not being beholden to others -- removing power removes any number of abuses of power.

But there's plenty of examples the other way. Casual street harassment of women. As expectation of men's careers being more important. People with a gender elsewhere than M or F being accepted -- but not exactly FULLY treated as equally unexceptional.

I'm not sure how much it's supposed to be egalitarian but that was too hard to imagine, and how much it was supposed to show that all societies are flawed however idealistic they try to be in particular ways -- I guess considering the question is more educational than having an answer.

Comments

[gareth_rees]

The literary function of something like Beta Colony can change from book to book (or even chapter to chapter). The plot of a novel requires a certain kind of situation and so the author invents something to fit, with consistency not necessarily the first concern. Thus in Shards of Honor the plot requires something dramatic enough for Cordelia to cut her ties with her home, while in A Civil Campaign the plot requires something about Beta Colony culture to be sufficiently unsettling for the Koudelkas to try to stop Kareen seeing Mark. We can't reasonably expect these items of plot fodder to be puzzle pieces which we can put together to make a consistent picture.

[jack]

Well, true, but ideally it evolves in a way *consistent* with a set of facts; indeed, refining the idea to fit multiple narrative uses can produce a more interesting ideas than just coming up with ideas directly.