Do Boys Really Have Trouble Relating To A Feminine Lead?

I don't really don't "relate" to characters in books and most media in general, female or male. Maybe that's why I don't read as much as I should.

Question to the girls here: how did you relate to Kamina and his rethoric riddled with Testosterone Poisoning? Was this an obstacle, or did you somehow manage to identify with such phrases as "A Real Man Never Dies, Even When He's Killed"? How do you relate to other male characters who shove their masculinity unto you, such as Kenshiro, Barney Stintson, or anything played by the dudes in The Expendables.

I always found his character (especially with his speeches) to be hilarious and fun to listen to. However, I think it's a lot easier to identify with Simon: Kamina has very few moments where his facade of manliness is let down and his insecurities/real feelings slip through, whereas with Simon we can all identify with fear and measuring up to a challenge. How did you feel for Yoko and Nia?

Kamina was kind of an Indecisive Parody. As it is, you could feel equally comfortable calling him pants-on-head idiotic and actually admirable in many ways. If they tried to play it seriously, this would probably not be the case.

Yoko I had trouble getting past the obvious fanservice. Nia was more relatable in a quiet strength way.

edited 17th Jan '11 1:15:56 PM by Pykrete

I liked Yoko but found her very intimidating in many ways, and hard to reach. And I have and always will love Nia, who is a wonderful person of wonder and the cutest girl ever and awesome in so many freaking ways. She's like the little sister I never had (my sister is like a cross between Revy and Asuka, minus the crazy, plus a lot of politeness). Nia-san, I'd give my life, not for honour, but for you. In my time, there will be no-one else. Crime is the way I fly to you. I'm still in a dream, Gurren Lagann.

Okay, I'm starting to sound like a soulbonder here. But, frankly, Nia is just awesome. She has that shrill borderline-irritating voice, but I guess that makes her more tolerable. Unlike Asahina Mikuru and her constant whining.

I'd say it really depends on the individual. I've never had any problems relating to female characters as a guy, and in fact specifically seek out stories, shows, and games with active female leads and secondary characters.

I just find it more interesting.

Edit: Crap. Two week necro, my apologies. Found this topic when i was searching tvtropes for shows with female leads.

edited 1st Feb '11 2:14:05 AM by GDK

That's fine. This is an interesting topic, and I'd love to see it revived.

I don't really have trouble relating to a female lead but often times I forget that females are human and I had talk to girls before. I just wonder what do girls like anyway? I need to talk more.

You forget that females are human? O_O

It is not that don't know that girls are human but I hadn't talk to a lot of girls to know that.

I grew up with an older sister, so I had consumed plenty of girly stuff from the backseat. I vaguely remember watching a My Little Pony movie with her, when I must have been somewhere around 4 or 5.

that might be why I never had much of a problem with female characters, and lately, I seem to like them more then male ones. Maybe because male characters often feel so generic these days.

I always play Mass Effect as Fem Shep because she has the better voice acting and IMO sounds more Bad Ass.

And in general when given the choice I play as the character I find most appealing, despite gender. If one gender has a better voice actor, I'll pick them. Or if one gender has an uglier model mesh, I'll avoid them. I'll also tend to pick character with a closer to normal body build, so I'll avoid both Beefcake and Boobzilla.

I read a study on kids gender choices in games in Super Mario Bros 2. The researchers wanted to see by how much girls preferred to play as female characters (and thus whether more games should have the option). In the test batch using girls, they found they did indeed prefer Peach by a wide margin. When did they did the test with boys however, they also found they vastly preferred Peach. Turns out the researchers hadn't considered how highly valued Peach's floaty umbrella powers were to platformer fans. ;)

Edit: D'oh! My early Mario ignorance is showing. Maybe I'm confusing Peach with Lemmings...

edited 12th Feb '11 8:54:05 PM by TrapperZoid

I love it when researchers fail to take things into account. >:) Oh, and Peach used her dress to float.

edited 12th Feb '11 8:52:00 PM by SandJosieph

Bump...on account of those damn ponies from My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic, because apparently a lot of men seem to be perfectly fine with watching a "Girl's Show" featuring multiple female leads. So what's the show's real secret? Was it the internet allowing it to get more coverage than expected?

edited 1st Mar '11 11:48:56 PM by SandJosieph

It's depicting femininity and extreme girliness in a way that isn't farking annoying.

I mean, my favorite character is the fashion-obsessed diva, and I normally HATE those types of characters.

This is an interesting question. I have been running it through my head and I think that the answer is that I don't have any trouble relating to feminine leads. I have trouble tolerating to badly done feminine leads. I think that when you are dealing with hack characters it is more possible to let yourself just coast with gender parodies of your own gender. For example, when I was twelve I just couldn't stand watching sailor moon for more than 30 seconds, but I had no problem watching and enjoying Sense and Sensibility at roughly the same age. Sort of how I absolutely love Catelyn, Sansa, Arya and Dany from A Song Of Ice And Fire even though only 1.5 of them is even remotely "masculine". In crappier works of fiction the male stereotype is just more interesting to me, even when applied to women. I think it has to do with the passivity issue.

You don't need to be action jackson to be bad ass or interesting but you need a spine, and alot of people confuse wearing a dress and not having the ability to kick ass as being the same as having no spine.

Btw, Fem Shep all the way. Mark meer can't act. I generally prefer to use female models for RPG protagonists. Partially because male models aren't as aesthetically pleasing but when time and effort are put into it I find myself swayed. For example I am split on Gar!Hawk or Lady!Hawk in the upcoming DA 2.

edited 2nd Mar '11 8:28:10 AM by Shrimpus

The thing about Rarity that's nice is that while she is obsessed with fashion she actually makes it herself and in keeping with her generous nature she'll gladly make dresses for other ponies. As for the lead of the show, I like how Twilight is allowed to have moments of sarcasm which seems to play quite well with her optimistic nature. Which is something many stories could use: a sarcastic optimist.