zmeydros
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Why Paitishek Are Hermaphrodites
🕑 Added 2018-09-05 04:05:50 +0000 UTC
The English word "hermaphrodite" is problematic. It has been used to refer to intersexed individuals with sexual characteristics somewhere between the two human extremes. This usage of the world is derogatory and not what I'm talking about.
I'm referring to the biological meaning of the word. Having two sets of fully functional reproductive organs. That each individual Paitishek has a penis and testes and a vagina and ovaries.
Religion has a way of producing extremes in cultures. Another duality we sought to embrace was the two ends of the sexual organ spectrum. We felt that biology had imposed an inherent imbalance that no longer served our purposes. All offspring were be engineered to have both penetrative and receptive sexual organs. And be capable of impregnating or being impregnated.
Having any two people able to reproduce aided space colonization.
I wouldn't argue that our solution to these problems was the best solution. Compared to human progression, our history is utterly bizarre. We had no reservations when it came to genetic engineering. The result was that we changed faster than our culture.
Miidae dug up news from around the time that most of our new hermaphroditic selves reached puberty. Words like, "Chaos," phrases like, "insatiable libido" were thrown around. Libidos hadn't changed. What had changed was attraction.
For these hermaphrodites, anyone their age that they met was a potential sex partner. There was no distinction between same sex or opposite sex. Our conception of LGBT+ had to be completely reevaluated. It was the dawn of another sexual revolution.
There was no gap in musculature. No gap in pay or benefits. No gap in sports. It wasn't whether you were into breasts, it was whether you were into big or small breasts. Same with other sexual characteristics.
Yes, there were individuals that wanted to bring their bodies back to the pervious era. We had ample technology to let them do so. Miidae was one of these individuals. She chose to change her sex to female.
After the initial shock, the headlines started reading, "Hermaphroditic Paitishek are the New Leaders of Society," and, "Freed From Sexual Dimorphism, New Generation Soars."
The original religious underpinnings of this phenomenon strengthened. To the point that becoming a hermaphrodite was seen as a rite of passage for older generations. Sex reassignment procedures were considered a basic right of all people.
By the time my great great grandmothers were in their adolescence, eighty percent of the population was hermaphroditic.
Nowadays, in the population of Paitishek that are in earth's solar system, ninety-eight percent of us are hermaphrodites. The remaining two percent are a microcosm of variation. Variation that makes us whole. It is through those alternate experiences that we better understand ourselves.
Note: Our hermaphrodite craze has made a splash in human culture. That's why seven percent of humans are like us, mostly in the heavily modded community.
Comments
Zmeydros
You're right about demographics. There's stuff going on with their culture, science, and society that are outside the purview of this book that I may detail more in future blog posts. I believe their lack of minorities is a weakness. I didn't want to make their society a utopia and there's some systemic problems. That's a bit more of the worldbuilding that I'm still tinkering with. It's great to have people poke at the worldbuilding and show me where the holes are! Worldbuilding has no real endpoint, and that's part of the fun for me.
Rhyflwhyr
Interesting, I understand there are differences in culture, although I do believe there may be a higher percentage of minorities especially with genetic modification so readily available. The only demographics I have available are human society, so this opinion is rather biased, but here the total sum of minorities make up much more than two percent. Still it is intriguing to have a culture where being hermaphroditic is almost expected rather than being taboo. You could even have some 'rebellious' teenage angst going on in the story or backstories of the characters.
Zmeydros
Your grammar is fine! I'm glad you like the blog posts. ^_^ I'll be sharing more of them on Patreon in the coming months. I have a lot written and tons of ideas. Even so, I'm planning to ask for suggestions about blog post subjects on here.
WhiteGlint211
Putting info like this down is good. So that people can have better picture of other people's or species' societies. I am sorry if my grammar is bad, barely passed English class.
