Human experience definitely shows us that we need multiple stories expressing multiple viewpoints so that we can deploy the right one for the right situation. It's kind of like how the devil can quote scripture--because scripture says contradictory things. Because LIFE.

Only men and old women and sworn mountain virgins can speak

Me, engaging in rules lawyering: So if you're an old woman who was a sworn mountain virgin, can you speak twice as much as anyone else? Or does your old-woman status trump your sworn-mountain-virgin status, or the other way round? Can a man be a sworn mountain virgin? Not that he gains much, I guess, but then he doesn't have to father children and lord it over others, which might be a relief.