At 06:12 PM 7/25/98 -0700, Miko wrote:

It's canon that Mousse is convinced he can claim Shampoo's hand if he
defeats Ranma.  I don't think it's cannon that she rejects him because he
can't defeat her, although I've encountere that line of thought often
enough.  I think it has more to do with the fact that he talks to inanimate
objects when he thinks he's talking to her.  That, and she clearly sees that
Ranma is the stronger martial artist, and since he's defeated her, and he's
an outsider...

  And maybe Shampoo just doesn't like Mousse in that way.

As far as how the amazon tribe is structured... not much is known, only that
most or all women study martial arts, and older, wiser women like Cologne
wield the true power.  But in a typical matriarchal society, men are still
powerful warriors, it's just that the family structure and village structure
is controlled by the women.  Usually (as far as I know) unmarried men have
little say in things, because they don't contribute a great deal to the
social structure, but married men have a much greater say in what goes on.

The amazons are hardly a typical matriarchal society.  In RL, men were
warriors even in matriarchal societies because greater strength and size
are usually advantages in pre-gunpowder combat (including missile weapons).
 Because of the prowess of the female amazons, the males of Joketsuzoku
aren't as valuable as warriors. 

                                                 dml