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

[rmc28]

I'm not seeing how a big public database of everyone's salary is a bad thing? As far as I can tell, when pay is public, it's a lot more obvious when there are unjustified discrepancies. Also that when individuals negotiate salary, the marginalised are a lot more screwed over than when there's a public salary scale.

[mtbc]

I figure my UK university salary's public. After all, the advertisement of my position specified the pay grade with reference to the single national pay spine so probably one's first guess would be correct.

[ewt]

Why is a big public database of everyone's salary an indicator of increased conformity?

I feel like I must have missed a step here.

[rmc28]

I too am paid by a university on a publicly visible payscale, although in fairness I am not entirely aware of which of my colleagues are on what grade except where I was involved in hiring them.

[cesy]

Yeah, Beta is a long way from perfect. Also, what if you think of something new that isn't covered by existing earrings, how does that work?

[jack]

Oh, good point. I agree there are many very good reasons *for* that to be public, and it's massively desirable for making pay more equal.

But I'm also naturally cautious of "massive public databases of everyone's details" for *any* details, like, ideally, it wouldn't be a problem that your address is public, but for anyone at risk of stalking, anyone in a questionable legal situation, it imposes a big burden on them.

I'm not sure what specific problems having salary public, but I thought there probably were; if we really can't think of any, I'll retract that concern.

[jack]

Good point, I'm really not sure now, but see reply above.

[jack]

Oh yes, I'd forgotten the ear-rings.

On the positive side, if the system works as intended, I assume it's possible to make ad-hoc variations that people will ask about if needed. After all, you don't necessarily need to encode all possible relationship types, as long as you cover "potentially available", "not available", and "potentially available, but with existing attachments"

On the negative side, what I *hoped* from all this being public is that people understand "romantically unattached" doesn't mean "interested in YOU" and women don't get spammed by unwanted advances from an endless succession of pushy men. The fact the system exists at all sounds like the culture's beyond that. But the fact that Elena's propositioned within 20 minutes of getting off the shuttle by someone she has 0% interest in, rather contradicts that.

[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.