Not feeling beat up, just wanting to be clear.

I think I forgot to make the point that because Mal respected and (I'm guessing) got along well with his mom, he respects and has an easy rapport with women, especially women who work in non-gender specific jobs. And that he has less easy-going friendly, more wary and/or shippy feelings toward women who are in traditionally feminine roles.

I have the impression that he sees Kaylee and Zoe as who they are. But he sees Inara, and Whassname in HoG as potential sexual partners. I don't think for a minute that he thinks of Zoe or Kaylee *first* as a sexual being, although he knows they're not "guys." And I think that easy acceptance as other-than-sexual is a legacy of his regard for a strong, hardworking in a traditional male's role mother.

But that motivation was never actually on the page, or the screen. More just in my head.

And that he has less easy-going friendly, more wary and/or shippy feelings toward women who are in traditionally feminine roles.

This is also making assumptions about what is traditionally feminine at their point in the future. We never ironed out the boy companion thing -- do you get the feeling that it's odd for a woman to be a mechanic or a soldier? I hadn't.

hi allyson..is nilly awake?

Tal, Nilly is with me now, and she is asleep on the couch.

thanks lee, send her a big hi & that yair is o.k now...

oh by the way, sweet dreams (not for me..it`s 9:30 a.m here-alas)

I will, Tal, and thanks!

I saw a bit earlier that some of you go to krav maga class..how is that?

Nilly was planning on going to krav maga today, Tal, but instead will be going on Wednesday.

I don't think that Mal thinks it's odd for a woman to be a mechanic or a soldier, probably because of his upbringing. On core worlds there are probably few if any gender-assigned jobs. But on frontier planets, things tend to fall into more old-fashioned ruts. Women cook, wash, tend the babies, men hunt, build, tend the fields. There would be crossover, sure. But probably, the more primitive the conditions, the more stereotypical the role, and the more difficult it would be to step outside that assigned role. There would be either laws or public opinion against it. Possibly religious rules.

So, Mal having been raised on a fairly well-established world (canNOT remember the name of the planet. Sorry), not one just immediately terraformed and populated, I'd imagine gender roles would be defined, but not as stringently as on more primitive, or newer, planets.

I am, I realize, talking completely out of my ass. But I can't sleep and it amuses me to spin out these impressions I've held, based on my own experience and expectations, nothing more.