Final Fantasy Sexism Part I: Why It Matters

[Raistlin]

As for the cultural influence: I guess from my point of view, stating a role or character trait is sexist because it is traditionally affiliated with one sex does not mean it is.

I agree with this, and it is something I have planned on addressing. Having one particular woman being a weak healer, by itself, is nothing. In fact, I don't think Vanille's role in FFXIII is very sexist at all. The problem is not one instance, but using women almost exclusively in gender-stereotyped roles -- which is sexist because male characters have traditionally not been so limited.

To say that a portraying females as more nurturing is sexist because it is due to culture is bs. Women are on average more nurturing than men (to lazy to find the Buss citation).

This is true, but that doesn't mean that all women are automatically "made" that way and that such a perception is beyond criticism; they are affected by the gender stereotypes and prejudices of their culture. Just because something's a fairly accurate representation of the mean does not mean we must be content with that mean and society as-is.

Raistlin, will you be discussing the socio-political history of Japan, and how its neighbouring countries - in particular, China - may have effected its development in that regard? Any word on whether you'll be looking into the effects American brutality during the aftermath of WW2 may have had some effect on Japanese gaming development? Do you think if Subotai, Khan's greatest general, had marched east towards Japan, that would have stifled or accelerated the gaming industry's progress?

I've tentatively renamed the second entry in this series to "Final Fantasy Sexism: smurf it, let's talk about Japanese history and how it developed over the centuries to what it is today, how that history impacted the that culture's view of women, how that culture has impacted the development of the video game industry, and how that industry has impacted the Final Fantasy series, part 2 of 8000."