From: crichar@eskimo.celestial.com (Craig Richardson)
Subject: Re: Sexism in Gaming
Organization: >>> Eskimo North (206)-FOR-EVER <<<
Date: Wed, 7 Oct 1992 19:51:52 GMT

In article <QeoUCFe00WB75N6EF3@andrew.cmu.edu> "Cynthia K. Neelan" <cn0n+@andrew.cmu.edu> writes:
>However sexism in roleplay games very much DOES exist.  I currently
>play in three ongoing campaings that meet once a week in rotation.  I
>play a female charachters.  I am a female.  :)  The problems that I
>have experienced are two fold:

IMHO, sexism in RPGs exists no more (and likely somewhat less) than in
Real Life(tm).  That *any* exists is a sad commentary on society, but I
digress...

I am a male, and I always play male characters.  Why?  For one simple reason.
I am not good at playing a *convincing* female character.  My thought processes
just don't coincide, and it winds up coming out all wrong.  I'm sure it gets
better with practice, but I just feel that, personally, I am better at playing
within the range of males than experimenting with the "better half".

>Problem I)  Lack of Female NPC's
[snip]
>companions fall madly in love with them.  To the GM's 	benefit, once
>*I* looked one of  these women in the eye, she kissed me and I 	too
>fell in love with her.  That was only fair  :)

Kudos to your GM!  As I read the paragraph, I found myself hoping for that
particular twist to come up...

>In our campaign we have seen MANY powerful NPC friends and foes, all
>of which have been male.  Sigh.  I was told that there were not enough
>female miniatures, so I have made it a point to purchase and paint
>many misc. female figures.  *shrug*  So perhaps in the future this
>will help to remind DM's that
>there are OTHER females in the universe besides PC's and Damsels in
>distress

In our previous campaign, the two main NPCs (the PCs were pawns in their
game) were both female (drawn from Lady and Whisper in the Black Company
series, with the serial numbers filed off).  Our current campaign's most
competent NPCs so far are both female, and there are strong hints that one
of the other female NPCs has a bigger role than it seems, but I'm not sure
that I want to find out (for my character's health :-) ).

So there *are* GMs that don't have this problem.  It's a blind spot in the
genre as much as it is in the GM (IMHO).

>Problem II) Male Answer Syndrom, and the Theft of Ideas.
>
>I will admit that at times I am not the most assertive of people.
>This is changing.  I got SO TIRED of saying  "Why don't we do X" over
>and over again, and being ignored ONLY TO HAVE another member of the
>party say "HEY!!!!! I HAVE A GREAT IDEA... Why don't we do X!!!", and
>everyone agrees wholeheartedly.  Sigh.  Now I have started to scream,
>or just say that was MY Idea.  They are getting much better at this
>since I pointed it out to them, and they have actually seen themselves
>to it time and time again.

Trust me, this is not exclusively a sexist thing.  There are some people who
just *are* that way (when they game).  Two things to do are: (1) work at
becoming more assertive, (2) use it as an opportunity to lead the party from
behind.  "Suggest" things that other characters might take up (to the
detriment of their health :-) ).

>IN DEFENCE OF MY MALE COUNTERPARTS:
> Two men in separate campaigns decided to play women characters.
>Cool.  I was surprised.

I wish them good luck.  I've had more success playing a convincing Horta in
ST:RPG (okay, he wasn't male, strictly speaking, but he *was* "orthomale
type 4-B", which Dr. McCoy called "close enough for jazz" :-)) than playing
a convincing female.

>Soooo I would appreciate hearing your opinions, and the other side of
>the story.  Thanks in advance.

Now you know <pause> The Rest ... Of The Story :-)

--Craig

-- 
Craig S. Richardson (crichar@eskimo.celestial.com)
GM Pullman Sleepers (OBFBL) I've looked at backs that pushed the wall for years
GM Seattle Rainiers (IFL)   Scarred by many knives and too much fear
GM/Man Wis. T'wolves (IBL)  --Big Country - "Just A Shadow"