Yotsuyu's story is a masterful postcolonial feminist critique of female oppression

[Chie_M]

I know TitanMen is know as a troll but this was pretty insightful and wouldn't be something that was out of place on the Lore forums.

I agree. This is actually a very good analysis of the character and one that I agree with. Or as I was going to reply before I saw yours:

[Gemina]

It's also good to point out how Yotsuyu climbed the ranks to become the acting viceroy of Doma. There's a lack of kindness towards women in a lot of professional industries. Look at the leaders of the world in politics, look at the leaders of the world in business. Most of them are still men. Women have to work so, so much harder to progress up most professional ladders, and when we do often times we're considered cold because of how focused we are on making progress.

I'm definitely not taking anything away from the women who helped pave the way for those who came after them. Credit is due where credit is earned without question. However, when you say women have had to work so much harder to progress up professional ladders is where I take issue. The reason for that is because in order for women to have those opportunities in the first place, men had to live, survive, and die in the most bloody and violent national conflicts that have been recorded in our history. It's an acknowledgment that continues to get erased as women break through their "glass ceilings".

The thing is, it's still happening now. Here, in western civilization. Men continue to be the backbone of society that everyone takes for granted, and nobody thinks about. They are building the roads and railways. Excavating the fuel resources used to power, cool, and heat our homes. Pilot transportation vehicles. Run the electric grids, and remove the crap left by your neighbors so you have clean water to drink and shower with. They do all the high risk, heavy lifting labor, and more of them have job related fatalities per year, per capita, per demographic. Yet, nowadays everyone takes a giant steaming dump on them telling them they're not worth anything, while still expecting them to do what they do best.

If the crap hits the fan, and another WW breaks out, what's left of the world's "toxic masculinity" will be on the front lines, and the first to die. Meanwhile these corporate boss babes will be complaining about a shortage of toilet paper in the stores.

I definitely don't want this to come out as man vs woman thing, but like I said earlier, credit is due where credit is earned. Politics and corporate top guns is the last place I'm going to look to find the world's most valuable men AND women. When you look here, you'll find the most vile, corrupt, money and power hungry evil that couldn't care less about the people they govern. I would instead look towards strong families with prominent male and female figures within them, working together and loving each other in order to endure the worst life has to throw at them.

[Kyrj]

Perfectly put TitanMen.

[Turnintino]

Cringing, but not at OP. (-公-；)

[JamieRose]

Yotsuyu is a chick I want to step on me.

[Hurlstone]

A well-written look at the character and her themes indeed. Yotsuyu is one of my favourite ‘villains’ in the game, she made for a fantastic adversary and I really love the tragic way how her story ended (How I wish she could continue being there with Gosetsu...) I think people often underestimate or ignore just how well Stormblood dealt with the themes of oppression and imperialism. It’s one of the reasons why I rank it higher then the likes of Heavensward in fact. The whole game actually does a great job with that subject, from ARR to Endwalker. Sure it may not always hit the mark (It also likes to ignore or downplay alot of those issues which come directly from within Eorzea) but it does a better job then a good chunk of fantasy media which deals with the ‘invading nation’ trope.

The people who call me a concern troll are the ones who circle LGBT in big red circles and asking SE to ban them.

I think its more because your actions within said threads seem to very much point in a direction that says you are just using these minority groups as a shield to sew chaos and troll folk. Now do not get me wrong, I appreciate how at times it can lead to the most bigotted players to drop their masks and froth at the mouth, becomeing perfect candidates for ye old block list... but it also casts doubt on whether you actually stand for such things or if you are just as bad as those who openly decry LGBTQ+/race issues. It also makes such topics very hard to actually happen in meaningful ways without it melting into a toxic stew.

[VeyaAkemi]

Well I don't know about all the Feminism and all that but her character is a little more deep than that My thoughts on her isn't family values or loving your kids. Its about you need understand and listen to someone when they cry out for help, don't use them and toss them around like trash.

This is completely correct but there is another layer to this, it's fundamentally a critique of Japanese society, and it's something that comes up a fair bit in Japanese media, with the most popular example I can think of being Persona 5, because the issue is, to inconvenience others is a sin, you are supposed to swallow your suffering, accept your lot in life quietly, and if others are circumventing or exploiting the system to their benefit, you suck it up, you stay quiet, and if you try to bring it up, you are the problem and others ignore you, using P5 as the example, when you reach the depths of Mementos, you learn that people yearn for that complacency, that they would rather peacefully suffer than to rebel and bring chaos to their lives in any way, shape or form... and this is exactly what happened to Yotsuyu, she was expected to suffer quietly, everyone pretended her problems weren't there, until she completely snapped, she wasn't born evil, she was a good-natured person who became evil due to how the world treated her, and all she needed to be shown was a modicum of kindness, and yet the people of Doma refused to give her even that, until Gosetsu came along.

I know that bringing up Persona 5 can be blazé due to its tendency of being Baby's Introduction to Philosophy, but I am using it as an example of a different story made by a different company in a different setting hitting extremely similar beats, because this is a real social problem that Japan goes through, this goes deeper than just FFXIV and P5.

[ZephyrMenodora]

I think its more because your actions within said threads seem to very much point in a direction that says you are just using these minority groups as a shield to sew chaos and troll folk. Now do not get me wrong, I appreciate how at times it can lead to the most bigotted players to drop their masks and froth at the mouth, becomeing perfect candidates for ye old block list... but it also casts doubt on whether you actually stand for such things or if you are just as bad as those who openly decry LGBTQ+/race issues. It also makes such topics very hard to actually happen in meaningful ways without it melting into a toxic stew.

This. And it's why I won't engage with the actual OP. This poster loves just trying to throw RL political hot topics and strain to relate them to something in FFXIV. "LGBT!" "FEMINISM!" "CHINA!" whatever. This is a gaming forum and I don't care for twitter-esque conversations around political topics on a gaming forum. Better moderated MMO forums don't allow for this at all. But there is almost no oversight here, so here we are.

[TaleraRistain]

This. And it's why I won't engage with the actual OP. This poster loves just trying to throw RL political hot topics and strain to relate them to something in FFXIV. "LGBT!" "FEMINISM!" "CHINA!" whatever. This is a gaming forum and I don't care for twitter-esque conversations around political topics on a gaming forum. Better moderated MMO forums don't allow for this at all. But there is almost no oversight here, so here we are.

XIV is in many ways a commentary on different aspects of our real life world so it's not out of place to discuss the themes in expansions that display that commentary.

[Raasu]

If the crap hits the fan, and another WW breaks out, what's left of the world's "toxic masculinity" will be on the front lines, and the first to die. Meanwhile these corporate boss babes will be complaining about a shortage of toilet paper in the stores.

Not even going to try to dissect your entire post, but this specific part is messing me up because I just can't believe someone wrote this down without wondering who are starting those wars in the first place (hint: it's not the 'corporate boss babes'). Spectacular miss lol.