Female warrior characters

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Scott

Scott

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Why are tough women becoming so common in movies and TV? There are a lot of women in combat roles now. One example is Starbuck of the new Battlestar. The movies always portray them as being able to go toe to toe or to best men. Starbuck had an extended heavy-duty boxing scene with a man in which they both ended up very bloody. They have a host of other violent and tough female characters on BSG. It seems common in many places, though. Any thoughts on why this is?
 
I don't know but for anyone who knows anything about the rigors of the infantry or of the profound strength difference between men and women, it's always a major suspension of disbelief. It's believable only in The Matrix where you're kicking butt with your mind and not with real muscles.
 
What I find even more disturbing than the positive portrayal of these types of women is the men who are attracted to them!
 
Indeed, that seems to be the point - these characters are made so that male audiences will be attracted to them, more than they are made to be characters women would relate to or aspire to be like.
 
That movie where Demi Moore was a U.S. Seal is probably the worst that I can think of.
 
It's totally ridiculous. I saw a good illustration once of the difference between men and women physically. Take a coffee mug and bang it against a china teacup. The teacup will break and the mug will be fine.
 
When I did my military training in Canada (in the reserves), it was co-ed. The physical part of the training was easy and I believe that was because of the female component. I remember carrying extra rifles and packs because there were certain females in the platoon who simply couldn't do it. (To be fair, there were a few guys who couldn't cut it either, but those were few and far between b/c it had been so 'gender normed'.) Basically, it was still too hard for the females and what should have been a culling process for eliminating the weaker males was turned into a few months of pep talking so everyone could cross the finish line together. :banghead:

I remember reading somewhere (maybe in Quo Vadis, a long time ago) that there were women in Rome who could basically buy the life of a gladiator and kill them after sparring with them. Why this was of any interest, I cannot comprehend, but this thread brought it to mind. (I'm not sure if it was historically accurate.)
 
When I did my army reserve basic training it was about 9 females out of 38 in the platoon. To be honest most or all of the females were not very strong physically. On our second pack march, one collapsed and the female squad took a third longer than the men did. I found the march strenuous but not exhausting, and I was about the weakest male in our platoon.

That said I am not sure that I am entirely against women in the military. There may be some roles they can reasonably perform, and I have known women who did very well in the army.
 
Scott said:
Why are tough women becoming so common in movies and TV? There are a lot of women in combat roles now. One example is Starbuck of the new Battlestar.
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Don't forget Eowyn who killed the Witch-King of Angmar. It caught me by surprise when she chopped off the head of the Nazgul in the movie. :wow:
 
When I did my army reserve basic training it was about 9 females out of 38 in the platoon. To be honest most or all of the females were not very strong physically. On our second pack march, one collapsed and the female squad took a third longer than the men did. I found the march strenuous but not exhausting, and I was about the weakest male in our platoon.

That said I am not sure that I am entirely against women in the military. There may be some roles they can reasonably perform, and I have known women who did very well in the army.
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For us, the integration was fully done. Everything was co-ed, save the showers. Platoons and sections were mixed; most of the mods we slept in were about 80-20 male-female - it meant that any sense of modesty or femininity was erased; it simply wasn't compatible with the situation.
 
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We had three sections in the platoon, one with the females and 3 or 4 men, the other 2 all male, I was in an all male one. Most things were co-ed except showers and sleeping arrangements in barracks.
 
The objective seems not to be the evolution of women to male status, but the elimination of maleness altogether.
 
Neopatriarch said:
Scott said:
Why are tough women becoming so common in movies and TV? There are a lot of women in combat roles now. One example is Starbuck of the new Battlestar.
Click to expand...

Don't forget Eowyn who killed the Witch-King of Angmar. It caught me by surprise when she chopped off the head of the Nazgul in the movie. :wow:
Click to expand...

That was consistent with the scene in the book by Tolkien. Glorfindel had foretold that the Witch-king would not "fall by the hand of man". But Éowyn was able to overcome the prophecy and shocked him by saying:

"No living man am I! You look upon a woman."
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Lon is right, we see a similar agenda happening with children. I believe ADHD was invented to do away with maleness (boyish behavior) at a young age. Laugh at my tin foil hat if you must but there is some truth to this. Boys aren't allowed to behave like boys anymore and if they do, it's rittalin for the upstart.


lwadkins said:
The objective seems not to be the evolution of women to male status, but the elimination of maleness altogether.
Click to expand...
 
BobVigneault said:
Lon is right, we see a similar agenda happening with children. I believe ADHD was invented to do away with maleness (boyish behavior) at a young age. Laugh at my tin foil hat if you must but there is some truth to this. Boys aren't allowed to behave like boys anymore and if they do, it's rittalin for the upstart.
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Well what else would you do, Bawb? You know you aren't allowed to spank them or be gruff with them and tell them to settle down!
 
My wife was called to KinderCare last year because my son, (then 3) was about to be suspended. I asked what he had done. The teacher said he tackled another boy at recess.

I kept waiting for the rest of the story. That was it. He tackled another boy at recess. I knew then that things were very different from when I was a boy.
 
BobVigneault said:
My wife was called to KinderCare last year because my son, (then 3) was about to be suspended. I asked what he had done. The teacher said he tackled another boy at recess.

I kept waiting for the rest of the story. That was it. He tackled another boy at recess. I knew then that things were very different from when I was a boy.
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did you buy him ice cream and explain that he should only tackle if the other kid has a football ???? :p
 
Is that an age joke? I think I remember when rope was invented but I have no recall of Cain and Abel. My birth was definitely post-deluvian.
 
I have a relative (female) who applied for the police force. She couldn't keep up and complained that the training was too rigorous and discriminatory. They adjusted her requirements....

The moral damage done by women in combat is staggering as well. I've not served, I've not faced combat and I've not been trained other than some hand to hand and shooting skills; so I can stand to be corrected on this. My understanding is that men serving in combat situations perceive a need to protect the women, which becomes a distraction for them. The women are seen as weak links in the force during combat situations. And the reality is that women are treated much differently than men when captured. All of these conspire to weaken the military, not only where women are directly involved, but because men cannot focus on the task at hand in light of their concern for the weaker sex and the implications of a woman either dying for them, or being captured.

Where men abdicate and women usurp the roles of men chivalry and honor have died.
 
Poimen said:
What I find even more disturbing than the positive portrayal of these types of women is the men who are attracted to them!
Click to expand...

Me too. I am wondering if there is a profile that fits the typical guys that are attracted to these kinds of women.
 
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