[Theory Thursday #3]

[sythyry]

Mirrored from Sythyry.

[Theory Thursday #3]

Let me try a simple definition, and see how it works. beetiger more or less proposed this one first, I believe.

One is cisaffectionate if one is successful at ignoring or at least concealing any romantic interest one has in members of other species. One is transaffectionate otherwise.

1. I am traff according to this definition — even if I have a substantial involvement with Saza.
2. Traff-folk, by this definition, will tend to experience the social consequences of their orientation, and will thus need Castle Wrong or the equivalent.

Other concerns certainly arise. One may be a libertine, perhaps defined as one who seeks pleasure rather than deep relationship.

As an interesting other scale, consider Romantic Breadth. Let us divide adult primes into categories based on species, gender, coloration, social status, and so forth — the exact categorization does not matter, so long as it is detailed. One’s romantic breadth is the fraction of categories that one is romantically interested in.

So — a pure transaffectionate person, interested in anyone of another species, such as Inconnu claims to be, has a romantic breadth of 7/8. A pure cisaffectionate would have one of 1/8. One who was fussier about gender, coloration, and the like would have a smaller one — down to “vanishingly small” as the degree of specificity increased. A pure homo- or heterosexual would have a romantic breadth of 1/2. And so forth. I don’t know what to do with this concept, but I am amused by a theoretical scale — and one with a fundamentally natural definition, and, indeed, more measurable than most — that doesn’t have “cissy” and “traff” as the endpoints. [And Bard is equally amused by one that doesn't distinguish between heterosexual and homosexual. -bb]

Incidentally, I don’t know that I really get to define transaffection myself. I do get to decide who I want in Castle Wrong. Society at large gets to decide who they punish for romantics complexities.

I admit to getting a bit bored with the theory of transaffection. I would like to either get some more practice at it, or do an exercise in the theory of magic, fairly soon. Not that the two are interchangeable.

Comments

[nekomavin.livejournal.com]

Why aren't the theory of transaffection and magic interchangeable?

Imagine the practical experiments you could set up with liberal use of your Cloak of Another God enchantments... One interesting question would be to what extent a given prime's interest in other primes is due to their own form. Conversely, you could try transforming a prime you are/are not attracted to, to see whether your attraction varies depending on the species they're transformed into.

Even more fun if you're running the experiments double-blind, where both subjects are not told the original species of the other...

[sythyry.livejournal.com]

Oh, the first one has been done. One cissy Orren wouldn't touch me when I was in Orren shape. A traff and species-dysphoric Herethroy was much more flexible.