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Message no. 1
From: Nightfox <DJWA@******.UCC.NAU.EDU>
Subject: Gender Bender
Date: Tue, 26 Oct 1993 19:21:20 -0700
I have seen a very good Gender bender done by a member of this list

Erin B. Parker - of course it wasn't the normal gender bender of a guy
playing a girl - it was a Girl playing a Guy - namely THE NEXUS

Any one who has roleplayed with Erin (Tom, Adam, Brian and myself)
will agree that she does the character very well.


Dan
Message no. 2
From: "Robert A. Hayden" <hayden@*******.MANKATO.MSUS.EDU>
Subject: Re: Gender Bender
Date: Tue, 26 Oct 1993 22:13:14 -0500
On Tue, 26 Oct 1993, Nightfox wrote:

> I have seen a very good Gender bender done by a member of this list
>
> Erin B. Parker - of course it wasn't the normal gender bender of a guy
> playing a girl - it was a Girl playing a Guy - namely THE NEXUS

ARRRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!

I hate the term 'girl' used to define anyone over the age of about 15 or
so. ARRRGH!

> Any one who has roleplayed with Erin (Tom, Adam, Brian and myself)
> will agree that she does the character very well.

In my expierience, I've never met a man that was able to play a woman
without reducing the charact5er to some kind of effeminant wimp or a
total slut. Too the point where I make it a point of not allowing people
to play the opposite gender.

Facist GM at work? Nah, I just hate stereotypes.

____ Robert A. Hayden <=> hayden@*******.mankato.msus.edu
\ /__ -=-=-=-=- <=> -=-=-=-=-
\/ / Finger for Geek Code Info <=> Veteran of the Bermuda Triangle
\/ Finger for PGP 2.3a Public Key <=> Expeditionary Force -- 1993-1951
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
(GEEK CODE 1.0.1) GSS d- -p+(---) c++(++++) l++ u++ e+/* m++(*)@ s-/++
n-(---) h+(*) f+ g+ w++ t++ r++ y+(*)
Message no. 3
From: Jim Tyler <pherble@*****.COM>
Subject: Re: Gender Bender
Date: Tue, 26 Oct 1993 22:16:16 MDT
> I hate the term 'girl' used to define anyone over the age of about 15 or
> so. ARRRGH!
>
> > Any one who has roleplayed with Erin (Tom, Adam, Brian and myself)
> > will agree that she does the character very well.
>
> In my expierience, I've never met a man that was able to play a woman
> without reducing the charact5er to some kind of effeminant wimp or a
> total slut. Too the point where I make it a point of not allowing people
> to play the opposite gender.
>
> Facist GM at work? Nah, I just hate stereotypes.

I recently played a female rocker archetype at Tacticon here in Colorado.
I agree that many times it is difficult to play a character of the
opposite sex, but I found that this instance was fun and very successful.
Maybe because there wasn't time to think, just play the role and the game.
One thing I find funny, and sometimes a pain in the butt is that if there
is a relationship between one character and another (romantic) that
players sometimes have difficulty role-playing that aspect. In the
aforementioned tourney, I (that is my character) was supposed to have a
crush on the big bad sammy leader, but if I made any reference in play to
it, the other player pointedly ignored it; much to the GM's amusement.

--
Jim Tyler
pherble@*****.com
Message no. 4
From: The Deb Decker <RJR96326@****.UTULSA.EDU>
Subject: Re: Gender Bender
Date: Tue, 26 Oct 1993 23:33:43 GMT
>> I hate the term 'girl' used to define anyone over the age of about 15 or
>> so. ARRRGH!

Well, I don't like being referred to as a man, because I LIKE being a Youthful
Idealist. I don't feel like boy or gil diminishes someone, which I believe is
the reasoning behind the "women, not girls" movement. Adults are so SERIOUS
sometimes. . .

>> > Any one who has roleplayed with Erin (Tom, Adam, Brian and myself)
>> > will agree that she does the character very well.

Yes, she played well all the stereotypical aspects of masculinity that I
despise. I think Erin's a good example: she played one *kind* of guy; there
are as many different kinds of both men and women as there are people.

> In my expierience, I've never met a man that was able to play a woman
> without reducing the charact5er to some kind of effeminant wimp or a
> total slut. Too the point where I make it a point of not allowing people
> to play the opposite gender.

I hope no one thinks Jaez was a slut. She was meant to be a rather social
girl, but didn't sleep with everyone. Now there's a stereotype for you.

Reminds of one of the few scenes we played where her sex was important. From
the Harlequin book. We were at a party, and this technodweeb kept bugging her
for her phone number. My response?

"5-5-5-. . ."

This has to be repeated before the GM decided he got the hint. It was fun.

Yes, romance CAN be hard to play between two players who aren't attracted to
each other *regardless of gender or orientation, and is even more complicated
if either party feels it might blossom into a real attraction from one player
to the other.

J Roberson
Message no. 5
From: Fahnuir <FAHNUIR@******.BITNET>
Subject: Gender Bender
Date: Wed, 27 Oct 1993 15:53:25 PRT
I've played a female twice. Once it was in Shadowrun. I had a human female str
eet-mage that was 1.5 meters tall and had 150kg of weight ( She was really fat,
but she was not ugly. She had a problem with her metabolism that made her get
that fat. She was constantly having diet (Well... She should. Everytime the oth
er players were not looking she just went to Bee Burgers and places like that.)
. She was a really nice pearson, everybody liked her. It was one of the charact
ers that i enjoyed most( It was a realy complicated situation when she had to p
lay the role of 'bait' for the Jack the Riper guy in Dreamchipper( she was the
only woman in the group).
The other time was when i picked a female to be a Burster in RIFTS. She was al
so very fat ( i rolled the maximum in the weight!! ). She was another meatball.
When she made Flick Flacks she simply rolled on the ground).
All of you should try to play a female character at least once in your life.
In my group there is almost always a guy who plays a female character and
sometimes there are characters who have love affairs with each other.
If you have the problem of beeing seen as a homosexual, that's your problem.
IN my group we're all 'normal' ( i'm not saying that gays are not normal!! ), a
nd we usualy have a lot of fun playing female characters.

Fahnuir

P.S.- I sent to the list a spell named Blast Shout and i'd like some comments
on it. I've only received one mail about the subject. Thank you.

In your room, i fell you and i just can't get enough...
Judas

Further Reading

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These messages were posted a long time ago on a mailing list far, far away. The copyright to their contents probably lies with the original authors of the individual messages, but since they were published in an electronic forum that anyone could subscribe to, and the logs were available to subscribers and most likely non-subscribers as well, it's felt that re-publishing them here is a kind of public service.

Thwap!