Contraception in ASoIaF
I've been having a few thoughts about the use of "moon tea" in ASoIaF, and why I think Martin hasn't thought the concept through very well. Essentially, moon tea appears to be a reliable abortifacent which can be used at any time in pregnancy. If used early on - i.e., drunk when a woman might be pregnant - it appears to have few to no side effects
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This might be part of the answer. The male facets of the Seven are the Warrior (strength in battle, victory,) the Father (judgement, justice,) and the Smith (crafts, labor, work)--their female counterparts are the Maiden (innocence, chastity) the Mother (fertility, compassion,) and the Crone (wisdom, guidance.) Going both by the names of the facets and the things they are prayed to, the male gods have a pretty clear trend towards being active--fighting, dispensing justice, working with your hands, etc. The female gods are more passive; innocence, compassion, and wisdom are states of being, rather than things you can do. So it could be argued that Westerosi society has a belief, drawn from the Faith of the Seven, that women should devote themselves to... embodying virtues, I guess, while men should devote themselves to actually doing things.
As for the moon tea, I think there's a slight magical element to it--when they mention Ygritte potentially taking it, if I recall correctly, they say she'll go to a woods witch to procure it. Asha also refers to finding a woods witch to teach her how to brew it at one point. It's worth mentioning that both these women are from cultures that are a bit outside Westeros mainstream, too--even though the ironborn say that women are weaker, Asha very nearly managed to rule them, and the wildlings are quite a bit more egalitarian. The only Westerosi women who I can recall drinking moon tea are Lysa, who was tricked into it and was traumatised by the experience, Cersei, who I think mentioned aborting a fetus fathered by Robert at one point, and Maergery, who may not have taken it at all depending on how much of what Cersei says is actually true. It's possible that the mainland population actually rely on tansy and pennyroyal, which will induce miscarriage but are also very dangerous and riddled with side effects, while the ironborn and wildlings know the magic required to make it safer?
This is really badly worded and poorly explained, I'm sorry xD
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Hmmm, that makes sense. What I do find odd, though, is that none of the main characters actually think like this; they think it's inappropriate for women to fight, but none of the (likeable) PoV characters get "women can't be active because they are (weak, meant to be passive, not smart enough)" moments, which, realistically, they need to. Even nice guys are going to be a bit sexist in a patriarchal society.
It's possible that the mainland population actually rely on tansy and pennyroyal, which will induce miscarriage but are also very dangerous and riddled with side effects, while the ironborn and wildlings know the magic required to make it safer?
I could buy that. It would explain why it hasn't had a wider impact on society. I think I remember the High Septon saying something disapproving about it, too, so possibly the Faith has a religious prohibition on it, restricting its popularity - though that would be highly inconsistent with both medieval attitudes to abortion and modern data on contraception/abortion use among religious groups.
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Could you perhaps expand on that? I'm not grasping the difference here. I'd say that Jaime and Catelyn both start out thinking that Brienne is kind of fundamentally unnatural, and even when Cat gets to like and trust Brienne, she never really gets past that.
modern data on contraception/abortion use among religious groups
What are the tendencies, then? I had always thought that since abortion is so publically, loudly frowned on, a woman who had one would keep quiet about it -- like, you might do it, but as secretly as possible.
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