Gender Issues
“Will your mother not be angry that you invited a stranger into your bedroom?” I ask through a text message. The two of us just took an awkward self-picture together, in Atlanta’s bedroom, to be sent to her mother, and I am worried of some reprisal from the older woman towards me for her daughter’s temerity.
And the said daughter laughs at my legitimate concern. “I am 15. You are 8 or 9 or even 7. She will only be angry if we wreck the room or the house in some way or invite an unapproved adult in.”
I almost succeeded in willfully forgetting that I now look like a child….
But, in any case, she is fifteen! From what I remember from my visit a few centuries ago, Midgardian women were married and sometimes already had a child or two by this age. Ten-year-old boys were already learning their fathers’ trades in earnest, as well, starting from when they were about eight. So, by mortal standard, I should not be considered this young.
Has Midgard changed this much? If so, how can I ever encompass such a change in my report?
Forget being believed; the report would be humongous.