Jump to content
Awoo.

"I never thought a girl could be so tough!"


Blazey Firekitty

Recommended Posts

I'm not sure what Shadic meant, but he may have meant that "big dogs" in terms of heroic knights in shining armour, rather than rapists, spousal abusers, sexual harrassers, and other such oppressors. It still seems overly patronizing and outdated, but he probably didn't mean it to sound offensive on purpose.

I used to want a matriarchy, but not anymore. I feel what we need is equality, rather than simply trading the places of the oppressors and the victimized for the sake of revenge, which is what I once wanted in my more bitter moments.

Edited by Blazey Psychounicorn
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I used to want a matriarchy, but not anymore. I feel what we need is equality, rather than simply trading the places of the oppressors and the victimized for the sake of revenge, which is what I once wanted in my more bitter moments.

Here is what i think is the main problem with the idea of matriarchy: We tend to think that a matriarchal world would probably be a less violent place than todays patriarchal one, with less wars and shit, since women tends to be less violent than men, and perhapes also a more sympathic society, since women tends to be more, well, sympathic. But i believe that the fact that women tends to be less violent and competative than men has a lot to do with the way they are raised to be more submissive than men, which is of course also a big factor in the fact that the patriarchal society where men are on top can survive. If women weren't raised to be submissive and to want to avoid conflict, our patriarchal society wouldn't be able to remain patriarchal. A matriarchal society would probably have to be one where women are the ones who are (like men in our present society) the ones who are being raised to be competative and aggressive. And if women were raised like men are raised today, they would most likely be just as prone to violent conflicts and antisocial behavior as men are today.

In other words, i believe that a matriarchal society would most likely be just as violent and unsympathic as a patriarchal one, it's just that women would be the ones primarly responsible for antisocial acts just as men are the ones primarly responsible for such acts in todays society. Granted, the fact that women aren't as pshysically strong as men would undoubtebly be a factor that prevented a complete role-reversal from todays society (like, even if there were as many women who were as keen on beating their husbands as there are men who beats their wives today, female-on-male abuse would probably never be as big a problem as male-on-female abuse is today due to men being more able to defend themselves against the opposite sex). But of course, being outright physically abuse is hardly the only way to express aggression, dominate others or act antisocialy.

Basically, which gender sits on top of the food chain doesn't have much to do with which gender has which genetalia. It has to do with which gender is raised in a way that gives them a drive to try to "climb the latter" and dominate others, and which gender is raised to be sympathic and to avoid conflict. A matriarchal society would probably be one where women are the former. It woudln't be a calm, sympathic society where what we today percieve as "feminine" traits rule, because women wouldn't have much of those feminine traits. If anything, men would be likely to be the ones who have those traits, and men would be the underdogs who are being dominated and marginalized.

In short, a matriarchal society would suck just as much as our present patriarchal society. Or at least, that's what i believe would probably be the case. But i suppose it is also possible to imagine a society where women are the ones in charge yet do not remain in charge through the same means that men use to remain in charge today, but through some other means entirely, perhapes even through some kind of means that do not require women to become an aggressive and dominating group. But what means that would be though, i really couldn't say...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I feel that your analysis makes a lot of sense, Batson. Men and women are more similar than we realize, and it's too easy to forget at times that masculine and feminine are not the same thing as male and female. We as human beings are often puppets of our culture, and as long as one group of humans is enabled by culture to dominate another, we won't have peace.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

How in the world can you consider a society where "men are the big dogs" as separate from a sexist society?! A society where men are considered superior to women and/or higher in rank is exactly what a sexist society is (and for that matter, so would a society where women are the top dogs and men are considered to be below them, but such a society of course doesn't actually exist at this point in history...). Honestly, going by your logic, a society where whites rank above blacks wouldn't necassarely have to be a racist society. Sorry if it sounds like im overreatcing, but im pretty flabergasted right now about what you said there...

Dude, calm down. You asked a question and I answered based on my knowledge. Traditionally, Men are always viewed as superior to Women, do I agree with that? Not necessarily, but I understand its the mindset of society, and that's in been going on long before sexism was even a term.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Patriarchy is still a problem, that's certainly true, and there are still nations that treat women as second class citizens who can't even own property or drive, but there have been improvements, and even if society as a whole is still pretty awful in terms of creating equality, we do live in more enlightened times than we used to.

Edit: Actually, bringing things back to Blaze, Sonic and Blaze seem to reverse stereotypical gender roles in Rush. Instead of the pure hearted young lady saving the rage-filled blood knight from himself, it's pure hearted young man saving the rage-filled dark magical girl from herself.

Edited by Blazey Psychounicorn
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dude, calm down. You asked a question and I answered based on my knowledge. Traditionally, Men are always viewed as superior to Women, do I agree with that? Not necessarily, but I understand its the mindset of society, and that's in been going on long before sexism was even a term.

But sexism do exist as a term and a mental concept today, and any society that still keep pushing women down and placing men on top despite this awareness is a sexist society, and that's true even if that societies patriarchal trend started long before anyone understood the concept of sexism in the way we modern people do. So im still going to call Japan a sexist society. Our western societies are also sexist, rest assured, but most of them dont seem to be sexist to quite the same degree. But granted, compared to certain other societies, both the west and Japan looks dowright enlightened by comparasion...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not to belittle anybody else in this thread, since I lead it down that path too, but I'm sort of amused in a weird way that the discussion is sort of starting to sound like the sexism debates that came out of Metroid: Other M. XD

Blaze: As I found myself once again under Sonic's command, I felt a strange sense of exhilaration...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Um, guys ? Eggman just got beaten before saying that line. He wanted to be an offending asshole because he just got freaking beaten (by someone who doesn't antagonize him usually, with that). Really, he only said that to be an asshole.

  • Thumbs Up 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I just had a thought about what he meant by the term 'girl'. Cos Blaze is only 14, so technically she's a 'girl' rather than a 'woman' so maybe that's what Eggman was talking about? Like he wouldn't be surprised if Rouge beat him because she's older, has more experience and works for the government but because this young female is beating him, Eggman is surprised, hence his comment.

Yeah Sonic is only a year older than Blaze, but Sonic's a special case for Eggman.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Um, guys ? Eggman just got beaten before saying that line. He wanted to be an offending asshole because he just got freaking beaten (by someone who doesn't antagonize him usually, with that). Really, he only said that to be an asshole.

I'd have to agree with Koopalmier's statement here. I mean, like seriously, he's the only one who isn't thinking or analyzing it too much.

  • Thumbs Up 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Robotnik's a bad guy.

Bad guys tend to say dickish things.

Ergo, Robotnik will tend to say dickish things.

Moral of the lesson: Some things really are that simple. Robotnik isn't a sexist. He hates everyone equally.

  • Thumbs Up 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'd have to agree with Koopalmier's statement here. I mean, like seriously, he's the only one who isn't thinking or analyzing it too much.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I really have no idea how much of this was intentional, if any of it at all, but one of the messages I took away from Rush as a whole is that trying to be "tough" all the time isn't healthy for either gender. The game makes it clear that Sonic shows traits that we tend to label as masculine, and so does Blaze. But the conflict isn't ultimately solved simply through brute force. Sonic actually has to swallow his pride a little to empathize with why Blaze is lashing out in the way she is, and Blaze eventually has to realize that being emotionally vulnerable doesn't make her a weakling...it just makes her a flawed person like everyone else, who needs a helping hand from others every now and then. These "feminine" traits of being in touch with one's "softer" emotions is what ultimately leads to Sonic and Blaze becoming friends. I wouldn't make Rush's script out to be perfect, or say that the interpretation I'm giving here is definitely canon, but I do like how the game at least seems to be trying to encourage compassion and understanding to our fellow human beings(Or sentient beings, if we're talking from an in-story perspective).

I think it's also worth noting that Blaze does not become "Yamato Nadeshiko"- the stereotypical, traditional Japanese housewife- at the end of the game either, despite this game originating from Japan. She retains her identity as a mystical ruler and a superhero, but at the same time, she doesn't mind acknowledging that she might need a hug every now and then...not because she's a girl, and falling into the stereotype of girls being wired towards "cuteness," but because she's a person who's proved herself worthy of the love of others, who now needs to learn to love herself.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Way not to read like, half of the thread

(and also, the people were debating weren't even really over analyzing the line as much as socio-cultural and gender structures, and if you don't think those have an influence on popular culture and media....you are very naive)

Except the thread title, and the other half of the thread itself, are about if Eggman's a sexist or not. It derailed into a deeper discussion (thanks god), but I was referring to, well, the Eggman half of the thread.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm pretty sure Robotnik was just sort of surprised Blaze has abilities on the level of Sonic. I mean, think, most of the girls in the Sonic universe aren't very much of a threat to him, so when Blaze comes in, chasing him down and giving him multiple beatings for the Sol Emeralds, he's probably pretty shocked. I don't really see much more to it than that.

BTW Blaze kicks ass.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

You must read and accept our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy to continue using this website. We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.