R&C Art, the Women of R&C

[Sir Sebastian Hardin]

Mialee's outfit doesn't want to be practical, it wants to be slutty!

 

[Gloombunny]

A chainmail bikini isn't just about cheesecake (though it's about that, too). It's about true vulnerability under a veneer of toughness, about how our protections are absurd, and about how human beauty cannot be hidden.

Even if it were about that - and honestly, can you even say that line with a straight face? - doesn't it say something that it's only female characters who get depicted with true vulnerability under a veneer of toughness, whose efforts to protect themselves are considered absurd, and who are in the end more about beauty than competence?

 

[I'm A Banana]

Even if it were about that - and honestly, can you even say that line with a straight face? - doesn't it say something that it's only female characters who get depicted with true vulnerability under a veneer of toughness, whose efforts to protect themselves are considered absurd, and who are in the end more about beauty than competence?

It absolutely does, but the target you want to hit is much bigger than D&D art, much more deeply entrenched in Western society, and much more resistant to change.

I'm not saying that D&D art should be embracing of chainmail bikinis, I'm just saying the "it's impractical!" argument is ultimately too shallow to get at what's going on here, and misunderstands the purpose of the art. I mean, of course it's impractical. Practicality isn't the point. The point is to present the Damsel In Distress stereotype (or the Babe Kicking Ass stereotype or the Mysterious Woman stereotype) in a way that titillates the Greatest Demographic.

I don't think D&D should really be embracing chainmail bikinis (or Buckles McGee), but I think it's important to understand, truly, why it's something the game shouldn't be supporting. Impracticality isn't why.

And I think the stereotypes/archetypes are particularly challenging to be rid of in D&D, where the myths and tales the game is based on so often have a deeply entrenched male-centric (if not downright mysogynistic) angle. I mean, Save The Princess is a cliche, but it automatically assumes princesses can't save themselves.

*shrug* We may cut out the chainmail bikini itself, but that's kind of treating the symptom, not the cause. D&D has done an admirable job treating these particular symptoms over the years (seriously, the last chainmail bikini or otherwise absurdly titillating piece I can remember was back in the '80s, in the days of Heavy Metal and comic book heroines with tripple-E-cups), but it will NEVER be rid of them. As long as there are nymphs and succubi and as long as the game draws inspiration from mysogynistic greeks and gynophobic medieval codecies (which will probably be forever), each generation will have it's chainmail bikinis, too.

The best we can hope for is to recognize them, minimize them, and give us a few "Buckles McGees" to boot. 3e did quite admirably in that regard, and I'm sure 4e will follow suit while taking a "D&D is Serious Business" turn into more practicality, particularly as a response to the "Buckles McGees" of the world.

 

[Shortman McLeod]

Too bad for you.

I may criticizes feminism, I agree with them on such stupidity. Fantasy needs to grow up and open to the non-white, non-male, non-nerd.

We should have a published adventured in which a group of gay, nonwhite pacifists protest the destruction of a forest! Or a group of transgendered elves go on a sacred quest to retrieve the orb of hiring quotas!

Politically Correct fantasy at last!

 

[w_earle_wheeler]

Good, I like women that look like women, not skeletons.



I'd say damn, but honestly, the chainmail bikini never really did it for me.

I prefer women with translucent flesh, not mud-women.

Fafhrd's ghoul-friend was hot.

 

[Werebat]

Too bad for you.

I may criticizes feminism, I agree with them on such stupidity. Fantasy needs to grow up and open to the non-white, non-male, non-nerd.

I concur that D&D could use many more hot non-white sorceresses (to get around the "bodily exposure isn't realistic for armored warriors" problem) in their art lineup. Bring 'em on!

- Ron ^*^

 

[Werebat]

We should have a published adventured in which a group of gay, nonwhite pacifists protest the destruction of a forest! Or a group of transgendered elves go on a sacred quest to retrieve the orb of hiring quotas!

Politically Correct fantasy at last!

In all seriousness, why no artwork of nurturing males? The burly half-orc barbarian coddling his precious infant son to his corded chest with huge, calloused, but lovingly gentle hands? The enthusiastic gnome father instructing his sharp-minded daughter (his pride and joy) in the ways of illusion? The kind elven father making funny faces at his tiny babe while he spoonfeeds her warmed berry mash?

The list goes on and on, and yet we never see these people in D&D artwork. Do they not exist? How unrealistic is THAT?

Speaking as a good father who has been through the family courts, I can assert with conviction that sexism is a two-way street in our society.

- Ron ^*^

 

[adembroski]

I would like to point out that none of this points to any overriding politically correct enlightenment on the part of the artists retained by Wizards of the Coast, but a general change in attitude of the consumer.

Now, this is opinion of course, but I think as we as gamers have grown... and Lord knows we've gotten old... our taste has matured, the game has motivated us to educate ourselves, and so rather than looking at a painting for it's beauty, we look at it with a critical eye and think to ourselves "That chick's gonna get skewered!".

I'm quite happy with the change, despite being a militant anti-feminist. I prefer realistic art to that which is simply there to please the eye (not that I saw anything wrong with the Chainmail Bikinis... I'm also fervently anti-PC. The only people who can offend you are those you give the power to offend you.)

 

[Lord Fyre]

*shrug* We may cut out the chainmail bikini itself, but that's kind of treating the symptom, not the cause. D&D has done an admirable job treating these particular symptoms over the years (seriously, the last chainmail bikini or otherwise absurdly titillating piece I can remember was back in the '80s, in the days of Heavy Metal and comic book heroines with tripple-E-cups), but it will NEVER be rid of them. As long as there are nymphs and succubi and as long as the game draws inspiration from mysogynistic greeks and gynophobic medieval codecies (which will probably be forever), each generation will have it's chainmail bikinis, too.

We do need Chainmail Bikinis in 4th edition, or at least Mr. Ryan Nock needs to do an update of . . . Chainmail Bikini

 

[The Ubbergeek]

We should have a published adventured in which a group of gay, nonwhite pacifists protest the destruction of a forest! Or a group of transgendered elves go on a sacred quest to retrieve the orb of hiring quotas!

Politically Correct fantasy at last!

This post is made of fail and lame.