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beccaelizabethToday's insomniac essay idea- the ethics of Watcher/Slayer sexual relationships. Or Slayer/Slayer for that matter. Or... whatever Willow is /Slayer. I mean she's out there searching for Slayers, being a representative of whatever kind of Watcher thing Giles is doing. Are there ethical issues about combining that with dating a Slayer?
The Watchers would have policies. They're policy kinds of people. Would the new situation require new policies?
And it wouldn't just be Watcher/Slayer, it would be Slayer/anybody. Regular law codes have a whole section on what not to do. Slayer rules would too.
Old rules about what not to do was apparently 'boys', if Kendra is any indication. Which leaves a whole Willow friendly loophole.
But assuming they do have sex
Age of consent - stick with local laws? Think up one age to apply to all Watchers in all places? Either option has problems. Like, friction with said local laws, or Watchers taking their charges elsewhere to save the world and entirely coincidentally be old enough to shag. And if theres one age for all, would it be 21 like the really conservative places? 18? 16? Even younger? Is the life expectancy issue something that should factor in? I mean its all well and good telling someone to wait until they're ready if they can be reasonably expected to live that long, but if 18 is actually pretty good going for a Slayer, is the same rule still a good rule?
There's rules about fraternization in most organisations, I think. In the military and police and stuff. Rules like not shagging your boss, who can write your assessments and promote you. Is that a good rule for Watchers? Old style Slayers didn't exactly get employed, much less promoted, but new rules Slayers might get hierarchical.
Theres also lots of rules about teachers not shagging their students, or students in general. Partly the grades thing, partly the position of responsibility thing. Power imbalance, undue influence.
Watchers are the boss of Slayers. I think is pretty clear that ordering people to have sex with you would be of the bad. But even without orders, there would be influence. They're meant to be the biggest influence in a Slayer's life. So if a Slayer tried to start something, would it be ethical to go 'yaaay'?
Watchers and Slayers can be very isolated. The only two people that know what they are and what they do, is the assumed rule. Relationships outside that would be full of secret identity issues. Keeping all the kinds of relationships tidy would have definite benefits. Shagging your Watcher would be pretty safe.
Except then they're meant to send their Slayer out to die.
So now its six in the morning and I'm waiting for painkillers to kick in and typing this up with the monitor turned right down. Insomnia and headaches, fun. So, that, not attempting coherence or comprehensive or anything.
There's more, about the probable psychology of the Watcher/Slayer relationship and why it seems to me likely to be all tangles, but I think I go try sleeps now.
The Watchers would have policies. They're policy kinds of people. Would the new situation require new policies?
And it wouldn't just be Watcher/Slayer, it would be Slayer/anybody. Regular law codes have a whole section on what not to do. Slayer rules would too.
Old rules about what not to do was apparently 'boys', if Kendra is any indication. Which leaves a whole Willow friendly loophole.
But assuming they do have sex
Age of consent - stick with local laws? Think up one age to apply to all Watchers in all places? Either option has problems. Like, friction with said local laws, or Watchers taking their charges elsewhere to save the world and entirely coincidentally be old enough to shag. And if theres one age for all, would it be 21 like the really conservative places? 18? 16? Even younger? Is the life expectancy issue something that should factor in? I mean its all well and good telling someone to wait until they're ready if they can be reasonably expected to live that long, but if 18 is actually pretty good going for a Slayer, is the same rule still a good rule?
There's rules about fraternization in most organisations, I think. In the military and police and stuff. Rules like not shagging your boss, who can write your assessments and promote you. Is that a good rule for Watchers? Old style Slayers didn't exactly get employed, much less promoted, but new rules Slayers might get hierarchical.
Theres also lots of rules about teachers not shagging their students, or students in general. Partly the grades thing, partly the position of responsibility thing. Power imbalance, undue influence.
Watchers are the boss of Slayers. I think is pretty clear that ordering people to have sex with you would be of the bad. But even without orders, there would be influence. They're meant to be the biggest influence in a Slayer's life. So if a Slayer tried to start something, would it be ethical to go 'yaaay'?
Watchers and Slayers can be very isolated. The only two people that know what they are and what they do, is the assumed rule. Relationships outside that would be full of secret identity issues. Keeping all the kinds of relationships tidy would have definite benefits. Shagging your Watcher would be pretty safe.
Except then they're meant to send their Slayer out to die.
So now its six in the morning and I'm waiting for painkillers to kick in and typing this up with the monitor turned right down. Insomnia and headaches, fun. So, that, not attempting coherence or comprehensive or anything.
There's more, about the probable psychology of the Watcher/Slayer relationship and why it seems to me likely to be all tangles, but I think I go try sleeps now.
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no subject
Date: 2005-12-24 09:18 am (UTC)I hope you speculate, in your organized fashion, on this further. When you've sleeped.