"Why don't they emphasis penises like that?!"

[Redryhno]

I like how the wyvern's scales and her own armor create a shot trap that would guide any spear or pike aimed at her into her femoral artery. And her boob window is perfect for catching arrows.

Wait, not like. The other thing. Although that may be why she takes extra damage from archers.

Sully isn't much better. At least a pointy thing aimed at the horse won't glance off into her groin. Still, get some pads and leather, you're supposed to be professionals. Titana knows what I'm talking about.

How about you look at the armor that was designed primarily to suit mounted combat? Sully's honestly not that far off from it...Especially if you factor in eastern examples. I mean, you are aware that Fire Emblem is largely a multi-cultural mish mash shitshow when it comes to units and character designs.

Also come the fuck on, Titantia has metal plates riveted onto flapping leather with alot of cloth and a copious amount of unneeded belts. That's not protection, that's something from a fashion walk. Her midriff, legs and the important parts of her arms are still largely unprotected, which is where the majority of melee range attacks are going to hit. Not to mention ranged attacks are going to just tear her apart if we're going to be talking about real world designs. And that's ignoring that the extra weight just swinging around on the coat is going to unbalance her, espeically with that BFP she's throwing around.

Hell, you wanna talk her femoral artery, how about you remember that it's on the INSIDE of your UPPER THIGH, which if she's mounted and above the majority of people, she's not in any constant danger of that happening with her armor as it is. You do see the extra stuff on her legs near the area don't you? Hell, you can even take the argument of her silks being used as distraction and misdirection(both of which are not unheard of in armor and weapon designs in the real world)

Or we can agree that it is a videogame with videogame designs and they're supposed to be recognizable from something other than hair color(which is another thing that's wrong Titania's design.) And that stupid can come with the territory. I mean it's not like stupid/impractical/unwieldy designs are things that happen solely with female characters...

Really for a male chest to have the same effect as a female one, we would need to spend a couple generations requiring men to wearing a bra when they don't have a shirt on.

I dunno, most women I've run into wear a bra because they don't like their junk flying around...something about it being uncomfortable and nipple chafe.

 

[MeatMachine]

Women are usually sexualized over their body, while men are usually sexualized over their status. Stating that similar male traits and female traits, such as body parts should share the same amount of emphasis is a bit of a false equivilancy in practice, even if it is consistently equal in premise.

A completely naked woman is appealing because it shows off desirable breeding traits, which men, generally, are primarily drawn to. A completely naked man, however, does not indicate much about their status. Sure, hot naked men are attractive, but the whole "status" thing is the reason why male models are usually accessorized to display power, whether through wealth (nice cloths and jewelry, such as watches), positions of authority (firefighter, cop, or military outfits), or indicators of self-confidence and machismo (tattoos, bad-boy outfits, whatever).

This is why male strippers don't usually go full-monty, and why trying to hold male characters and female characters to the exact same behavioral or appearance standards simply isn't consistent with the way human beings perceive each other. If certain characters are designed in ways you don't like, I think it's more telling about who is responding to what (in the case of "oversexualized women", it more often than not is women bitching about how unfair it is for them), rather than that of the character, character creator, or primary audience.

 

[Paragon Fury]

I like how the wyvern's scales and her own armor create a shot trap that would guide any spear or pike aimed at her into her femoral artery. And her boob window is perfect for catching arrows.

Wait, not like. The other thing. Although that may be why she takes extra damage from archers.

Sully isn't much better. At least a pointy thing aimed at the horse won't glance off into her groin. Still, get some pads and leather, you're supposed to be professionals. Titana knows what I'm talking about.

How about you look at the armor that was designed primarily to suit mounted combat? Sully's honestly not that far off from it...Especially if you factor in eastern examples. I mean, you are aware that Fire Emblem is largely a multi-cultural mish mash shitshow when it comes to units and character designs.

Also come the fuck on, Titantia has metal plates riveted onto flapping leather with alot of cloth and a copious amount of unneeded belts. That's not protection, that's something from a fashion walk. Her midriff, legs and the important parts of her arms are still largely unprotected, which is where the majority of melee range attacks are going to hit. Not to mention ranged attacks are going to just tear her apart if we're going to be talking about real world designs. And that's ignoring that the extra weight just swinging around on the coat is going to unbalance her, espeically with that BFP she's throwing around.

Hell, you wanna talk her femoral artery, how about you remember that it's on the INSIDE of your UPPER THIGH, which if she's mounted and above the majority of people, she's not in any constant danger of that happening with her armor as it is. You do see the extra stuff on her legs near the area don't you? Hell, you can even take the argument of her silks being used as distraction and misdirection(both of which are not unheard of in armor and weapon designs in the real world)

Or we can agree that it is a videogame with videogame designs and they're supposed to be recognizable from something other than hair color(which is another thing that's wrong Titania's design.) And that stupid can come with the territory. I mean it's not like stupid/impractical/unwieldy designs are things that happen solely with female characters...

Really for a male chest to have the same effect as a female one, we would need to spend a couple generations requiring men to wearing a bra when they don't have a shirt on.

I dunno, most women I've run into wear a bra because they don't like their junk flying around...something about it being uncomfortable and nipple chafe.

I feel like it should be pointed out that in Fire Emblem takes the more traditional, if less honorable view and method of mounted combat - except for Paladins - where mounted units are for skirmishing and hit-and-run.

Someone like Cordellia, Camilla, Sully etc. are never going to dismount to fight or commit to the general melee; they're just going to keep hitting and running. Mounted units in FE suffer the same kind of common death that their real life counterparts did - not death from being hit or wounds, but rather their mounts being hit and crushing/throwing them (or in the case of a wyvern/pegasus/griffon rider, becoming a greasy smear on the ground after hitting it at twice the speed of a galloping horse while several stories in the air).

Its actually kind of funny that this translated into gameplay too - mounted units, particularly flyers, have been so broken in the FE series even after multiple attempted nerfs, that Nintendo finally went "Fuck it" and absolutely stuffed the two newest games - Awakening and Fates - chock full of archers (anti-flyers) and armored units (anti-mounted since mounted typically don't get access to Axes/Hammers until they promote) so finally make it so that people like Camilla, Cordellia and Sully don't absolutely break the game.

 

[Snotnarok]

Let's look at this from an artistic perspective ....Maybe they just wanted to make something pretty and they happen to like breasts. Some girls like showing them off with necks, most guys aren't blind to this, it's not abnormal. I'm asexual, I really could care less about sexual. Yes it's armor, but it's also fantasy, yes it's a big vulnerable spot, but it's also fantasy, yes it's unrealistic but so is casting magic.

It's art, create something fun and enjoyable. I'm not into people trying to tell artists what to draw. Don't like it then don't bloody buy it.

I'm not into all the girly pretty boys in games that are incredibly feminine (some to the point where you need to read a bio to tell) but whatever they're there, they're a character and it's fine, not going to judge them on that but what they do. It's what the artist wanted to do and, hey that's cool by me, draw what you want.

 

[Revnak_v1legacy]

Women are usually sexualized over their body, while men are usually sexualized over their status. Stating that similar male traits and female traits, such as body parts should share the same amount of emphasis is a bit of a false equivilancy in practice, even if it is consistently equal in premise.

A completely naked woman is appealing because it shows off desirable breeding traits, which men, generally, are primarily drawn to. A completely naked man, however, does not indicate much about their status. Sure, hot naked men are attractive, but the whole "status" thing is the reason why male models are usually accessorized to display power, whether through wealth (nice cloths and jewelry, such as watches), positions of authority (firefighter, cop, or military outfits), or indicators of self-confidence and machismo (tattoos, bad-boy outfits, whatever).

This is why male strippers don't usually go full-monty, and why trying to hold male characters and female characters to the exact same behavioral or appearance standards simply isn't consistent with the way human beings perceive each other. If certain characters are designed in ways you don't like, I think it's more telling about who is responding to what (in the case of "oversexualized women", it more often than not is women bitching about how unfair it is for them), rather than that of the character, character creator, or primary audience.

Because when I look at the cast of Free, I see status, not wet, dreamy, gay boys.

 

[BoredRolePlayer]

The breast falls under the category of 'secondary sexual characteristics,' so they're more comparable to male physique then anything else, not the penis.

Yup. Whenever people compare boobs to penises it's a false dichotomy. Doesn't matter who does it, feminists complaining about fictional characters or the idiot anti-feminists that obsessively sexualise breasts.

A female character with her cleavage showing should be seen the same way as a dude with a plunging v-neck that shows his chest hair (though personally I'd take cleavage over hairy man chests any day). These discussions about double standards with video game characters always frustrate me because there seems to be stupid reductionist arguments on both sides.

Sorry you said deep V-neck, and I thought of this.

 

[TheMysteriousGX]

sniparooni

Look, I know you like these designs, but c'mon. "Copious amounts of unneeded belts"? I counted three belts, all of them hoisting that rather impressive amount of leg armor. "Metal riveted to leather"? Yes, Titana's wearing armor. That's what it tends to be made of when it's not full-plate. Layered leather and cloth, metal plates at key points, hell, she even has some underarm/rib cage protection.

Titana's armored as fuck.

Why do you think she'd take more damage from arrows than the gal with a literal boob window? When a spear or pike glances off the neck of boob-gal's wyvern, where do you think it's going. Upward angle, getting caught between a scaly neck and a leg plate that angles in, without so much as cloth, let alone leather or mail to stop it? Bleed out city.

EDIT: Look up linothorax sometime. Cloth armor is nothing to sneeze at and would be more that suitable midriff protection. Also, negative points for complaining about Titana's midriff while comparing her to a character with an absolutely unprotected chest and who's groin protection is some gauze and a metal bikini.

 

[Worgen]

I like how the wyvern's scales and her own armor create a shot trap that would guide any spear or pike aimed at her into her femoral artery. And her boob window is perfect for catching arrows.

Wait, not like. The other thing. Although that may be why she takes extra damage from archers.

Sully isn't much better. At least a pointy thing aimed at the horse won't glance off into her groin. Still, get some pads and leather, you're supposed to be professionals. Titana knows what I'm talking about.

How about you look at the armor that was designed primarily to suit mounted combat? Sully's honestly not that far off from it...Especially if you factor in eastern examples. I mean, you are aware that Fire Emblem is largely a multi-cultural mish mash shitshow when it comes to units and character designs.

Also come the fuck on, Titantia has metal plates riveted onto flapping leather with alot of cloth and a copious amount of unneeded belts. That's not protection, that's something from a fashion walk. Her midriff, legs and the important parts of her arms are still largely unprotected, which is where the majority of melee range attacks are going to hit. Not to mention ranged attacks are going to just tear her apart if we're going to be talking about real world designs. And that's ignoring that the extra weight just swinging around on the coat is going to unbalance her, espeically with that BFP she's throwing around.

Hell, you wanna talk her femoral artery, how about you remember that it's on the INSIDE of your UPPER THIGH, which if she's mounted and above the majority of people, she's not in any constant danger of that happening with her armor as it is. You do see the extra stuff on her legs near the area don't you? Hell, you can even take the argument of her silks being used as distraction and misdirection(both of which are not unheard of in armor and weapon designs in the real world)

Or we can agree that it is a videogame with videogame designs and they're supposed to be recognizable from something other than hair color(which is another thing that's wrong Titania's design.) And that stupid can come with the territory. I mean it's not like stupid/impractical/unwieldy designs are things that happen solely with female characters...

Really for a male chest to have the same effect as a female one, we would need to spend a couple generations requiring men to wearing a bra when they don't have a shirt on.

I dunno, most women I've run into wear a bra because they don't like their junk flying around...something about it being uncomfortable and nipple chafe.

I never said bras aren't useful, in fact as I understand they are quite liberating for women since they keep their breasts from swinging around and getting in the way. But the fact that breasts are covered most of the time allows them to be more sexualized then if they were the sort of thing that was just seen casually.

 

[Redryhno]

sniparooni

Look, I know you like these designs, but c'mon. "Copious amounts of unneeded belts"? I counted three belts, all of them hoisting that rather impressive amount of leg armor. "Metal riveted to leather"? Yes, Titana's wearing armor. That's what it tends to be made of when it's not full-plate. Layered leather and cloth, metal plates at key points, hell, she even has some underarm/rib cage protection.

Titana's armored as fuck.

Why do you think she'd take more damage from arrows than the gal with a literal boob window? When a spear or pike glances off the neck of boob-gal's wyvern, where do you think it's going. Upward angle, getting caught between a scaly neck and a leg plate that angles in, without so much as cloth, let alone leather or mail to stop it? Bleed out city.

Actually, I never said anything about liking the designs. I thought my last paragraph of "stupid designs come with the territory" sorta made it clear how I felt about them...but I suppose I should've made it incredibly explicit...So I'll do that now in big bold letters, imagine I'm saying it in comic sans as well

Spoiler

I ACKNOWLEDGE THAT THEY'RE PRETTY STUPID, BUT IT'S A VIDEOGAME THAT DOES NOT TRY TO REFLECT REAL LIFE

Also, no, Titania's not "armored as fuck". She's got half a breastplate, shinguards, and gauntlets. Again as I said, the majority of her body is still unprotected. What the hell kind of leather that's supposed to protect you flaps around like that(not to mention who in their right mind cuts leather like that to begin with if they're planning on going into a fight since we're complaining about the impractical nature of Sully and Camilla)? She's very lightly armored, it's not layers of cloth and chain, it's just cloth padding with some metal slapped on it dude. She's still very much open to being hit and seriously injured due to her lack of actual protection because most injuries happen to the mid part of the extremities simply due to how the body works and her weapon choice.

And you're forgetting something important with Camilla, you have tried to hit something that's moving fast in a game haven't you? You know how fucking annoying Spider Slicers and some Serious Sam enemies are to aim at right? Imagine that with a weapon that requires a helluva lot more effort put simply into aiming, not to mention the extra draw weight to hold and the lead required with a weapon that has roughly half the speed available of even a .22 pistol and can easily get fucked by stray, though strong, winds. I figured since we're talking about real world designs that was relevant.

Like I said dude, it's a videogame, it doesn't try to be historical beyond inspiration and some of the designs. The whole point for the majority of them is simply to be able to easily differentiate characters and units by color alone if possible. And artists like boobs and often enjoy impractical designs for ALL the characters in FE.

 

[Something Amyss]

This is you avoiding the point and trying to play wordsmith, "shifting the goalpost" no make things up.

It's not, it's me pointing out that you responded to one claim and are demanding proof of another.

manic correctly said that the disparity of sexualisation is sexism. You tried to claim that it was natureal. Now you're trying to say:

Womens bodies are sexual, culture across history has focused on that.

Which doesn't address their claim.

Look, I like boobs just as much as the next person.

You may not like them as much as some of the participants in this thread, however. >.<

 

[Paragon Fury]

This is you avoiding the point and trying to play wordsmith, "shifting the goalpost" no make things up.

It's not, it's me pointing out that you responded to one claim and are demanding proof of another.

manic correctly said that the disparity of sexualisation is sexism. You tried to claim that it was natureal. Now you're trying to say:

Womens bodies are sexual, culture across history has focused on that.

Which doesn't address their claim.

Look, I like boobs just as much as the next person.

You may not like them as much as some of the participants in this thread, however. >.<

Oh! OH! ME! SHE IS TALKING ABOUT ME!

 

[Something Amyss]

Oh! OH! ME! SHE IS TALKING ABOUT ME!

Actually, no. But hey, I did make a direct response to you specifically, so if you really want a Something Amyss post to reply to, there's that one.

 

[mecegirl]

It doesn't have to be penises. It could be anything that draws attention to the male form in a sexualized way. Like that male Final Fantasy character that got his outfit changed to something tamer. It's one thing for a male character to be shirtless but it isn't too often that they are put in outfits that have strategically placed cut outs that emphasize their form.

 

[Something Amyss]

Yeah, she's talking about me!

*vainly attempts to motorboat self but fails miserably*

...you got me wondering if I could pull that off, and now I think I have to hate you.

Of course, this being me, the hatred will wear off by the time I see something shiny, so you're probably sa--oooh! Shiny!

 

[Smooth Operator]

So one side shows chest and the other needs to show genitals... sexist much?
You get plenty of topless men in the media with all sorts of bulging stuff everywhere, but if you want a topless woman that is immediately perverted/dirty and who knows what other crime against humanity. If you are going to cry equality then start there.

Until then it's probably best if game characters just have a potato sack draped over them so your precious minds don't implode every day.

 

[The Almighty Aardvark]

Give me a call when this becomes the standard for male characters:

Spoiler

That being said, sexualization isn't just the showing of nudity. It's entirely possible to show nudity and sex without it being sexualized. It's all about how it's portrayed, such as the camera hugging Miranda from Mass Effect's butt, or a Sorceress grinding a staff against her ass. And it's overwhelmingly portrayed in a way intended to be masturbation material for guys.

Want to see some examples of stuff more in line with sexualized men?

Spoiler: NSFW

And save for that last one, it's still way more tame than anything you'd expect to see in the typical comic book, anime, or jrpg.

...I hope that last one isn't too much.

Come on, we've been slinging around photos of women with breasts down to their knees for years now

[sub]Let me know if I should edit it out[/sub]

 

[Areloch]

Women are usually sexualized over their body, while men are usually sexualized over their status. Stating that similar male traits and female traits, such as body parts should share the same amount of emphasis is a bit of a false equivilancy in practice, even if it is consistently equal in premise.

A completely naked woman is appealing because it shows off desirable breeding traits, which men, generally, are primarily drawn to. A completely naked man, however, does not indicate much about their status. Sure, hot naked men are attractive, but the whole "status" thing is the reason why male models are usually accessorized to display power, whether through wealth (nice cloths and jewelry, such as watches), positions of authority (firefighter, cop, or military outfits), or indicators of self-confidence and machismo (tattoos, bad-boy outfits, whatever).

This is why male strippers don't usually go full-monty, and why trying to hold male characters and female characters to the exact same behavioral or appearance standards simply isn't consistent with the way human beings perceive each other. If certain characters are designed in ways you don't like, I think it's more telling about who is responding to what (in the case of "oversexualized women", it more often than not is women bitching about how unfair it is for them), rather than that of the character, character creator, or primary audience.

Because when I look at the cast of Free, I see status, not wet, dreamy, gay boys.

Yeah, this.

I mean, have you seen the main characters in Free?

Spoiler

And the ladies. How they swoon. It's foolish to assume that the sexualization of males doesn't heavily play to their physique. The male physique is absolutely relevant to titillating ladies. Sure, implied traits such as being successful and the like are huge bonuses, but when it comes to erotica-type stuff, having the well built physique is what's pushed front and center, same as stuff designed to titilate guys.

I mean, it's brought up all the time, but it's also kinda sorta totally relevent to point out the romance novel covers, and how they tend to feature well built guys with no shirts on showing off their great abs, well toned pecs and biceps. How successful in business or the like tend to not really be what shows up on those covers.