I don’t know how many of you reading this post have heard of Dungeons & Dragons –D&D for short – but for those of you who haven’t, it’s a role-playing game in which you chose a character (an elf bard, a human druid, a gnome fighter, and so on), give it a name, use a set of dice to see how strong, smart, stealthy, etc. you are, pick some items and actions your character will use, and then, with the help of the dungeon master telling the story, you’re all set to play!
I myself run a character in two dungeons – or in other words, I play in two sets of stories, and I have to say I’ve had a lot of fun since I started a few years ago. I got involved with D&D through my husband, who has many D&D books lying around at home. The books give you information about different kinds of characters you might run, different items, different spells to use if you’re a magic user in the game, and so forth.
One day I picked up the Eberron Player’s Guide and was struck by the cover. I looked at the two characters – one a male and one a female, both seemingly in the heat of battle. The male is some kind of metallic creature, and he’s brandishing a sword. The female is a human, and she seems to be casting a spell, her expression confident and determined. There they are, a male and a female standing alongside each other in battle, allied and fighting a common opponent on equal footing. Yay for equality! Yay for feminism! Yay for downfall of chauvinism!
Except there’s one problem. There’s one vital organ on her body that’s dangerously unprotected. Can you guess what it is?
It’s her heart.
When it comes to the issue of modesty and the objectification of women, there are two ideas that I’ve heard so far: one is that modest clothing protects women from being objectified. The other is that women shouldn’t have to change their style of dress because of leery-eyed men, and that the former argument assumes that men are naturally lustful creatures who cannot control themselves at the sight of our exposed skin. Both sides view their style of dress as a kind of liberation.
If you look at my clothes most days (except if I’m going to the pool or am wearing shorts), you’d probably think I go with the first argument. And I do. But I also really like the second argument, and still have trouble reconciling the two of these arguments in my head. My best attempt is this: I know that some men will rape a woman no matter what she’s wearing. I know that many men can control their thoughts and themselves. But just in case some man on the street decides to take a trip to fantasyland in his head with the next woman he sees walking by, at least I’ll be giving him less fuel for his fire. My chest was created to nourish my little daughter in the first months of her life. My body was given to me by God. It was not meant for the lust of a stranger.
Now where were we? Ah, yes! Back to the dungeon, where our courageous hero and heroine are slugging it out on the battlefield. Metal-man sweeps his sword before him, knocking down a group of shrieking orcs, while our wizard casts a blinding spell that sets the rest of their foes into a panic. But one lone enemy archer lurks in a dark corner, spying on our heroes. He sees a weak spot and, notching his arrow – ready, aim, fire! – lets it loose, right into the cleavage of our wizard character! NOOO!
Wizard woman, what were you thinking when you got dressed for battle this morning? Oh, right, I nearly forgot – you didn’t dress yourself this morning. The artist who drew you was probably hoping that your breasts would be a good marketing tool for the many male Dungeons and Dragons fans. You weren’t really meant to be taken seriously on the battlefield. Yes, you fought bravely and were no helpless princess captive in a tower.
But in the end, you were just an object. In your case, your style of dress wasn't so liberating. You were shot through the heart, and society’s to blame. You give equality a bad name.
