I'm going to post this and leave the subject, since -apparently- everyone
else on this list disagrees with me and doesn't see Shampoo as a stupid,
overagressive, violent woman and -does- see her as the ideal to get Ranma.

On Sun, 20 Apr 1997, Redneck Gaijin wrote:

Oh? Explain Mousse.

 In a strict patriarchal society, women aren't allowed to

fight. By extension, if Amazon society is that strict, Mousse would never
have been taught the martial arts. 

We are given to understand that he studied on his own.

You just shot down your own argument.  He was therefore allowed to study
on his own or not is unimportant, he was allowed.

And?

I don't recall this, and based on her later, more infamous behavior, I don't
buy into it as being anything other than coincidence. Especially since in
Japan you sit to table on your knees.

I do recall this and what more infamous behavior?

Running Ranma down, glomping him at any opportunity, etc.

<irony> NO KIDDING. </irony> I really don't see this at all.

We have only a handful of Amazons to go on, and only one Amazon male that I
know of. From their behavior, it's apparent that males are expected to obey
females unconditionally, and that Shampoo's behavior towards Ranma is
'unnaturally lenient.'

That's untrue.  Mousse has shown all to often he doesn't obey
unconditionally.  So, what do we make of this?  Maybe men do have some
determination of their own and aren't pushed around.  If the society was
the men are slaves bit or near that Mousse would be in far worse condition
than he is.  He would have been thrown out of the tribe, executed,
detained or otherwise punished on a regular basis.

More like a male is expected to obey orders and not cause trouble, but is
otherwise allowed free will. Of course, this has gone so far into
speculation now (mea culpa) that anyone's guess has equal credence. Based on
the VERY little we have seen of Amazon culture in the manga, however, I
would describe the Amazon culture as a balance of power; the women are in
charge, but there are cases (the I-defeat-you-you-marry-me clause in
particular) in which they hold a check to the woman's power.

Oh, by the way, two things.  One, do we really know Mousse is from the
tribe?  I know he's known Shampoo since they were 3 but is there anything
better than this?  Cologne did once say "Being from China yourself..."
which implies that Mousse comes from China but not the village.

Since Mousse abides by Amazon law, I'd say it's a good bet he's from the
village. 

Two, what are these meneal tasks that Mousse is preforming, outside of
fanfics?  I don't even consider working for his stay a meneal task.

Let's see, as I recall Mousse does all the cleaning around the Nekohanten.
Don't get much more menial than cleaning.

Redneck

Kris Overstreet, will write for food... | "The universe is already mad.
http://www.txdirect.net/users/redneck   | Everything else is redundant."
Antarctic Press Webmaster               | --- Londo Mollari, BABYLON 5
http://www.antarctic-press.com/         |   ***QUESTION EVERYTHING***