| From: | Cugel the Clever <cugel@**.NET> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Re: Gender in gaming |
| Date: | Sat, 12 Aug 1995 00:03:05 +01.0 |
> This was very good and goes a long way towards the point I was
> trying to make about things that are seen as "cool" i.e. acceptable
> behavior for females. Thank you very much for posting it!
Gee, thank you (blush :). Never thought I was going to use this for
Shadowrun someday :). I hope that the translation was be halfway
acceptable, because the terminology was far from my usually used
English.
> Yes, we can struggle against the strictures society and our
> upbringing put on us, but it's not an easy process, by any means...
> heck, that's (insert your age here) years of conditioning at
>work. :)
Yes, alas it is. You don't even know how much you pick up on
specific male-female behaviour when you're young, both from your
parents and from society. And the worse part is without you
recognizing it as such, you're going to pass it on to your children
also. That's why I was so sceptical about your statement that
discrimination on gender-basis would have dissapeared in 2055.
But it is one of the better bits from SR that they try to break the
pattern. Although much in SR still shows the 20th century bias
anyway :). Look at the woman on the cover for instance. I know it's
Elmore and he works a lot for A%&%, but how many characters do you
know that run around half naked when running in the shadows?! Or do
you know a picture of a fully cybered female samurai, or one where female
bodyguards guard a male in any of the books? Only Janet Aulisio does not
fall in this trap.
As far as I could see Tim Bradstreet hasn't even included one female in his
SR-art which is kinda pitty because his Vampire females are all very
good.. Just shows that there is a lot of this stuff hidden everywhere.
Now that I look at it there is a lot more than I expected. Just two
more examples: the picture at the start of HB-by the sword; who's the
one shivering in the cold? Yep the only female, while the guys try to
look cool (BTW she's also the one with the rediculous skin thight
aerobics suit, so that kinda explains it :).
And look at the role of the main-female NPC in HB, talk about your
"typical" female behaviour :/
Call me a hair-splitter if you want, but these things emphasize the
traditional role of the woman, and that's /not/ good IMHO.
Martin Steffens (Cugel@**.net / bdi05626@***.rhij.nl)
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your home. -- (Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman, Good Omens)
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