Women and Armor!

[Amused]

Even if the female armors are the only ones that are bikinis it is STILL not misogynistic. It is STILL not objectifying.

mi·sog·y·ny
noun \mə-ˈsä-jə-nē\
Definition of MISOGYNY

: a hatred of women

ob·jec·ti·fy
verb \əb-ˈjek-tə-ˌfī\

: to treat (someone) as an object rather than as a person

The only people here treating the female characters as objects are the ones insisting that they're being objectified simply by wearing the revealing armor.

[HakuroDK]

snip

I still think the gaping holes in the DRG/NIN AF armors are stupid.

[Amused]

I still think the gaping hole in the DRG/NIN AF armors are stupid.

You're entitled to that opinion, but it doesn't make them misogynistic, it doesn't make them objectifying, and it doesn't make them bad designs any more than all the spikes on the DRG AF does.

Personally I think the revealing parts of the NIN armor are fine, and make sense.

[HakuroDK]

Personally I think the revealing parts of the NIN armor are fine, and make sense.

How do you figure they make sense?

[Amused]

How do you figure they make sense?

Ninjas aren't supposed to be getting hit in the first place. Regardless of whether people here want to accept it or not, women can and have used their looks to take advantage of men in situations. Something like this is perfect for someone who is trying to assassinate people. The female Ninja could use her looks to catch her male target off-guard, before going in for the kill. Therefore, it makes sense.

[Remilia_Nightfall]

Ninjas aren't supposed to be getting hit in the first place. Regardless of whether people here want to accept it or not, women can and have used their looks to take advantage of men in situations. Something like this is perfect for someone who is trying to assassinate people. The female Ninja could use her looks to catch her male target off-guard, before going in for the kill. Therefore, it makes sense.

Indeed. It might be useful to highlight that female Ninja, historically, were called Kunoichi.

Kunoichi (くノ一) is the term for a female ninja or practitioner of ninjutsu (ninpo). Women who used the kunoichi fighting style would wear clothes that would either show a lot of skin and barely cover the breasts, sometimes not even covering the breast. This is to sexually distract an opponent.

[Defteros]

Indeed. It might be useful to highlight that female Ninja, historically, were called Kunoichi.

Kunoichi (くノ一) is the term for a female ninja or practitioner of ninjutsu (ninpo). Women who used the kunoichi fighting style would wear clothes that would either show a lot of skin and barely cover the breasts, sometimes not even covering the breast. This is to sexually distract an opponent.

yes! yes!
Kasuga <3

[LineageRazor]

Indeed. It might be useful to highlight that female Ninja, historically, were called Kunoichi.

Kunoichi (くノ一) is the term for a female ninja or practitioner of ninjutsu (ninpo). Women who used the kunoichi fighting style would wear clothes that would either show a lot of skin and barely cover the breasts, sometimes not even covering the breast. This is to sexually distract an opponent.

Actually, Kunoichi (as well as male ninjas) would dress like... well, normal people. While it's true that the role of courteasian was one that kunoichi would take at times to get close to a target, along with clothing appropriate for that career, it was not their only disguise, or even their standard disguise. Ninjas, male or female, were spies, as well as assassins, and a spy doesn't dress like anything in particular. It'd be just as silly as if a spy always dressed in a black suit and tie, with a telephone cord in their ear and a holstered weapon visible.

The idea of "ninja dress" is a modern invention, and the stylized outfits are loosely based on the clothing worn by stage hands who would dress all in black to move settings around. The audience was trained by experience to ignore these stage hands - and so a stage hand that suddenly leapt from the stage and stabbed someone in the eye would be a real surprise. Kunoichi outfits are typically "feminized" versions of these already stylized clothes, so TWO steps removed from any sort of reality.

It would not surprise me if, when forced into combat, a kunoichi would show some skin if she felt that it would distract the opponent - or, indeed, ANY dirty trick she could think of to gain an advantage. It is, however, silly to claim that there's some standardized "sexy kunoichi" outfit designed for that purpose. Heck, any good ninja is going to avoid direct combat whenever possible anyway. Slip in unnoticed, get the job done, slip out unnoticed - that's the true ninja ideal.

[HakuroDK]

Ninjas aren't supposed to be getting hit in the first place. Regardless of whether people here want to accept it or not, women can and have used their looks to take advantage of men in situations. Something like this is perfect for someone who is trying to assassinate people. The female Ninja could use her looks to catch her male target off-guard, before going in for the kill. Therefore, it makes sense.

I wouldn't think every female ninja would be comfortable with that, though, and I think every piece of AF gear should be more... uniform, similar to PLD, MNK, and other gear that is the same design across genders. If anything, there should be a separate kind of armor design to allow for the more seductive look as it is not for everyone. Were it, this topic wouldn't have almost 20 pages.

Also, in regards to the Kunoichi response, I don't believe every female ninja would be Kunoichi by that definition, only a few who were comfortable using their sexuality to take advantage. A traditional ninja, male or female, would still prefer not to leave skin showing, especially if the person under the armor was light-skinned, which could easily alert individuals and nullify the cover of darkness.

[Aegis]

Even if the female armors are the only ones that are bikinis it is STILL not misogynistic. It is STILL not objectifying.

mi·sog·y·ny
noun \mə-ˈsä-jə-nē\
Definition of MISOGYNY

: a hatred of women

ob·jec·ti·fy
verb \əb-ˈjek-tə-ˌfī\

: to treat (someone) as an object rather than as a person

The only people here treating the female characters as objects are the ones insisting that they're being objectified simply by wearing the revealing armor.

You don't think dehumanising someone because of their gender is misogynistic? To treat someone as an object is to reduce their value as a human. You look at them and don't see a person, you see an object.

A woman can't wear the same piece of armour as a man (example: the Ninja AF) without being forced to expose their chest. A sexual element is introduced that is not present for the man. That's objectification. That's reducing someone to their physical characteristics. I don't care if you don't accept that or even if you don't understand it. It just is.

It might be harder to see with XIV because the examples are fairly modest. Consider Tera or Scarlet Blade or whatever. A guy in plate mail is a guy in plate mail. Functional (disregarding ludicrous spikes and pauldrons), deadly. A woman in the same gear is a walking pair of boobs and backside. There for titillation and, let's face it, fap material. That's objectification. No question.

In XIV the examples are more modest, but it's a quantitative difference, not a qualititive one. The difference is a matter of degree.

Galka are beastlike with a tail. Roegadyn are not a bit beastlike. They are just big with no tail.
only in the size.
standard elve type

So it's just a coincidence that the gender exclusivity was also carried over? Only female Miqo'te, only male Roegadyn? They were based squarely on XI races. How can you argue otherwise with a straight face?