DnD Gender Myths Debunked

-More Men Than Women Are Interested in D&D/RPGs
(Also: More Men Are Than Women Are Nerds)
Since I've started as a DM, I've never had less than two women players.  This month I've been at a language immersion college experience, and ran a couple D&D meetings.  Fifty people came to the program to study.  Out of them, there were six people interested in playing D&D.  Every one was a woman.
(Also: For more information, look here. Just for one example, something along the lines of 49% of all videogame players are female.  I personally know approximately equal numbers of male and female nerds, who are nerds for one or more of the following: D&D/tabletop RPGs, Star Trek, Star Wars, fantasy like The Lord of the Rings, and Doctor Who, taking from a pool of a couple hundred nerds.)

-Yeah, but Men Are Better/More Dedicated Players Than Women
My one long campaign was a backstory campaign.  The two people who brought me the most backstory information were a man and a woman (the guy brought me detailed maps and NPC descriptions and drawings.  The woman rped out her character's relationships with her family members with me.)  That woman was the only one who leveled up her character before the next meeting when I said it was time (though, granted, some people did not know how).  There were two other players, one man and one woman, who showed up for every single meeting (when they didn't have a conflict scheduled before the meeting was scheduled).

-Female Armor Should Have Boob Plates
By this point, most of you probably know that female armor can (and, functionally, should) look pretty much like male armor.  For those who haven't read the armor maker's article, boob plates are not only unnecessary (they squish) but actually dangerous.  Boob plates actually turn blades towards the sternum, possibly causing blows to even kill the warrior outright.

-But That's Just the Way Fantasy Is
Two questions: Since when? and So what?
In the Lord of the Rings, there is a significant lack of female characters, especially female fighters.  However, there were incredibly iconic women; most specifically, Arwen, Galadriel, and Eowyn.  None are given any less respect (or credible clothing/armor, as appropriate, in the films) for being women.  Boob plates (although not, in some manifestations, sexualization of women) are very new.  If we want them to stop existing, at least in our campaigns, all we have to do is stop including them.

#DnD #tabletopgaming #RPGs #feminism