Equality in the DnD world

[Arrgh! Mark!]

Actually, the girl at the start with the paladin is going bonkers over nothing.

The word Master can be used in the same vein as the word Mistress, as a title denoting some rank.

Master can change to Mastery to denote control and ability over a certain thing. Mistress has no ability to change itself. There is no mistressry for instance. The term Mastery, despite its masculine root, is in itself not a sexualised word. Much like the word Mankind is a genderless word.

Simply look at the word. Calling a woman a sword-master says that she has control and ability with the sword. Calling a woman a sword-mistress denotes a less active, more sexualised role. It does not truly denote ability with the sword; by nature of language a sword-master would defeat a sword-mistress because his denotes actual mastery; hers denotes some intuitive ability.

Now, whether people have issue with language being sexualised or not, this is how the language works.



As a fellow interested in swordplay and knowing several women who practise likewise, we simply call those who deserve the status sword-master. If I called the female masters sword-mistress I'd get a raised eyebrow and a sidesword through the throat.

On the other hand I would say "Yes, mistress, you are a master." and the sentence would actually make sense.

Tell the girl to stop putting her player biases into language and contending when you attempt to extend a compliment to a PC!

 

[Andor]

Total equality in our world. In fact, our next DRAGON LORE release is titled FEMME FATALE and is a compilation of female-only character classes and magic items geared for female gamers. My wife said it was about time someone geared a release for gamer girls and who am I to argue...

But wait.. If you have total equality, and a bunch of Female only classes.. Where are the Male only classes?

 

[FATDRAGONGAMES]

um so why does that pic on the cover appeal to the gamer boy in me

Well, that is the cover for DRAGON LORE #1 which is designed to appeal to gamer boys. It's DRAGON LORE #2 that is for the girls (due out later this month)...

 

[William Ronald]

But wait.. If you have total equality, and a bunch of Female only classes.. Where are the Male only classes?

(OT, Humor) I recall that there is a Eunuch Warlock prestige class in Oriental Adventures. However, I would not recommend it.

 

[Psychic Warrior]

I run mainly the Scarred Lands now and women get a fair share of the power pie there. From powerful paladin ogranizations to assassins and half-hag queens there are more than a fair share of powerful women in the Scarred Lands.

Of course this can vary and I have seen (and heard of) games where women are treated vastly inferior to men (always in groups that have no female gamers, natch). To me playing out 'gender wars' is kinda boring and not why I play D&D.

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

All in all, the society of Urbis is sexist. Not quite as sexist as that of the Victorian Age from which the setting was inspired, but men are still in charge more often than not, and the standing military forces are almost always completely male (though there are some mercenary companies that do things differently).

This was a conscious design decision - gender policies can give you a powerful hook for storytelling.

 

[BrotherDog]

It depends on the species and culture. Some lean more toward Matriarchy, some toward Patriachy, and others still have certain duties belong to each gender....

 

[Jakar]

It is something that I have never really thought about. It is just a game to me.

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

Well, duh. You used a sexist term; she corrected you. This is like calling Elizabeth Windsor "King Elizabeth II" and being mystified at her response.

I dunno - it depends on the individual in question how they see the issue.

Here's a little story from my native Germany:

It is exceedingly easy to create a "female form" of just any profession, rank, or title in Germany: "Polizist/Polizistin", "Professor/Professorin", "Meister/Meisterin" etc.

Still, many women in these professions prefer the male forms. For example, when women were admitted to all branches of the German military a few years back, there was some discussion whether to use "female forms" of the military ranks in official documents and military language. But there was lots of protest from female soldiers, and the issue was quickly dropped.

And I can speak from personal experience that they can get very upset if you adress a female German corporal as "Frau Unteroffizier[b[in[/b]" instead of "Frau Unteroffizier".

So no, adressing a female sword master as "Sword Master XYZ" does not have to be sexist at all, and indeed, the female in question might get upset at being referred to this way.

 

[Edena_of_Neith]

I do see, occasionally, a sexist tone towards female characters. It's rare, and it's not immediately obvious, but it's there.

I see women encouraged to play Sorcerers and Thieves, and in some cases it has become the 'thing' to do for female player characters.
And that is sexist.

Why?

Sorcerers, and to a lesser extent Thieves, are perceived as having 'innately' gained their powers or abilities (in the case of thieves, through long hopeless days of scrounging.)
Neither of these classes requires a 'formal' education, in the sense that - say - wizards and assassins receive 'formal' training. Or the way a fighter receives formal training.

The implication, although very, very indirect, is that females have no capacity to be trained, that they are not worth the effort and time to try and train.

In the older editions of the game, females were often mages. There was subtle sexism there as well, in an absurd assumption that it is somehow easier to become a wizard than it is a fighter or cleric.
Nevermind that the training of a wizard is just as bad as a fighter's, and nevermind that surviving as a wizard is just as hard (or harder) as it is to be a fighter.

So yes, there is a very subtle sexism. I see it in which characters are rolled up. I doubt anyone would admit to it, but I see it.

I do NOT see sexism in pronouns. Swordmaster and Swordmistress are the same to me. So are mage and magistress. Priest and priestess. (Of course, warrior is warrior, paladin is paladin, and bard is bard.)