Gender and Character Traits (f)

[fusangite]

I have to warn you: I would give you a really crappy mark on this study. You're using a polling method that doesn't hide data and allows discussion amongst the participants during voting. Furthermore, the issue of gender associations is inherently charged and political; you have done nothing to ensure that people will not misrepresent their preferences in order produce an outcome that they believe their audience will deem consistent with a particular political view; in fact, you're encouraging this in the way you're going about your study.

You haven't even really got a poll or survey here; you've got a badly constructed focus group whose discussion and voting processes are fairly disassociated from one another. If you're out of high school, doing a survey like this won't get you any closer to a degree.

 

[Angel Tarragon]

I voted other. I don't think any of the traits are feminine.

 

[Viashimo]

I chose other because none of the choics appear to be uniquely feminine or masculine. Though a tall, wiry, charismatic female seems to tend to be more 'popular' and large muscular males; neither of these stereotypes seem to hold true. The masculine/female views, to me, a derived from the ideas put forward in society as to what is the perfect male/female body and personality type. I have met people, from both sexes, to whom at least one of these traits could apply to at least once, from charisma, to constitution, to strength.

 

[Greylock]

Large Hit Dice

???

Jumpin' Jehosaphat! What a way with words!

 

[Falkus]

What fusangite said.

 

[Rystil Arden]

I'm with Blackmoria, Shilsen, and Fru on this one. I know I'm not gender-neutral though, and you could have produced a list of traits that would have had me select a whole bunch as more feminine. But none of these.

 

[diaglo]

Babies gotta have Bab.

 

[Starglim]

Ruthlessness once committed to a violent situation.

 

[ARandomGod]

OK, off 'reality' and onto 'gameality'. There are no good races with +Cha or +Wis. So we've simply made that a female trait in our games, along with a -2 to strength. So that if you're female you get a -2 to strength and a +2 to wisdom OR charisma, your choice (not both, because really the reason we made this is for spellcasters).

 

[Gidien]

The problem with applying ability mods based on gender is that DnD stats are really poorly set up to take into account the physical differences of men and women. Yes, men generally have much more upper body strength, but I've known a lot of women who have powerful legs even without hitting the gym much. Yes, men seem to be better at applying raw physical power (sprinting, for instance) but women have a great tolerance for hardship, which doesn't necessarily translate into a -2 str and +2 con, because taking a large amount of physical damage and still functioning is something else entirely (hps).

As far as the dex, women generally have greater flexibilty in legs and hips, but is that dex? It certainly wouldn't help with initiative. And boosting cha for women is just silly; charisma is a measure of confidence and personal magnetism, which means in an equal society men and women are on the same playing field. Even if cha were just a meterstick for physical beauty, women shouldn't get a boost just because in general gamers like to look at women more than men. IMHO.