Battling the Double Standard

by Cortney Stone

Original Editorial: The Ever-Annoying Player Character Death

One would think that in our supposedly enlightened modern world, gender inequality would be a thing of the past. Unfortunately, while women have attained legal and political equality, there is still the problem of social inequality. This editorial is about how some are still clinging to archaic notions about gender, and as seen in Rumikoholic's editorial "The Ever-Annoying Player Character Death."

I will not even touch Rumikoholic's main argument regarding the "deaths" of player characters, since I found the editorial to be unsupported and too brief for its purpose. Nevertheless, Rumikoholic's comments regarding the characters of Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals deserve to be addressed, as they point to an underlying issue in social inequality.

Rumikoholic's editorial laments the fact that Tia leaves the group by saying "Whose idea was it to replace Dekkar and Tia with the 80-year old Guy and slutty Selan in Lufia 2?" If memory serves me right, Guy was not 80 years old, or even beyond his late twenties, but that is beside the point. Tia left Maxim et al because she realized that she was not strong enough to carry on the quest, and that Maxim and Selan were clearly in love. She had feelings for Maxim, but those were left unrequited. Tia's decision to leave reflects her maturity. She could have remained with the group and plotted to interfere with Maxim and Selan's relationship, but instead she took the noble route and withdrew to her quiet village home. Clearly, gentle, sensitive Tia is not Maxim's type; he is better off paired with the powerful, headstrong Selan.

Second, there is no evidence whatsoever in the entire game that Selan is "slutty." A slut is someone who enganges in promiscuous sex. Based on what we can learn from the game, Selan has only one partner - Maxim, her husband. Having sex with her husband and no one else does not make her a slut; it means that she is monogamous. Rumikoholic goes on to further smear Selan's reputation by saying that after Tia left "two seconds later, Selan was knocked-up and married." Hardly. Selan's marriage preceded the birth of her child by a year. While that seems a little fast (most couples wait a few years before having children), Lufia II is set in a quasi-medieval age where there is probably little or no knowledge of birth control. It's not as if Maxim and Selan could walk down to the local shop and find a pack of condoms right next to the potions. In addition, it takes two to tango, so to speak. Selan is obviously not the only one engaging in sexual relations here. Rumikoholic's line of thinking may stem from the classic double standard, in which it is socially acceptable for the star quarterback to sleep with numerous girls, but the quiet girl in the back of the class is ostracized once she sleeps with one person one time.

This is not the only incidence of gender-based reputation assumptions. I've heard far too many people accuse numerous female characters of being "sluts," ranging from those who have no basis whatsoever for this bad reputation, like Rinoa, to those who simply dress differently or have prominent features, like Yuna or Tifa. Appearance sometimes has little to do with sexual behaviors. A character's reputation should be based on his or her actions, not just his or her clothing or physical features. There are very few female characters who could be deemed true "sluts," and I have noticed that the male characters who engage in what could be considered promiscuous behavior are merely labeled "ladies' men."

In conclusion, I hope that our readers in the future will show some consideration toward characters and avoid assumptions based on gender, race, creed, and physical appearance. I also hope that this behavior carries over into how they interact in the real world.