jumpingjacktrash:

awkwaben:

Oh holy shit.

oh my god, this is a real match and not an anime and there are no wires that actually happened in the real world. :O

AHA. YES. THIS GIVES ME THE ABILITY TO PUT MY CURRENT FEMALE FIGHTER THINKS INTO WORDS.

Look how she uses technique and momentum to overcome size and weight differences and put the guy on the mat. I see examples of ladies who genuinely kick ass all over the damn place in the actual world, but almost never in comics and movies where the laws of physics are way more forgiving.

Well, unless you count the female character is one of those Action Sues who sort of radiate implausibility in general by hurling boulders around and then lose every fucking fight that matters, which I don’t. These characters make me gag. I loathe the girl power bait-and-switch. The whole effect is to smugly underline the idea that a girl can’t kick ass without it being unrealistic somehow. Very condescending.

Rumiko Takahashi, I am looking at you.

Like, we’re willing to believe a man can do a double jump after running up a ten foot wall, but not that a chick could take a random guy in a fight? Why? Because poorly understood and randomly enforced laws of physics. Also because lazy sexist writer. And because bluh.

Cloud runs around Midgar killing mutant houses with a ten foot chunk of sheet metal on a stick with rocks stuck in the holes, people get shot in the face and lose ten hit points, and you can buy magic potions to bring everyone but Aeris back from the dead, then when a girl fighter comes on the scene and whups some butt, that’s where the suspension of disbelief collapses?  

It’s like the writer just shrugs and says “SOMEONE needs to get rescued in this thing.” And hey, she’ll still have a role, running around in leather pants and getting kidnapped. 

That’s physics: women are weak and can’t think of ways to overcome it, and all men are black belt fighters.

Have you guessed by now that I really really hate most anime?

And comic books?

And Hollywood?

Think your fantasy audience won’t buy a physically strong woman as realistic? You’re the fucking writer. Do your job, make us believe the fairly plausible despite our sexist bullshit hangups. Unless you don’t feel like it, obviously. Most writers don’t.

But if you do want to write a badass female fighter and not settle for the bullshit tsundere sissy who throws cars when ranma is a baka but can’t kick a dude in the face, you should look into the ways skill and wits can realistically be used to overcome a serious physical mismatch right here in the real world.

Really use those pesky laws of physics to your advantage. That’s what martial arts are for. That’s how little guys fight and how they win, in fiction and real life. Skill and resourcefulness. Having titty only closes those doors if you, as the writer, want it to.