What Would Female Rimmer Be Like?
Nov. 18th, 2013 10:40 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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reddwarfslashNo, not Arlene, much though I enjoy her as a character. Someone posted a prompt in the Kink Meme about what Rimmer would be like if he'd been born female in the RD universe (but presumably with the same family background): http://starbuggers.livejournal.com/317.html?thread=78909#t78909
My instinctive reaction is that's a really difficult prompt because I find it really hard to imagine. So many of Rimmer's personality traits come from his family's expectations of what he's supposed to be and achieve as a "red-blooded heterosexual male" (heavy sarcasm). Would female!Rimmer even have joined the Space Corps or would she have been pressurised into marrying a "nice boy from a good family" and producing the next generation? Would she take refuge in meaningless affairs like her mother?
I'm working on the assumption that Io, as seen in "The Beginning", is basically the universe's 1950s throwback. Rimmer's classmate Wendy wears a similar outfit to his mother in "Dimension Jump" despite the difference in age. However, the fact that Rimmer's class is mixed does indicate that it perhaps wouldn't be impossible for female!Rimmer to divorce her parents like Arnold and strike out on her own. It would certainly make for a very different dynamic with Lister.
Whilst I've never read a female!Rimmer fic apart from those involving Arlene, I have read a few with female!Lister (not Deb), which I find much easier to imagine. I suppose it's because he exhibits quite a few qualities often stereotyped as female, for example his open sobbing at romantic films. (Although I'm female and have never done that.) :p
If you made it through my ramblings, have this link to Diminua's fic with a female Lister. The difference it makes to her dynamic with Rimmer is remarkable. Link to part 1; each chapter has a link to the next: http://diminua.livejournal.com/31604.html
My instinctive reaction is that's a really difficult prompt because I find it really hard to imagine. So many of Rimmer's personality traits come from his family's expectations of what he's supposed to be and achieve as a "red-blooded heterosexual male" (heavy sarcasm). Would female!Rimmer even have joined the Space Corps or would she have been pressurised into marrying a "nice boy from a good family" and producing the next generation? Would she take refuge in meaningless affairs like her mother?
I'm working on the assumption that Io, as seen in "The Beginning", is basically the universe's 1950s throwback. Rimmer's classmate Wendy wears a similar outfit to his mother in "Dimension Jump" despite the difference in age. However, the fact that Rimmer's class is mixed does indicate that it perhaps wouldn't be impossible for female!Rimmer to divorce her parents like Arnold and strike out on her own. It would certainly make for a very different dynamic with Lister.
Whilst I've never read a female!Rimmer fic apart from those involving Arlene, I have read a few with female!Lister (not Deb), which I find much easier to imagine. I suppose it's because he exhibits quite a few qualities often stereotyped as female, for example his open sobbing at romantic films. (Although I'm female and have never done that.) :p
If you made it through my ramblings, have this link to Diminua's fic with a female Lister. The difference it makes to her dynamic with Rimmer is remarkable. Link to part 1; each chapter has a link to the next: http://diminua.livejournal.com/31604.html
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Date: 2013-11-20 06:57 pm (UTC)So, imagine a female!Rimmer who looks like Arlene, but hasn't been brought up to regard her own gender as superior. It raises many questions - does the JMC assign bunkmates of different genders together? You would think so that far in the future, but would Arlene worry about sharing quarters with male Lister? Would she keep that fact from her parents?
Would female!Rimmer have been pushed to join the Space Corps, but only as a means of meeting a male officer and making a "good" marriage, if she was the only girl?
Alternatively, what if, after three girls, Rimmer's mother made a last ditch attempt for a son with the gardener (possibly with her husband's tacit approval). When a fourth daughter arrives, they take out their bitterness on her, causing her to divorce them at 14 and try to show them that being female doesn't mean she can't be an officer.
Please remember, all these theories are working on the "Io is 1950s Britain" scenario which was very heavily implied (arguably shown, given the costumes) in "The Beginning". I imagine that male Lister would still be our Dave, completely bewildered at his bunkmate's behaviour. But possibly softer in his attitude because we have seen he has a side to him which you can call "chivalrous" or mildly sexist depending on how generous you're feeling.
Why yes, I have thought too much about this. ;)