women fighters in reasonable armour – Bad Reputation A feminist pop culture adventure Mon, 16 Jan 2012 09:00:27 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.6 37601771 Found Feminism: Armour for Women /2012/01/16/found-feminism-armour-for-women/ /2012/01/16/found-feminism-armour-for-women/#respond Mon, 16 Jan 2012 09:00:27 +0000 http://www.badreputation.org.uk/?p=9212 This is possibly a little niche, but it’s a niche I am happy to occupy, and following on from my writing on the subject, so are many others.

I am on a quest for some plate armour for my LARP habit. It is proving difficult.

We can all agree that Women Fighters In Reasonable Armour is an almighty source of inspiration, but this Found Feminism goes a bit farther.

Cate Blanchett as Elizabeth I. She is wearing shining silver full plate armour with intricale gold designs and well-wrought fluted joints at the elbow. Her hair is loose and she is riding a white horse. Her expression is hardened and composed.

This is the ideal, let's be honest.

In this well thought out article over on group blog MadArtLab, an actual genuine armourer explains why most fantasy/sci-fi lady armour is wrong. I am especially taken with his clear arguments on why it’s silly to draw parallels with Conan-style characters (loincloths indicate no access to armour; chainmail bikinis indicate that armour is available but female characters have chosen not to wear it) and the way he highlights the distinction between a “breastplate” and a “boobplate” and how the latter is not only impractical but downright dangerous:

I worry constantly that she’s going to fall hard and it will crack her sternum, even with the padding. Note also that it seems almost perfectly designed to guide sword points and arrows into her heart.

I also really like Ryan’s “good armour / bad armour” parallels, and the very funny post he wrote later on about the mathematical relationship between female nakedness and armour protection in F&SF.

]]> /2012/01/16/found-feminism-armour-for-women/feed/ 0 9212 The Friday Linkpost Rides Again /2011/10/07/the-friday-linkpost-rides-again/ /2011/10/07/the-friday-linkpost-rides-again/#comments Fri, 07 Oct 2011 08:00:14 +0000 http://www.badreputation.org.uk/?p=7686 Our party is tonight! Finally! DETAILS HERE AND HERE. COME AND SAY HI.

And now that we don’t have much longer to rabbit on about said party, ON TO THE LINKS.

  • Here is an 18th century drawing. It is titled “A Map Of A Woman’s Heart“. No, really, that is the title. As our Sarah J said, who else fancies a paddle in the LAKE OF SELF CONCERN? No? Then let us go hiking in the REGION OF SENTIMENTALITY! At once, ladies, at once!
  • To My Someday Daughter: beautifully illustrated article on Star City Games by Geordie Tait on Twitter, sexism, That Gizmodo Magic The Gathering Business, and geek tribalism.
  • Warhammer 40k Space Marine: Most Surprisingly Feminist Game of the Year Contender? What I like most about this post, which reader Brave Sir Robin sent us, is lines like “Mira doesn’t have time for this motherfucking conventional treatment of motherfucking women in motherfucking videogames”.
  • Relatedly, Women Fighters In Reasonable Armour, our new favourite tumblr that isn’t titled “animals talking in caps lock”.1
  • And finally, after a string of tweets from Laurie Penny on actresses who should play Doctor Who, illustrator Rosy Higgins imagines what Tamsin Grieg as the Doctor, with Helena Bonham-Carter as the Master, would look like. It looks bloody awesome. WHEN DOES FILMING START.
  1. Don’t argue. The main reason tumblr was invented was for pictures of pissed off animals. Two of us RUN one of those tumblrs, for our sins.
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