(03-02-2015, 05:16 PM)Presidio Wrote:Frankly, your argument applies to any specie but human. How I, a human, can rp something like an Elezen without first hand knowledge of it's culture, experience, society, and societal pressures, as well as the natural tendencies and relationships with other species?(03-02-2015, 05:13 PM)Verad Wrote:You have a point here. Given that gender identity is so fluid and weird, a word like "fundamental" probably shouldn't be used. I was just making the assertion that someone who identifies and presents themself to the world as a man lacks first-hand access to the socially-constructed experience of being a woman, and that's a pretty big barrier to presenting that experience with a high degree of accuracy through RPing unless you're careful and meticulous about how you do it.(03-02-2015, 05:11 PM)Presidio Wrote:(03-02-2015, 05:10 PM)Verad Wrote: Patriarchal culture does tend to reward women who distinguish themselves by attacking others. Crab-in-a-barrel is a known problem in sexist societies. Is the problem that the quote makes it appear to be an essentialist statement?I'm sure it can be read differently (if you're more charitable and less literal about the statement) but yes, it does seem to be an essentialist statement. There are a lot of essentialist statements in that little paragraph.
What distinguishes that statement from men "fundamentally" being unable to do a thing in such a way that makes that statement problematic because of its essentialism, but the other correct?
A character is, before gender or sex, a person. A person with dreams, hope and personality and that's what fundamentally makes a character. A RP is also a form of escapism, and maybe someone feels good playing a girl, maybe he identifies as a female more, and no one should have the moral ground to say he lacks the "experience".
Heck, by that argument no one here can play any specie in Eorzea, we lack the "first hand experience"
TL;DR It's a character. It's a rp. Matters of gender and sex of the player shouldn't even be considered, only his quality and experience as a RPer.
