Ryuu's Sexism: Entry 1

Boo. Surprise squid appearance.

I've dragged myself out of my little pond to discuss another little issue with Ryuu.

And by little, I mean huge. I'm in a pretty foul mood as well for a variety of reasons, so... Ryuu's in for another ass reaming tonight.

Yes, I'm fully aware of the jokes that sentence may or may not spawn. I can't bring myself to take them. That's too easy. However, if anybody else wants to go for it, knock yourself out.

But I digress. As the title says, Ryuu's pretty clearly a bigot in more than one way.

There were indications of this quite some time ago, though I won't mention them in detail as I've forgotten the source and basically everything but the general gist. But they were enough to make me go, "whoa, hold on there, scooter." Time's passed, though, and other things ate up the space it was using in my brain.

However, it decided to resurface pretty recently, when the lovely She-Elf brought it up in an MSN conversation.

And it hit me again. The man is beyond a doubt sexist.

How do I come to that conclusion? Well, there's a shitload of evidence so hold on to your undies, kids, as we're in for a pretty damn long ride. Which is why I'm breaking this up into a series or we'll be here all fucking week.

Look, I'm the first to admit it: in many cases, I just don't get along with other women. Why, I have no idea. There's too many potential reasons and too few years in a human lifespan for me to get into that. But despite that, I have no tolerance for this sexist bullshit. And that'd be why I'm writing this.

Subject A: His Gerudo character Rebé Anjellia.

Personally, I love the Gerudos. Graceful, fast swordfighters quite capable of holding their own in battle...

I like Zoras for their ability to breath underwater and they look so cool. Gerudos are pretty, and Hylians are pretty much the standard.

I don't know who takes the cake on that.

Oh dear fucking god, that was FAST. They beat the everloving shit out of Link in OoT and the best he can say for them is that they're fucking pretty. Hey, Ryuu? Stop thinking with your dick, okay? It'll help. A lot.

Well, maybe her bio will be better off.

Name: Rebé Anjellia

Nickname/Title: Beauty of the Desert

... Or not. I suspect a shitload of emphasis on how PRETTY and GORGEOUS she is, all of a sudden.

Physical Description: Rebé has been described as the "Beauty of the Desert". She well deserves that title. Her long, flowing scarlet hair cascades to the high-backs of her calves. Its flaring shine reflects the sun's light as it streams with her smooth and graceful movements. Her forehead is bare, having no bangs. But sections of hair hang in front of her ears and sweep down like streams of scarlet. They make their end at the lowest reach of her ribs. Her golden eyes shimmer like the sun's rays on the ocean's sunset. Her deeply emotional mind can been revealed by her eyes. Her face is kind of narrow and she holds high cheekbones. Her nose is medium-length, straight and narrow. Her chin is small and her lips are thin. Though often hidden, her lips are a slight silver, much like that of Nabooru. Her ears are more human-like than those of Hylians'. Her body continues her exquisit [sic] appearance. Her neck is thin, but not weak. Her torso overall is very slender, tone, and sexy. Her stomach as nicely trim and her back is strong. She is noticably[sic] busty, but still in good proportion to the rest of her body. Herbottom[sic] is small and her legs are long, smooth and sleek. Her legs make up most of her hight.[sic] Her feet are long in general, but they're also larger then the usual Gerudo's. Her arms are also smooth and lengthy. Her hands are big with long fingers. Her tanned skin is very smooth and soft all over. She shines in the light naturally like those who have had lotion on. Though she has a delicate display like that of a princess, she is as strong as any Gerudo warrior.

Do I win a fucking cookie? Ignoring the fact that reading that was like reading Twilight on steroids, he's gone into every shitting detail trying to portray how goddamn bangable she is. She's a warrior. Who the hell CARES what her feet look like as long as she gets the job done in battle? And 'streams of scarlet.' Good god, where's the locusts,the plagues and the deaths of the firstborn sons of Egypt? As I'm pretty sure that "scarlet streams" were mentioned in the Old Testament of the bible when the Pharaoh pissed Moses the hell off along with all those other fun things.

Anyway, moving on. Last I checked, being 'delicate' isn't good in a fight. Unless you have a death wish, anyway. 'Display of a princess?' What the hell does that even mean? "Dignity of a princess" makes sense. "Regal bearing of a princess" also makes sense. Not 'display of a princess,' as she's dressed in what basically amounts to lingerie in public and generally, fathers of princesses (those small little issues known as 'kings' or 'emperors' in most cases) flipped the hell out at that, especially in medieval times. Even disregarding that, she's a damn Gerudo. A MEMBER OF A GROUP OF THIEVES. You'd think that logically, the fragile ones would be shunned or not allowed to leave the fortress during crises due to their risk of death or something. It's not like you can go rape and pillage if you're going to fucking break halfway to the pillaging location.

Hey, does that look like a princess to you? Because it doesn't to me. It looks like fap material for Ryuu's high school fanboys.

Moving on once more... Her personality.

Personality: Rebé is very caring and loving deep down, but on the surface, she's more thought of as a wandering mind. She's been known to be someone who can't keep her thoughts here on earth. She likes to joke when she can. Laughter is the best medicine, but no number of such doses have had much effect on the reality of her painful past. She speaks her mind and there's a lot that goes on in there. Though the "jokester" is her main title amung[sic] friends, she is by no means a careless woman. She has her serious and very calm moments and she shows respect where it is due - to her standards. You can easily tell her emotions by her face and her voice. She's aware of her body being attractive to men, and sometimes she'll use that knowledge to her advantage... if she can.

I swear, that all seems like a giant attempt to justify the last sentence. If she's a Gerudo, shouldn't she be capable of initiating an ambush or something even if she's not up to direct combat, instead of just seducing people? The Gerudos are, if I'm not remembering wrongly, very proud women, so why on earth would one of their number sink to this? Besides, why just men? Oh, wait. This is Ryuu we're talking about. My mistake. Real life doesn't factor in there.

Strengths: She's well skilled in the art of Gerudo swordplay. Her slender body and skills with the desert style of dancing make her a perfect attraction and distraction where needed. she also has a strong will.

Okay, here's my biggest issue. She's a skilled swordswoman but her main skill is serving as a stripper/distraction? You gotta be out of your fucking mind, dude. She CAN fight but she would rather defeat enemies through dancing around in skimpy outfits. Yeah. That's gonna work GREAT. Assuming she 'distracts' some furious, sleazy jackass a head taller and much stronger with no self control to speak of ... It's likely she'd be in for a world of trouble.

Oh, but wait. There's more!

Even though you'd probably expect a sole Gerudo to be able to care for herself reasonably well, Ryuu's given her a bodyguard. A male, Queen Gohma ripoff of a bodyguard.

On her way out, she bumped into a massive beast named Morphious. Morphious stayed with Rebé for a while and heard her pour her heart out into her sorrows. Morphious was normally a hardened creature, but this tale softened his heart and he kept Rebé by his side. They have been together ever since.

So, basically, because of this display of sobby distress she caused a cynical, hardened... Male (for lack of a better word, as man doesn't really apply to a great, hulking mutant spider) to become soft and refuse to let her leave his side. Hokay, as a cynical FEMALE, I'd just like to point out that that doesn't work that way, jack. Ryuu's knowledge of human nature at the time the bio was written: None, clearly.

Rebé was always the kind to show off her body from the start, the one character who knew of her beauty and wasn't afraid to flaunt it some. But she was never bragging about it or came off as a show-off in the sense of constantly making emphasis with her words - she always let her figure do that for her. (What the heck, I mean if they don't notice how well she's kept herself by looking at her, words aren't gonna do squat anyway.) Not much really changed over the years, just her outfits. She's fun to make outfits for. But that was it for a while.

... That seems like one. Giant. Contradiction.

Walking around in outfits like she wears... Yeah, that's basically bragging about it. Or begging for 'indecent exposure' charges in some areas. I'm not sure. In any case, if you're wearing clothes that would logically cause people to mosey on over to you and ask "how much for anal," you have a problem.

And he basically admits she's a text-based version of a Barbie doll crossed with a blowup doll. Because of course, women can't be anything else.

This one is actually one of the few who were originally intended for LoZ. Rebé was my first Zelda-based female character and she was made at The Forest Haven. She was always a run-away Gerudo from the start, but her description said she was motherly. She never really was played that way, so her description changed to be more of a wild-spirited diva, as she is here. It was this RP forum she met Morphious, the intelligent Gohma, and the two characters have been near inseparable since, despite the fact he rarely shows in my gallery.

Oh for the love of all things bubblegum flavored.

One, way to fuck up your OWN DAMN CHARACTER. Two, he still has no knowledge of human nature. Three, "diva."

There are so many negative connotations there it's not even funny.

It's now time for Vocab Lessons With Cala.

From Dictionary.com:

di·va
   /ˈdivə, -vɑ/ Show Spelled[dee-vuh, -vah]
–noun, plural -vas, -ve  /-vɛ/ Show Spelled[-ve]
a distinguished female singer; prima donna.

And she's a distinguished stripper (oh, I'm sorry. "Dancer") and I didn't see anything in there about her singing voice, that leads us to definition two.

What is a 'prima donna?' Also from dictionary.com:

pri·ma don·na
   /ˌprimə ˈdɒnə, ˌprɪmə; It. ˈprimɑ ˈdɔnnɑ/ Show Spelled[pree-muh don-uh, prim-uh; It. pree-mah dawn-nah]
–noun, plural pri·ma don·nas, Italian pri·me don·ne  /ˈprimɛ ˈdɔnnɛ/ Show Spelled[pree-me dawn-ne]
1.a first or principal female singer of an opera company.
2.a temperamental person; a person who takes adulation and privileged treatment as a right and reacts with petulance to criticism or inconvenience.

In essence? Since the first definition obviously doesn't apply here, we're dealing with a spoilt, egotistical brat. Actually... That definition sounds a HELL of a lot like Ryuu to me.

Anyway, the sobbings of an egotistical brat caused the coldness of a known cynic to break? Uh... Huh.

Later on, as my love and I got to thinking on her more, we started solidifying what she would be like in Child of the Triforce. She gained Ganondorf's TP headdress with Twinrova's giant gem on her forehead. She gained a vest-like shirt, no bra, puffy Gerudo pants and metal shoes, as well as some nice gloves and snake-head swords. Her hair is mostly down, but in certain times in later stories, it's elaborately braided and woven in rings like Shiva of Final Fantasy X. While this is an absolute keeper for her Morrowind version, it's an on-off thing for her LoZ version.

I'm beginning to run out of expressions of "what the shuddering fuck" besides, well... What the shuddering fuck?

So you're gonna steal shit from... Well. Let's count. One, two, three! Three different characters! And then he calls her original? If you're OK with this entire set-up, please go take a cold shower and think about this. If the method listed doesn't help... Well, I don't know if we can help you here.

Ryuu's blatant thievery aside... Lack of bra in a vest. With large boobs. Oh my GOD, that is a recipe for disaster.

Unless he's only seen plastic tits his entire life, he should know that if a female has anything over about a B cup... Going without a bra is a fairly bad idea. Especially if you're GOING TO BE IN A GODDAMN FIGHT. Too much bouncing around can be painful if you're over a certain size.

So overall, she's basically just Hooker Barbie to him. That's just MILDLY sexist, not to mention creepy.

In closing, compare and contrast a standard Gerudo with Rebé.

Standard Gerudo:
- Somewhat skimpily dressed, as is kinda to be expected if you live in a gigantic desert. Parkas won't be pleasant there. Still, it won't be enough to get them arrested.
- Very capable swordswomen in direct combat or in ambush situations. They're thieves.
- They're proud. This, I believe, is evident in most games they're in. If my brain isn't failing me.
- Even the evil ones are powerful: Ganondorf is an all around massive threat, Koume and Kotake/Twinrova are the last temple boss. Even the little old ladies of the Gerudo don't need a damn bodyguard.

Rebé
- BEYOND skimpily dressed. To the point where if she wore equivalent clothing in this era, it's likely she would be the subject of a sex sting due to people (cops included) mistaking her for a fucking hooker.
- Supposedly a skilled swordswoman. In practice? A dancer who serves as a distraction in battle. In other words, a stripper.
- Clearly lacks pride, as she's a spoilt brat as well.
- She needs a gigantic Gohma to keep her out of trouble. Yeah, Ryuu, way to rape everything everyone knows about the Gerudos and twist it to suit your specifications of women.

What I'm taking from this is that strong women aren't possible to him. Physically and mentally strong women capable of actually fighting. Or dressing reasonably for someone who would expect to see battle. Or not being a spoilt little child who needs a bodyguard.

Someone go wake Ryuu up. The 21st century's asking for him. Apparently it wants to smack him upside the head a few times.



Sources (for whatever reason, the HTML is being a rampaging pile of shit so excuse any dead links, etc.):
Favorite Race Thread
Ryuu's Character Lists
Ryuu's Own DA Journal