Some of those video game princesses ain’t so Peachy
Why can't they all be like Princess Peach?
It’s almost impossible to catalogue all the ways men are oppressed by women in contemporary gynocratic society. There are so many! For example, did you know that men are oppressed by female characters in video games? I know, right? The last bastion of red-blooded manliness, invaded by imaginary ladies!
Luckily, the fellows at MGTOWforums.com are on the case, exposing this foul virtual misandry. I Am started off a recent discussion on the subject by asking
WTF is with empowered women in video games now? …
I see a new trend in the video/computer game world and that is the increase in strong playable female characters.
Now, I am no hardcore gamer but I do play computer games often and the recent one I have been playing recently is Shogun 2 total war. Now for those who don’t know what this game is, it is a strategy game based on the military of feudal Japan. I recently bought an upgrade for the game the other day and guess what one of the strongest military units was? Nuns. I shit you not. The nuns had an attack 20% -40% higher than most units in the game. Somehow I doubt that in real life a nun would have swung a sword or used a spear faster and harder than a feudal warlord, and this game was based on history.
Clearly nuns are incapable of manlike swordplay, though it is true that they are capable reenacting famous internet panda sneeze videos. (I have seen video proof of this.) But Shogun 2 does not depict them sneezing like pandas. It depicts them fighting.
This is an outrage because video games are meant to be a perfectly accurate reflection of reality. Obviously there is nothing even slightly unrealistic about any of this:
Most of us dudes are in fact capable of karate-chopping heads in two. We just don’t like to show off all the time.
I think I have the right to ask steam and other gaming companes: WTF with the subliminal brainwashing? What now when I buy or play a game women will be doing all the ass kicking? …
I call bullshit on this subject. Video games are the last place for guys to hang out and now women are taking over. Why not just save us the trouble and instead of eliminating our fantasy world just throw us in work camp to provide for thier bastard children (literally speaking) while they shit all over us…wait they already do that.
I Am is not the only dude who’s noticed this alarming femtrend. Goldenfetus added his observations:
I’ve noticed this too, and it drives me insane. Was co-oping Gears 3 last month and there’s a point where 2nd player has to take over a female character. Almost ruined the game for me. It may seem minor, but once you’re aware of this type of brainwashing it’s impossible to ignore. There’s no way a slim female could keep up with the massive battle-hardened male Gears in that kind of environment. They would be a liability as they are in real life combat.
Exactly! By contrast, the male characters in Gears of War 3 are all completely accurate representations of real-world men.
This is what dudes look like, for real.
Goldenfetus continued:
You’ll see the same thing in most stat-based role-playing games as well, where you have the option of a female player character – like Fallout, Elder Scrolls, Mass Effect, Dragon Age, D&D, etc. The women never have any strength or intelligence penalties compared to the males. … They want to give the impression that people of any race, gender, and sexual-orientation are interchangeable – that there are no differences in ability between them, and that only a bigot could think otherwise. I’m sick of it too.
At the very least, female characters should be depicted as carriers of cooties.
Despite the very serious subject matter – video game misandry is never funny! – Xtc tried to lighten the mood with a little humor:
It would be hilarious to portray the female characters realistically. If you chose the female character in your FPS [First Person Shooter] she would have to move very slowly, dragging the gun around. You could build in some extra shake to the crosshairs to represent hopeless accuracy. Every time you needed to reload your gun, instead of just pressing a button, you’d have to find a male character and go through some flirting dialogue options to persuade him to do it for you. One out of every four missions the game would tell you that you were sitting out this one due to ‘women’s issues’.
Calloway, for his part, offered some historical perspective:
This is nothing new. I got heavy into gaming back in the late 90’s and even back then they had Tomb Raider, S.I.N., etc. Even in the original Unreal, you played as a big-breasted female.
I saw a documentary on the making of the original Tomb Raider once. The lead character, Lara Croft, was originally going to be a man. They saw him as an Indiana Jones-type character. Then, one of the designers suggested it be a woman because “if you’re going to be playing a game for hours, you might as well have something good to look at”. …
When you first take the red pill, it’s amazing the things you see. It’s as if you had blinders on before, and all of sudden they’ve been removed, allowing you to actually understand what you’ve been seeing.
Yep. And what you’ve been seeing is Lara Croft’s ass. Lara Croft’s ass oppresses men! The red pill tells me so!
Also, those tiny misandrist shorts just make the gynpression worse.
Now we come to the clincher.
When you try to get romantic with the imaginary ladies in video games, they don’t act like Roissy and those dudes say ladies act. I mean, you can’t even neg them! As Dave sadly pointed out:
I remember about 12 years ago playing the Baldur’s Gate rpg series and there were some romance dialog paths between your character and some of the women who could join your group but you had to treat them very nice. You couldn’t give them any attitude or make fun of them otherwise it would be over.
Basically you have to be a total mangina towards women in most games if you want to bed them.
Even imaginary ladies are stuck up bitches!
The horror!
I had a
Posted on January 11, 2012, in antifeminism, evil women, hypocrisy, I'm totally being sarcastic, idiocy, masculinity, MGTOW, MGTOW paradox, misandry, misogyny, oppressed men, PUA. Bookmark the permalink. 599 Comments.
MRAL, stop being a dick, dear.
“It’s amazing how quickly MRAL has squandered whatever goodwill he was initially given.”
Seriously. What’s worse is that he’s young.
No, I was not putting the onus on women, that’s MORE misrepresentation, isn’t that against the comment policy? I was saying they haven’t had much success with women, because of one reason or the other and that’s ALL I meant. I think I can be sympathetic to that without being a raging evil twisted vile misogynist who thinks women need to service men’s needs at all times. Anyway, as a result (I’m talking about the video untitled posted, if that wasn’t clear) they come off as a bit naive and idiotic. And I was comparing it to the Twilight fangirls, etc., many of whom ARE (I know, because I’ve seen it) very naive about males, or romance, or whatever, and think young guys are all basically Edward with variations. Not just in looks, but creepy stalkerish behavior and all that. I’d think feminists would agree with me that’s not a good thing. Unless you actually do think men all behave like sparkly vampyres.
MRAL, you keep asking for kindness and not to be seen as a troll but you still haven’t manage to get rid of the “wimmin” “wymmin”, etc. What’s wrong with you?
I do apologize for the fat comment, that slipped through my mental filter and I didn’t catch it. It doesn’t matter whether or not they’re fat, of course. The point is, well, read the above post for the point.
And I was comparing it to the Twilight fangirls, etc., many of whom ARE (I know, because I’ve seen it) very naive about males, or romance, or whatever, and think young guys are all basically Edward with variations.
You didn’t say “naive,” buttmunch, you said fat. Shouldn’t you be fucking your hat?
MRAL, we are not hating on all male gamers, we’re mocking the stupidity and misogyny of some.
“No, I was not putting the onus on women, that’s MORE misrepresentation, isn’t that against the comment policy? I was saying they haven’t had much success with women, because of one reason or the other and that’s ALL I meant. I think I can be sympathetic to that without being a raging evil twisted vile misogynist who thinks women need to service men’s needs at all times. Anyway, as a result (I’m talking about the video untitled posted, if that wasn’t clear) they come off as a bit naive and idiotic. And I was comparing it to the Twilight fangirls, etc., many of whom ARE (I know, because I’ve seen it) very naive about males, or romance, or whatever, and think young guys are all basically Edward with variations. Not just in looks, but creepy stalkerish behavior and all that. I’d think feminists would agree with me that’s not a good thing. Unless you actually do think men all behave like sparkly vampyres.”
Wait, what?
Seriously, can someoe pull out a translator?
MRAL, I am a geek, and I try to stop misogyny in the geek community, not to be “holier that thou” but to make sure the community that I belong to becomes a better community. The people that David quoted in the post, people that have become so bitter about women and girls enjoying games are not good representatives of our community. We geeks should not be creating a sexist environment, we should be creating one that is welcoming. Now this does not mean that we should welcome all beliefs, the old saw about not needing to tolerate intolerance.
Well, then why are you jumping all over me for mocking Twilight? I do think there is some underlying misandry, as well as whole lot of borderline toxic underlying creepiness, in the Twilight phenomenon.
psychopaths, misandry. I think we all get your point. But please explain how mocking the people quoted is misandry, go on.
Don’t pull that disingenuous crap, MRAL. Nobody’s jumping on you for mocking Twilight. We’re jumping on your for your stupid misogyny.
Well, sure, the guys in the OP are assholes, as per usual, but I hardly think they’re representative in any way of anything except Elam’s Whole Sick Crew. I’m focusing more on the guys in untitled’s video, who do live up to some geek stereotypes.
Nobody but you was talking about twilight. My opinion on that is that Edward is very creepy, and the book is an insult to all literature on vampire.
And I love the geek community for so many reasons, although it has some big problem when it comes to sexism.
Kyrie, I’m not saying everyone’s like that, or anyone all the time, but I do think that there is a lot of coldness here for socially awkward or loveshy males, which is strange because the feminist movement, and this blog’s community more specifically, go to such lengths to be so inclusive in almost every other respect. Sure, “psychopathy” was a strong word, but I’m not apologizing for that. I’ve felt very piled-on the past few days here, and I do intend to leave pretty soon, so you can all throw up your hats and celebrate I guess.
“Sure, “psychopathy” was a strong word, but I’m not apologizing for that.”
But we should be nice with you?
First, I remember getting into a DAYS long argument with a guy who was convinced that Samus wasn’t a female… DAYS… eventually his pals on the football team took a look at the game and pointed out the waist/hip ratio and the boob armour and pretty much said “ya… girl…” (don’t ask me how she rolls into her ball though!)
Second, MRAL, where did twilight come into this? I mean if people had been discussing fan bases in general and not this specific one I might be able to see a link, but no one did that. The discussion started as very narrowly on female game charachters being somehow tools of the feminist agenda, but you jump in with wider geek culture and misogony and expect everyone to jump on your topic instead.
I’d prefer if the conversation stayed on charachters in games, as I find that much more fascinating. Did anyone notice that while they wanted charachter mods in the games they only wanted to penalize women, and not buff them in any way? It’s like they want everyone to be “the tank” even though there are lots of us who like playing “the scout” or “the assassin” and drop our strength stat so that we can pick up speed and agility… why do they think that women would be bad at EVERYTHING based on a different physique? You lose some, you gain some… just like that real life thing I’ve heard so much about… (also, why do they think that females should automatically be dinged on intelligence?? the mind boggles)
Also, can you stop erasing women you don’t notice? There’s alot of coldness for socially akward PEOPLE… (and I personally think it’s better here than in many other places I could name)
“and I do intend to leave pretty soon, so you can all throw up your hats and celebrate I guess.”
I’m not celebrating. I was of the naives ones who were surprised and extremely happy when you announced you were stopping the trolling. The idea that someone could go from complete asshole to decent person so fast, in front of my eyes was very heartwarming. But you haven’t lived up to any of your redemption promises.
Sigh.
Kate, why didn’t you just tell that guy to look up the 100% ending for any Metroid game on Youtube?
MRAL, now, I have only watched the RiffTrax of Twilight (I really recommend these, they are hilarious and allow one to have some understanding of this cultural phenomenon, but cushioned by Mike and the Bots), so I don’t know much about them, but what I have seen is really bad, from heavy handed gender essentialism, to the oft mentioned stalking. The portrayal of domestic violence as no big deal was particularly awful.
These real critiques are lost, however, when you fall back on the, “Twilight is bad because fat women like it” thing. Maybe you should lurk for a while, and definitely preview your comments before posting. You keep apologizing for outbursts, but if you were to type out what you want to say, then before posting reread the comment and decide if it is really what you want to say, or if it is just intended to get a rise out of the other commenters here. You had to know from past interactions here that your ‘mostly fat’ comment was going annoy people here. Now if your goal is to annoy, then leave such comments in, but you had said earlier that you were trying to stop trolling, so maybe remove comments designed only to annoy and instead post only about the concerns you actually have.
“Did anyone notice that while they wanted charachter mods in the games they only wanted to penalize women, and not buff them in any way? It’s like they want everyone to be “the tank” even though there are lots of us who like playing “the scout” or “the assassin” and drop our strength stat so that we can pick up speed and agility… why do they think that women would be bad at EVERYTHING based on a different physique? You lose some, you gain some… just like that real life thing I’ve heard so much about… (also, why do they think that females should automatically be dinged on intelligence?? the mind boggles)”
It’s funny, really…first, they go out of their way to “prove” the superiority of men and the weakness/evil (the way MRAs speak, the two seem to be interchangeable) of women…and when they can’t do that, they try to prove it in video games, only to find THAT distasteful, too.
If they can’t be happy in fantasy and reality…how does one live like that?
Yeah, I agree there’s a lot of coldness for awkward people, but on Manboobz it seems to be more reserved for men. Although maybe that’s just because there are more male trolls here. Regardless. I understand the problem of women being socialized as people-pleasers (though I disagree with the severity of the problem, and I think men are socialized the same way, though it manifests differently), but I think that people here are often so concerned about that it blots out other problems, and other people. Men can have as many issues as women.
I’m a fucking autistic geek. Loveshy nerds have my deepest empathy. I wish vile nice guy fuckers would stop roping them into their shit. I also don’t know why the fuck you’re still here. Oh, well, I DO. Here, I made you a poem –
As I was scroling down the page
I met a man who’d flounced in rage
He won’t post there again today
I wish, I wish, he’d go away.
Yeah, I agree there’s a lot of coldness for awkward people, but on Manboobz it seems to be more reserved for men.
You’re not awkward, MRAL, you’re downright insulting. That comment about fat girls was just one of many. You demand infinite free passes for all the mean, shitty things you say, but you refuse to make any effort towards seeing women as people. I was prepared to cut you all kinds of slack, but you’ve proven that you’re really not that nice a person.
MRAL is basically Going His Own Way from Manboobz, by which I mean he’s going to consistently fail to go anywhere, sticking around to be the same asshole he always was and probably always will be.
Another thing, is that when a geeky (or even other) guy is an inconsiderate douche, a million internet experts rush to declare it aspergers or something! Haven’t we considered that! (And need I mention how insulting this is to the actual autie guys out there trying to navigate and be decent?)
When a woman is anything but completely socially responding in warm and deferent ways, it’s not even considered she’s anything but a stuck up, properly functioning, neurotypical standard model bitch who knew what she was doing.
We ARE both socialized to please, but it’s a different kettle when women aren’t pleasing. It is rarely even considered that we can even BE socially deficient for any other reason than inherent badness. There’s no rush to excuse us when we break the social contracts.
Maybe they could mod the game so that it would reflect their real life strength. Which I’m sure doesn’t measure up to the intense levels of physical fitness video game characters require to deal out wave after wave of death and destruction.
Oh yeah, people don’t do that because video games are fiction.
lol, these guys are going to keep getting more angry at games. Everything they describe as bad? They’re going to be having a lot more of that in years to come, more and better.
Long live Chell, Faith, Aveline and Femshep.
MRAL: Being socially awkward is not an excuse for misogyny.
MRAL, do you understand that the Metroid franchise stretches waaay back to the NES (circa 1986)? Metroid Prime and its derivatives are the most current, but they’re sooo not the version that I was discussing back in the day. Which was a good deal before youtube was available or the internet could be accessed at more than 14.4 speeds…
And yet, Samus has been the main charachter in all of them, and identified as female in all of them. Shocking i know!
This is another instance of “your life experiences do not encompass the whole world’s life experiences”.
Dude. The OP is pissed that a video game features female characters as the strongest unit in a game, and points to it as proof of the hatred of men as a group. You do not think that is inherently mockable?
MRAL, most socially awkward people who may post here are not raging misogynistic assholes.
Spare me the “men have issues too” line. What you mean is that YOU have issues, and we have made a LOT of threads here all about you. If you want therapy, I suggest you start paying for it.
I’m not, and never was, much of a “videogames” fan. I like computerchess, but largely for tutorial value of playing against stronger programs (most contemporary computer programs, e.g. rybka, shredderchess, and Houdini, now play at their best above human grandmaster level) and of course, the occasional 1 or 2% draw rate is exciting when I earn one!
It is important to note, however, that a lot of men are starting to resent the pollution of videogames by a female (or feminist) presence, and are making our resentment known!
Women are uninvited!! If you want videogames, go play your own! I’m sure that there are more than enough touchy-feely, “co-oerative” rather than “competitive”, woman-as-victim, pishposh that would make women players happy, and we men wouldn’t touch with a ten foot pole. Enjoy!
It comes to a matter of personal space. If the men who were playing videogames wanted to play with women, they would be on internet dating sites, singles, cruises, pickup centers like bars or nightclubs, or perhaps avail themselves of “escort” or “outcall” services. They are instead enjoying their time with their computers! Leave them alone!
You modern women don’t like us men at your gyms, your taverns, your schools, your centers of woman’s activism, and even most of your businesses, do you? Give us the same courtesy.
This post would not be complete without noticing that men are not “intimidated” by so-called “strong women”! We are DISGUSTED by them! You are horrid to us!
@Zhinxy I am an autistic woman and met some decent autistic and aspie men as well. The ableism of NTs who believe that if one autistic person is misbehaving that means that all autistic people act the same way. I am a video game nerd myself (well more console then computer to be honest) and I just hate the assumption that if a woman plays video games, it means she never gets laid or is asexual or some stereotypical crap! UGH
I’m pretty socially awkward myself. I’ve gotten a lot better in the past several years, but I still have a great deal of anxiety surrounding social situations. (Though again, WAY more comfortable than I used to be.) So I have a lot of sympathy for people who have a hard time with human interaction.
That sympathy is, however, reserved for those who aren’t self-absorbed, mean-spirited, misogynistic and inconsiderate of other people’s feelings.
Hey, Meller’s back! Now the party can start.
You know who I like playing video games with, Meller? Women. And men. Anyone I like and want to spend time with who shares my interest in gaming. It doesn’t matter what what genitals they have or what their gender identity is. So once again, speak for yourself, you scared little boy.
How is DKM a real person in the world?
DKM, where did you get the impression that we gave a rat’s ass what you think?
How is DKM a real person in the world?
Massive narcissistic delusion.
Admittedly, he’s loads more fun than watching MRAL slowly relapse into shitheaddom, but…
Hej, bit of a lurker, used to post quite regularly here but now the comment threads jump up to 250 so fast! I never want to delurk and disrupt shit!
Anyways, this article is pretty relevant to the topic at hand. As a female geek who still goes to ComicCon despite the harassment, gaming and geek culture is so close to my heart:
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/issues/issue_235/6978-Vaginophobia
“Ducat, a clinical psychologist and professor of Psychology at the New College of California, believes that “this fantasy of being under constant siege by a multitude of external feminizing forces is really an unconscious defense that is employed to keep out of mind something even more disturbing – an identification with women.”
This phenomenon has found an accommodating home in the culture of videogames where empowerment fantasy is de rigueur. Consider the nominees for the 2009 Game of the Year at Spike’s Video Game Awards: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, Left 4 Dead 2, Assassin’s Creed 2, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, and Batman: Arkham Asylum. Each game is combat-oriented, features male protagonists, and presents a world full of aggressive antagonists in which the player must become a savior. To whom are these experiences most likely to appeal?
According to the ESA, 40% of people playing games are women. There are almost twice as many women over the age of eighteen who play games than there are boys under the age of seventeen. And yet only one in every ten game developers is a woman, while the ranks of videogame journalists skew heavily male, as does the audience that reads their work.
“I can tell you a million personal experiences of me covering this industry as a woman where people are just clearly freaked out by the fact that you’re a woman but you’re not a booth babe,” said Heather Chaplin, journalist and co-author of Smart Bomb: The Quest for Art, Entertainment, and Big Bucks in the Video Game Revolution. “All you have to do is go to a games industry event and it’s obvious that there are mostly men in the industry.”
In a paper published in the Psychological Review, a group of UCLA researchers found that the “basic neuroendocrine core of stress responses does not seem to vary substantially between human males and females. Both sexes experience a cascade of hormonal responses to threat.” However, men are much more likely to respond to stress with a “fight-or-flight” tendency while women are prone to “tend-and-befriend” reactions.”
It is a good read!
And, as always, to MRAL: no one here is raging on about socially awkward males. Hello, I am socially awkward. What people are pissed off about is shit like this:
http://fatuglyorslutty.com/
You can’t actively alienate and harass women in your geek communities, or just sit back when other men do, and then still expect to have romantic luck. We tend to like people with similar interests. My fiancé is a big geek who does HAM Radio all the time, I am a sci fi geek and an anthropologist. If you want to meet more geeky women, you need to work to make your misogynistic geek communities less threatening to women.
Basically misogynistic socially awkward geeks are shooting themselves in the foot: being horrible to the women who would be perfect to date them.
So what about the women who are playing online games minding their own business who get harassed by men? Should they be left alone?
Yeah, reading Meller’s rants is at least amusing in a “What if Dr. Byron Orpheus was a sexist asshole?” kind of way.
Can’t tell if Meller is a troll, being sarcastic, or really believes what he’s espousing.
Meller, please please tell me if you think women in doll collecting are invading your space? XD
The reason why I have no patience with the geek community’s misogyny and homophobia is that I’m a geek myself, and it’s not in my interest to put my head in the sand and ignore the fact that the gamer community is pretty bad on those points. I’m tired of the fact that the only social community I’m still in the closet in is my gamer buddies. I’m more out at my job, and that’s even though I usually don’t talk at all about my personal life so I tend to be seen as het cis male by default.
Also, I’m tired of nerds and geeks saying they’re socially awkward as though that was an immutable characteristic and not something that they can work on and improve.
Um, taking a look at the Total War Center Wiki the only female units (in Shogun 2) I can find are Onna Bushi which are not definitely not nuns and their melee attack is only 10. I count 14 different units (excluding hero units which I assume are intended to be rare and more powerful) that have higher melee damage.
Plus, I recall that in the original Shogun (released over 10 years ago), the most skilled assassin was the Geisha, but I suppose that is ok for these guys because the geisha aren’t useful in melee combat.
(Note: Said wiki doesn’t appear to have any info on units that may have been added in the various expansions)
I never want to delurk and disrupt shit!
What, are you afraid you’ll make it devolve into a discussion of bra sizes? We disrupt our own shit all the time. So don’t worry about it.
Aw, I was so hoping Meller’s latest rant would call me a “gameress.”
Also, I adore the fact that women are “uninvited” to play video games. Because the average dude routinely gets little caligraphied notes saying, “Mr. Deathbladezzz requests the honor of your presence and the use of your polymorph spell at Onyxia’s lair, Friday, May the 12th at 7:30 PM. Formal armor, please.” :-p
Socially awkward people tend to be extremely polite. Hate-spitters and harassers are obnoxious fucks, not cute awkward guys.
Stop making excuses for them.
Don’t be silly! Putting up with insults and unsolicited advances from men IS women’s business. Why else would we exist?
/sarcasm emitter overloading, breaking to undertake some art in five four three two…
Well, I’m not so much ‘socially awkward’ as I am ‘socially fucked beyond repair’ but For the most part I avoid being an asshole to innocents.
I love that somehow, enjoying the mere presence of female and queer characters in video games – not even MMO, just playing by myself – is oppressing men. Including Meller, even though he doesn’t like video games. That’s power.
By the way, DKM, there is no “ours” and “us” for you in video games, not when you clearly said you don’t care about them. They belong to those who pay and enjoy them, which apparently include me but not you.
Caraz, you can rest in the knowledge that you’re a better person that at least one poster here…
@zhinkxy: how could I forgot that for a second: the grown man who idolize pretty dolls is angry that women steal men’s toys.
Oh, god. Meller, no one cares what you think at this point.
DKM is being a dork, as usual, but I think an escort service for people to play video games would be amazing. I’m just imagining the promotional photos, which either have girls wearing superhero undies and glasses or skinny guys in glasses wearing threadless t-shirts.
Meller: “Quotes.” I don’t “think” you “understand” how they’re “used.”
But hey, nobody has a problem with you creating your very own REAL MAN-only clubhouse. You can also feel free to play a game with only male characters, and refuse to play it with women. However, I’m really sure why you’d be uncomfortable with the fact that somewhere, somehow, a woman is playing a video game.
Blackbloc: that sounds really tough, hugs if you’d like.
Seriously, it’s almost impossible to actually derail manboobz threads! Don’t let that stop you from delurkin’! :-)
And using it as a magic shield that gives them carte blanche to be racist/sexist/homobophobic assholes.
Do women in doll collecting bother or annoy or confuse you? I really wanna know more about that :)
A traditional Japanese sword weighs about six pounds,
No, it doesn’t. swords are a lot lighter than people think. The heaviest sword I have is a rapier, and it’s about 2.5 lbs. The heaviest sword I’ve ever used was a “claymore” at about 4.5 lbs. That took two hands to manage for more than a couple of blows; but that style of sword was meant to hack the heads off pikes; and so it’s just a fact of being well balanced, and my experience, which made even the 2-4 single handed strikes doable.
My katana (made in 1538, Nio School, made by Kiyosada Saku) is 26″ in the blade, with a total length of about 34″, and weighs 2 lbs. The scabbard is about 1/2 lb.
I do have a modern katana. It’s about the same weight as the vintage sword. It feels heavier, but that’s a function of how it’s hilted, which is done the stile of Musashi; and is meant for someone who is both stonger, and stockier than I am.
I keep thinking of the tsuka redone, so it’s better balanced to my phsyiognomy.
Firearms are heavier than swords (the M-16A1 is 7.2 lbs dry wieght, and about 9 lbs with a 30 rd. magazine). but the musclepower required to use them is a lot less, since it’s static use, not dynamic.
When it comes to the fine details of shooting, there is nothing which, physically, predisposes women to be unskilled; though there is a trait I’ve seen which seems consistent; where women try to put their head atop the stock, instead of next to it (completely irrelevant, the woman in the trap-shooting video has a style which is very atypical, and I’d say; from experience, isn’t good for much other than trap shooting. This isn’t a reflection on her, I’ve seen the same sorts of “errors” in males who do trap. It’s a function of the specialised skills needed to be good at that sport).
I’ve fenced with women (my first fencing instructor was female… she didn’t try out for the ’80 team because she didn’t think the carpal tunnel surgery of the time was worth it… she had about an 80 percent chance of making the team, and an almost certain loss of wrist mobility in 5-8 years). Let’s just say that with a smallsword in her hand I pity the fool who tries to rush her.
I’ve had women (in several styles of fence) clean my clock. I’ve had women who shot better than I did. Killing people isn’t higher math (well, sniping can be calculus in realtime, but so is wing shooting). These doods want to think there is something special about having testicles which makes them dangerous.
They are wrong. Games which remind them of this hurt their flimsy pride.
Just hope for the love of God that these guys never find out about F.A.T.A.L.….
I bet they hated having to play a female character in SimAnt.
DKM: But what if I don’t ant to play Cooking Mama or whatever piece of crap studios keep putting out to talk down to girls and women? Admittedly, I don’t play most games because first person makes me sick (in my day, this was called Doom sickness – yeah, my day was awhile ago). But I like Diablo 2 Heroes of Might and Magic and Baldur’s Gate and Neverwinter Nights (and Arcanum, but that’s kinda steampunk and therefore probably full of girly cooties) – all games that I’m going to assume you’re trying to tell me to stay away from because I don’t have an engraved permission slip from every man who ever played before I pick up the mouse.
I’ll admit that I love Zoo Tycoon, Build a Lot and The Sims, though.
Some of the best, fastest and scariest people I ever fenced against were women. My first teacher barely cleared five feet and was heel on wheels inside the list.
Women who collect pretty dolls or figurines who try to model themselves after them in gender-specific ways certainly don’t annoy or bother me. Heaven only knows, modern women (and even girls) NEED some degree of refeminization–to contrive a neologism–and if dolls, figurines, or plushfluffies can do this, I am all for it!
My interest is very feminine, soft, playful, and beautiful women takes nothing away from any interest that you have in pretty dolls. zhinxi, if you, and other manboobzettes, are able to use them to regender yourselves, and become SOFGs again, rather than embittered, archcompetitive, over-educated feminists and modern women, that is wonderful! I certainly don’t resent it in any way, and may even be able to expand my attentions more to real women along with–or even instead of–my little lady lovelies once you become real women again!
My love of dolls, figurines, and plushfluffies is a love of womanhood, a love of what little ladies could be and ought to be! I have no love of feminists, because they need no love, and are unlovable. By all means, collect feminine dolls and objets d’art! It may help you in some way.