Ebou Dar

I love this culture. I find it to be the most audacious, the most buxom, and where a lot of fun things happen in the series.

Ok, I just like watching Mat squirm while Tylin has her royal way with him.

Ebou Dar represents a funny addition to the cultures of Randland, if simply on the basis of the marriage knife.

When an Ebou Dari couple tie the knot, the woman is given a dagger, and, with the blessing of the state, she may use it on her husband should he ever displease her. That's bloody hilarious, especially when you get this feeling that Ebou Dari husbands find the fact funny and agitate their wives, a specific case being Setalle Anan's husband. I think for my gender analysis, this is quite a blatant violation of gender equality in the case of married couples. Albeit, I have to wonder if there is more to this than meets the eye.

BOOM, went there!

So, the one thing I remember most about Ebou Dar's fashion comes from the deep neckline and bodacious boobage going on. So, let's assume a man courts a lady for her milk mounds, and is simply desirous of her for pleasure. Not the basis of a good marriage. Considering that people keep what goes on in the bedroom to themselves, including in many cases unwanted sex, this seems like it could be a great safeguard to women seeking husbands. I'm only 3/4 of the way through Crown of Swords at this point, but I don't know if any mention comes of Ebou Dar's policies towards divorce.

The marriage knife was my main topic to write a little on, and now I want to touch a bit on the gender division as far as jobs go.

Again, with Setalle and her hubby. He goes out and catches fish for a living, she runs the inn. In fact, all the inns are run by women in Ebou Dar, while only men get to be ship captains.

Why?

Honestly, I think this may be a culture reference to the island of Siphnos.

Without going into more detail about it, there's a theory that there was a kind of matriarchy in the Mediterranean, specifically Greece. We've some mythological basis for this, but on Siphnos, the woman gets the house. Period. It's her place, she gets the lion's share of the dowry and whatnot, while the men go out and do whatever. This is actually somewhat similar to what the women of Sparta did, if only in that the Spartan ladies looked after the houses.

Considering everyone's pension for dueling and getting in fights, the marriage knife is partially indicative of the culture that produced it, as well as a signpost against men that just want a woman for her charms. I think that my assertion is here is decent without more data. Hopefully I'll have something more to write on the matter when I finish up Crown of Swords.

Til the next time!