Re: In Defence Of A Goddess

From: Jeff Richard <richaje_at_lJGbTToH7UcoHQfmPWPnixweW6DhXxlr6wTLMniV3Gom5pcnFQVEnyXFJ7ZH74oRhQwE>
Date: Mon, 07 May 2007 06:08:28 -0000


> Exactly. People roleplay to do things they can't do in their real
lives.
> I have never known *1* role player (and I've met hundreds) who say they
> want to roleplay to "do what I can already do". I've also know a
lot of
> female roleplayers who want to play female characters that can pick
up a
> sword and hit someone. If you try to put straight jackets on that
option
> - and Vinga being the only one that didn't come with restrictions
(hmm, I
> wonder why she is so popular with the *real* community?) what damage
are
> you doing to Glorantha in this world?

And Michael hit this discussion squarely on the nose - Vinga is the only Orlanthi religious cult that supports women "picking up a sword ... that doesn't come with restrictions". In short, Vinga has become a cost-free female powergamer cult.

> As to the line that female soldiers in the current day are "seriously
> wierd",
> 1. that sounds like a bit of a generalisation for me. Got any
> scientifically sound evidence for it?

I'm basing it only on the women I know who have been (1) in the military, and (2) in combat situations (Gulf and Iraq). Purely anecdotally, they have all been mad as hatters. As I said before, it is based on a sample size of about a dozen.

> 2. even if it is true , could it just possibly be because of the
conflict
> between the remnants of the passive female gender role versus the
> requirements of combat. That is, is it a result of particular social
> circumstances rather than an automatic result of putting women in
combat?
> Or is that reasoning trying to say women in combat, in any
circumstance,
> including everywhere in Glorantha are "seriously wierd"? Oh boy,
sexist
> hardly begins to cover that one.

I said neither. I just said that the women combat soldiers I have personally known, have all been seriously weird. I'd also say that all the Army Rangers I have known (even smaller sample size) were also seriously weird dudes. I've known many many more regular Army soldiers and they are pretty much a cross-sample of the rest of the community (although certain groups tend to be overrepresented in the Army).

> Oh yes. The thing that struck me immediately about this one was
*why* was
> Vinga's pregnancy such a problem? Couldn't those macho types manage
> without her? There's a flaw in the logic here. Either Vinga is *so*
> important that the Thunder Brothers don't know which end of their
swords
> (of any type) is which without her telling them. Or they made her a
> scapegoat. So either she is more important than your average thinder
> brother or the defeat wasn't really her fault.

Neither. Vinga is a Warrior Goddess who shows women how they can be warriors. Full-time warriors in the service of their chief. When a full-time warrior fails to muster - for whatever reason - the warband is greatly weakened. If Urox fails to muster because Eurmal feed him too much beer with his grain, the Thunder Brothers are weakened. When Destor fails to muster because he is off on an adventure, the Thunder Brothers are weakened. And so on.
> Get over it. Sure Vinga let's women into men's societal roles, but
> Orlanthi sexuality is so relaxed that a man's *societal* role says
nothing
> about a man's *sexual* role. Or a woman's societal role anything about
> her sexual role. Everything said about Vinga applies to Nandan. My
bet
> is a whole lot of Nandans prefer women in their beds.

Could be. But probably not most.

Jeff            

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