Thread Closed
I wanted to break this off from the other thread regarding Stormblood RP, which was talking about the in-game allusions to the gang rape of females by Garlean soldiers and...well, just mostly rape really. Look, I am a big fan of the focus on 'relative realism' as far as FFXIV's world goes, but why must it always be the topic of rape used to heavyhand grittiness and realism? For example, I adore the Witcher 3, but in my time playing it to completion, I don't recall it resorting to such an easy topic to provoke an emotional reaction. Yes, fine, rape is a real thing and should not be glossed over when it comes to production fiction. But they employ it so easily in FFXIV that it makes it lazy.
This laziness is exacerbated by these two premises that will form the core of my argument...
1) Women are institutionally equal to men in the world of FFXIV.
...and (although I'm not an expert on the subject)...
2) Rape is facilitated by men possessing near-exclusive control of the means to apply physical violence.
I may be very off with point 2 but please bear with me as I press on. Regarding 1), all you have to do is look at the innumerable military NPCs across the game world. Square Enix are very deliberate and particular with how they craft the NPCs to populate the world according to their lore. In the lorebook, Ul'dah is primarily composed of Midlanders, Highlanders, Hellsguard, and Dunesfolk. Consequentially, the vast majority of Ul'dahn NPCs will be of these races. This attention to detail can be broken down further; Grand Company NPCs are clothed according to their rank, from soldier through to officer. A Grand Company NPC who is dressed in officer clothing can be found briefing NPCs who are dressed in a lower-ranking uniform. This deliberate sense of world building is there clear as day.
I point out this attention-to-detail to preemptively counter any dissent over the fact that these military NPCs are just as likely to be female as they are male. I am conscious of any counter-arguments being made that I am overthinking the presence of female military NPCs, which I am not. SE were deliberate with their racial choices of NPCs accurately representing the region they inhabit, so if they wanted to imply that the military profession is male-dominated, they would have made all soldier NPCs male.
Moving on, then, 3) FFXIV exists in a historical and social state that is not completely analogous to our own. The real-life military, and especially combat units, is not 50:50 male and female. In Eorzea, female swordsmen hold command over male swordsmen. Bringing up one or two examples of real-life historical exceptions is not equivalent, because female leadership and female military leadership is widespread and completely normal to Eorzeans.
So, why, then are women and girls in FFXIV defaulting to the role of being rape victims? I drop this quote...
Sorry, where is the female centurion who is sympathetic to the female condition (if it even exists as we know it in FFXIV) not stepping in to prevent this? Where is the female centurion ordering her troops to rape men? This is not just the Garleans. The Sea Wolf raiders would apparently commit to the same atrocities. Yet, the current 'leader' (if you will) of the Sea Wolves is a female. It may be a stretch to argue, but how do women achieve unquestionable equality in a culture where rape is supposedly a norm? The armies of FFXIV are both men and women, so how does half an army just ignore such crimes?
Essentially, this brings us on to...
4) The only time gender relations in FFXIV are addressed is with crude allusions to rape.
As far as I can see, there are no sexist jabs beyond stuff like cat-calling. There is no 'That Merlwyb wench shouldn't be in charge because she ain't no man'. There is nothing of the sort made in FFXIV dialogue, yet suddenly it comes out of nowhere that male prisoners are made to do hard labour and women become sex slaves. What is the social context that establishes this? This brings me on to my last two points...
5) Regardless of fan explanations, the unquestionable and unflinching equality of women in the world of FFXIV (outside of rape) makes the universe so alien to our own that it will be near-impossible to fully comprehend its social dynamics.
Leading to my conclusion of...
6) Square Enix has used rape-as-we-know-it as a cheap, easy, and lazy method to tactlessly provoke emotional responses without giving the topic a more careful (and perhaps more respectful) deliberation by considering it within the greater context of everything else they have constructed around men and women in FFXIV.
tl;dr
get rape out of my game that has cutesy midgets and flying white teddy bears in it.
This laziness is exacerbated by these two premises that will form the core of my argument...
1) Women are institutionally equal to men in the world of FFXIV.
...and (although I'm not an expert on the subject)...
2) Rape is facilitated by men possessing near-exclusive control of the means to apply physical violence.
I may be very off with point 2 but please bear with me as I press on. Regarding 1), all you have to do is look at the innumerable military NPCs across the game world. Square Enix are very deliberate and particular with how they craft the NPCs to populate the world according to their lore. In the lorebook, Ul'dah is primarily composed of Midlanders, Highlanders, Hellsguard, and Dunesfolk. Consequentially, the vast majority of Ul'dahn NPCs will be of these races. This attention to detail can be broken down further; Grand Company NPCs are clothed according to their rank, from soldier through to officer. A Grand Company NPC who is dressed in officer clothing can be found briefing NPCs who are dressed in a lower-ranking uniform. This deliberate sense of world building is there clear as day.
I point out this attention-to-detail to preemptively counter any dissent over the fact that these military NPCs are just as likely to be female as they are male. I am conscious of any counter-arguments being made that I am overthinking the presence of female military NPCs, which I am not. SE were deliberate with their racial choices of NPCs accurately representing the region they inhabit, so if they wanted to imply that the military profession is male-dominated, they would have made all soldier NPCs male.
Moving on, then, 3) FFXIV exists in a historical and social state that is not completely analogous to our own. The real-life military, and especially combat units, is not 50:50 male and female. In Eorzea, female swordsmen hold command over male swordsmen. Bringing up one or two examples of real-life historical exceptions is not equivalent, because female leadership and female military leadership is widespread and completely normal to Eorzeans.
So, why, then are women and girls in FFXIV defaulting to the role of being rape victims? I drop this quote...
Quote:When Ala Mhigo fell, they put my family in a camp. Bein’ a lad, I was made to do hard labor, while my mother an’ sister were made to do far worse
Sorry, where is the female centurion who is sympathetic to the female condition (if it even exists as we know it in FFXIV) not stepping in to prevent this? Where is the female centurion ordering her troops to rape men? This is not just the Garleans. The Sea Wolf raiders would apparently commit to the same atrocities. Yet, the current 'leader' (if you will) of the Sea Wolves is a female. It may be a stretch to argue, but how do women achieve unquestionable equality in a culture where rape is supposedly a norm? The armies of FFXIV are both men and women, so how does half an army just ignore such crimes?
Essentially, this brings us on to...
4) The only time gender relations in FFXIV are addressed is with crude allusions to rape.
As far as I can see, there are no sexist jabs beyond stuff like cat-calling. There is no 'That Merlwyb wench shouldn't be in charge because she ain't no man'. There is nothing of the sort made in FFXIV dialogue, yet suddenly it comes out of nowhere that male prisoners are made to do hard labour and women become sex slaves. What is the social context that establishes this? This brings me on to my last two points...
5) Regardless of fan explanations, the unquestionable and unflinching equality of women in the world of FFXIV (outside of rape) makes the universe so alien to our own that it will be near-impossible to fully comprehend its social dynamics.
Leading to my conclusion of...
6) Square Enix has used rape-as-we-know-it as a cheap, easy, and lazy method to tactlessly provoke emotional responses without giving the topic a more careful (and perhaps more respectful) deliberation by considering it within the greater context of everything else they have constructed around men and women in FFXIV.
tl;dr
get rape out of my game that has cutesy midgets and flying white teddy bears in it.