Happy Downfall of Sauron Day, '11
Mar. 25th, 2011 11:11 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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asexual_fandom and celebrate Downfall of Sauron Day (March 25), I'm going to write a bit about culture and asexuality in Middle-earth.
The language of sexual orientation codifies (a)sexual feelings and practices shaped by a combination of biological drives and cultural construction. For example, men have always slept with men, but the prevalence and expression of this drive is strongly culturally conditioned, and it is somewhat misleading to refer to the relationship between two male lovers in Sparta as "gay."
Middle-earth is fictional space, constructed (in its original literary form) by rather a devout and quite heterosexual Catholic, who was raised among the trappings of late-Victorian morality. So we might argue that the reason Middle-earth presents as a strongly heterosexual culture in which everyone is a virgin until married (even if it takes millennia) is that it's shaped to the moral fantasies of its staid author and, thus, is simply unrealistic.
Fair enough, but we don't need to stop there, because Tolkien created a civilization whose inner coherence transcends its author's specific perspectives.
The relative lack of sex in Middle-earth is a long-standing joke. One friend in a LJ post long past commented that s/he couldn't imagine hobbits reproducing by any means other than budding. Amusing (and somewhat deserved) though the jokes are, however, they miss the underlying sexual mores of Middle-earth.
The prevailing culture is strongly pro-sexuality, within rigid limits: 1) that relationships be heterosexual (this is so taken for granted it isn't even commented on), 2) that they be restricted to marriage, and mainly among Elves, 3) that one should not marry more than once and 4) that one does not marry in war time (which is a lot of the time in Middle-earth!).
Elvish theology, which pervades Middle-earth, considers marriage (including sex and reproduction) to be the only truly healthy adult state. Remaining unwed is repeatedly--one might say unremittingly--identified with marring: Finrod is single because he was exiled with the Noldor and left his love behind; Gil-galad, presumably, is single because he stands as a Galahad-like sacrifice, spending his long reign attempting to redeem the misdeeds of his forbears (in more concrete terms, his whole adult life is spent in war). Frodo's bachelor status, ultimately, is symbolically linked with death, departing Middle-earth, not having a place in the new order, vs. Sam, Merry, and Pippin, who all marry and have children.
It goes without saying that lifelong single women (ex. Andreth) are usually bitter or at least rather unhappy. Éowyn, being a valiant girl, must be rewarded by hasty pairing with a man she's only known for a short time, irrespective of the fact that most of her story has been defined by a strong, unrequited love for someone else.
All that being said, there are worse things than being single. Elvish (and Middle-earth) society places a strong emphasis not only on marrying but on marrying one's soul mate, the person to whom one is "doomed." Thus, Beren and Lúthien must marry despite the great pain in store for them, but Aegnor and Andreth must not because (for reasons that remain mysterious) they are not "doomed" to be together. Finrod, Middle-earth's great patron of romantic love, would rather remain single than marry someone besides the love he left behind. Finwë is famous for screwing up Elvish history by insisting on remarrying rather than staying widowed and, thus, ending up with sons in conflict. And of course, various figures who attempt to carry off women against their will are not lauded. Even some of the Valar (male and female) are single and still regarded as venerable and good.
Another influence of Elvish culture is longevity and respect for maturity. Marrying young is not particularly encouraged. Thus, while almost all the members of the Fellowship eventually marry, none of them is married (that we know of) during the War of the Ring, despite the fact the youngest of them is already 28. Boromir, an ordinary human fellow, is no spring chicken at 40, yet there is no implication that his unmarried status is unusual or problematic. In fact, it is entirely probable that Tolkien intended the Fellowship to be read as nine virgins, and an entirely functional, mature, and indeed impressive lot, by and large.
Therefore, if marrying is the ideal course in Middle-earth, remaining unmarried is not a "bad" course. It certainly worked well for Bilbo, and the symbology of the ending aside, it worked well for Frodo too. Given the sexual mores of Middle-earth, we may conclude that it is assumed (if not always true) that people who are unmarried are not sexually active. They live, in effect, asexual lives--or at least are expected to. Nor is there any implication that these people are expected to be in grave distress from lack of sexual fulfillment. It is simply presumed that sex is not an important part of their lives. Middle-earth, therefore, is a cultural space in which asexuality is a normative and acceptable, if not most common, life choice, the lifelong choice of figures as venerable Finrod, Gil-galad, Bilbo, and Frodo.
Now, if we want to play the "realism" game, we might conclude that not a few of these single folks would experience sexual frustration (same for not-yet-married folks). We might also suspect that not of few of them had sex on the side. But even if this were true, the cultural endorsement of asexuality remains as much a fact as the Victorian disapprobation of homosexuality.
This should be a great comfort to the asexuality movement, as it gives a consistent and cogent example (as does Victorian England in real life) of a culture in which asexuality does not equate to neurosis or ill health, but is rather a normal life choice made by a considerable number of high-functioning people, who suffer no evident distress from it.
[Edit:beatrice_otter makes a good point that I didn't properly distinguish between asexuality and celibacy in the above argument, where "asexuality" denotes have low/no desire for sex and "celibacy" denotes a choice not to have sex. Both terms, strictly speaking, refer to individuals and, thus, are misapplied (or metaphorically applied) in reference to a society. But insofar as collective expectations can be used characterize a culture in this way (as in "our contemporary culture is highly 'sexual'"), then Middle-earth has a generous space for both celibacy and asexuality.
This would be opposed to, say, medieval Christianity, which had a generous place for celibacy but no expectation of asexuality. In fact, the default assumption was that celibates demonstrated their virtue by overcoming sexual temptation. Middle-earth assumes that sexual desire is not particularly tempting in and of itself. Hence, it is a society with a high degree of acceptance for asexuality.]
asexual_fandom and celebrate Downfall of Sauron Day (March 25), I'm going to write a bit about culture and asexuality in Middle-earth.The language of sexual orientation codifies (a)sexual feelings and practices shaped by a combination of biological drives and cultural construction. For example, men have always slept with men, but the prevalence and expression of this drive is strongly culturally conditioned, and it is somewhat misleading to refer to the relationship between two male lovers in Sparta as "gay."
Middle-earth is fictional space, constructed (in its original literary form) by rather a devout and quite heterosexual Catholic, who was raised among the trappings of late-Victorian morality. So we might argue that the reason Middle-earth presents as a strongly heterosexual culture in which everyone is a virgin until married (even if it takes millennia) is that it's shaped to the moral fantasies of its staid author and, thus, is simply unrealistic.
Fair enough, but we don't need to stop there, because Tolkien created a civilization whose inner coherence transcends its author's specific perspectives.
The relative lack of sex in Middle-earth is a long-standing joke. One friend in a LJ post long past commented that s/he couldn't imagine hobbits reproducing by any means other than budding. Amusing (and somewhat deserved) though the jokes are, however, they miss the underlying sexual mores of Middle-earth.
The prevailing culture is strongly pro-sexuality, within rigid limits: 1) that relationships be heterosexual (this is so taken for granted it isn't even commented on), 2) that they be restricted to marriage, and mainly among Elves, 3) that one should not marry more than once and 4) that one does not marry in war time (which is a lot of the time in Middle-earth!).
Elvish theology, which pervades Middle-earth, considers marriage (including sex and reproduction) to be the only truly healthy adult state. Remaining unwed is repeatedly--one might say unremittingly--identified with marring: Finrod is single because he was exiled with the Noldor and left his love behind; Gil-galad, presumably, is single because he stands as a Galahad-like sacrifice, spending his long reign attempting to redeem the misdeeds of his forbears (in more concrete terms, his whole adult life is spent in war). Frodo's bachelor status, ultimately, is symbolically linked with death, departing Middle-earth, not having a place in the new order, vs. Sam, Merry, and Pippin, who all marry and have children.
It goes without saying that lifelong single women (ex. Andreth) are usually bitter or at least rather unhappy. Éowyn, being a valiant girl, must be rewarded by hasty pairing with a man she's only known for a short time, irrespective of the fact that most of her story has been defined by a strong, unrequited love for someone else.
All that being said, there are worse things than being single. Elvish (and Middle-earth) society places a strong emphasis not only on marrying but on marrying one's soul mate, the person to whom one is "doomed." Thus, Beren and Lúthien must marry despite the great pain in store for them, but Aegnor and Andreth must not because (for reasons that remain mysterious) they are not "doomed" to be together. Finrod, Middle-earth's great patron of romantic love, would rather remain single than marry someone besides the love he left behind. Finwë is famous for screwing up Elvish history by insisting on remarrying rather than staying widowed and, thus, ending up with sons in conflict. And of course, various figures who attempt to carry off women against their will are not lauded. Even some of the Valar (male and female) are single and still regarded as venerable and good.
Another influence of Elvish culture is longevity and respect for maturity. Marrying young is not particularly encouraged. Thus, while almost all the members of the Fellowship eventually marry, none of them is married (that we know of) during the War of the Ring, despite the fact the youngest of them is already 28. Boromir, an ordinary human fellow, is no spring chicken at 40, yet there is no implication that his unmarried status is unusual or problematic. In fact, it is entirely probable that Tolkien intended the Fellowship to be read as nine virgins, and an entirely functional, mature, and indeed impressive lot, by and large.
Therefore, if marrying is the ideal course in Middle-earth, remaining unmarried is not a "bad" course. It certainly worked well for Bilbo, and the symbology of the ending aside, it worked well for Frodo too. Given the sexual mores of Middle-earth, we may conclude that it is assumed (if not always true) that people who are unmarried are not sexually active. They live, in effect, asexual lives--or at least are expected to. Nor is there any implication that these people are expected to be in grave distress from lack of sexual fulfillment. It is simply presumed that sex is not an important part of their lives. Middle-earth, therefore, is a cultural space in which asexuality is a normative and acceptable, if not most common, life choice, the lifelong choice of figures as venerable Finrod, Gil-galad, Bilbo, and Frodo.
Now, if we want to play the "realism" game, we might conclude that not a few of these single folks would experience sexual frustration (same for not-yet-married folks). We might also suspect that not of few of them had sex on the side. But even if this were true, the cultural endorsement of asexuality remains as much a fact as the Victorian disapprobation of homosexuality.
This should be a great comfort to the asexuality movement, as it gives a consistent and cogent example (as does Victorian England in real life) of a culture in which asexuality does not equate to neurosis or ill health, but is rather a normal life choice made by a considerable number of high-functioning people, who suffer no evident distress from it.
[Edit:
beatrice_otter makes a good point that I didn't properly distinguish between asexuality and celibacy in the above argument, where "asexuality" denotes have low/no desire for sex and "celibacy" denotes a choice not to have sex. Both terms, strictly speaking, refer to individuals and, thus, are misapplied (or metaphorically applied) in reference to a society. But insofar as collective expectations can be used characterize a culture in this way (as in "our contemporary culture is highly 'sexual'"), then Middle-earth has a generous space for both celibacy and asexuality. This would be opposed to, say, medieval Christianity, which had a generous place for celibacy but no expectation of asexuality. In fact, the default assumption was that celibates demonstrated their virtue by overcoming sexual temptation. Middle-earth assumes that sexual desire is not particularly tempting in and of itself. Hence, it is a society with a high degree of acceptance for asexuality.]
