> I sort of wonder if Bob's point is true, though, in that the
> macho types would simply come home and do as they liked, as those
> at home wouldn't be able to physically oppose them.

MB> The guards would throw them out, if they weren't gutted on the
MB> spot. And the lady of the land was not exactly like modern
MB> women, physically speaking. She would likely give him a sound
MB> knock over the head with something hard. 

 Hobb's "Viking" world did not mention guards, and in any case, how
would a few older men past their use-by for a-viking stand up to ship
full of hoons just back from three months of loot, rape, and pillage?
The idea of a Helga-type woman giving Hagar the Horrible a hit over
the head goes well in a comic strip, but not in the real world. I
admit that there are a few cases of domestic violence where the woman
is the aggressor, but there are a few cases of mice attacking cats (I
suppose). It doesn't men that mice dominate cats.

 My complaint was that Hobbs did not create a realistic Matricarchy.
If such a matriarchy can exist, it will take a bit more work than
Hobbs put in to convince me.

MB> When the men wanted to build a warship to go raiding, the lady
MB> of the land could refuse, because she ran the finances, and had
MB> the key to the treasury. 

 Yes... and that works for the first trip. Then they come home with
the loot, havign raped and pillaged their way through ten counties,
feeling horny... so who stops them now?

MB> Of course, a violent misogynist could defy all customs and
MB> break the laws, but that would be dealt with rather harshly. 

 Someone like the Captain of the longship who finds it a little
strange to hand over his loot to a person who is weaker than he is,
with no defence worth mentioning?

 A much more convincing matriarchy was created by Kerr's aliens,
when she made it genetic. Her "men" were still the warriors, but the
society was supported by "breeders" and an entire religion. Hobbs had
none of that.

Regards,
Bob
    

--- BQWK Alpha 0.5