Gender

**Gender** was a system of social stratification employed by various species, including humans and salticids, which categorized individuals based on perceived biological truths and desired roles in society.

## Salticid Gender

In all salticid societies, a difference between biologically male and female individuals was enforced, especially due to the vastly different lifestyles and secondary sex characteristics of the two. Unlike humans, which had relatively few secondary sex characteristics, salticids were sharply divided. Males were generally less intelligent, more mobile, weaker, and significantly shorter-lived than females. As a result, salticid males - Viriles - usually comprised a gendered subclass of society. Viriles were expected to keep to themselves and not mingle with females except during mating seasons or other designated times for mating. Some societies enforced protections for Viriles, but in most they were treated as second-class citizens, with little value being placed on their lives or freedoms.

Most salticid societies further divided the female sex into multiple perceived gender categories. This system of categorization tended to resemble ableism more than sexism due to its heavy reliance on the perceived skill and fitness of the individual to perform certain behaviors.

## Society and Gender

Societies divided gender as follows:

* Helpis
	+ Males were universally designated Virile and females were divided into Vital and Pliant categories. Vital individuals were seen as closer to the figure of Sun, who, in the Helpis society's central worship of the Sun figure, represented physical beauty and strength. Pliant individuals had their freedoms heavily restricted despite being considered important under the law.
* Mopsus Coastal Culture
	+ The Coastal Mopsus were the only salticid culture to develop a true gender binary, with no further subdivisions between males and females. Since the Coastal Mopsus drew many of their beliefs from a pre-Mingle belief system separate from the one adopted by other salticids on the continent, their attitude toward Viriles was more charitable than most nearby societies.
* Old Kingdom Hyllus
	+ The Hyllus subscribed to the same three-gender system as most Terran societies, with Viriles being the lowest rank, Pliants above them, and Vitals at the top. By the time Hyllus was destroyed, it was on its way to gender equality, with advances being made in restructuring society to de-emphasize the perceived difference between Pliants and Vitals, as well as the inclusion of Viriles in some community activities and even governing.
* Portia
	+ Portians had a three-gender system with Vitals at the top, Pliants beneath them, and Viriles designated to the forest floor at both the figurative and literal bottom. Pliants were given little freedom and often subjected to punitive law based on the figure of Moon and her many failings in Terran myth. Documentism held that "jealous" Pliants should be continually reminded of their place, as they were expected to perpetually scheme and plot to bring Vitals down.
* Vast Mopsus
	+ Since Vast Mopsus was a loosely-organized state consisting of many communities of different cultural origin, there were no state-enforced or deeply normalized gender roles, although a three-gender view in the Terran tradition was common.
* Undatus States
	+ In the Platycryptan states, gender was divided into two categories: the reproductive (Giver or Bearer) and the role (Active or Passive). There were four primary genders in society, with the role being able to change, but not the reproductive. Passive Givers were considered the lowest rung of society, with Active Bearers being the most free. The status applied to Active Givers afforded more mobility than Passive Bearers, making the Platycryptans one of the few salticid societies where male spiders were afforded upward mobility.