males playing females and the other way around, opinions?

[Mikaze]

A female player once criticised me for my portrayal of a female character. My PC was a viking-type 3e barbarian, like Fafhrd, only female, with something like an 18 strength. The other player said she was a 'man in drag'.

It's a fair point, the character was very masculine, but I think she was wrong to expect all female PCs to be feminine, particularly adventurer types.

Some women can be sexist towards their own gender as well, just like some guys doing the same to male characters that aren't "masculine enough".

Cripes, I remember this one lady that was absolutely hung up on the notion of female characters having "non-feminine" haircuts making them less of a woman.

 

[Doug McCrae]

Just like i would do if someone played a elf in a stupid way and refused change. As in one that talked like a Valley Girl, contently hugged tree's and played up all the worse stereo types of elves that have built up over the years.

I really like that character!

I think some stereotypes are fine and some aren't. Stereotypes based on race, gender or sexual orientation are in poor taste and feel very outdated, at best, offensive, at worst. But I'm down with hippy elves, fireball-happy wizards, light-fingered thieves, grumpy dwarves, plucky kids, absent-minded professors, and all the rest. Partly it's, as Umbran says, that fantasy races aren't real so no one minds.

 

[malcolypse]

I've played several female characters over the years, and it's always been fun, so I never have a problem letting a player do it in a game I'm running.

For anyone out there who just can't understand why someone would want to play a member of the opposite gender I offer up this, my greatest insight into woman-kind: They're just as interesting as males.

In my experience, if a male gamer is portraying a female character in an irresponsibly offensive manner, I only have to insist that they speak in a Monty Python pepperpot voice "for me, so I can remember that you're a female," and they generally want to play a new character the next session.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

The good thing about "infinite" is that when you subtract 1 ... you still have "infinite."

Yes, but it is still smaller- thus,IMHO, poorer- than the greater infinity that includes more.

 

[ProfessorCirno]

One thing I find amusing is when a dude plays as a lady but is then either 1) homosexual, or 2) completely asexual.

That actually would make a vaguely interesting poll, to see who's played a character with a different sexuality then their own.

 

[radmod]

I fall into the sexist category.
I don't like guys playing girls because they generally suck at it. But I don't bat an eye at a girl playing a guy.

BTW, in 2e, the group was making rude jokes about a female player's cycle (she was eating it up) and said female characters should get extra damage for three days every 27/28 days. She loved the joke, and it became a house rule.

 

[Umbran]

Some women can be sexist towards their own gender as well, just like some guys doing the same to male characters that aren't "masculine enough".

Well, let's be clear about our terminology.

"Sexism" is the belief that one of the sexes is superior.

This is not the same as "stereotyping" - which is where you say members of a particular gender have particular traits. Sexism often works with stereotypes, but working with stereotypes is not inherently sexist - you can feel the sexes have specific traits, but feel they are equal.

"Not masculine enough" is a stereotyping thing. The belief that masculinity is of higher value than femininity is sexism. A person can be sexist, feeling the females are superior, and still complain that your male character was "not masculine enough", failing to match the stereotype.

 

[Sunseeker]

Well, let's be clear about our terminology.

"Sexism" is the belief that one of the sexes is superior.

This is not the same as "stereotyping" - which is where you say members of a particular gender have particular traits. Sexism often works with stereotypes, but working with stereotypes is not inherently sexist - you can feel the sexes have specific traits, but feel they are equal.

"Not masculine enough" is a stereotyping thing. The belief that masculinity is of higher value than femininity is sexism. A person can be sexist, feeling the females are superior, and still complain that your male character was "not masculine enough", failing to match the stereotype.

And stereotypes form from the belief that one thing is not as good as the other, that a man with less muscle is therefore more feminine and therefore less valuable as a person. It's STILL sexism.

 

[sev]

One thing I find amusing is when a dude plays as a lady but is then either 1) homosexual, or 2) completely asexual.

That actually would make a vaguely interesting poll, to see who's played a character with a different sexuality then their own.

My characters are mostly-asexual, regardless of gender. My character who flirted shamelessly with everyone would have been *horrified* at the idea of actually following through on anything with anyone; if there'd been any romance in that campaign, he would have had an endless courtship that was never consummated. Several of my other characters of note from the last decade have been ascetic religious types.

Sexuality in a roleplaying game can be a land-mine for female gamers. I have had too many icky experiences with guys having their characters hit on mine and then failing to remember where the boundaries are between the players and their characters (which likely contributed to my habit of playing male and/or asexual characters).

 

[Alan Shutko]

Doesn't bother me a bit. I play women all the time behind the DM screen, don't see why I'd need to stop on the other side.

For me, the decision on what gender my character is largely depends on what I find in the way of inspiration for the character, be it a name that really grabs me, or a picture that I like a lot, or a miniature, if I decide to buy one.

This makes me think that it would be really fun to DM a game where there just are no women NPCs. They just don't exist. The characters are whatever gender the players are. I have both men and women in the group, and they usually play their own gender. So I wonder how long it would take for them to notice something is wrong....


"I call out for the barmaid and ask her for a drink!"

"Well, there are no barmaids, but there are men carting around drinks."

This could be the basis of some epic mystery... where are all the women? Why don't the populace seem to notice that there aren't any?