(no subject)
First, check this http://blog.wired.com/underwire/2007/05/sexual_dimorphi.html its only more of the same. I'm mostly here to discuss the opinions expressed in relation to World of Warcraft.
While a lot of it makes sense, many of the points ring somewhat hollow. The woman who wrote it is obviously - and admittedly - and feminist. And not the good kinda - in my opinion - and i have mentioned this before. Its the kind of feminist that doesn't just want equality - or isn't concerned by it and is more interested in further advancement for women, at the expense - or exclusion of - men in general. Its easy for people to stop reading here, call me a (male) chauvinist - though by definition you would be incorrect - and move on. You're welcome to.
For those of you who have stayed, i'm going to make a few points here. As a spur of the moment thing, you'll have to forgive the sloppy layout.
The points i'd like to make in this are as follows
Firstly, i'd like to express the same point, from a male perspective - after all, as feminists go (ooo, there i go again, bagging feminists) they tend to think everything is worse for women than it is for men)
Secondly, i would like to point out how, in the example of World of Warcraft (hereafter referred to as WoW), while females do, to a degree, come of as overly feminine, it can be easily realistic for them to be so.
Sexual Bimorphism in World of Warcraft.
In the link above, the woman in question (Andrea Rubenstein) mentions almost exclusively the minimalistic of females in the way they are portrayed. They are indeed smaller, slimmer, more curvy and less muscled than the males, this is undeniable. However, something to be considered is that while they are smaller than their male counterparts, i believe this is more due to the fact that the males are so hyper-masculine, and so overly exaggerated that they appear even smaller in comparison. To be fair to the ladies out there, female characters in WoW are indeed, a feminine ideal. They are smaller, they are slimmer, are not as muscle-bound and are not as large as their male counterparts. This is, indeed, built in, and you cannot change it, you cannot play a large, muscled female (taurans get close). Some may dislike this, but unfortunately its hard to change, and not easy to implement, furthermore, as a fantasy game (as is mentioned) it is no surprise that females are set out as an ideal. They are pretty, curvy and feminine. It would be a lie to say that all women want that, but most do. Few want to play a fantasy game, where you get to be heroes but you're also short, chubby and saggy.
Following this line of thinking, it also stands to ready that males are as suck as females, perhaps more so. Males have no ability to play slim, wily characters. They are all muscle-bound jocks, all large, powerful, rippling examples of hyper-masculine images. These images, like those of female supermodel, fill the social consciousness, they are spray out on TV, in magazines and on billboards. As often as you see a tall, shapely woman, all curves and boobs and hips, you see males with muscled, hairless chests, oiled and bronze from the sun. Women aren't the only ones manipulated by media body image.
As i said, while females in WoW are smaller than their male counterparts, it is less that females are exceptionally reduced to smaller, weaker looking examples - most have more muscle than many 'real' females - its more to the point that the males are all so exaggerated that, by comparison, the females appear proportionally smaller. So exaggerated are the male models that they appear unrealistic and ridiculous.
Examples of Sexual Bimorphism.
Several examples were given in the link above, referring to WoW, i'd like to cover a few of them with my own opinions and observations. The first one that occurs to me is the comparison of the Draenai. It is questioned as to whether the large differences in male and female draenai makes and kind of sense. With a little thought, it can be easily rationalized, and i will do so now, but first, i would like to mention the several comparisons to humans (both in the game, and in 'real life'), it'll come up in a minute.
I'd like to give an example in explanation of the draenai (as well as orcs, trolls and so forth). As a race, the Draenari are already large, imposing creatures (even the females are a good half-foot at least, taller than male humans). However the males are significantly larger than the females, and in this example i will explain why i think it makes perfect sense.
Lions. You know, (mostly) from Africa? Male lions average 416 pounds and 10 feet in length. Female lions (the lioness) average only 277 pounds, and about 8 feet in length - give or take. Now, take these measurements and with a little imagination, make those animal bipedal humanoids. Their stance and general shape would be similar to the Draenai. The male lion stands at least a foot taller than the females, and is almost twice as heavy, They would have larger muscles, and a more powerful frame. They would stand taller, and larger than the females. If you have seen a picture of a lioness, you will note that their frames are much light, muscles smaller, and more compact than their male counterparts, this is much like the Draenai.
However, it goes to mention that the females are a lot slimmer too, well, yes. They aren't lions, also - as mentioned - they are pushed heavily towards being feminine, because a lot of girls out there want to be pretty super-models (don't lie), and guys like to look at that.
Remember when i mentioned that the Draenai were compared to humans (real, and in-game)? This is why. Draenai, along with every other race (except Humans, and Forsaken) aren't real. They aren't humans, didn't evolve from primates, and have nothing in common with humans except they are bipedal and 'humanoid'. Draenai, in particular. Are - wait for it - Interdimensional Aliens. Thats right. They aren't just 'not human' they are from a different planet.. in a different dimension. Comparing them to humans seems a little ridiculous, right?
Before i move on i would like to mention the Trolls, another race mentioned specially. It is mentioned that the females have smaller tusks, small enough they barely show up sometimes, and this is seem as bad, or unfair, i suppose. Its shown as an example of females being too far towards 'not as impressive' (i suppose) as males. To be honest, this point confuses me. There is vast differences between the races, however, just because humans are similar, why are other races? The tusks is an especially interesting point.
Look at Deer. Male deer have huge antlers, massive ones. Females do not, this is because the males use them, they fight and defend themselves and so forth. Perhaps, the trolls evolved from something much similar. Why don't the females have big tusks? they don't need them, they never did.
More human-like races, such as the orc, but more to the point the blood elves, and night elves, gnomes and dwarves are all very similar between makes and females, this is because they are more like humans, while the other races are not. Again, they aren't humans, why should the differences between the sexes be just like humans? Thats just the point, they shouldn't.
I suppose, going off on a tangent for a moment, they could have made a race that had female dominant characteristics, the problem is that, for the most part, in the range of mammal species, the females are smaller than the males with very few exceptions, such as the hyena (and, as far as i know, all the races are mammals.) Other species, such as most insects, spiders, birds, reptiles and amphibians, many fish, the female is larger than the male, and since none of the races are any of those species, it stands to reason that the female will be smaller.
To the point, its not that its there, its the exaggeration, at least mostly. And to the point, there is an exaggeration, but its there fir a few reasons. For one, and most importantly, WoW is a very stylized game, everything is exaggerated. Following on from that, its a classic of the fantasy genre, males are large and powerful and, for the most part, females are smaller and more lithe, they are also more attractive, there is little attractive about males in WoW.
In closing, there is a split in the genders, however i think its less to the point that females are much smaller than males, than it is that males are overly exaggerated the other way. And while that closes some options, it isnt out of the question for alien, fantasy races.
While a lot of it makes sense, many of the points ring somewhat hollow. The woman who wrote it is obviously - and admittedly - and feminist. And not the good kinda - in my opinion - and i have mentioned this before. Its the kind of feminist that doesn't just want equality - or isn't concerned by it and is more interested in further advancement for women, at the expense - or exclusion of - men in general. Its easy for people to stop reading here, call me a (male) chauvinist - though by definition you would be incorrect - and move on. You're welcome to.
For those of you who have stayed, i'm going to make a few points here. As a spur of the moment thing, you'll have to forgive the sloppy layout.
The points i'd like to make in this are as follows
Firstly, i'd like to express the same point, from a male perspective - after all, as feminists go (ooo, there i go again, bagging feminists) they tend to think everything is worse for women than it is for men)
Secondly, i would like to point out how, in the example of World of Warcraft (hereafter referred to as WoW), while females do, to a degree, come of as overly feminine, it can be easily realistic for them to be so.
Sexual Bimorphism in World of Warcraft.
In the link above, the woman in question (Andrea Rubenstein) mentions almost exclusively the minimalistic of females in the way they are portrayed. They are indeed smaller, slimmer, more curvy and less muscled than the males, this is undeniable. However, something to be considered is that while they are smaller than their male counterparts, i believe this is more due to the fact that the males are so hyper-masculine, and so overly exaggerated that they appear even smaller in comparison. To be fair to the ladies out there, female characters in WoW are indeed, a feminine ideal. They are smaller, they are slimmer, are not as muscle-bound and are not as large as their male counterparts. This is, indeed, built in, and you cannot change it, you cannot play a large, muscled female (taurans get close). Some may dislike this, but unfortunately its hard to change, and not easy to implement, furthermore, as a fantasy game (as is mentioned) it is no surprise that females are set out as an ideal. They are pretty, curvy and feminine. It would be a lie to say that all women want that, but most do. Few want to play a fantasy game, where you get to be heroes but you're also short, chubby and saggy.
Following this line of thinking, it also stands to ready that males are as suck as females, perhaps more so. Males have no ability to play slim, wily characters. They are all muscle-bound jocks, all large, powerful, rippling examples of hyper-masculine images. These images, like those of female supermodel, fill the social consciousness, they are spray out on TV, in magazines and on billboards. As often as you see a tall, shapely woman, all curves and boobs and hips, you see males with muscled, hairless chests, oiled and bronze from the sun. Women aren't the only ones manipulated by media body image.
As i said, while females in WoW are smaller than their male counterparts, it is less that females are exceptionally reduced to smaller, weaker looking examples - most have more muscle than many 'real' females - its more to the point that the males are all so exaggerated that, by comparison, the females appear proportionally smaller. So exaggerated are the male models that they appear unrealistic and ridiculous.
Examples of Sexual Bimorphism.
Several examples were given in the link above, referring to WoW, i'd like to cover a few of them with my own opinions and observations. The first one that occurs to me is the comparison of the Draenai. It is questioned as to whether the large differences in male and female draenai makes and kind of sense. With a little thought, it can be easily rationalized, and i will do so now, but first, i would like to mention the several comparisons to humans (both in the game, and in 'real life'), it'll come up in a minute.
I'd like to give an example in explanation of the draenai (as well as orcs, trolls and so forth). As a race, the Draenari are already large, imposing creatures (even the females are a good half-foot at least, taller than male humans). However the males are significantly larger than the females, and in this example i will explain why i think it makes perfect sense.
Lions. You know, (mostly) from Africa? Male lions average 416 pounds and 10 feet in length. Female lions (the lioness) average only 277 pounds, and about 8 feet in length - give or take. Now, take these measurements and with a little imagination, make those animal bipedal humanoids. Their stance and general shape would be similar to the Draenai. The male lion stands at least a foot taller than the females, and is almost twice as heavy, They would have larger muscles, and a more powerful frame. They would stand taller, and larger than the females. If you have seen a picture of a lioness, you will note that their frames are much light, muscles smaller, and more compact than their male counterparts, this is much like the Draenai.
However, it goes to mention that the females are a lot slimmer too, well, yes. They aren't lions, also - as mentioned - they are pushed heavily towards being feminine, because a lot of girls out there want to be pretty super-models (don't lie), and guys like to look at that.
Remember when i mentioned that the Draenai were compared to humans (real, and in-game)? This is why. Draenai, along with every other race (except Humans, and Forsaken) aren't real. They aren't humans, didn't evolve from primates, and have nothing in common with humans except they are bipedal and 'humanoid'. Draenai, in particular. Are - wait for it - Interdimensional Aliens. Thats right. They aren't just 'not human' they are from a different planet.. in a different dimension. Comparing them to humans seems a little ridiculous, right?
Before i move on i would like to mention the Trolls, another race mentioned specially. It is mentioned that the females have smaller tusks, small enough they barely show up sometimes, and this is seem as bad, or unfair, i suppose. Its shown as an example of females being too far towards 'not as impressive' (i suppose) as males. To be honest, this point confuses me. There is vast differences between the races, however, just because humans are similar, why are other races? The tusks is an especially interesting point.
Look at Deer. Male deer have huge antlers, massive ones. Females do not, this is because the males use them, they fight and defend themselves and so forth. Perhaps, the trolls evolved from something much similar. Why don't the females have big tusks? they don't need them, they never did.
More human-like races, such as the orc, but more to the point the blood elves, and night elves, gnomes and dwarves are all very similar between makes and females, this is because they are more like humans, while the other races are not. Again, they aren't humans, why should the differences between the sexes be just like humans? Thats just the point, they shouldn't.
I suppose, going off on a tangent for a moment, they could have made a race that had female dominant characteristics, the problem is that, for the most part, in the range of mammal species, the females are smaller than the males with very few exceptions, such as the hyena (and, as far as i know, all the races are mammals.) Other species, such as most insects, spiders, birds, reptiles and amphibians, many fish, the female is larger than the male, and since none of the races are any of those species, it stands to reason that the female will be smaller.
To the point, its not that its there, its the exaggeration, at least mostly. And to the point, there is an exaggeration, but its there fir a few reasons. For one, and most importantly, WoW is a very stylized game, everything is exaggerated. Following on from that, its a classic of the fantasy genre, males are large and powerful and, for the most part, females are smaller and more lithe, they are also more attractive, there is little attractive about males in WoW.
In closing, there is a split in the genders, however i think its less to the point that females are much smaller than males, than it is that males are overly exaggerated the other way. And while that closes some options, it isnt out of the question for alien, fantasy races.