Subject: Re: [FFML] [FanFic] Hello Again
From: Richard Lawson
Date: 1/5/1997, 8:54 PM
To: Benjamin Franz
CC: fanfic@fanfic.com
Reply-to:
sterman@sprynet.com

Benjamin Franz wrote:

However, I really, really hated your statements that housework and
pacifism are female qualities, and that if Ranma became a woman in mind
as well as body that she would automatically assume these
characteristics.  That is extremely sexist, and flies in the face of
what Ranma 1/2 is all about:  challenging our beliefs on gender roles.
Your story is big step backwards in that respect, in that being a woman
means you like doing housework and hate violence.  In fact, nothing
could be further from the truth.

Ummm....Try not to confuse the *author's* beliefs with that of their
characters ;-). Since this story was based on an existing anime ('Ranma
declares her womanhood'), the characterization of the female Ranma was
deliberately kept as close as possible to the series itself. What
determines the female Ranma's beliefs about what a woman is the *male*
Ranma's (quite sexist) beliefs about women. This would undoubtedly change
over time as Ranma actually learns what it really means to be a woman
first hand.

The problem I have with this is that your stories imply that the very
*nature* of being a woman is loving housework and hating violence,
rather than stemming from Ranma's beliefs on the subject.  If it's your
intention that Ranma is only acting sexist because that's they way she
believes a woman should act, you need to play this out more.  As it
comes across, Ranma doing housework and giving up her martial arts seems
to stem from her acceptance of herself as a woman in mind and body, and
I kinda don't like that.

Also, how is that this affected Ranma and not Genma?  Since Genam was
cursed at the same time as Ranma and Ryoga, it should have affected him
too.

The head blow brought it into effect sooner. I have a slight tendancy to
leave things unstated, but implied in my stories.

Then how come Ryoga's affected and not Genma?  Remember, they were
cursed at the same time.

There were some nice moments in this story.  You could do a good story
based on this premise, if you would only avoid the sexist views on what
gender roles are.

Hmmmm...Just a thought, but it is possible that politics is somewhat
orthoganal to the quality of a story. ;-). 

I never said there was anything wrong with the quality of the story
(although it's "whose" not "who's").  You're absolutely right, I am
injecting a bit of politics into this, for which I apologize.  It's just
that I got slightly offended by the very sexist basis for this story.


In any case, if I choose to extend this story, you would 
probably see Ranma's attitudes evolve somewhat 

That'd be good.  Why can't you do that in the framework of the existing
story, however?

(I'm not going to say Ranma will become a feminist. By western
standards, Japanese males *are* extremely sexist, *none* of Takahashi's
characters are feminists, 

What about Nabiki?  She certainly is the very antithesis of the
steretypical Japanese woman.  And Akane is feminist by her very nature;
she behaves however she darned well pleases, and doesn't much care if
it's considered 'feminine' at all.  That's why I like her so much.  :)

and lastly, Ranma learned her beliefs about sex roles as a 
young Japanese male.)

Well, again, that's not how it came across in your story.  Perhaps
you're leaving *too* much to the imagination here, but it sure seemed to
me that you were saying woman=housework, and that ain't right.

All of the above is, of course, just my opinion.

Thank you. Your comments really are appreciated.

Glad you liked them.  :)  I'm not trying to put you or your story down. 
It wouldn't take much to change this, move it away from the sexist
interpretations.  Just some observations - perhaps by Nabiki - that
Ranma is behaving like she *thinks* a woman should behave, rather than
how a woman actually behaves.  This would also nicely set the basis for
a sequel, in which Ranma comes to grips with what being a woman is
*really* about.

Again, just my $0.02.  I like the beginning and the end.  There are just
parts of the middle that need to be worked on a little.

Benjamin Franz

-Richard
sterman@sprynet.com

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