Scribe
Legend
It’s essentializing to attribute their essential nature to that biological trait. Might being naturally stronger be an advantage if you decide to become a weight lifter? Absolutely. That doesn’t mean men are essentially better weightlifters than women. There is a great deal beyond raw physical strength and size that goes into weight lifting - technique, mindset, drive, etc. to say nothing of the fact that some women are in fact stronger than some men. The same can, and should, be true of different fantasy races. Now, is it biologically essentialist to say Goliaths are stronger than gnomes on average? No. But it would be to say that Goliaths are better barbariana than gnomes. And even if the game never outright says that, the mechanics are such that they imply it. If you want to build a gnome barbarian, you’re going to find that your character is just worse at doing most of the things a barbarian does.
I have a feeling that this encapsulates my entire issue with all of this, and I dont feel it can be resolved considering we arent even talking about defined terms anymore.
A: Are men on average larger/stronger, than women? As you noted, yes.
B: Is weight lifting, an activity that has a goal (lift the weight) that being larger, and stronger, provides an advantage for? yes.
If A is true and B is true, are men not on average (essentially??), going to be better weightlifters than women?
You can point to things outside of the physicality of it which apply to both men and women (and therefore cancel out no?), but yes, on average, men will be larger and stronger than women, and therefore, better weightlifters.
Weightlifting is even a weight class event, and a quick glance at the records for weight lifting would indicate that the numbers speak for themselves.
Just as extreme endurance swimming, seems to favour women, due to their biology.
Run this out to the Goliath and the Gnome (indeed that thread was about being a Gnome strongman if I remember) and...yes. A Goliath should be a better Barbarian than a Gnome, otherwise outside of appearance, what is the point.
Just as someone who is under 6 feet tall, and under 160 lbs (aka me), is never, was never, ever, going to be a Nose Tackle in the NFL, or a Center in the NBA.