Playing as a female character usually annoys me.

[CWestfall]

All the feminism and open-mindedness in the world won't carry the weight of full plate armour and a broadsword.

The OP isn't saying women can't be bad-asses, he's saying that they should look like bad-asses, instead of fashion models on a photo shoot. Doesn't seem so unreasonable to me.

It really came off as "Women can never be bad-asses" to me, but it was also pretty late when I was reading this. I do agree with that, then.

 

[Voxgizer]

And as for you army reference, I say PFFT! I did the application process for West Point, and you know what? The physical test expectations are dramatically higher for men than women. A guy who performs sightly under male averages will be frowned upon by the decision committee while a woman who performs at EXACTLY the same level would be applauded.

That's because women aren't allowed to take part in combat.

http://www.slate.com/id/2119241/

I questioned my brother on the subject awhile ago as he's much more knowledgeable than I am about how the military works. He summed it up as the military seeing men shut in together during combat (trenches, holding a specific area, that type of thing) that there's no sense of sexual attraction.

Now, you toss a woman into that mix and there's the chance for the attraction, possible abuse, or worse.

Aaaaand that's how it was explained to me.

But what about gay men? What about how many people are somewhere on the bisexual spectrum? They have been in the military and it hasn't been such a problem.

If it worked to solve tensions of sexual attraction by segregating people by gender then there would never be any rape in prison... wait.

(FYI: most of the rape victims in prison are in fact gay men raped my men who self-identify as straight)

I think the issue goes beyond sexual attraction or lust. Me thinks it is societal conventions that all men and women hold regardless of sexual orientation.

That's an excellent point. I'm aware of the abuse and rape that goes on, and you're probably right about it being societal.

 

[BoTTeNBReKeR]

Now, I can understand the presence of these heroines. More ladies join our ranks every day, and they should be given a character option with which they can identify. But even female gamers must detect the nagging sense of impossibility that the utterly unchanged application of a female hero to a male role creates. So why is it that so many men choose to play as a chick? You and I both know there's no way a female is going to be humanity's first SPECTRE when women can't even make the Navy SEALs, and every time FemShep knocks a Krogan down with the butt of her Assault Rife it breaks immersion. So why do you do it?

There aren't any female SEALS because of an army policy forbidding them from trying out, something that is in the process of being fixed, this section of the argument is invalid due to your research failure.

And do you realise that a woman will never be considered equal to a male navy seal, even if she is able to complete the training? (which I highly doubt any woman is able to complete) Why you ask? Because the male body is better suited for fighting and the entire menstrual cycle thing isn't exactly ideal for the missions those special forces guys preform.

There's a reason why society looks down on a man fighting/hitting a woman you know. It's because the female body is weaker and more fragile than the male body. It's not sexist, it's fact.

What? Are you high? Sure, a lady's period is a factor, but women have a higher tolerance for pain (CHILD BIRTH ************!) and I know women that could probably kick your ass. So do not give me a "women are weaker, it's science" cause science has proven that it's pretty much all about training, a woman will be about equal to a man in strength if she goes through the same regimen as a man, there may be a small factor of difference, but not much.

1)Pain tolerance has nothing to do with it. You cannot deploy a female behind enemy lines for weeks on end. It's simply too dangerous (dogs can smell certain things you know...).

2)You know that women could probably kick my ass... Really? Have you seen a guy armwrestling with a woman lately? Have you watched any sport as of late? There's a reason why women and men are divided in sports you know. It's because the average woman cannot physically compete with the average a man with equal skill/training. Just because you do not wish to believe it doesn't make it so.