Discrepency Between Male/Female Clothing/Emotes in Regards to Performance

[Carmabis]

Hi, never been one for forum posing but this genuinely got on my nerves so much.

Please let us pick between the male/female versions of clothing. I spent 500 gil on the Non La hat while I had a male character, spent $10 on fantasia, and I'm greatly disappointed to find that what existed as a hat that changed full color when dyed, hung over my eyes, and sat perfectly normally on my head now has an additional bow and BELL, sits sideways, doesn't cover the eyes, AND doesn't dye fully so it can't even match outfits anymore. It took ADDITIONAL resources to make how excessive this hat is compared to the male version and it looks absolutely ridiculous trying to make any neutral outfit with it.

It's a running trend that males get default gear and the moment a female is wearing it, it turns extremely performative and downright ugly in some cases and I'm tired of it. Would it be that hard to make two different hat versions? Surely it can't be harder than what it takes to make the male/female versions fit every race by themselves.

While I'm at it, I may as well suggest coding male/female emotes as gender neutral for the same reason? The Bee's Knees dance is extremely performative on females but is a fun dad dance on men, nothing sexualized about it. It'd be great if I could sit normally as a female mito'qe without it feeling like my knees are shattering just looking at their poses, as well. Or how the male mito'qe stretch emote is them actually getting ready for something while it's a cute wake-up stretch with a moan on the females.

Sometimes women want to look cool without being locked out of their own sex in video games to access those options. Elephant in the room is femininity itself is a performance forced onto females which is why this is so normalized (and why multiple threads state that most feminine clothing looks dumb on male characters, because it's impractical dress up), but I'm not asking FFXIV devs to address this at all. I just want a normal looking Non La without the bells and whistles ):

Please consider these issues. They already moved some hyper sexualized clothing so they can be worn by men, swing the pendulum the other way.

[MiaShino]

There are many many male only shorts. Shorts! How the heck am I unable to wear certain shorts!? Really I just wish for several nice pairs of shorts because I happen to like wearing those but nooooooo only skirts for you!

Ohhhh also kinda wish I could hang my sword over the shoulder too. It is already most silly seeing my lala swinging about one sword twice their size who cares if I sling the sword over the shoulder..

[CCheshire]

Agreed, I feel like it's one of the reasons I switched from female characters to male viera now. I'm just so tired of every pair of pants ending up as skirts or short shorts. Also, there are some mog station items like the school uniform that have both options for unisex but I'll keep waiting for it if anything changes in the future.

[Rhysati]

The Bee's Knees dance is extremely performative on females but is a fun dad dance on men, nothing sexualized about it.

Come on now...the dance is from a literal strip club in Eulmore. Are you really complaining that it's 'performative'? It's what the stage dancers are doing to, you know, perform.

[Kolsykol]

Most of the gear in this game is the exact same between the genders, if anything the problem would be that male characters have less options when it comes to '' performative '' gear as you call it.
Just because you personally don't like it doesn't make it '' wrong '' or invalid, why should it be removed or changed just because you don't like it?
Why should I get less options as someone who plays a female character?

I am getting really tired and losing my patience for all of this '' omg sexuality bad '' and people talking about it like a bunch of stereotypical grandmas.
You're not entitled to have everything in existence catered to you, you not liking sexualized content doesn't mean that no one has a right to have it.

It's the same with all these constant complaints from some people about skirts.
Guys, please.
I can count the amount of skirts especially those that aren't Job-locked on like one hand.
Please stop pretending as if skirts is some common thing or as if getting one every once in a while is some huge problem.
You've got 99.9% of all gear in the game being pants already as it is I think you can deal with 0.1% that doesn't cater to what you want.

All this talk about how femininity is inherently '' performative '' is all in your own eyes too, there are plenty of totally impractical gear guys wear too lets not pretend like this is a medieval simulator ( also skirts aren't impractical they were quite literally worn in combat historically. But oh it was men who wore it so suddenly it's not sexualized all of the sudden *gasp*? ).
If you see a skirt or a woman dancing in a slightly '' provocative '' way and you immediately jump to SEX then that is a you problem.

The moan thing reminds me of the whole thing about Lara Crofts voice too and how people were screeching about how '' sexualized '' her groans and moans were.
Meanwhile they were recorded during the stunts as far as I remember, they were genuine but because it's a woman people are obsessed with jumping to sex unless she has a deep voice it's getting ridiculous.

Agreed, I feel like it's one of the reasons I switched from female characters to male viera now. I'm just so tired of every pair of pants ending up as skirts or short shorts. Also, there are some mog station items like the school uniform that have both options for unisex but I'll keep waiting for it if anything changes in the future.

Why are you lying?
Anyone who's even slightly honest here knows that what you're saying is just objectively false.

Just really tiresome again how this is always a thing that ends up being '' women and femininity bad, men and masculinity good ''.
It always just ends up being about how everything women do is bad and horrible how everything men do is good and the default that everyone should adopt it's so tiresome.
Especially when men wore the same thing before but oh now that it's considered womens clothing it then suddenly is a problem?

[ZedxKayn]

Come on now...the dance is from a literal strip club in Eulmore. Are you really complaining that it's 'performative'? It's what the stage dancers are doing to, you know, perform.

Whether this was OP's intent or not, I see this as a call to make the male bee's knees more sexual :P

[Kaoru_Nagisa]

Most of the gear in this game is the exact same between the genders, if anything the problem would be that male characters have less options when it comes to '' performative '' gear as you call it.
Just because you personally don't like it doesn't make it '' wrong '' or invalid, why should it be removed or changed just because you don't like it?
Why should I get less options as someone who plays a female character?

I am getting really tired and losing my patience for all of this '' omg sexuality bad '' and people talking about it like a bunch of stereotypical grandmas.
You're not entitled to have everything in existence catered to you, you not liking sexualized content doesn't mean that no one has a right to have it.

Bit of a heavy reaction for a relatively reasonable request coming from an understandable place. I won't touch on every point in your post or the OP's, just speak as someone that shares some of OP's feelings and desires regarding the binary gender divide that sometimes pervades this game (for all its efforts to accommodate and keep a reasonable neutrality between both). Hopefully it can provide you some extra perspective to reflect on your assumptions that everyone asking for things like the OP has are just... 'against sexuality or femininity'!

Hello. I'm a heavily female-leaning bisexual woman who loves pretty girls, and cute/revealing clothing options, as much as the next person. But I also think it's kind of gross that so many things - from emotes to gear appearances - lean heavily into being 'cuter' or 'more sexualized' for female models vs. male counterparts.

Why must female character models constantly receive skirts, panties, short-shorts/hotpants/thigh highs... where male character models just kinda get varying different levels of similar pants designs? And vice versa! Why do male models only receive pants and knee-length or longer shorts, usually with a far less interesting design or level of detail to them, while female models receive really gorgeous skirts/dresses or intricate undergarment designs? Why can't both get access to both?

It can be incredibly irksome no matter what gender you're playing as. Stuff that looks super good on my female characters can end up looking like a steaming pile of crap on males; stuff that looks awesome and cool on my male characters can look incredibly lackluster and poorly rigged on female characters. Sometimes, it isn't about people being 'against sexuality' or 'against femininity'. Most people aren't requesting to take these options away so much as be provided more options for neutrality, or just the ability to choose in general.

Some girls want to be able to wear pants or longer shorts on their female characters. Be it because they personally wear those sorts of clothes IRL, or simply that's the sort of look they like for their character. Some guys want to be able to wear skirts, undergarments, dresses, or thigh highs on their male characters. Be it because they personally wear those sorts of clothes IRL, or because it's just how they want to dress their character.

Additionally - and this may shock you - not everyone is comfortable with expressing sexuality or femininity/masculinity. It's a personal choice they decide for themselves; some may prefer modest clothing because it's more comfortable, or they have body image issues, or it suits their frame better, or they prefer to present themselves in that sort of clothing. Some may wear revealing or 'sexy' stuff because it's what they're comfortable with, or it suits their body, or simply just makes them feel good.

I myself dress pretty modest and comfy IRL - partly due to issues with certain fabrics, partly due to body image, partly because I just don't enjoy getting 'dressy' unless I'm going somewhere that it'd be necessary or appropriate. T-shirt and jeans all the way. Or pajamas, if I'm home. I have video games for dressing in ways other than this, or living out my greatest clothing desires.

In regards to emotes, I'd definitely like more options for gender neutral or even 'personality-based' emote options. It's really off-putting, for example, to have a female RP character who is super serious and sophisticated... and then their emotes are overly cutesy or sexualized uguu moeblob J-pop idol stuff. Same for having a male character who is less masculine and more nonbinary, but has super gruff and macho-y emotes.

People wanting these things isn't really so much about not liking sexuality or feminine options. It's literally just wanting more options for expression in general.

[Theodric]

I think that the pursuit of 'more options' should match the actual demand. At the end of the day the majority of people playing male characters seemingly want masculine looking designs and the majority of people playing female characters seem to desire feminine designs. There's options to step outside of those boundaries for those that desire them but I don't think it would be reasonable for every single piece of gear or emote in the game to have multiple different options. It'd be nice, sure, but the development team are already struggling to keep up with their current workload.

The shift towards 'unisex' hairstyles meant that the majority of new hairstyles conformed ended up being very feminine or androgynous instead of masculine in the eyes of many. I'm not particularly interested in seeing that same issue start to impact gear and emote design as well.

[Carmabis]

Weird how its only females that are the ones with the sexualized version. There must be some over-arching mindset that influenced the decision to have the females perform sexually and the men casually.

[KageTokage]

It would be really nice if they let you just use the animations of a different race/gender combo's emotes with a toggle or something, and I don't think it would necessarily even be that resource intensive.

I personally find the female Au Ra emotes fitting for how I view my character, though I know there are plenty who'd love the option for the more masculine emotes used by female Highlanders or Roegadyn.