Personality, Role, Function

The narrator of Robert Silverberg's Those Who Watch describes the mores of the Dirnan:

Vorneen was by nature a seducer. That was his role in the sexual group: he was the predator, the aggressor who initiated the matings. Mirtin would never take an active role, while Glair provoked sexual activity only in the feminine facet of the healer, the consoler, the soother. Vorneen sought passion for its own sake. That was acceptable, and moreover necessary to the continuity of the group. Within the group he kindled, he galvanized. If
sometimes he found it needful to go outside the group, neither Glair nor Mirtin objected. Why should they?

1967 science fiction offering a mirror to remind 2007 readers that primate behaviour can be quite complex even within its simple bounds.

And so for day 159
22.05.2007