204 réponses à ce sujet

[Gervaise]

Small point, as you will see from the video above, Sten does actually list "farmer" as one of the activities more suited to a woman rather than a man.   To be honest, from that conversation I get the impression that the majority of males get put in the military.   There are jobs in civilian life that can involve manual labour, like farming, but they still tend to be done by women because they feel the best role for the male physique and temperament is as a soldier and would be wasted as a mere farmer.   Which is why in World of Thedas they specifically mention the opposite situation where a man is doing farm work and a woman is in the military.  

 

I suppose if you think about it, if the woman was particularly strong and muscular, say like Averline who can apparently carry a cow over her head, then the Tamassrans might feel she would be wasted simply tending the cows.  

[nightscrawl]

I suppose if you think about it, if the woman was particularly strong and muscular, say like Averline who can apparently carry a cow over her head, then the Tamassrans might feel she would be wasted simply tending the cows.

I dunno... that sounds like a pretty convenient skill as far as cow-tending is concerned.

They also have dathrasi, whatever those are supposed to be, according to the Arishok's little rant in DA2 (one of my favorite scenes in the game; the VA is phenomenal).

"Look at you. Like fat dathrasi you feed and feed and complain only when your meal is interrupted. You do not look up. You do not see that the grass is bare. All you leave in your wake is misery. You are blind. I will make you see."

[ModernAcademic]

I think the Tamassrans who are in charge of the creches and the Tamassrans who are sex workers are probably two different groups of people.

 

<snip>

 

It would be very awkward if they were not.

 

 

Also, don't know if anyone already asked this, but are there any indications of male Tamassrans in Thedas? Women of all species and backgrounds have sexual needs too, y'know.

[Lazarillo]

Also, don't know if anyone already asked this, but are there any indications of male Tamassrans in Thedas? Women of all species and backgrounds have sexual needs too, y'know.

That's kinda where this whole topic started.
Nearest answer as far as anyone can tell I think is that Tamassrans are always women. It's possible an Aqun-Athlok Tamassran might exist, but nothing certain. It's also possible that just 'cause the Tamassrans get people off doesn't necessarily mean they take a...hands on...approach, so it might not matter.

[nightscrawl]

That's kinda where this whole topic started.
Nearest answer as far as anyone can tell I think is that Tamassrans are always women. It's possible an Aqun-Athlok Tamassran might exist, but nothing certain. It's also possible that just 'cause the Tamassrans get people off doesn't necessarily mean they take a...hands on...approach, so it might not matter.

 

This doesn't really fall in line with the fundamentals of sexuality, though. A gay dude doesn't want to be jerked off by a woman, or pegged with a strap on by a woman; he wants to have sex with a man. If part of the whole point of the sexual servicing is that the person gets their sexual needs met, then that includes whichever gender actually gets their motor running, otherwise it is completely pointless. And yeah, I don't care how brainwashed people are under the Qun, if they aren't getting those needs met, then these guys are going to be screwing each other in their platoons.

[Lazarillo]

This doesn't really fall in line with the fundamentals of sexuality, though. A gay dude doesn't want to be jerked off by a woman, or pegged with a strap on by a woman; he wants to have sex with a man. If part of the whole point of the sexual servicing is that the person gets their sexual needs met, then that includes whichever gender actually gets their motor running, otherwise it is completely pointless. And yeah, I don't care how brainwashed people are under the Qun, if they aren't getting those needs met, then these guys are going to be screwing each other in their platoons.

For what it's worth, I don't disagree with your sentiment. But those are the facts as we know 'em. As I've said on other subjects, though, I'd take Bull's commentary with a grain of salt at all times, though, anyway.

[Iakus]

For what it's worth, I don't disagree with your sentiment. But those are the facts as we know 'em. As I've said on other subjects, though, I'd take Bull's commentary with a grain of salt at all times, though, anyway.

I think half the stuff Iron Bull says about QUnari culture is him lying to himself, trying to convince himself the Qun's not so bad.

[Cyberpunk]

Wanting and getting a sexual release is not the same thing as being assigned a mating partner to produce more qunari.

 

What's your point? The question was about prostitution. Clearly they are not prostitutes. 

[Gervaise]

May be getting the person to have sexual release in the mechanical sense is all it is about to the Qunari.   A climax is a climax when all is said and done.    I thought that was the whole point of what Bull was saying.   There is no mental connection on any level; you just go in, they use whatever means to get you aroused, you get your sexual release and you leave.   Whether you are attracted to men or women is immaterial.   It is not about what you want as an individual at all.   It is about what you need to release the sexual tension that would have built up over time.    The Qun is about self mastery in the cause of the Qun.    Those guys who screw each other in the platoons would not have achieved mastery of self.    Send them over to the re-educators.  

 

Now it may be that the writers do not intend it to be seen this way and introducing the concept of the transgender being accommodated by the system throws up these questions but the fact is that the logical conclusion of a system where self is meant to be subsumed completely for the sake of the whole is that you don't get to state what gender you think you are or what your sexual preference is because that is too individualistic.    You do as commanded by the Qun.  

 

If a woman can't get a gay man's motor running, given the right circumstances, how come you have so many cases of a gay man marrying and having children before coming out?     The Qun would find some way of getting round the problem that does not involve letting the individual dictate the terms of their sexual encounter.   If Tamassrans, who are always women deal with it, then that's the end of it.   It is the problem really with trying to impose 21st century values of equality and diversity on a completely alien culture that we have previously been led to believe does not respect the rights of the individual.   It just doesn't work.

[Wulfram]

May be getting the person to have sexual release in the mechanical sense is all it is about to the Qunari.   A climax is a climax when all is said and done.

In that case, I don't really see why they'd need to involve anyone else.

[In Exile]

I think half the stuff Iron Bull says about QUnari culture is him lying to himself, trying to convince himself the Qun's not so bad.

That's true, but not the way you're implying. It's the value part that's a lie. For example, it's probably true the Tamassran "pop your cork". It's almost certainly not anywhere near as idyllic. Remember how he pitches the awful re-education. 

[vertigomez]

Yeah, I don't think it's JUST as simple as wrangling an orgasm out of someone. If that was the case, the person could do it themselves - they wouldn't need a partner. And Bull talks about how it's sometimes this long, involved thing... and apparently they've got strap-ons, so I think sex is more adventurous in Par Vollen than people think. The only difference is that you can't just bang someone because you like them. They've got people for that.

It sounds like it's both a mental and sexual thing, and in that case I'm sure they have Tamassrans or Tamassran-assigned people with the appropriate parts. It's only what they do that makes them "female", not how they look or how they feel.

So Qunari of every sexual orientation can still get their tension gone when they need it, but they're probably still required to participate in the breeding program regardless of what gets their motor running.

[Nocte ad Mortem]

May be getting the person to have sexual release in the mechanical sense is all it is about to the Qunari.   A climax is a climax when all is said and done.    I thought that was the whole point of what Bull was saying.   There is no mental connection on any level; you just go in, they use whatever means to get you aroused, you get your sexual release and you leave.   Whether you are attracted to men or women is immaterial.   It is not about what you want as an individual at all.   It is about what you need to release the sexual tension that would have built up over time.    The Qun is about self mastery in the cause of the Qun.    Those guys who screw each other in the platoons would not have achieved mastery of self.    Send them over to the re-educators.  

 

Now it may be that the writers do not intend it to be seen this way and introducing the concept of the transgender being accommodated by the system throws up these questions but the fact is that the logical conclusion of a system where self is meant to be subsumed completely for the sake of the whole is that you don't get to state what gender you think you are or what your sexual preference is because that is too individualistic.    You do as commanded by the Qun.  

 

If a woman can't get a gay man's motor running, given the right circumstances, how come you have so many cases of a gay man marrying and having children before coming out?     The Qun would find some way of getting round the problem that does not involve letting the individual dictate the terms of their sexual encounter.   If Tamassrans, who are always women deal with it, then that's the end of it.   It is the problem really with trying to impose 21st century values of equality and diversity on a completely alien culture that we have previously been led to believe does not respect the rights of the individual.   It just doesn't work.

The "gay men married to women" point is a hornets nest that I wouldn't kick, personally. It's.. misunderstanding a lot on a lot of levels. 

 

The issue here isn't just gay men, though. It's also every straight woman in the Qun. They haven't suggested that there's any negative connotations to same sex attractions in the Qun and women are considered to be equal, just put in different roles. To me, it doesn't follow that they would just provide this service with female providers. It's not supposed to be a male dominated society, so the "real world" reasons why that might happen aren't really applicable. In fact, most of the "planning" roles for society go to women.

 

Like others have said, though, I don't see why this sort of service would be needed unless it was about the added element of having another person involved. For a lot of gay men and straight women, having a random woman involved is probably a step back from just masturbating. There's no benefit of having someone you have no attraction to involved in the effort. People are perfectly capable of achieving an orgasm alone. The only benefit of a system like this is if it provides for the need of actually having sex with other people, rather than just masturbating. If it's just a more elaborate form of masturbation, it's a really inefficient system to have.

 

I also feel like the way Patrick Weekes talked about it in that interview I quoted a while back doesn't suggest this is a clinical, sterile sort of process. He described the Qunari as being very in touch with their physical side and implied that they just had opposite views on the taboos of sex as we do. They take the taboo off the physical and put it on the emotional. His descriptions made it sound like basically a brothel as we know them, not as a more "sex doctor" approach where attraction isn't wanted or intended. 

[Gervaise]

It is not adventurous as such.   Bull says he prefers the way it is done in the south because everything is more spontaneous and less ritual.   He says it is like going to the doctor.   May be you even have to have a fixed appointment, not simply turn up ad hoc.  

 

Tamassrans are always female but if Bull always presented to them as heterosexual then it would always be a Tamassran that "popped his cork".   So it could well be there are other sex workers who are male and specifically there to service gay Qunari, since that is the only sexual orientation that the Tamassran couldn't.  Then again, may be they just "fix" them.   If Dorian's father thought it possible to change him with blood magic, then presumably the Qun might think they can do the same with re-educators.   The thing is that you don't decide they do.

 

What happens with a transgender Qunari entirely depends on the above.   If the Qunari cater for the professed sexual orientation of the individual, then there will be someone to do this.   If they don't recognise it, then you have to go with whatever ritual they supply.   

 

If you are saying they need to cater for straight women wanting to have sex for fun rather than having babies, then you throw up a whole new set of issues.   What sort of birth control do they have?    What if they don't feel particularly attracted to the person supplied?   This applies to other sexual orientations too.   Just because they have supplied someone from the right sex doesn't mean you are attracted to them.    So now they have to have multiple sex workers of every sexual orientation and every sex to cater for the individual's choice and desires, which is exactly what we are told the Qun do not do.

 

Quote from World of Thedas: "There is almost no role in Qunari society occupied by both genders doing exactly the same task."     Perhaps they had better issue an addendum: "Except sex worker".

[nightscrawl]

May be getting the person to have sexual release in the mechanical sense is all it is about to the Qunari.   A climax is a climax when all is said and done.    I thought that was the whole point of what Bull was saying.   There is no mental connection on any level; you just go in, they use whatever means to get you aroused, you get your sexual release and you leave.   Whether you are attracted to men or women is immaterial.   It is not about what you want as an individual at all.   It is about what you need to release the sexual tension that would have built up over time.    The Qun is about self mastery in the cause of the Qun.    Those guys who screw each other in the platoons would not have achieved mastery of self.    Send them over to the re-educators.  
 
Now it may be that the writers do not intend it to be seen this way and introducing the concept of the transgender being accommodated by the system throws up these questions but the fact is that the logical conclusion of a system where self is meant to be subsumed completely for the sake of the whole is that you don't get to state what gender you think you are or what your sexual preference is because that is too individualistic.    You do as commanded by the Qun.  
 
If a woman can't get a gay man's motor running, given the right circumstances, how come you have so many cases of a gay man marrying and having children before coming out?     The Qun would find some way of getting round the problem that does not involve letting the individual dictate the terms of their sexual encounter.   If Tamassrans, who are always women deal with it, then that's the end of it.   It is the problem really with trying to impose 21st century values of equality and diversity on a completely alien culture that we have previously been led to believe does not respect the rights of the individual.   It just doesn't work.

 
My point wasn't about imposing "21st century values of equality and diversity." It was about the way sexuality works. It's not just about having an orgasm. You can have an orgasm and still have a crappy sexual experience and still feel frustrated. As others have said, if it were just about the orgasm, most people have a HAND don't they?? You don't need another person for that. It is about having that sexual experience with another person, and in that case, sexuality matters. Even if a guy can get it up and have an orgasm doesn't mean his need was satisfied.
 
As I said, if the whole point of the service is to satisfy that need, then they are going to want to take sexuality into account otherwise the whole exercise is pointless.
 
It isn't just about some minority of gay Qunari men here, we're talking about straight women, too. And I've gotta say, as a straight woman, having another woman going at me with a strap on doesn't sound appealing at all.

If you are saying they need to cater for straight women wanting to have sex for fun rather than having babies, then you throw up a whole new set of issues.

When Bull talks about the prohibition against having freestyle sex with your friends, I assumed he was talking about ALL Qunari, not just the male warriors. That will include the likely 50% or so female Qunari, including the other tamassrans. So yeah... I'm assuming the straight ladies get some too. Women like that stress relief as well, you know.

[Gervaise]

I'm not looking at it from our perspective but the depiction of the Qun I have been given.   I don't think it sounds appealing.     However, I'm not a Qun, who has been trained to master self, to deny my own personal desires in favour of what the Qun says is best for me and for society.   Bull admits that the re-educators use all manner of drugs and mind control methods to change your way of thinking and even he says he doesn't know the half of it.  

 

It just seems odd that among all that dogma about control and denial of self, suddenly they are enlightened enough to give the individual the choice in such matters or even acknowledge that alternative sexualities exist instead of simply "fixing" them.   A straight woman might not find the idea of a Tamassran servicing them appealing but that all plays into the denial of self thing.   What if they turn up, the Tamassran says to them you can have sex with that guy over there and you don't find the guy a turn on?   How is that any different to a Tamassran with a strap on?

 

I don't care really.   If the writers want to go with something like this just to make the Qun appear a bit better because, hey, they control every other aspect of your life but they have some really free thinking, enjoy yourself as you want, brothels, that's fine with me.   I'm not joining the Qun ever and my characters would kill themselves first.   

[TEWR]

Personally, I would imagine that the use of "Tamassran" as the ones who perform this sexual service was a slip-up on Bioware's part and Ben-Hassrath was what would've been appropriate.

 

The latter can be of either gender and they are the ones who handle the "re-education" aspect. So, it follows that if you need a bit of nooky to focus on your blacksmithing, that would fall under re-education.

[nightscrawl]

I'm not looking at it from our perspective but the depiction of the Qun I have been given.   I don't think it sounds appealing.     However, I'm not a Qun, who has been trained to master self, to deny my own personal desires in favour of what the Qun says is best for me and for society.   Bull admits that the re-educators use all manner of drugs and mind control methods to change your way of thinking and even he says he doesn't know the half of it.  

 

It just seems odd that among all that dogma about control and denial of self, suddenly they are enlightened enough to give the individual the choice in such matters or even acknowledge that alternative sexualities exist instead of simply "fixing" them.   A straight woman might not find the idea of a Tamassran servicing them appealing but that all plays into the denial of self thing.   What if they turn up, the Tamassran says to them you can have sex with that guy over there and you don't find the guy a turn on?   How is that any different to a Tamassran with a strap on?

 

I don't care really.   If the writers want to go with something like this just to make the Qun appear a bit better because, hey, they control every other aspect of your life but they have some really free thinking, enjoy yourself as you want, brothels, that's fine with me.   I'm not joining the Qun ever and my characters would kill themselves first.   

 

Again, if the person isn't really satisfied, it defeats the purpose of the thing.

 

Attraction applies to both sexes and all sexualities. A lot of straight women just want to "catch a d," just like men. It goes with the whole concept of prostitutes in the first place: being serviced by an actual person of the gender you're attracted to.

 

Heck, for all we know, part of role choosing might also include sexual activities. Some people are just more naturally sexual than others in terms of sexual desire, magnetism, and so on.

 

You are assuming that all of these tamassrans are physical women, but knowing how the Qun logic works in case of gender, that doesn't necessarily have to be the case. You're one for coming up with ALL sorts of things that aren't substantiated by in-game evidence and are happy to go on assumption with many things; I've seen it many times on these forums. I don't know why you can't do that with this subject.

[Dean_the_Young]

I must admit that when Bull was telling me about the Qun's attitude to sex it made me think of 1984.   There Winston's wife feels obliged to have sex with him every now and again for the sake of the Party in order to produce children.   There is no emotional connection between them.    Then after they separate he just goes looking for sex with a Prole prostitute but it doesn't mean anything.    Then with Julia there is a real connection emotionally and it is also seen as a political act by them both because they feel that way instead of it just being a case of going through the motions for a sexual buzz.

 

So in the Qun, the Tamassrans decide who you have sex with if you are going to procreate but it doesn't have any meaning emotionally.  It is like breeding two animals together really.    If someone feels in the need of a bit of sexual relief, then the Tamassrans arrange it.   I even got the hint that Bull learned about bondage techniques from them because he misunderstands you when you talk about a "connection" with your partner.    Nowhere in Qun society do you have a situation of having sex because of an emotional connection with the other person or even any particular attraction.   It just seems a mechanical process.  Have you ever seen how breeders stimulate a bull into producing semen for artificial insemination?   May be it is like that.   I wonder if sexuality even enters into it.  Bull even says that they love their friends like the everyone else but they don't have sex with them.   It is like they have totally separated what you feel in your mind with the mechanics of having sex, but may be I have misunderstood it.

 

Another perspective to take might be a comparison to geisha or hostess clubs. Japanese/asian night life culture has all sorts of varieties not usually considered in the west- not just whores for the action, but other sorts based around interaction other than sex. In a host(ess) club, the customer pays for over-priced drinks while the hosts/hostesses pay special attention to make someone feel better- there can be sex, but it's more emotional engagement. Geishas are higher class, but also intellectual- they are/were expected to not only be good at sex, but also discuss higher things like culture, or even other events.

 

The Qunari perspective could take an interest at emotional intimacy as much as physical. I wouldn't be surprised if they had emotional support roles within the Tamassarans, people who's job is part counselor, and partly to literally be a friend for lonely, socially isolated people who have trouble fitting in.

[Gervaise]

So I'm being accused of coming up with all sorts of stuff without in game evidence am I?    Sometimes I speculate, that is true but on the whole I do try and relate it back to something either in the game or in the source books.   And if someone proves me wrong, with evidence, I hope you will acknowledge that I do admit my error.   I even apologise if I feel I may have across as rude or overbearing.  

 

So with regards to the previous post, the Qun are now not only catering for physical needs but emotional ones too?   Where is the evidence for this?    Quote from the World of Thedas, a book issued by the developers of the game and I wonder sometimes why I bothered to buy it:

 

"There are no family units in Qunari society.   The do not marry or even choose their own partners."   (My italics).   This relates specifically to conception but this does also seem to imply that they couldn't give a toss about you what your feelings are on the matter of who you are mated with.   Why should it be any different when it comes to your sexual needs?   They might want to ensure the optimum mating for you but it does sound a lot like a stallion and a mare.   You get no input on the matter at all, much less make a connection with the person. 

 

Bull says: "We love our friends like anyone else.  We just don't have sex with them."   What is that supposed to mean?   Cleary not love as in "eros" but I'd still like to know how close an emotional connection we are talking about.    Of course it does beg the question: "What if you do want to have sex with them?"  

 

So it seems to me that they have totally separated out the emotional connection you might have with someone and the act of sex.  To suggest that the Tamassran might fulfil a sort of counselling role to someone who feels lonely and socially isolated because they have trouble fitting in seems to ignore everything we have been told about the Qun.   Most children are conditioned from birth to fit in.   Converts are immediately assigned to the re-educators.    If it is not possible to indoctrinate them to fit in, they stop trying and just fill them with qamek.   

 

Quote:  "For those who believe in the Qun, the lack of individual freedoms does not matter........But for those who value freedom over the betterment of society, living under the Qun can be nothing short of unbearable".    Which is why of course there are Tal Vashoth.

 

So from a practical viewpoint, which is more efficient?   To have a huge variety of sex workers to cater for every choice of the individual, bearing in mind that these workers might have been assessed as being good for something else, or simply to convince the individual to accept what they are given for the good of the Qun?  Why not let people go out and choose their own partners, outside of the state brothel, and simply ensure that they use contraception?     Then everyone is happy.   Except apparently they don't let you (see the above quote).  

 

Also if they appraise you as a child as to which role you should fill in society, officially assigning roles at 12 years old, how do they determine that you are more suited to sex worker than anything else?

[nightscrawl]

So I'm being accused of coming up with all sorts of stuff without in game evidence am I?    Sometimes I speculate, that is true but on the whole I do try and relate it back to something either in the game or in the source books.   And if someone proves me wrong, with evidence, I hope you will acknowledge that I do admit my error.   I even apologise if I feel I may have across as rude or overbearing.

I wasn't accusing you of anything. Even in a previous Dorian thread post you said, "Sometimes I just put forward a theory so I have something to talk about. Lets face it, it is going to be an awful long time to the next game. So I just throw something out there to get a bit of discussion going." That shows that you are willing to entertain certain ideas that are not wholly represented in extant materials.

 

Bull says: "We love our friends like anyone else.  We just don't have sex with them."   What is that supposed to mean?   Cleary not love as in "eros" but I'd still like to know how close an emotional connection we are talking about.    Of course it does beg the question: "What if you do want to have sex with them?"

It seems pretty straight forward to me. People CAN have platonic love for their friends. Are you going to tell me a friend-Dorian doesn't, or can't, love his male Inquisitor best friend? Heterosexual men can love close female friends, and vice versa. Lesbians can love close female friends, gay men can love their male friends, and bi people can love close friends of either gender. Having a close affection with a gender you also happen to be sexually attracted to doesn't mean that sex is a given.

However, I do admit that it does happen. But in that case, I think the Qunari have the advantage in knowing ahead of time that it's not allowed, so they can actively work to suppress those feelings, whereas a normal person might act on them (even if it turns out to be a mistake).

 

So from a practical viewpoint, which is more efficient?   To have a huge variety of sex workers to cater for every choice of the individual, bearing in mind that these workers might have been assessed as being good for something else, or simply to convince the individual to accept what they are given for the good of the Qun?  Why not let people go out and choose their own partners, outside of the state brothel, and simply ensure that they use contraception?     Then everyone is happy.   Except apparently they don't let you (see the above quote).

It's not as if they're all clones... there is still physical variation among Qunari, even if the games have been poor at representing it. For all you know, some Qunari guys might go for the short, chubby types and there are short, chubby Tamassrans that really get 'em going.

 

Also if they appraise you as a child as to which role you should fill in society, officially assigning roles at 12 years old, how do they determine that you are more suited to sex worker than anything else?

Yes, I did think of this. However, we also know that appraisals do change. Bull says he was originally slated to be a soldier, but once they discovered he could "hit stuff AND lie" he was put with the Ben-Hassrath. So I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility for a female OR male to be slated for whichever role, and once they reach puberty and show themselves as more sexually open than their peers to perhaps be slated for that work instead. (Note that I'm NOT saying they use children in these places, but you don't have to be an adult to start gaining hands-off knowledge, like so many of us did in our teens, watching movies and now with the internet.)

[Gervaise]

I don't deny you can have platonic love for a friend.  I have myself.   I have posted over on Dorian thread that I feel there is a very close bond between him and those Inquisitors that he does not have a sexual relationship with.    I am speaking about the Qun here.    And the main point was the one about what happens if you find that you are feeling something more than platonic love for them.   Now apparently you are suggesting that you are meant to suppress any feelings you have for them in that way and instead run off down to the local state brothel, yet when you get there you get your motor running with whatever is on offer and they cater for every need?    Why are you not allowed to have sex with someone you feel a close attachment to but are allowed to have sex with a someone with whom you have no connection at all?   So if you get to the Tamassran run brothel and you don't find anyone appealing physically, what then?  

 

It sounds as though they are wanting to control your sexual conduct so that even that is not open to dangerous individualism.    If they are willing to control you that far, why not go that bit more and convince you that whoever they offer you is what you "need", even if it is not what you "want"?    How is that different from masturbating?   Well, let's say they can reach the parts that you can't.   They know which buttons to press to give you an all round experience.   It sounds awful I know but I'm just taking their  "mastery of self" literally.    

 

Thankfully we don't have anything like the Qun with which to compare it in the real world but we do have instances of people having a real control over their followers' minds in most disturbing ways and we are actually told that the Qun are experts at doing it.

 

Incidentally, what Bull says about being slated for a soldier does not mean he was assigned to the military and then moved.   He was a big, strong, muscular child so naturally it seemed like he would be assigned the role of soldier, but his Tamassran realised that he also had a quick and observant mind, that would be wasted just taking orders, so she assigned him to the Ben Hassrath.   This would still have been when he was 12 years old.  

 

Still I will admit to a prejudice against the Qun, so may be I just want to paint them worse than they really are.      However, I'm not doing it just to be controversial because I actually do think it is a subject that should be taken seriously.   Mind control is no joking matter.

[Aimi]

Another perspective to take might be a comparison to geisha or hostess clubs. Japanese/asian night life culture has all sorts of varieties not usually considered in the west- not just whores for the action, but other sorts based around interaction other than sex. In a host(ess) club, the customer pays for over-priced drinks while the hosts/hostesses pay special attention to make someone feel better- there can be sex, but it's more emotional engagement. Geishas are higher class, but also intellectual- they are/were expected to not only be good at sex, but also discuss higher things like culture, or even other events.

this is also an accurate description of the ancient Greek hetairai or the mingji that were very popular in seventeenth century Jiangnan or really any number of female companions that can probably best be subsumed in English under the heading of "courtesan" (before the colloquial meaning of that word changed in the early twentieth century to something somewhere between a prostitute and an escort); there were somewhat differing particulars for the women in question based on a variety of context (e.g. specific training programs and apprenticeships for a geisha without easy parallel) but their social roles were generally comparable

the interesting bit here is that these women basically just hung out with rich guys, whereas I feel like it would be unlikely if that were true with the tamas (not that there isn't an awful lot of exposition that hasn't been done with the qunari society for it to make sense at all, but let that go)

[DuskWanderer]

As I understand it, sex is available for all, men and women regardless.

 

This is what makes me think the Qun is evil. Jobs are chosen at twelve. What tamassran looks like some little boy and thinks "Yeah, for his life, he's going to lay back and take it from other dudes all his life." 

[Dai Grepher]

If it were true that sex workers existed, then I would think that any 12 year old chosen for that role would first be trained in medical science until an adult, and then that sex worker would be paired with patients of the opposite sex, not the same sex.

People here seem to be piling one misconception on top of another. They think sex workers are actually real under the Qun, and they think homosexuality is tolerated under the Qun. Says who?

The way I see it, the Qun would reeducate anyone displaying homosexual behavior because they would see it as a violation of their gender role.

I do not understand, you look like a woman. Therefore it follows that you cannot mate with a woman. Why would you wish to be a man? That makes no sense. You cannot mate with another woman because you cannot be a man. That can only lead to frustration.

Seriously people, ignore what Hissrad told you. He was lying. Sten had it right from the beginning.