I wasn't going to bother with this, since you said you were "out of the thread", but since you're clearly not, here we go!

Quote Originally Posted by Remilia_Nightfall View Post
Males are protected by the "ridiculous" clause because that's how it is. Ever noticed how many females wear the recently introduced male wedding gear, and manage to look cool in it? Ever seen a male char looking cool by dressing with the female dress?
Thought so.
This undermines your argument by bringing up another important double standard. Have you ever thought about WHY women who crossdress are fine, and men who crossdress are the subject of ridicule? It just is - but why is it? It's because a woman who crossdresses is becoming more "manly", and is therefore seen as approaching a superior state of being (acceptable), while a man who crossdresses is becoming more womanly, and is therefore seen as approaching an inferior state of being (unacceptable). I'm not immune to this, but I recognize it for what it is.

Also, for all your talk about absolute territory, it brings up another important double-standard prevelent in media. You say that women are blessed with the ability to make it look good, but what you really mean to say is FANTASY women are so blessed. Women in fantasy are held to a body standard that men are not. Men can come in all kinds of shapes and descriptions and still be lead characters. You can have men that are fat, thin, ugly, handsome, pretty, muscular, scrawny, and so on. Heck, for many men (particularly those with their own poor self-image of their own bodies), having a milquetoast nobody turn out to be a great hero or villian is a powerful wish-fulfillment fantasy.

Women, though, need to both be badass AND look good. While there ARE examples, it's very, very rare to come across women in any fantasy media that are ugly and/or fat, but still badass AND in a leading role. Your vaunted absolute territory doesn't look so great on a four hundred pound woman, now does it?

Men can look like anything, and still be awesome. Women can be awesome, but only if they look attractive as well. Both of these attitudes satisfy a male perspective, even if there are plenty of women who are able to enjoy them as well.

This is reflected in the Primals as well. The four male primals? Old man. Musclebound giant. Long fish. Demon. The two female primals? Hot babe. Hot babe with feathers. All badass, but the double standard is still clearly present in the design choice.