Alpha Maeko said:
His points might come across better if his audio equipment/setup/post-processing didn't seem so half assed.
Audio debacle aside, I think accusations of sexism are a little too frequent, now days. We're becoming a society too easily insulted by just about anything.
It's not "nowadays" it's been an issue in geek culture since the very beginnings. We've seen the same complaints about women in comic books, on the cover of fantasy novels, and how they are portrayed in PnP RPGs.
The basic issue is generally that nerds (the core fan base) have little luck with girls (shock!) and as such by trying to be feminist in being critical of such things, they hope it will make them, and their interests more attractive to women.
Of course this overlooks important issues, like how women who create fantasy and artwork produce images that are almost identical to the ones that men produce, if not worse. We're dealing with a physical ideal, which is universally appealing. Women, wish they could look like that, just as guys wish they could be with girls that look like that. A failure to understand this is incidently why attempts to be girl-friendly backlash on the guys who try and it and after decades of the same basic position nerds still aren't any more attractive to women... which is more about them being nerds, than the artwork and images in the things the nerds happen to like.
I know Jim is trying to be funny, but to be honest there has never really been an issue with nearly naked macho-men not getting equal time. Forget doing a search for "Devil May Cry" on Deviant Art, take a walk through the romance section of your book store where the lonely women shop and look at all the nearly naked beefcake on display... want to talk about objectification of a physical ideal... I think more of that is produced than the combined nerd-marketplace (or so it seems, the Romance section frequently being bigger than the sci-fi section, and that's not even getting into all the grocery stores, drug stores, and other places that carry nothing but this kind of schlock... with maybe some Steven King or paranormal romance thrown in from time to time).
There is also the whole fact that even the whole "idealized pictures of women giving young girls self-confidence issues and encouraging unhealthy behaviors" isn't one sided. Those beefcake pictures of guys get criticized just the same, it's just usually in athletic circles. People cry just as much about guys with arms as big around as his head, as they do about girls with breasts as big as their head. The women cry about things like anorexia and girls running to get cosmetic surgery in their pre-teens, and the guy side has people crying about how the images encourage guys to take steroids to meet the masculine ideal.
When it comes to the costumes themselves, people need to understand that men and women are differant. Like it or not there are very good reasons why women have been oppressed through history, it's not JUST because of guys being twats, but because women needed to be protected, especially at the lower tech levels. Truthfully the whole idea of women's equality is a fairly recent concept, and very much almost exclusive to western first world countries (despite lip service). Countries with gender equality are greatly outnumbered by those in the second and third world that do not practice it, and there is a general coorespondance to the less advanced a nation being, the more sexits it tends to be.
To put things into perspective, consider that the issue isn't JUST women being weaker than guys in terms of strength. It might shock some of you to learn that breasts tend to be very sensitive, and the size doesn't really influance this. When it comes to combat (which is really what we're talking about when it comes to fantasy) it makes no sense to put women in plate armor, because it won't help them. The whole "give girls sensible armor" arguement is ridiculous. A blow to the chest on a breastplate that gives a guy a bruise underneath will take a girl out of the fight. This means that anything that puts weight on the chest is NOT going to benefit women at all, as there is no payoff. "sensible armor" being a massive disadvantage for anatomical reasons.
In general when it comes to fighting, it's all about movement and durability. The big reason why your typical super hero walks around in tights and shorts is because that's the kind of thing someone heading out to perform serious physical activity wears, normal clothing constricts and reduces your range of movement. Throwing a high kick in normal pants will probably slow down your end results at best, and rip out your pants seams at the worse. This is why when they fight or put on displays martial artists will wear special costumes like Pajamas (Gis and similar things) or tights. Tights are also worn by acrobats and such for the same reason, it's much easier to flex all over the place and start doing backflips in a set of tights. Given that your typical super hero is supposed to be an acrobat or combat master, their costumes have been traditionally based around what people who really did those things wore. Your vigilante going out looking for fights might very well have an advantage in terms of mobility by wearing tights and shorts, over an opponent who is dressed normally. It looks "ridiculous" by the standards of someone in street clothes, but at the same time he's wearing a mask, and by the very nature of being a super hero doesn't care what other people think, he's out to efficiently bust heads. Durability can be a factor when your looking at a character who isn't relying on the same kind of physical action and isn't invulnerable (ie for Superman he doesn't need armor, since bullets bounce off of him without it), wearing a chain mail shirt to take on gang bangers with knives is awesome, but when your looking at girls that chain mail isn't going to help the same way. A stab to the chest, and sure the chain mail might stop the blade, but she's still going to be on her back, so it's not a viable option.
When it comes to female fantasy characters, a guy saying "okay, let's ignore physical performance" and is assuming that Red Sonja or a similar charater can max out in physical abillity to the same degree as a guy, or this will otherwise be written around, still has to work around the anatomy. It doesn't make since for a female warrior to walk around in plate mail or chain mail, because it will provide absolutly NO advantage, superior speed or whatever doesn't even figure into it. The female warrior's best bet is to wear as little as possible to get the highest range of movement possible, that means going with things like bikini, especially in a tech level that doesn't allow for modern fabrics and things like Kevlar and Spandex. In an oriental-type setting silk clothing and various martial arts clothing might be an option, but if your doing western fantasy or Conan-type barbarism that isn't really an option conceptually. A lot of the artwork of an idealized, heroic female character, standing there nearly naked, is actually pretty realistic, that's what it would probably look like in that setting.... not even getting into the lollercaust of someone complaining about a picture of say Red Sonja and Conan back to back, where BOTH of them are nearly naked, but people complain about her (and yes I know Sonja wasn't originally in the same universe as Conan, but she was put there in comics and such and that's where artwork of that sort comes from).
When it comes to modern comic book characters, the same basic logic applies, with the women wearing pretty much the same stuff the dudes are, and for the same reasons. Like it or not a bikini or one piece, spandex, or a unitard, are all viable and realistic options. Sure it appeals to guys, but at the same time you'll notice that nobody makes a big deal about all the guys running around in the same body costumes, or relying on nothing but their manly chest muscles to protect them. In the modern comics genere the issue of modern body armor can be raised, but typically in comics super-science comes into play. The stuff the X-men wear for example is a form of super-science spandex body armor, so everyone wears it. Other super heroes are typically wearing unstable molecules or something similar. The issue of "why isn't this girl wearing a turtle shell Delta Force vest" is rarely a logical question when noone who is "super" wears stuff like that, largely because they have better just for being a
super hero. It's actually a very equal presentation, and I find it kind of odd that when you think about it most arguements like that, or about women wearing full plate mail or breast plates come down to people actually saying "she should be unusually modest just for being a lady" or "it's better to gimp yourself and take a beating than risk someone thinking you look good in what everyone else is wearing".
Long rant, and I've said it before (a few times) but this is my thoughts on the subject.
Jim is funny, but I think his show needs some work, it hasn't really "clicked" with me yet.
I'll admit you have made some very good points and you've forced me to admit something. I've been playing devils advocate a bit. xD I still like his videos tho, but I'm willing to admit it faults.