Reality Check: Female Archers

[ace_of_something]

Watch Archery at the olypmics lots of those chicks have a bit more boobage than you'd think cuz their pecs are pushing them out.

 

[Yvl9921]

The second best archer I've met was a female with a decent chest. So, yeah.

 

[saucecode]

Well its just a game, and im sure devs would sacrafice realism for breasts. Maybe. I haven't really figured out the male thought process yet. I did archery once, so i can say that one's breats would have to be relativly large.

 

[CulixCupric]

I'm sure there are workarounds for ladies with big breasts, and I'm sure it has a lot to do with how they use the bow and what sort of bow they're using. I think the only real way to tell is to simply build a model and try, or find a woman with breasts about those size and have her try the bow.

right, if they're larger than a size b, use a crossbow from the hip. the cliche of every female hero having large breast is insulting, not just to the girls, but male games too, saying that all we care about the character is if they're hot, and we aren't interested unless they're attractive.

 

[Guffe]

You can find everything on youtube.
Type like... "big boobed woman archer" or something and you'll defineatly get your answer.

 

[DementedSheep]

I never had a problem when I tried archery but that was only for a few months. My cousin however has hit herself in the chest once (when she was new at it) and she dose archery all the time and is a D. It?s not an issue with the angle you hold a bow at and you can strap breast down or use a chest guard anyway so unless your talking ridicules unnatural proportions its probably not going to cause problems.
Also the Amazon cutting off one breast thing is a stupid myth. They didn?t.

 

[LittleJP]

It also does depend on the kind of bow. My stance shooting a Turkish bow is different from shooting an English Warbow.

 

[Setrus]

The Amazons cutting off one of their breasts thing was due to interpretations of the word "Amazon". "A" meaning without, and the rest sounding similar to words for "bread", "breasts" or "men".

So, the Amazons must have lived without men, cut off their breasts, and eaten turtles.

The funny part is that some people still believe they existed and doing all that...

 

[BiscuitTrouser]

Real-life female archers wear a leather patch across their chests for this very reason.

Their breasts would have to be, like, a pair of watermelons to make archery impossible.

As an archer myself i can tell you that ive seen even MEN who are well toned (ie not fat but have muscles) with a need to wear a patch. Your stance and bow type (ie longbow, recurve or compound) will make a difference on if it will catch your chest when you shoot. Longbows are not fired anything like recurves, you rarely even take one to full draw in my experience so in these fantasy adventures i think the boobs are safe. Patches would be modern proceadure though, maybe the REALLY tight clothing they wear is for this reason.

 

[Elementary - Dear Watson]

This is genuinely one of my favourite topics ever... Boobs and Bows! Love it! Merry Christmas all!

On the other hand a freind of mine does archery, and shes a well-endowed female... She says she just wears a sports bra! So that's her tip!

 

[Nickolai77]

Speaking as a (albeit male) archer, it would only be a problem if the woman had unusually large breasts. I've never known any women, some of which are well endowed, to have problems with archery on account of their breasts. If it was a problem, i would imagine such a woman would wear a sports bra or something.

Given that women in cheesy fantasy games do tend to have huge breasts i see were the OP is coming from...but bear in mind they are fantasy games. Given that such games may involve swinging swords twice the size of ones body or fighting against hordes of the undead, i think massive breasted women shooting bows is one of the smaller flights of fantasy these developers make.

 

[Valagetti]

Oh god am I the only one who remembers Yahtzee saying this? What have I become?

 

[Tornix]

From the looks if it the archery problem isn't as big as I previously thought. And as I said I perfectly know that there exist chest-guards and crossbows and whatnot, but I was curious about the breast limit if none of those problem fixers where available.
Anyhow, I appreciate the answers, this has given me a different perspective on the matter. Thanks.


One last thing regarding the Amazon myth: if a woman would cut off one of her boobs she would die without proper medical treatment which is something the amazons didn't have access to.

 

[Some_weirdGuy]

The best archers could draw a bow back using only their breasts.

True story. I know cause I'm actually quite a renowned bow from back when us bows were all the rage.

 

[SckizoBoy]

Real-life female archers wear a leather patch across their chests for this very reason.

Plastic for the most part, such as Yun Ok-hee's rather garish chestguard...

Spoiler: An archer with boobies

Shooting IRL, I've never heard of women having problems as far as their boobage is concerned. The string only ever goes into... side-boob shall we say...

Speaking as a (albeit male) archer, it would only be a problem if the woman had unusually large breasts. I've never known any women, some of which are well endowed, to have problems with archery on account of their breasts. If it was a problem, i would imagine such a woman would wear a sports bra or something.

Given that women in cheesy fantasy games do tend to have huge breasts i see were the OP is coming from...but bear in mind they are fantasy games. Given that such games may involve swinging swords twice the size of ones body or fighting against hordes of the undead, i think massive breasted women shooting bows is one of the smaller flights of fantasy these developers make.

Thinking about it, it'd only be a problem with the start of the draw (quickly nocking and changing target or whatever).

Still, I would've thought that a wristguard/bracer would be a bigger requirement than a chestguard...

 

[Lilani]

I'm sure there are workarounds for ladies with big breasts, and I'm sure it has a lot to do with how they use the bow and what sort of bow they're using. I think the only real way to tell is to simply build a model and try, or find a woman with breasts about those size and have her try the bow.

right, if they're larger than a size b, use a crossbow from the hip. the cliche of every female hero having large breast is insulting, not just to the girls, but male games too, saying that all we care about the character is if they're hot, and we aren't interested unless they're attractive.

See, this is a problem I've been seeing a lot of lately. I am a female, and I am not offended by female characters with large breasts, initially anyway. Large breasts on their own are nothing--they just happen sometimes. I have a few friends who are simply naturally well-endowed. And I don't mind this at all in fantasy characters, as long as the breasts aren't their only asset. If they have a complex personality to go with them, and dress reasonably for their situations, then it's not a big deal at all.

And you know what? Even skimpy outfits on their own aren't sexist. They can be obnoxious and annoying at times, especially when they're just completely unreasonable for the situation at hand, but they are not inherently sexist. A woman fighting in a bikini is not really any different from a guy fighting in a loincloth. It's not the clothes that make it sexist. I think Moviebob pointed this out: The reason we get so angry about scantily clad females is because when you've got a sexy male character on the cover of a game, his pose usually says something about his personality. He might look angry, determined, strong, vengeful, whatever. But if a sexy female character is posing, her pose isn't saying anything about her as a character. She's posed as though she's checking herself out in a mirror just outside the shot. Rather than her pose reflecting something of her inner self, she is posed to look as sexy as possible. And I don't think it's something they are consciously doing when they compose these shots--it's rampant in comic books, too. It's just how we've come to advertise male and female characters.

Again, I'm just a female, so I can't speak for how offensive big breasts are for men. But please do not tell me that it's offensive to females. You don't know that. Don't assume we're offended until we say so. We don't need anybody saying we're angry about something when we're not, or when it's simply not worth getting angry about. There are far too many other tropes and stereotypes in popular culture which need to be dealt with (like how Hollywood STILL has a huge aversion to interracial couples and couples in which the woman is taller than the man, or how in sitcoms the man in a couple can be overweight or ugly but the woman always has to be slender and attractive [King of Queens, Everybody Loves Raymond, Flintstones, etc]).

 

[NotSoLoneWanderer]

Maybe at that point they just become crossbow-women? But I'm talking about those lore breaking modded women people put into there games.

 

[NotSoLoneWanderer]

I'm sure there are workarounds for ladies with big breasts, and I'm sure it has a lot to do with how they use the bow and what sort of bow they're using. I think the only real way to tell is to simply build a model and try, or find a woman with breasts about those size and have her try the bow.

right, if they're larger than a size b, use a crossbow from the hip. the cliche of every female hero having large breast is insulting, not just to the girls, but male games too, saying that all we care about the character is if they're hot, and we aren't interested unless they're attractive.

See, this is a problem I've been seeing a lot of lately. I am a female, and I am not offended by female characters with large breasts, initially anyway. Large breasts on their own are nothing--they just happen sometimes. I have a few friends who are simply naturally well-endowed. And I don't mind this at all in fantasy characters, as long as the breasts aren't their only asset. If they have a complex personality to go with them, and dress reasonably for their situations, then it's not a big deal at all.

And you know what? Even skimpy outfits on their own aren't sexist. They can be obnoxious and annoying at times, especially when they're just completely unreasonable for the situation at hand, but they are not inherently sexist. A woman fighting in a bikini is not really any different from a guy fighting in a loincloth. It's not the clothes that make it sexist. I think Moviebob pointed this out: The reason we get so angry about scantily clad females is because when you've got a sexy male character on the cover of a game, his pose usually says something about his personality. He might look angry, determined, strong, vengeful, whatever. But if a sexy female character is posing, her pose isn't saying anything about her as a character. She's posed as though she's checking herself out in a mirror just outside the shot. Rather than her pose reflecting something of her inner self, she is posed to look as sexy as possible. And I don't think it's something they are consciously doing when they compose these shots--it's rampant in comic books, too. It's just how we've come to advertise male and female characters.

Again, I'm just a female, so I can't speak for how offensive big breasts are for men. But please do not tell me that it's offensive to females. You don't know that. Don't assume we're offended until we say so. We don't need anybody saying we're angry about something when we're not, or when it's simply not worth getting angry about. There are far too many other tropes and stereotypes in popular culture which need to be dealt with (like how Hollywood STILL has a huge aversion to interracial couples and couples in which the woman is taller than the man, or how in sitcoms the man in a couple can be overweight or ugly but the woman always has to be slender and attractive [King of Queens, Everybody Loves Raymond, Flintstones, etc]).

Though I haven't watched these shows in a while Doug lost some weight and Carrey gained some. Not nitpicking but either they couldn't switch characters or...it was probably that. Well my wife and kids featured a toned husband and a chubby wife. Everybody Loves Raymond isn't about the looks as much as he's not a very good husband. But hey I'm not nitpicking at your comment, just Hollywood may be allowing some changes (even if to necessitate main character weight gain) to take place in the formula.

 

[Not-here-anymore]

Now, while I am a dude, I am also an archer for sport.
it really wouldn't be a problem.
good archers bring the bowstring pretty near to their face, generally a little to the side for safety reasons.
The v-shaped nature of a bowstring would make it so it wouldn't touch a woman's breasts unless they were the size of bowling balls.

Woo! Archers represent!

But yeah, that. If you're drawing a bow in such a fashion that boobs could feasibly get in the way, you're doing it wrong.
Now I'm gonna have to go play dragon age just to check on how Leliana draws...

 

[LittleJP]

Just like to remind you guys that there are several different draw points. For a woman, one possible method is to point the bow sideways and draw to the chin or to the ear.This avoids the chest area, but is a little cramped.