Setting Idea: Superpowers as "Woman's Work"

[roseembolism]

Recently on his livejournal, James Nicoll posited an interesting idea:

Quote: In the Eyes of Amber review, I said (of a setting where only women could be starship crew) Given past history I wouldn't expect men to be affronted by an inability to be a spacer. I'd expect them to dismiss the entire profession as beneath them, in as much as it's

Comments

[deirdremoon]

Actually, we do have a historical model for this: witchcraft. Whether or not you believe in magic in the real world, women (usually women) were perceived as having powers that men couldn't usually understand, and were reviled for it-- it was called unnatural and against God. Those few men who also were rumored to have the powers were also considered ungodly, although interestingly I never heard of them being called womanly. I think superpowers would also constitute an offense against the Church if they started up in the 1800s... you could even postulate a world in which superpowers basically WERE the "witchcraft" that these people were accused of.

[roseembolism]

That's an interesting tack on the matter, one I really should have put more thought into. Of course one reason I was positing the 1700s is that time's both past the age of the witch trials, is into the "age of reason", and is pre-Victorian. So it's easier to posit less of an "Agent of Satan", and more of a "publicly dismiss, privately utilize" response. I also can't help but think that if the powers had obvious utility in warcraft, that would tend to result in more allowance for their use, even in spite of church pressure.

Also, I can't help but recall that one type of "magical" practitioners had limited tolerance: all the alchemists and such that promised gold or longevity. OF course I speculate that the preponderance of male alchemists not only fit in with the nobilities greed, but with the notion of the male intellect.

[deirdremoon]

Ah, but also remember that alchemy was a stepping-stone to scientific process. Even Sir Isaac Newton was rumored to be involved in, or have interest in, alchemy, before we knew enough to always distinguish which branches of science were and weren't plausible.

But yes, there IS a difference in treatment between the hermetic, Seal of Solomon, I-can-bind-demons-and-make-them-talk version of magic and the "she's a witch so clearly she has to SLEEP with demons" version of magic. Whether that's more about "learned" Judaic/pseudo-Judaic respect vs "hedge"/"low" magic, or more about the inherently perceived worth of men/money vs women/childbirth pursuits, is left as an exercise for the reader.

[roseembolism]

I'm honestly not sure (but am willing to speculate) on the fact that alchemy and hermetic magic were more tolerated then hedge magic. I'm inclined to think that Alchemy was more male oriented, and was oriented toward the nobility.

I also have to wonder how much of the "stepping stone to science" could have also come from hedge magicians and herbalists...if their knowledge hadn't been discounted. Not that I'm going to get into the "male science vs. female science" nonsense, but I'm sure there was a lot of knowledge that was lost through being dismissed.