The Roles of Final Fantasy Women

by Meagan Ehrhardt

I have noticed while surfing the web and playing the Final Fantasy games that Final Fantasy 4-8 have only three women. In the Final Fantasies that I've played (4, 6, & 7) there are some similarities:

1) The first woman met has a blank past until later in the game. (Terra & Aeris)

2) The last girl you get is always the youngest. (Porom, Relm, & Yuffie)

3) The first woman you meet (not necessarily in your party right away) always has a very important part in the game. (Rosa, Terra, Aeris)

4) All the women have a male character that they are stuck behind. (Rosa-Cecil, Rydia-Yang/Edge, Porom-Palom, Terra-Leo, Celes-Locke, Relm-Strago, Aeris-Cloud/Zack, Tifa-Barret/Cloud, and Yuffie-Godo)

5) The second woman met has some tie to the main character or their actions (Cecil burns down Rydia's hometown, Celes was part of the Empire with Terra, and Tifa knew Cloud when they were children)

Final Fantasy lacks originality and respect for the women in their games. For example: Tifa is a body builder/martial arts woman with a six pack but looks like she would wear a 34DDD bra, which isn't naturally possible, she should be nearly flat. I find this quite degrading to women, and young girls that see their older brothers going gaga over characters like these.

Also why is it that a woman is always killed or lost for a long time? A few examples: Porom and her brother use stone on themselves, Terra loses control over her powers and disappears, and Aeris is slain by Sephiroth. Why is it that all these incidents have women in them? I always thought it was the men who were supposed to protect the women, not the other way around.

I often wonder why we are kept in the dark about some of the women, such as Celes and Rydia. We never find out anything about Celes, except that she was raised by Cid and infused with Esper power at a young age. We never find out what happened to Rydia while she was in The Land of the Summoned Monsters, other than she gave up her powers of white magic.

Why is it that in Final Fantasy 7 Tifa and Aeris are forced to wear dresses? I always thought this game was meant to take place in the future. However Aeris's dress is unbuttoned from the bottom to ¾ of the way up her legs. Tifa wears a sports bra and a little leather skirt, how can anyone fight in a skin-tight leather skirt? However we can have shirtless males parading around with no problem, like Barret and Sephiroth. If they can be comfortable, why can't the women?

I believe I have made my point clear. Next time you play one of the Final Fantasy games, think about these things, and realize how true they are.