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 What caused FR gender equality?
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Alystra Illianniis
Great Reader

USA
3750 Posts

Posted - 22 Nov 2012 :  02:40:06  Show Profile Send Alystra Illianniis a Private Message  Reply with Quote
And yet those same ladies ended up hatching a plot to convince their mates to listen to their advice, byt using magic to make it appear that they could hold their liquor better than the men! And it worked, and the males gained a lot of respect for their wives. And for the record, the coronal ended up having to (very reluctantly and sadly) kill one of his most respected advisors and noble peers- who was female. Also, the head of the elven House that Elminster posed as a member of to bring back their Lore Gem was also female. Clearly, the gender roles go both ways in that book. Just as there are a few males in it who view women as lees than equal, there are apparently just as many females in positions of power- Symrustar herself being one of them!

The Goddess is alive, and magic is afoot.

"Where Science ends, Magic begins" -Spiral, Uncanny X-Men #491

"You idiots! You've captured their STUNT doubles!" -Spaceballs

Lothir's character background/stats: http://forum.candlekeep.com/pop_profile.asp?mode=display&id=5469

My stories:
http://z3.invisionfree.com/Mickeys_Comic_Tavern/index.php?showforum=188

Lothir, courtesy of Sylinde (Deviant Art)/Luaxena (Chosen of Eilistraee)
http://sylinde.deviantart.com/#/d2z6e4u
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Daughter of Tymora
Acolyte

1 Posts

Posted - 20 Jun 2018 :  19:50:34  Show Profile Send Daughter of Tymora a Private Message  Reply with Quote
It always made me laugh when people are arguing about "what life really is" in an X fantasy world.
I makes me even more laugh when they are arguin about "who is powerful" or "are there gender equality" etc.

GUYS! It is a fantasy world. Based on our world? Maybe or maybe not. Women and men are equal? Maybe or maybe not.
IT ALL DEPENDS WHAT YOU WRITE OR IMAGINE!

I as a D&D and mostly FR fan, I have played all FR games and read a lots of books. (Mainly from Salvatore and Greenwood, but I also read Storm of the Dead by Lisa Smedman).I also an everyday Forgotten Realms Wiki reader and I have watched the D&D movies. Okay those have male protagonists, but females were played very strong roles.
If you have watched, you will be familiar: Empress Savina she had power even as a child,Norda the leader of the elven trackers?, Lux from the second movie, she actually hold the physical "manly" power of the group, Akordia she also was the leader of her villain team.

Gender equality in the FR world depends on who writes the story. I do not think there is an actual patriarchy or matriarchy.You can write or create a story about a woman, who became a Sultana after she killed Ralana el Persakhal or create a man who rule a town where women only exist in brothels and only become concubines and mothers.

But if you want to compare this world with our world, I'll wrote of the below:

This is a fantasy world! As a women I also want to protect my "kind":
I have many thing that I have read on the wiki (women not considered equal in Calimshan etc.) But in games or treads or role play games, there are women from Calimshan (actually I found a caharacter who was a calishite women paladin).


Also there are the games, where gender unequality was debunked. (Neverwinter 2 woman character can become a knight captain etc.)


If you think, in our world women getting equal, because of science, rational thinking, technology, and physical power, what is the men's preference, are not so important.


Toril is a world full of magic etc., women and men can hide their weakness, both are able to reach what they want. Becoming god is also no gender specified. Also it is logical to be equal , because this is a world of full of monsters and danger. If a women paladin is usefull to protect the city, she will be the protector.

Because there are more information about that males are dominant gender on Toril? Maybe? Really? Just because more men wrote books, and creating role play games, it does not mean that Toril is patriarchal world.

Maybe in THEIR imagination.. but in MY imagination, Toril is still unknown, and of course, in the role play game,where I play as a shadow dancer, everyone is equal. Only two states hold in my imagination: Mulhorand is the only realm,where only males can inherit ( I accept that ,because Mulhorandi nation was transported from our Earth)
And the drow society where males are less importnat.(It is obivous.)

Also there was evidences in game in character creations "Females of the Realms can excel in any area they wish, and are easily the equals of their male counterparts in every skill or respect" (copy from the IWD 2 game's character creation/gender choice tab).


There is the book ,Elminster's Daughter where people who considering their daughters to nothing, called: fools. ( I do not remeber well, I do not have the book).

Also there was a tread, I can't remeber where (maybe you can google it) where it was stated, that Ed Greenwood sayed,that he do not like ,when people compareing our world with the Realms.


If you seek, you also found, that Maztica has many matriarchal societies but bedouin women can't be leaders of their society.


Personally I love dominant men, I always attracted to the stronger role and I played happily as a weak but agile elven.
Altough, I prefer gender equality, because if you are up to fight with a huge ancient dragon, you won't toss your fighter woman away and saying: "Hey women you should be at home and bear children"

So I would like to say, that gender roles are well balanced in Forgotten Realms. It is good to be women just as good to be men there or bad... or something.

End of the stroy, just accept the fact that FR is a fantasy world and D&D is fantasy. Why do not just find a forum about our reality and discuss about our real world?


"Knowledge is power, Ignorance is hapiness"
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Fineva
Seeker

Canada
79 Posts

Posted - 20 Jun 2018 :  22:19:05  Show Profile Send Fineva a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Answer: the 7 sisters.

I" am Sathia of Orogoth
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mastermustard
Seeker

USA
78 Posts

Posted - 22 Jun 2018 :  11:03:03  Show Profile Send mastermustard a Private Message  Reply with Quote
As much as adventuring is an equal-opportunity profession, I wouldn't say that the Realms on the whole is above sexism. Which, in my opinion is a good thing because it would be very unrealistic if they were.

Some civilizations in the Realms are more gender-equal than others. Good-aligned Human societies tend to be progressive relative to their Earth-medieval counterparts, but there are still traditional gender roles at play. And some societies are extremely, cartoonishly patriarchal or matriarchal, with gender-based slavery and what-not. Orc societies and drow societies both come to mind.

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Gyor
Master of Realmslore

1621 Posts

Posted - 25 Jun 2018 :  02:38:42  Show Profile Send Gyor a Private Message  Reply with Quote
The magic, it can function as the pill, which means women aren't chained to their wombs anymore.

It also boost women's strength. Then you have species like Dragonborn that experience little in the way of gender dimorphism of humans.

Also some races don't have equality, the Drow male has many of the burdens of traditional gender roles and few of the rights, and are extremely abused in a way the less gender balanced male dominated ones don't treat women. (Example orc women usually don't get sacrificed ritually).

Still one form of sexism seems to be constant in the realms, male disposalbility.

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The Masked Mage
Great Reader

USA
2420 Posts

Posted - 25 Jun 2018 :  03:54:50  Show Profile Send The Masked Mage a Private Message  Reply with Quote
First response - this is the most ridiculous discussion I've seen on these boards. Not the original question, but some of the comments that it generated. Everyone needs to chill and check your RW political ideologies as far from the Realms as possible.

As Kuje said, Ed wanted it that way since forever.

To answer one of the early questions: Yes, Ed's home group had both female characters and players.

Are there parts of the realms where there is oppression based on gender? Yes. Toril is a whole planet and Realmspace basically a solar system. Differences make things interesting. If everyone is happy all the time then there is no conflict and therefore no reason to mention it.

As for the prostitution thing - applying Western ideologies and current RW legalities is insane. Even in the RW there are many societies that don't look at sex, or sex work the way "we" do in North America. Thank goodness. Yesterday my ship left Vancouver (yes, in North America) where female sex workers fight for their rights to keep doing their job and to have it be safe and respected. Don't assume everyone thinks about things as you do. You'll be wrong every time.
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