From: cn0n+@andrew.cmu.edu (Cynthia K. Neelan)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.advocacy
Subject: Son on Sexism in RPG
Date: 9 Oct 92 21:12:25 GMT
Organization: School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA


Thank all of you for your posts on the subject.  You have offered me
your insight from years of experience.  I am fairly new to RPB.  I
would like to comment some of the responces.

Firstly, some people responded that perhaps I was to quiet.  At first
I believed that this was true.  But I am anything BUT a wilting violet
guys.  I am definately a woman (I like being a woman honestly) but I
have always enjoyed things usually thought to be masculine activities.

For instance I fight sword and shield for the SCA and I love it...
*grin*

So I think that I can actually ADD to the realism especially of any
melee situations.  I am beginning to understand that type of military
technique.
*shrug* anyway, I can outscream the best of 'em.  *grin*

-=-=-=-=
dv52151@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (SilverFang Ahroun) said:
"*giggle* That's a really neat idea for a story. A female Lancelot
in the King Arthur stories, and the real reason that Gwenivere and
Lancelot fall in love is that both are lesbians.. Hmm..boy, this would
shake up a Pendragon campaign, no?"

well mikew@mdcbbs.com (Mike 'the Bard' Whitaker) beat me to the punch
but do go look up the commic book Camelot 3000.  The situation that
Tristan finds himself in is GREAT.  However I had problems with that
situation myself... just in Tristan's handling of it... but anyway...

-==-=-=-=-=-=-

somebody said this... and I am sorry I lost the article... sigh I
apologize:
"I think that there is a flip side of the coin: not all RPG cultures
are the same.  Some will be patriarchally oriented, some matriarchally
oriented, and some may be in a grey area between the two.  I would
hate to think that any GM should feel constricted as to the type of
society s/he can create just because some of the players feel that
every culture should have the exact same ratio of male to female
characters!  This smacks of "politically correct" thinking in a place
where it obviously does not belong.

fair enough.  however I specifically asked the GM and he said it was
strictly an equality oriented society.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

c-chan@mcl.ucsb.edu (Christina Callihan)  writes:
"I remember one time I joined an all-male gaming group.  After a few
sessions
the GM told me quite happily that I'd had a "civilizing" effect on the
game.
I think that was a compliment.  :^}"

Cool. in one game I do... but in ONE game I definately DO NOT.. the
charachter stirs up trouble because of her personality, and her
alignment. *shrug* I don't ALWAYS want to play the peace maker.
HOWEVER
I do tend to try and encourage the group to WORK TOGETHER.  In all the
games I play I actively try and encourage people to SHARE all magic
weapons and treasure found together.  Let the person who can make best
use of it have the item, and quit crying about it... SHEESH

-=-=-=-=-=-=

many people remarked that they themselves as GM's and Males had
trouble playing female NPC's because they could not do it
realistically.

sigh.  Do you really think that women are really that different from
YOU???

that is the basis of the problem I think.  Women are not as a gender
that much different from you.  If you can play ANYOTHER type of
charachter that is different from YOU as a person you could play a
woman. perhaps there are aspects of 'femininity' (for lack of a better
word) that you would not feel you could do justice to.  Okay. Don't
play an overly 'feminine' woman.  I am not overly feminine, but I love
being a woman.

-=-=-=-=-=--=-=-


stv@unislc.uucp (Steve Spencer)
said:
"You know, I wish we could all say this. Sadly enough, in the 12 years
I have been roleplaying, I have never had even a single female in any
of the games (Sure, I've played female characters, and I've had female
NPC's, but never a female player or GM). I really would be curious to
see how the roleplaying styles vary. So keep me in mind if anyone gets
a PBEM started with a female in it."

hey, count me in... I LOVE RPG's.  I truly do.  I have learned so much
about MYSELF through my crazy charachters, who are all part of me but
all very different from each other.

Thanks again to everyone who took the time to post!!!!!

And happy Role Playing!!!!!!!!!

cindy

(slay monsters, collect treasure, and save the world in only a couple
of hours????????)