Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.advocacy
Date: Tue,  6 Oct 1992 17:22:25 -0400 
From: "Cynthia K. Neelan" <cn0n+@andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: Sexism in Gaming

As a relatively new gamer I have read with interest your comments on
Sexism in
the wording of GM's and Players Guides.  I personally have no
objection whatsoever to using male pronouns as generic terms.

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:

I)  Obvious lack of Female NPC's

II)  Male answer syndrome, or No *YOU* can't do that... but *I*
can.....

I would like to share with you some details of the aforementioned
problems, and seek your advice, and comments on them.

***PLEASE NOTE:  I play with adults that I consider VERY  open minded,
and not at all sexist.  That is why I was offended by these actions.
Also while I was seriously angered by these things at first, my sence
of humor took over, and now I can laugh at them.  Particularly since
things ARE improving.

Problem I)  Lack of Female NPC's

In over one year of gaming the only women NPC's that we have met have
been:

)  12 frozen women that we had to rescue.  This alone was not bad at
all because these women were highly skilled illusionists.
HOWEVER they were found frozen NAKED, and they were the MOST BEAUTIFUL women in
the world.  ARGH... of course... ;)  (DM's words not mine)  We
thawed them out, and they, in turn looked at members of our
party, and kissed them, thereby making my travelling
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  :)

2)  We were sent on a mission from *god* to rescue 12 Priestesses (12
must be a magic number)  At this point I complained LOUDLY
about having to rescue 	damsels in distress... and the DM changed it
to both male AND female priests.

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

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.

I will relay my second gripe by telling you of an incident that
beautifully illustrates the problem. Last gaming session I was busy
with something else.  A member of the party kept saying "check for
traps".  I said that I would when I was finished with whatever else I
was doing.  Then he turned to the DM and said "She checks for Traps".
Usually the DM would just roll as though I had performed the task.
That is what has happened in the past.  However since I had just
pointed this type of thing out to him he said "Why THANK you
Cindy!!!!!"  We all laughed.  Laughter is the best medicine for this
type of problem.

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

When I mentioned these problems to the DM and to the other PC's they
try very hard to curb this behavior.  They really do, and in fact it
has made my gaming
MUCH more enjoyable.

I love RPG's, and hope to continue playing them whenever I can.


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

Hi Ho,

cin


Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.advocacy