b-mommy:
middlemarching:
b-mommy:
zeowynda:
You know what I see here?
I see a strong, capable woman who kicks ass and takes names.
I see a woman who doesn’t feel the need to abandon her femininity in order to wield authority and command respect.
I see a woman who may look young for her age and possibly had to fight that misconception since the beginning of her military career, but overcame that by being an unrepentant badass who gets the job done.
I see character.
She’s Commander Fucking Shepard. She does what she wants and doesn’t afraid of anything.
What I don’t see is a reason to complain about any of this. Those that dislike it are probably going to play a Custom!Shep anyway.
People have explained it. The reaction isn’t a result of femmephobia.
And the fact that most people will play their custom Sheps doesn’t really change any of it. That’s a point that’s also been covered. Yukidama’s posts/reblogs and replies from yesterday would be a good source for these explanations.
My only real complaint with these designs is that there’s no way the hairstyles are in keeping with military regulation. Ashley’s makeup probably is, maybe less eye shadow. Shepard would likely be asked to choose a softer shade of lipstick.
I looked at the reblogs. Maybe I missed the informative ones. idk.
The main issues being discussed are the quality of the detail and rendering in comparison with the default male Shepard and the fact that the Mass Effect team has made a big deal about adding “sex appeal” to basically all the female characters without it being motivated by character agency. Default characters are just made to serve as placeholders, but the character, the detail and rendering of the appearances of Garrett and Marian Hawke and John Shepard (and Jane Shepard in ME and ME2) are on-par with that of the other established characters in the games. This is why so many people play the defaults and view them as characters in themselves—not merely placeholders.
Compare:
Also, the makeup is absolutely hideous but that’s a personal issue.
I normally don’t jump into Shepard/Mass Effect cans of worms, but I’d like to point out that VanderShep is an underwear model so there is some level of “sex” appeal there.
I think the major problem in all this is not that she came out looking like this. Nor that she’s wearing makeup, because women can kick ass in makeup in a way that has nothing to do with “sex” appeal. Although it looks horrible horrible like goth fashion and bad pin-ups vomited on her face.
The problem is how the whole process of choosing a face for Shepard, and a hair color, and then this “FemShep Friday” business… it all smacks of her being a pig gussied up for show. Or in this case, for greater sales. It’s not all that different from the tack DC Comics used to draw in new readers, and we all know how that went. I’m just tired of seeing people “catering” to women, rather than treating them like actual people instead of a statistic, and then making it the same old straight male gaze shit.
That, at heart, is bigger than a bit of eyeshadow or the cut of her hair.
ATTN: Men of the world
swoz:
sushiandpie:
hulkling:
When feminists (regardless of gender) call you out for posting something fucked-up, it’s not an affront to you, it’s a call to be a better man. GET OVER IT
specifically its not an affront to your GENDER, its a correction to you as an individual. lets not even say “be a better man,” its be a “better homo sapien”
Implying it’s not OK to be a man, but OK to be a feminist. Neat.
Context kids.
Sooshi’s right, because while this is something I view a lot coming from men, that certain doesn’t mean they’re the only people who get called out for saying something discriminatory/anti-feminist. People of all genders are capable of making statements supporting internalized anti-feminism, and part of stopping that is to step back, analyze what would cause you to say something like that, and pledge to be a better human being.
Because, let’s be honest, slut-shaming, the virgin myth, the glass ceiling, and other such concepts don’t just hurt women/femmes, they hurt people of all genders and therefore, all of humanity.
Thanks for that addition, Morgan :)
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Men who want to flirt with women have to realize: Women live in a state of continual vigilance about sexual safety. It’s like having a mild case of hay fever that never goes away. It’s not debilitating. You’re not weak. You’re not afraid. You just suck it up and get on with your life. It’s nothing that’s going to stop you from making discoveries, or climbing mountains, or falling in love. Sometimes you can almost forget about it. It doesn’t mean it’s not there, subtly sucking your energy. You learn to avoid situations that make it worse and seek out conditions that make it better.
If a female stranger is wary around you, it is not because she suspects you are a rapist, or that all men are rapists. It’s because a general level of circumspection is what vigilance requires. Don’t take it personally.
If this frustrates you, try to remember that women are blamed for lapsed vigilance. If a woman does get raped, everyone rushes to see where she let her guard down. Was she drinking? Was she alone? Was she wearing a short skirt? Did she go to a strange man’s room for coffee at 4am?
A woman must be seen to be vigilant as well as be vigilant. If she is deemed insufficiently vigilant, she will be at least partly blamed for any sexual violence that befalls her. If she’s regarded as downright reckless, that “evidence” can be used to completely exonerate her rapist. If it comes down to a he said/she said dispute over whether sex was consensual, as so many rape cases do, the dispute becomes a referendum on whether the woman seems like the sort of reckless person who would have sex with a stranger.
If a woman does go back to a strange man’s hotel room at 4am, even if she only wants a coffee and conversation, she’s more or less given him the power to rape her. No jury is going to believe she went up there for anything but sex. So, don’t be surprised if a stranger reacts badly to that suggestion.
"
madmendaily:
Get ready to fall even more in love with Jon Hamm. Seriously. There are new levels of adoration for this man and we’re about to discover them together.
Hamm was recently a speaker at the Rape Treatment Center benefit brunch in Beverly Hills where he spoke about his pre-Mad Men employment history…
fighting-the-urge:
Woah. Slow down and listen.
I shave my legs. I like shaving my legs. I also respect women who chose not to. But I hate shit like this because it’s so degrading to me and all other women who chose to partake in stereotypically “feminine” acts, such as shaving. I shave my legs because, to be honest, I don’t like the scratchy feel when my legs rub together. Simple as that. It feels unpleasant to me. So I remove the source of that unpleasant feeling: my leg hair. I also dislike the unpleasant scratchy feel of underarm hair. There’s nothing wrong with that.
I know men who shave their legs for the exact same reason. I even have a straight male friends who’s spoken to me about how he wants to shave his legs because he likes the feeling of smooth legs, but he doesn’t want women to think he’s not a man because he doesn’t have that hair, or to think he’s gay.
Now, I agree that this whole culture of “women must be smooth and soft and men must be tough and rugged” is ridiculous. That should have nothing to do with it. If you don’t like your leg hair, shave it off. It doesn’t matter if you’re a man or a woman. Conversely, if you prefer leg hair, don’t be ashamed to keep it. That goes for any hair, head hair, leg hair, underarm hair, pubic hair, facial hair. It belongs to you, so do how you please.
But don’t tell me that it’s useless and unimportant. Don’t tell me that I’m taking part in the beauty myth and lookism cult, that I’m sponsoring the beauty industry and that I’m making other women feel insecure or learning to hate my own body. I am not endorsing the patriarchy. I happen to be comfortable and confident enough in my own body to take control of the things that I, personally, don’t like.
I’m getting sick of this new culture where if you’re a woman who happens to like and participate in stereotypically feminine things, it must only be because of societal pressure that I was too weak to resist. Bullshit. Women don’t have to completely reverse gender roles to support equality. Just to emphasize, I also enjoy dresses and cooking, and my girlfriend is a cleanaholic. We’re fine with that. Also fine with women who chose not to partake in those activities.
If women’s equality is ever going to fully be reached, it won’t be by degrading or redefining women. Women define themselves, and they make their own choices for their own reasons. Truly supporting women means supporting all decisions.
Yeah, I agreed with the image until they started all this “lookism cult” bullshit. Honestly? The best thing to do is to MAKE YOUR OWN FUCKING DECISIONS, whether it be this, or makeup, or wearing whatever the fuck you want. You dictate your appearance; no one else can or should do that for you. Society is a bitch sometimes, it’s true, and sometimes I personally choose to make concessions to them for my own safety. I admit it.
But you know what? In the end, it’s still a choice. And when I can, I choose to let my appearance reflect who I am inside. If you want to wear a miniskirt, a tube top, and not shave your legs? More power to you; I applaud you.
At the end of the day, if you feel good about yourself and your appearance, that’s all that matters, really.
