#temsen is incredibly radical

[not-poignant]

Hi, Pia

I just read chapter 28 'Strange and Lonely' of UtB and got curious about the omega rights that exist in this world. Would you mind listing some of the rights omegas have in Australia in this universe? And are there countries where they don't have these rights? Or countries where omegas have even *more* rights than where UtB takes place?

And also Gary says that Temsen became 'radicalised' after what he'd seen while studying overseas. Does Gary really think Temsens views are radical or was that just a word he used in the moment?

Thanks!

Hi anon!

Some of this stuff I don't know the full answer to (winging the story), some of it will be revealed in the story, but here's some bits and pieces!

Would you mind listing some of the rights omegas have in Australia in this universe?

I don't know them all because honestly I can't keep every single legal right that humans have in my brain so I don't know how I could do that for omegas, but generally speaking omegas in Australia have:

A right to education (conditional) A right to life (conditional - if no birth certificate is recorded, a right to life can be legally circumvented -> problematic because omegas have their own birth register, and many omegas births still aren't recorded at all) A right to freedom from medical experimentation and unusual acts of cruelty or inhuman acts (this includes conditional freedom from being imprisoned and raped in a fraternity house, but not freedom from being imprisoned and raped in an omega rehabilitation centre) A right to health (conditional) A right to a fair trial (conditional) A right to work (conditional) A right to protection from violence from strangers (conditional)

(I'm putting conditional next to all of these, because many of these rights have loopholes that can often be utilised by alphas and betas, especially in the case of spouses and families, and these are the people normally controlling an omegas life in the first place. For example, if a family causes an omega to be sick, that omega has no right to take their family to court.)

They do not have rights to:

Vote (hugely contested, but as omegas are such a tiny portion of the population and don't get much support, this is slow going. Alphas can of course vote, despite also being a tiny proportion of the population, lmao) Freedom from discrimination based on being omega Protection from violence (inc rape) from family or partners

Australia is considered one of the better places in the world for an omega, about on par with with UK, and ahead of places like the USA. However there are many countries that offer better rights and protections to omegas, but I couldn't tell you what they are, because I don't know! I just know they exist, lol. One of them is Switzerland, based on the fact that Gary and James went to do a conference there on omega psychology and rights.

But! Any of this could change depending on how the story goes. Winging it means the story decides how it progresses, in a way, so if one of these becomes inconvenient to me and I haven't established it in the story, I will ditch it lmao.

Does Gary really think Temsens views are radical or was that just a word he used in the moment?

Temsen's views really are radical. Just because Gary shares many of them, doesn't make them any less so. Hillview is a place that practices pretty radical omega theory and acceptance, and has to kind of hide that it does that because it goes counter to the global culture in general.

There's very few people in the world for example who would agree with Temsen's approach to Efnisien. Temsen asking Efnisien if he wants an alpha in the room with him instead of giving the alpha the choice is unusual and generally not done. Temsen seeking even some consent is not something many doctors do. Temsen embodies a more ethical practice (overall, not always though) towards omegas and in his viewpoints towards omegas. Gary agrees in theory, but he can have a harder time implementing it in practice, because he's still got a lot of internalise issues towards omegas. Everyone at Hillview does, because they live in a society that has taught them to discriminate against omegas, so it's something everyone there is unpacking, including the omegas.

It also makes Hillview challenging, because it tends to turn out more politically aware and educated omegas, and while they're sometimes wanted by their partners who also happen to be activists, it's not generally what omega rehabilitation facilities are meant to do (which is to usually establish the kind of mindbreak where the omega becomes so docile - through repeated rape and forced bonding - that they see complete and total obedience to a partner or family outside of the facility as true freedom).

The world is definitely described / tagged as dystopia for a reason!