Final Fantasy Sexism Part V: Women in Charge

[Raistlin]

Thanks for the comments, everyone.

My only suggestion would have been to address the rumor regarding Fang originally being designed as a male and how that plays into her character. The rumor itself is interesting in how it relates to the fan's perception of women. Moreover, what does it say about Fang as a woman if she were truly written as a man originally? Is it positive? Negative? Somewhere between?

If anything, it wouldn't be a very progressive thing for the strongest character to start as a man and have to be turned into a woman due to a lack of female numbers. But I think it means for FFXIII than it would have meant in some of the earlier games; after all, FFXIII already had Lightning.

Also, while women for much longer and more systematically been afflicted by sexism, it would be interesting to see sexism that some of the male characters represent. I mean Hope's reception was very mixed admist the fandom. As you mention he is the "weakest" character in the cast, as well as being the most emotional and irrational. I wonder how much of the dislike of Hope is from the fact that he is engendering femininity (insofar as it is constructed and stereotyped)? That a male in a non-masculine role is also received poorly, much like how Lightening in having "masculine" characteristics is thought to be a bitch?

This is a great point, and I agree fully. Though whining is not as overused a female stereotype in FF as some other tropes. Admittedly, I do have some trouble even coming up with a defense for Hope, who I viewed as insufferable (the anti-climax of his dad being a normal guy after Hope's immature demonization could have been an article from the Onion). I only focused on the female playable characters due to concerns about length; I wanted a narrow enough focus that I could try to feasibly cover it. But the male characters throughout the FF series certainly have their own issues regarding sexism and the portrayal of gender dynamics.

While Healer's Staff certainly carries bonuses of 20%, the maximum MAG stat on a Nirvana built from a Healer's Staff is 424 comopared to Hope's best weapon which carries 917. With this in mind, combined with the 1700/1900 split on base magic from the crystarium...

You're missing the forest for the trees here, Daniel. Based on the sexism thread in EoEO, I don't think you fully appreciate the significance of context. And I also agree with Formy's analysis that Vanille was certainly intended to be the best healer, and in my experience she generally was with the healer staff (though I personally preferred Hope for the overall higher magic stat). And it's indisputable that she's better in the first half of the game, as she gains stronger healing abilities quicker than Hope. And late game, after you start branching out into other classes' abilities outside the original three, Vanille's improved healing ability is basically the only thing she has going for her.

And regardless, context matters. I don't have to prove that Vanille was objectively the best healer to make my point. Despite signs of improvement, FF still had a history of relegating women to healing roles throughout the entire series. You don't think it's significant then that Vanille is the one given the earliest access to healing abilities and the staff to significantly improve healing? If you can't appreciate the significance of that trend, there's not much more I can say.

well now I feel like a sexist pig for thinking Lightening was a rubbish character

Haha, that was certainly not my intention. There are perfectly reasonable, non-sexist reasons to dislike Lightning, along with any other character. Personally, I thought she was an ok character, but not really deserving of all the hype and fanfare that SE has been giving her. But in this particular case, it's notable that Lightning was derided for being "cold" and "bitchy" from the same fanbase that largely celebrates similarly emotionless badasses who are male. If you dislike Lightning for those reasons when you enjoy those same traits in male characters, then you're being sexist.

Solely from the perspective of feminism and the progression of portrayals of female characters, Lightning was a positive step. I'm otherwise not commenting on her overall worth or... well, generally likeability.