A Changeling Feminist?

Blood Lore:

If not then I'm sorry to say this but I have to conclude that C:tL is actually a sexist game which is a major turn off for me and there goes my interest of the only NWoD gameline out of the window....I guess I should stick to the OWoD if this is the case...

Yeah, Changeling the Lost is MIGHTY sexist. Please, please, PLEASE do stick to oWoD. Like, now.

About the time this conversation went south, I noticed something. One party was claiming that Changeling presents inherently sexist material due to the fact that the True Fae use strange sterotypes to empower themselves, and that they actually lose power if they don't fulfill those sterotypes. The original poster quickly agreed and declared his hatred of such concepts, and we went down hill.

Are we talking about Titles here? That's the only thing I can find which remotely fits. A Title is sort of a Mask a True Fae has available to it, a "name" it can use and mold as it fits apart from its True Name. Speak its True Name and you have authority over it. Most Gentry hide behind a Title for that reason.

Now, a Title can be anything. Monarch of boiling shadows would be an example. Lord of Endless Possibilities might be another. The Title grants certain magic related to the Title- God of Eldritich Madness is a Title that has providence over madness. Queen of Crying Rats has dominion over anything involving sorrow or rats or tears.

Now, if this is indeed what the posters are refering to....and pardon my french....HOW THE FUCK IS THIS SEXIST? Yes, sure, someone could make it sexist by choosing to use these concepts in a sexist manner. But this is true of anything. Hell, case in point- someone already IS turning it into an example of sexism by choosing to interpret the way the powers work as inherently sexist. But, to be frank, that fitting a round peg into a square hole, and if this litmus test turns Changeling into something sexist it will turn EVERYTHING into something sexist.

This isn't to say that sexism is okay or should be handwaved as nonexistent. It does. But neither should one wonder the media airwaves with a chip on their shoulder, picking fights and seeing fires where none exist. Such tactics are frivilous wastes of time, undermining the efforts of more legitimate concerns involving sexism when they arise. You hurt the cause of the people you supposedly represent when you see a threat in every shadow.

My advice: Examine the material you have concerns about more closely. if you don't want to spend money on it, fair enough, but then don't make claims about the material you don't have direct understanding about. Its really that simple, either educate yourself enough about the specific topic of conversation to have a well rounded opinion grounded in facts- or just avoid the damn thing altogether. We have enough ignorant folk harping on topics they have no understanding of without you adding to the noise.

Fabio Sooner:

Yeah, Changeling the Lost is MIGHTY sexist. Please, please, PLEASE do stick to oWoD. Like, now.

Ohno. No no no no no.

Bloodlore was already all over the OWoD forum with their asinine accusations and psychotic irrational conclusions about how all the old systems were sexist because they tended to drawn from Abrahamic religions as source material. If he, she or it has decided that they want to get uppity over NWoD gamelines then... Tag, you're it. Those of us still playing OWoD games from time to time don't want 'em back. You touched it last, it's yours now. Whoever smelt it... gets to deal with Bloodlore. And so on.

nothri:

Are we talking about Titles here? That's the only thing I can find which remotely fits.

I assumed that referred to Talecrafting and the Fatebound from Swords at Dawn. While all of the Lost have to some extent been reshaped into fairytale archetypes during the process of being integrated into Faerie, only those optional rules further empower characters for adhering to specific narrative conventions. In some ways personal frailties might admittedly restrict a high-Wyrd changeling into a traditional role, though.

GrimGent:

I assumed that referred to Talecrafting and the Fatebound from Swords at Dawn. While all of the Lost have to some extent been reshaped into fairytale archetypes during the process of being integrated into Faerie, only those optional rules further empower characters for adhering to specific narrative conventions.

I see. That argument isn't much better, is it? A handful of merits from one chapter of one book that wasn't even a part of the intended release schedule when changeling was first created is what makes the game sexist? You'd think the issue would pop up EARLIER than that. Even then....while one can certainly argue that certain fairy tale archetypes are sexist, that's still very much open to interpretation. Honestly, I doubt this would offend anyone unless they're actively looking to be offended. You really have to reach to find anything sexist in that chapter.

nothri:

That argument isn't much better, is it?

True enough, but that's what was being discussed before the detour into sexual dimorphism and RL ideologies, so the Fatebound Merits would seem to fit the description: someone else brought up an example about a changeling playing the part of a "wicked stepmother" and gaining advantages from the Wyrd for it, and the OP replied that being rewarded for conforming to stereotypes feels "absurd and humiliating at the same time."

I'm actually reminded of  a lengthy debate over the archetypes of the Masterless Man and the Flying Woman in Unknown Armies, over at another forum.

Loxosceles:

Bloodlore was already all over the OWoD forum with their asinine accusations and psychotic irrational conclusions about how all the old systems were sexist because they tended to drawn from Abrahamic religions as source material. If he, she or it has decided that they want to get uppity over NWoD gamelines then... Tag, you're it. Those of us still playing OWoD games from time to time don't want 'em back. You touched it last, it's yours now. Whoever smelt it... gets to deal with Bloodlore. And so on.

Ah-ha, I knew it! The surge of recent, erm, activity had to have a reason! :-)

...

I regret bumping this thread and I'll just let it sail away like it did...

I would merely add that tests have shown the introduction of testosterone patches to have no greater impact than blank patches in terms of behaviour alteration.

This could have been a good thread, incidentally, if it had not been started in such a mangled manner. Changeling: The Lost is a game about the abused, who are proportionally far greater within feminism (especially rad. feminism) than amongst the general populace. I'll write something on that, but not here.