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[haptalaon]

Anyway, it's silly bevause a key thing is that our Powers tend towards gender fluidity -they can appear in appear in all sorts of forma. But in practice, I've only got so much time, and so unless I go through writing dual myth sets and multiple liturgies, what's going to happen is that Deities are closely associated with a gender; it's not really a solution to take a heterosexual myth and rewrite it with all the gender pairings, nor a good use of time.

Comments

[ilthit]

Heh, I have written/drawn some genderswap fanfic/fanart before and funnily enough that is the context in which I understand what you're saying. The essential characteristics of a character, or god, can be placed in a different social category by changing their gender... As someone who is officially female but actually agender, I understand gender better as a social category than a deep-set identity, though I know it is that for some other people, but that social category packs a punch, and it changes both perceptions and expectations. So changing the gender of a god changes their context. Like you said.

(The Furies as male, for example, would make me think of blood vengeance on a more national, almost political scale. Hephaestus as female suddenly aligns with things I associate with Brighid.)

I kinda do wander if there was some division of labour reflected in which gender a Finnish spirit was assigned when addressed? Like, this is the same deity, but I'mma gonna call them "veden emo" when hunting for pearls and "Ahti" when I want fish. I don't think we can really know.

Ugh, I should probably go looking for gay myth. Or we just make more...

[haptalaon]

Yes, the gender swap characters - that's exactly it :)

I think the concept of the goddess has done a great disservice to Brigit. I've been reading Celtic stuff ahead of publishing my thing, and Brigit definitely is in a category with Hephaestus and the Lightbringer and other gods of cleverness, craft and the forge. This often seems...de-emphasised by her goddessliness, when I see her written and drawn; she's never filthy with soot and sweat with the smile which is the pleasure of the mastery of her craft and hair out of place. She's always a bit...motherly, slender, white skinned and we'll dressed.

I love the idea that the differently gendered Finnish spirits might genuinely represent different aspects. I think you're on to something. I can't think right now of any equivalent deity system, although there are a couple like Frig/Frigga where Deities appear as male or female and we're not sure if they're the same or not. Hmmm.

[ilthit]

Since my last post I've been rereading the Kalevala and it strikes me that Kullervo really comes off as a male Fury...

Brigit's depictions also have a lot to do with modern ideas of idea womanhood being thin and pale.