Feo Takahari
Auror
An article about how smaller characters can win close-quarters fights against big brutes. It's very "look at me, I'm so feminist!", but it does have enough to be useful. http://www.themarysue.com/how-to-fight-like-a-girl/
It's The Mary Sue. You pretty much have to expect a certain amount of "Girls rule, boys drool."
(Maybe my standards have been lowered by posting on a certain pro-Gamergate site that shall not be named. They've got a really funny gallery of anime GIFs, but they're so scary when they talk race and sex that other sites' biases feel mild by comparison.)
You know, the author of that piece blows this off, but "brave noises and aggressive displays of strength" certainly have their place, especially in the set piece battles of history, and even on to today. Most battles ended not when an enemy army had suffered horrible casualties, but when their morale broke. War cries were supposed to bolster your side's morale and weaken the enemies, war paint was supposed to make you look scary, crests were supposed to make you look bigger than you really are, and so on.
In the ancient and medieval worlds, the time periods where most fantasy takes place, most casualties took place once the enemy broke and ran, when a victorious commander cut his cavalry loose after his fleeing opponent. That's why you have things like battles where the enemy lost tens of thousands and the Romans lost hundreds or less.
. . . . and others that they were to deafen their horses to the noisemakers used by the Mongols and Turks.
Does that mean the wings made some kind of noise when they run?
X Equestris said:Historians are divided about their exact purpose
I feel like being a stinker, so I'll link you folks to part 2: How To Fight Like A Girl, Part 2: LadyStar, Teamwork, And Empowering Female Characters | The Mary Sue
And in the comments of part 2, I'll link this thread and ask for his response. I'm interested to see how well he fields the criticisms here.
I would be interested to see what he has to say.
Hi Feo,
Thanks for joining the conversation! Please send my warmest regards to all those who responded to your thread. It certainly is quite an intriguing discussion!
To be brief, I would point out my purpose was not to advance one gender over another. Only to point out that characters like the heroines in LadyStar should not be dismissed simply because they happen to be girls. I'm told a fair number of the monsters and villains in the book series make that very mistake, and it doesn't end well for them.
Smooth. They could teach politicians how to evade a question.
Smooth. They could teach politicians how to evade a question.