Topic One: Gender in the RPG

[~Ophelia Vespera~]

Hmm, good question.

I'd have to say that would be part of the reason.
Ophelia's life experiences has made her kind of a survivalist. She lives to the minimum, does nothing to try to make her situation better or worse, and does only what she has to do to maintain peace in her life. She hasn't known much peace in the past and now that she's got a hold of it, she tries to do nothing to jeapordize it and anything to keep it.
Trying to stand out as a female would not help keep the peace and might even put it in harms way, therefore it would never cross her mind to make something more of herself. She tends to snuff any thoughts that are not in line with what she has told herself is most important.
It's been all about being responsible, careful, and keeping things orderly for Ophelia since the last of her family members have gone.
But Ophelia's priorities may change soon with everything that has happened to her in the course of this rp - All the stuff that has happened to her technically in one night in the rp world. She might just take it all as a sign for change in her life and take some chances, such as living past the expectations of her gender.


What about you Frieda?

[Hilja Kukkanen/Sasha Pisarev]

(I am still giving a few chari points for posts, so I updated your profiles)

[Lehti Itajumala]

1. As a priest, gender means basically everything to Lehti. He is often embarrassed or confused because of his physical appearance, which is overly feminine. He tends to act more aggressive, ambitious, and domineering as an attempt to 'make up' for his femininity. Lehti doesn't rebel against his gender role, rather he rebels against the stereotypes and biases both in himself and in the world at large that deal with apparent gender. Time and again he questions the validity of his masculinity as he becomes more and more used to his appearance.

2.In a world where women were truly oppressed, as they are in the rpg, I would hope I would be a revolutionary for the cause of feminism, but since differing environments cause differing personalities, I have no idea who I would be in that world. I, as myself, am often more sensitive to female issues than male, but even then, I am a guy. There are actually many overlaps between the RP and the real world, though many of them are pushed to the extreme. The idea of the 'two types of female' is definitely present in popular culture, as well as the usuals of the glass ceiling and other inequalities in the workplace. I think that men's oppression of women is exaggerated in many ways, but those I've mentioned are present almost everywhere.

3.As I've said, I'm often more in touch with issues on the female side of life, rather than male. I've often been referred to by my friends as the world's first true male feminist. Men are almost always supposed to be something, but the thing is that what a man is supposed to be is constantly changing. Men are supposed to be domineering and aggressive, strong and gentle, independent and needy, supportive and without need of support. We have to be the bad boy, the sensitive guy, the jock, the intellectual, the world traveler, the guy next door, the rock star, and the geek who's always loved the girl. It's true that the standard for women, that they are either hyper-sexual women that seduce men or asexual beings that lose their femininity in exchange for a career, but men are held to so many standards that is nearly impossible for us to be judged as anything other than the sensitive guy who's a good guy but not dating material or the misogynistic corporate douche bag who is aggressive and sexual but is too much of an ass to be interested in. By the way, how do men underapreciate women? A man's life (at least a straight man's life, sorry for accidentally generalizing.) orbits around women. The ultimate purpose of everything, from your hobbies and idiosyncrasies to what he does for a living is to arrive at the final and ultimate title in man's repertoire, Husband and Father. Women own men. For good reason, and it doesn't make up for the oppression in the past and today, but it is true. Men belong to women. (Again a generalization. Sorry, but I'm not sure how to un-generalize it without losing the point.)

...Sorry for ranting.

[Hilja Kukkanen/Sasha Pisarev]

I think that your experience is just the other side if the same coin as far as gender goes. For everything expected of females, there is something to contrast it expected in males. I think in the ways that men are supposed to be husbands and fathers, women are supposed to be wives and mothers. I think that one of the greatest pressures on men is to be successful (financially, socially, physically...but mostly financially) and the greatest social pressure on women is to be beautiful. But both are part of the same coin...they are both part of a narrowly defined social requirement for heterosexual relationships.