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When talking about Shadowsun retiring to start a family, it does make no mention of a genetic donor. It's entirely possible that it's all done in vitro with scientifically selected donors, and that the physical act of intimacy is reserved for expressions of love.

Another thing to note is that originally, the Ta'lissera ritual was a voluntary ritual equated with marriage that some particularly close squads underwent.

 EmpNortonII wrote:

 Maniac_nmt wrote:

 Psienesis wrote:
Even if she did, this is a period of time that might last a few weeks, at best. Babies don't nurse *that* long, and Tau mature quickly. Their childhood is a few years long, at best, followed by a brief adolescence, with maturity reached at, what, ten years?

Many Mom's that nurse, nurse for up to 1-1.5 years as normal.

Babies don't need to be nursed, but nursed babies tend to be healthier, have less weight problems, and have fewer issues than formula fed babies. Not that formula feeding is bad or wrong, there are just benefits to nursing that formula cannot replace (of course, 30 years ago or more it was considered better to formula feed, so it comes and goes).

If the mother Tau produces milk, some form of milking/nursing will be of benefit (as otherwise it can become painful as my wife can attest to). This can be done on a system that weens the baby off and minimizes discomfort. No reason to think they would not nurse, as you suggest, and just keep it shorter in duration.

Of course, in a greater good society, it is also perfectly logical to have 'mothers' come off line for whatever the required duration to ensure a 'healthy' baby, gender 'rights' would have no place in such a society.

... did you just claim that maternity leave is a VIOLATION of gender rights?

Fifty bucks says you're a white American male that votes Republican.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Grey Templar wrote:
I would guess the Tau use genetic matchmaking to pair up.

I imagine it's a little more like Farscape's sebaceans.

No, I didn't claim they should violate gender rights (or that maternity leave is a violation of gender rights, I am merely noting both my wife and other women Iknow can attest to both nursing and not nursing, and that it is painful to not nurse until such time as the body slows milk production). There is just no reason to assume a 'greater good' society would conform to our notions of morality, regardless of political spectrum. If the society viewed something as being good/necessary, it would out weigh any sort of fairness. I highly doubt a Tau male would have any say in the matter either. The Tau cannot breed across caste, for example, even if they 'love' another caste member. Such an action is strictly forbidden.

Starship Troopers, as an example, presents a take on a 'egalitarian' society, but still has gender roles. Woman are not allowed in the MI to avoid emotional attachment problems, where as there are almost no male drop ship pilots as woman can pull gees better (many of the command rank figures are presented as female, so we know in the society presented there isn't a glass ceiling in play). In terms of voting, pay, etc the sexes are otherwise equal. Now, I don't care for a facist society myself, merely saying that just because we see something as morally correct doesn't mean an alien race/future race/different background will.

On the other hand, Tau could undergo some form of egg harvesting and grow their babies in a lab (this is less likely, given what we know, but still, personal rights are secondary to collective goal in Tau society).

The emotional attachment thing is bull, though. Even heterosexual men are fully capable of loving each other.

Starship Troopers, as an example, presents a take on a 'egalitarian' society, but still has gender roles. Woman are not allowed in the MI to avoid emotional attachment problems, where as there are almost no male drop ship pilots as woman can pull gees better (many of the command rank figures are presented as female, so we know in the society presented there isn't a glass ceiling in play). In terms of voting, pay, etc the sexes are otherwise equal. Now, I don't care for a facist society myself, merely saying that just because we see something as morally correct doesn't mean an alien race/future race/different background will.

ST was also written in the 1950s by a guy who was making an apology for Fascism.

 Psienesis wrote:

Starship Troopers, as an example, presents a take on a 'egalitarian' society, but still has gender roles. Woman are not allowed in the MI to avoid emotional attachment problems, where as there are almost no male drop ship pilots as woman can pull gees better (many of the command rank figures are presented as female, so we know in the society presented there isn't a glass ceiling in play). In terms of voting, pay, etc the sexes are otherwise equal. Now, I don't care for a facist society myself, merely saying that just because we see something as morally correct doesn't mean an alien race/future race/different background will.

ST was also written in the 1950s by a guy who was making an apology for Fascism.

He is also the guy who wrote some pretty libertarian works later in his life (Job or The Door Into Summer among others).

So similar, but different:

Japan, for example, had a very rigid caste structure laid down. It was already semi-imposed, but following the Sengoku period it was much more formalized. A samurai, for example, could cut the head off a peasant at a whim, but could not handle tannery work. The Eta class/caste got all the horrible but vitally necessary jobs and were shuned by society. Women of the samurai caste could be warriors, but being a mother was also heavily encouraged to accept their 'functional duties' for the good of society.

I'm not using either that or SST as examples of how things should or should not be, rather as examples that different cultural experiences can beget different cultural norms of what is and is not acceptable or right for the 'good of society'. We have no actual evidence, and we must merely conjecture based on what we know, not what we want to morally force upon them.