Of FF13, feminism, and lesbianism

[auriond]

(Disclaimer: it's been a long time since I've written anything resembling an academic essay, much less one about gender and sexuality, so my vocabulary is extremely rusty. I'm going to use terms that are not entirely accurate, and I'm going to grope about for ways to convey what's on my mind. Forgive me if it goes off the mark in places.)

Comments

[auriond]

XD I'm not sure. Okay.

Yes, the hero who fights in heels is damn common indeed. But their aesthetic is geared towards the straight male gaze, so yes, what you say about femmeness caving in to heteronormativity (is there such a word?) Not being a lesbian, however, I'm not really in a position to say what appeals to the gay female. But I suspect that it's not really much different from what appeals to straight females, since taste in people shouldn't be entirely reliant on sexuality.

Masculine women really are rather un-common in video games. In that sense, FF was being brave in bringing out a masculine female fighter, and yes, they were breaking a stereotype. But then I'm conflating the history of FF with the history of video gaming, because at least in the FF games that I've played, there have been no actual good female warriors (as opposed to mage or healer). And the first one I encountered could only do so by taking on the characteristics of its typical male warrior leads (the leather garb, sullen personality etc.). But yeah, good point - in the larger view of the video game world, I suppose Paine would have been groundbreaking in her own way. Still, FFX-2 was a joke of a game itself, so she couldn't really be developed in any depth. Lightning and Fang are the same type of character, but much better handled and developed.

Two femme women together is indeed the lesbian fantasy (see the Shiva twins). My point was that Fang was not exactly hyper-femme the way Vanille was, yet she didn't go all the way to butch or hyper-masculinity either. She walked a thin line in between that felt genuine to me, as a woman, because at least I personally don't consciously go out of my way to project a butch or femme image, and I suspect most women don't either.

Should we dislike the butch-femme dynamic? Nope. To an extent, Fang and Vanille fit those roles well. But it's not obvious. I think in the end I'm praising the game for not having to resort to hyper-masculinity to develop Fang and Vanille's relationship. But somehow hyper-feminity doesn't bother me, probably because it's such a staple of FF that I can't imagine FF without that overly cute anime girlyness.