Gender Confusion – An Informational For Humans On Gargoyle Genders
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Title: Gender Confusion - An Informational for Humans on Gargl Genders
Author: Jaggerauth
Written in the Common Tongue to be better understood by the wingless.
It is a concept which I have taken for granted, for being among my own people this is a topic which rarely, if ever, needs to be discussed.
Not only is it trivial and immaterial, but, for us anyways, common knowledge. However, it appears that humans and elves suffer great confusion in regards to the genders of the Gargl.
Looking at our race through the lens of the human and elven perspective, I can understand the root of their confusion which feeds their ignorance and naivete. By many standards we are considered genderless, as we indeed call ourselves such, but we also have distinctly male and female genders which are plainly visible to the eye.
Our offspring come from eggs, but do not require fertilization from another Gargl; unlike humans and elves who develop from eggs (though from within their host’s bodies) which must be fertilized by a male of the species. So what are we, exactly? Do we have female and male genders or are we genderless?
The answer is quite simple: Yes. That is to say, Gargl are made up of male and females in the physical sense, but we consider ourselves genderless in the societal and mental sense for we do not share the gender divisions of the humans and elves.
Gender is more than mere biological differences, it is a perception. In the human and elven societies, males are dominantly soldiers, scholars, workers, farmers, laborers, and leaders while females are homemakers, cooks, tailors, and other sorts of craftmakers. That is not to say that one of one gender can not do the duties of the other gender, it just seems to not happen quite so often as what can be considered the ‘gender norms’ of those societies.
Gargl society is different.
We do not make the distinction between male and female on the societal level, and instead view one another as Gargl. A human male can not view a human female as merely a human, for he will note the differences in physical construct, and vise versa.
This is not an issue in our society. A male and female are one in the same. A human male, when describing something he saw, would say that he saw a woman walking down the street. A Gargle would state that he saw a Gargl walking down the street.
However, similar to humans and elves, only female Gargl are capable of producing offspring. They merely do not need to procreate with a male to do so. A female may produce hundreds of eggs every generation, both male and female. At one point in time, females were revered higher than males in our society for the Gargl were on the brink of extinction, but since that time our society has regained its balance. The only other difference is life span.
Female Gargl not only develope to maturity faster than male Gargl, but live for many generations more than their male counterparts. Although many would see this fact alone as reason to cause a difference in the way we view our gender roles, we do not.
A Gargl is a Gargl first and foremost, and being male or female is merely a physical distinction which we choose to ignore in favor of turning our attention to endeavors more important.
- Lore Master Jaggerauth of the Ter Mur Royal Library