Saturday, September 19, 2015

Father Custody and the Legend of the Selkie

BRIFFAULT'S LAW
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“The female, not the male, determines all the conditions of the animal family. Where the female can derive no benefit from association with the male, no such association takes place.” -- Robert Briffault, The Mothers, I, 191
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The Corollaries to Briffault's law:

1 - Past benefit provided by the male does not provide for continued or future association.

2 - Any agreement where the male provides a current benefit in return for a promise of future association is null and void as soon as the male has provided the benefit (see corollary 1)

3 - A promise of future benefit has limited influence on current/future association, with the influence inversely proportionate to the length of time until the benefit will be given and directly proportionate to the degree to which the female trusts the male (which is not bloody likely).

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Some years ago, through the usual discourse of mindlessly arguing with people on the internet, I met a woman online who went by the handle of “Selkie.” I had no idea what a selkie was, so I typed it into Google and discovered an interesting legend that I believe is directly about human sexuality.

The mythological selkie is similar to a mermaid, except the selkie is a seal which can shed its skin and transform into a human being. The selkie can be either male or female, but most are female. Once they are in their human form, if their seal skin is taken and hidden from them, they are unable to turn back into a seal and thus cannot return to their home in the sea.
http://masculineprinciple.blogspot.ca/2015/03/proverbs-3110-31-wife-of-noble.html
Click for "The Wife of Noble Character"
Now, as the legend goes, female selkies make great wives when in their human form and so men would hide the skins of selkies so they would stay with them - for if she found her skin she would right away put it back on, abandon her human husband and escape to the sea to seek out her male selkie lover/husband.

There is an interesting twist though, in that even after she abandons her human husband she will return from time to time to visit the children which she had while with him.

(Read More Here)