Characterization of men and women in a theocracy

[Sharad9]

This setting I am working on features humanity being united under a matriarchal theocracy against a supernatural threat from an alternate dimension. A religious hierarchy has formed with women holding most of the dominant positions of power due to them being able to access magic. The theocracy espouses notions of "equality", but holds complementary ideals and values of the sexes, believing that God designed men and women with innate traits and abilities. Sex and gender play an important role in a person's life, and society is unkind to those who go against the grain. I am trying to come up with a creation myth that helps justify the authority of the theocracy.

God, known as the divine, possess a duel nature, each representing different aspects of humanity. It is portrayed as a being with the head of a woman and a masculine body.The head represents the feminine, and symbolizes intuition, wisdom, strength, and life. The body represents the masculine, and symbolizes honor, courage, brawn, and death. These aspects are made manifest in the differences between men and women, and the social order depends on cooperation between the two. With the head leading the body, harmony and balance can be achieved. However, division between them causes chaos and strife.

God designed humans for different purposes in mind that reflects it's dual nature. It created woman first, and gave her dominion over all creation. The ability to access magic was given to her as proof of her divine authority. This magic was slow, complex, and intensive. However, it was very powerful, able to split oceans in half, rain down fire from the sky, or design new species of plants and animals. With patience, she was able to master it and bend reality to her whim. God then created man, and designated him with the role of defender of creation. He would be a companion to woman, to serve and protect her, and provide council. He was given the gift of physical prowess, which was quicker to access and use, and allowed him to act quickly and desicively when needed.

For a time, things were peaceful, and humanity flourished in this golden age. However, although man was strong and quick witted, he was also impatient and overconfident. This made him rebellious, and he grew to disdain woman. Eventually, he sought to subvert her authority over him, and overthrew her with brute force. This is represented in the religion as God's lower half rebelling and subjugation it's higher half. This betrayal ushered in an age of kings, which introduced chaos and strife into the world.

In this new age, man competed and made war with each other, each seeking to dominate their rivals and rule undisputed over creation. The constant wars disturbed the veil that separated reality from the netherworld, where creatures hostile to humanity dwelled. In time, a breach in reality opened in the veil, allowing these demons to pass from their realm into reality. Millions died in the genocide as the demons sought extermination of the human race. Woman, using her intuition and magic, was eventually able to seal the breach and ending the flood of demons into the world. She then created weaponry specifically made to kill the demons, which man used to defeat them. Although humanity was eventually victorious, the world was permanently scarred. The veil was irrevocably damaged, remaining weakened in certain areas or had completely collapsed in others. This allows demons to cross over into reality, and they remain a constant threat to humanity.

With the end of the war, woman was able to reclaim her authority over creation. In her infinite love and wisdom, she forgave man for his betrayal, knowing that God's halves cannot exist without the other. However, men was punished for their arrogance by bearing the responsibility for causing the calamity that almost ended the human race. They must carry that shame throughout their lives making penance until god redeems them in the hereafter.

Men are called to be protectors of creation. As the aspect of death, they are the first line of defense for the nation, and expected to be the risk takers. An underlying subtlety of the society is that women must be in charge because they are more valuable. men are considered expendable and are the servants of society, although much more flowery language is used. The cultural training they receive is that men, even those that are not professional soldiers, die to protect women and children, even those that are not their own, otherwise they are cowards and shunned. Honor is tied to this duty, and warriors are celebrated and revered as the pinnacle of masculinity. Although men are valued for their brawn and courage, they are emotional, undependable at times, and tend towards arrogance and pride. Their egos Compel them to compete with each other, which can be disastrous if they were given the reigns of power. Although their input is valuable, they they are largely kept out of the political sphere.

Women, due to their close connection with God and their ability to master magic, are viewed as the "smarter" sex. They have an inborn tendency toward long term planning, diplomacy, and working together to accomplish long term goals. Women were created by God to create and nurture new life, and that care extends to running her clan. Only they have the natural instinct toward care and patience born of their natural ability to raise children, and are able to lead society forward without risking killing it. she will not over-react like men do, she will not be vindictive like men are: She will mete out proportional punishment and sanctions when that is due, no more and no less.

The myth is meant to be an inverse of the creation story in the bible. The same way eve disobeyed god and introduce original sin into the world, man''s mistakes introduced suffering and strife, and almost led to humanity's destruction. Does this story seem reasonable as a creation myth? Does the characterization of the sexes seem authentic given the setting?

[JeenLeen]

It seems a believable creation myth to me, and in line with your setting.

I also like that it gives an ancient and semi-divine legend about how anti-demons were created.

Is females' magic weaker now than it was during the 'Edenic' period? If yes, perhaps that is a limitation put on woman for their not maintaining their authority properly? That gives a parallel to how Adam bore consequences as well as Eve, and explains why such crazy-powerful magic is no longer possible.
If you don't like the divine acting on both genders, instead you could have the act of fixing the breach have been draining to humanity's human in general. Having distorted the natural order, their union with the divine (and thus magic) has been permanently limited.

[jqavins]

First off, as a creation myth with justification for sexism built in: sure, it's as good as any other. In the second paragraph, where you wrote "The head represents the feminine, and symbolizes intuition, wisdom, strength, and life," I assume that refers to strength of will. "Strength" by itself is really the same thing as "brawn," so you might want to change the wording.

You didn't specify a system, so I'll use 3.x terminology as a default. Is all magic in this world divine, or is there arcane as well? If so, is that also only available to women, or are there male sor/wiz types?

I have more to say, but have to rush off to a meeting.

Edit: I had more to say, but I don't remember what it was. Damn!