I think the series does well at representing a better future. When it is revealed that one of the main characters' best friend YoshiSo in the BSG storyline, where the number of humans surviving is going down at the start of each episode on that freaky counter and (SPOILER for season 2) abortion becomes a non-starter, at least officially,(SPOILER ends) would homosexuality logically become taboo for the same reason?is gay, the only one making an issue of it is the alien woman who is the last of her race - it makes sense for her people to have had a homosexuality taboo, the story says, because they were dying out. The collorary being that humanity has no such excuse.
If, in the BSG scenario or a similar situation, homosexuality was outlawed would that measure really give a supposedly desired increase in population? Is it ok to expect people to breed as an obligation to their society or their species? Particularly given that it's women that have to do the bulk of the breeding work...
What say you, dear readers?
(And if I am being prescient about season 4, which I've yet to see, can someone please not mention that, or any other season 4 spoilers, in comments, thanks very much!)
See Maia's thread on the episodes currently showing in NZ for more general BSG discussion, if you are so inclined.
4 comments:
I could discuss abortion of just BSG right? Ok, I choose BSG. I've got episode 15 of series 4 part 2 to watch tonight. I should stop thinking about that lest my day drag...
I think you can consistently sustain homosexuality *and* enforced breeding. I think a culture such as we've seen in BSG - which is really several cultures, but the one we mostly encounter is Caprican - is equipped to, for example, institute a compulsory breeding programme so that everyone has an obligation to pass on their genes and take appropriate responsibility for the resulting children, while simultaneously allow people to have recreational sex with whoever.
Er, an addendum: I also don't know that the only qualification needed for a species to have an ethically consistent homosexuality taboo is the close to extinction one; it also has to include forced breeding, and recreational sex taboos. (Of course, cultures' ethical systems aren't alway fully internally consistent, but I live in hope.)
Sheesh, if they shift to compulsory breeding I'm not sure I'll be able to watch...
I agree that homosexuality doesn't have to be outlawed to encourage/enforce breeding, and to be honest that's one of the things that really bugs me about that argument - firstly that you owe it to the species to reproduce (really? by that logic couldn't we owe it to the rest of the planet not to?) and secondly that allowing people to be openly and safely gay, lesbian, transgender, etc would somehow mean less breeding. Personal observation tells me that some homosexuals want to have children too, just like some heterosexuals do.
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