Please call female deities 'goddesses.'

[Rabelais]

Barbariatrix?

I'm SO going to work this into a gaming table conversation!

 

[Tewligan]

In fact, it has nothing to do with being woman or man. Not only is it not to be expressed in a demeaning manner, it's not to be expressed differently at all. Man is woman is man. We are all people. We don't discern the difference, not because we don't want to offend lesser genders, but more to the point that it doesn't matter. We are all the same, essentially.

God is Goddess in nature of power. End of story.

I...I can tell that these words are put together into sentences, but I can't quite wrangle any sense out of them. Oh, confusion!

 

[TwinBahamut]

I agree completely.

It is strange, you agree with me, then launch off on a massive sarcastic tirade that goes in every way against what I was saying. I know I was being serious, but since you lumped your agreement with me in the midst of harsh sarcasm, you seem to be lumping me in with the people you are mocking. However, I am of the complete opposite side of the debate from the people you are mocking, so... I am just confused now...

 

[Leugren]

It is strange, you agree with me, then launch off on a massive sarcastic tirade that goes in every way against what I was saying. I know I was being serious, but since you lumped your agreement with me in the midst of harsh sarcasm, you seem to be lumping me in with the people you are mocking. However, I am of the complete opposite side of the debate from the people you are mocking, so... I am just confused now...

I agree with you that using the term "god" to refer to a goddess is a bad idea. Though I'll admit to a little sarcasm in my post, I was mostly making use of a legitimate polemical device named reductio ad absurdum wherein one assumes a claim for the sake of argument, derives an absurd or ridiculous outcome from that claim, and then concludes that the original assumption must have been wrong as it led to an absurd result.

 

[cougent]

Paladinette? Halflingess? Near as I can tell, God should be gender neutral; thereby applicable to all deities.

I also hate Sorceress, as it's apparently the only class that requires one to differentiate between practitioners of different genders.

Fighteress? Wizardess? Druidette? Barbariatrix?

It's silly and archaic.

-TRRW

I actually like Barbariatrix, I may just have to put one of those in my next campaign!

If gender neutrality is Sooooooooo important, then by all means use Diety / Dieties instead. Name the book Deities: Greater and Lesser instead of the old title and be done with it.

 

[Dragonblade]

As an anthropologist and university professor, I find several things about this thread incredibly amusing. I offer these observations to provide some additional perspective, and do not intend anything personal by them.

-- Arguing "it's part of the sexist hierarchy" is a cultural artifact of the modern American university system circa 1975; specifically, Freud's theory of infantile projection as taught in various critical studies programs.

-- No one outside of the Anglo world cares; French and Italian women, for example, would be delighted to read about goddesses since their cultures view femininity as a wonderful boon to be celebrated, not as a potential liability to secreted away.

I am used to reading about gods (pantheon), god (single male deity) and goddesses (female deity). Gender (and sex!) are incredibly important in mythology and not arbitrary. Even gods that are ambiguous or changeable still have a reference gender. I had to re-read the elf sentence because it was confusing -- not because of any assumptions about gender and gods, but because the writers have decided to revise the English language to their taste.

I'd suggest, at the least, to use "deity", "patron deity" (2E style), or "divinity" rather than a neuter "god." But then, 4E now brings us "squares", "powers" and other "war-safe" jargon, so this step is no surprise.

You sir, win the thread with easily the best response!

In my opinion, avoiding the word goddess IS sexist. Using it is not. Avoiding gender specific terms implies to me that you think being female is a liability. So those of you against "actress", "goddess", etc. ARE the true sexists, because in attempting to hide gender differences you demean and belittle them. You are in effect saying that is wrong for a woman to be known as a woman, that being identified as a woman is inherently demeaning. Think about that.

If you truly believe that women are of equal stature to men, then gender differences in language should not feared and hidden away. Are not women proud to be who they are? Then let them proudly be a goddess, or an actress, or what have you. Why the need to hide their identity?

And from a grammatical perspective we also achieve clarity of language by using gender specific terms. It really is the best of both worlds.

 

[AllisterH]

Actually, this is kind of an interesting discussion.

Someone earlier mentioned that it was less confusing to call Shar a goddess rather than a god. However, that doesn't actually make sense if you think about the Realms.

Torilspace was created by Selune and Shar. They then created Chauntea whose birth indirectly led to the creation of the 4th deity of the Realms, Mystryl.

Why would Selune, Shar be referred to goddesses given that they were the first deities of the Realms as understood by 99.99% of the people of Toril. There would've been no "god" to get the term "goddess" from.

 

[megamania]

Personally-

No sex / race gods. They appear either as you (the PC) would imagine them to be or alter to fit that appearance.


So a god of war appears-

To a dwarf it is a dwarf in incredible full plate armor and a HUGE hulking Battle axe

To a female- an Amazon whom mixes strtength with speed and smarts

To a troll- something disgusting smelling that regenerates

Top a dragon- a mirror image of itself

 

[Eridanis]

I think all that needs to be said has been said. Closing thread before it gets more heated.