Gender and Sexuality in Dimentiara

A great diversity in customs pertaining to gender and sexuality exists across Dimentiara. The various nations and the sapient species inhabiting them have their own history, laws and traditions in regards to sexual orientation and practices, as well as gender equality, gender expression and identity.

Historical Context

Gender roles in Domonid society have changed over time. Tribes were originally male-dominated, as male Dominids are larger in stature and armed with deadly spurs, which they used to guard harems of females in ritualized combat. However this dynamic shifted with the advent of Kreature taming in their society, as male Domonids could no longer physically dominate females now that they had Kreatures to protect them. The Kiisaktos Empire became matriarchal in structure, ruled over by an Empress. Same sex intercourse between the given era's dominant gender was was taboo and viewed as being victimizing for the one on the receiving end. During the Tribal era, male/male intercourse was taboo. During the Imerial era, female/female also became taboo. Having learned from their past mistakes, modern Domonid culture now practices gender equality and accepts same sex relationships.

Silarcs are nonbinary by default, as their species lacks prominent sexual dimorphism. Therefore their cultures have never invented strictly defined gender roles and they are largely ambivalent towards the concept. Their language entirely lacks gendered pronouns and the preoccupation other species have with gender is strange and foreign to them. Individual Silarcs might go their entire lives never knowing the sex of another unless they just happened to catch a whiff of their pheromones when they came into heat. Sexual attraction is treated with similar ambivalence, as there is also no pair bonding and mating serves an entirely reproductive function.

The Dolneans have always been a sexually open-minded people. Polyamory and open relationships are widely practised in their culture. Kreeshta, the Dolnean goddess of love and sex, had many partners both male and female. Their pantheon also includes Kettras, a genderfluid deity capable of shifting between male, female and nonbinary personas. While under occupation by the Kiisaktos Empire they were banned from practising their native religions, which led to a suppression of non-normative sexual and gender expression. In modern times, LGBTQ expression now carries additional significance as an act of emancipation.

The original space colonists who were the last remnants of humankind had a futuristic egalitarian society, which had gender equality and was sexually liberated. They brought this culture with them when they Dimentiara Exodus emigrated to Dimentiara. Cracks began to form when they integrated into Dimentiaran society. Refugees living in the Kiisaktos Empire sold out their LGBTQ brethren to curry favour with their oppressors. Mass-Produced Humans raised in the Empire absorbed much of the anti-LGBTQ bigotry radiating in the background of Imperial culture. Having nearly faced the extinction of their species, Direct-Liners, as the keepers of human culture and history, became highly influential during the Age of Unification. Some of them adopted hardcore traditionalist attitudes, reviving various sociocultural practices from earth. Unfortunately some took it too far and brought back old bigotries along with the old customs. Anti-LGBTQ sentiments once thought to have been eradicated in the time of the Space Colonists crept back into the margins of society.

Modern Perspectives

In modern times, same sex marriage and gender transition are legal in most nations in Dimentiara, though mainstream societal acceptance varies between them. Trikos, Zaitopia, Lavok, Enderon, and parts of Akatoria and Badonlas are considered the safest for LBGTQ people. Lenlaria, Olios and Crylona, being former Imperial strongholds, have been slower to catch up, but LGBTQ acceptance has been on the rise. Rikenga is the only nation in Dimentiara where same-sex marriage and gender transition are illegal outright; when the Preston regime took over, several minority groups including LGBTQ people were used as scapegoats for various domestic issues. This resulted in a rollback in civil rights and a crackdown on the Rikengan queer community, who now have to live secret lives under the regime or face imprisonment.

Thanks to the advanced level of biotechnology in Dimentiara, gender affirming care and sexual reassignment surgery are highly sophisticated. Using the same 3D bio-printing technology that is used for growing Cultured Meat, it's possible for transgender people to use their own stem cells to grow functional reproductive organs that match their gender identity with no risk of rejection from their immune system. Whether or not such care is subsidized by the government depends on the nation. In Trikos, Lavok and Enderon, access to 3D bioprinting for any body part is guaranteed under their national healthcare programs. However, Zaitopia, Akatoria, Badonlas, Crylona and Lenlaria are still lagging behind thanks to lobbying from the biotech industry; transgender people in these nations have to have to settle for cybernetic parts unless they can afford to pay for private healthcare.