Straight White Males as default: How it's wrong.

[The Rich Port]

Tolkien was a bad writer because he was a bad writer - he was clunky, overwrought, and far too long-winded.

...............

You.....my god....I....REALLY? FUCKING REALLY?!

I....I think I need a drink...

Hey, look, another Tolkien fanboy.

I'm writing a short story and I admit to having sorta presumed all the characters to be white. They're all male (at least the ones introduced so far) but that's an intentional thing (it's a dystopian medical compound and the sleeping quarters aren't coed). It's explicitly pointed out that not everyone is straight, though. I guess as a gay white male I reflect my own biases just as much as the heteros.

Since I do non-NS related RP on this site, I was thinking of all of the RP characters that I've made up as of so far.

Alison Carter - mixed race (mom was Japanese and dad was white), sexuality indeterminate.
Ilsa Martin - straight white female, initially created for a pesudo-medieval Europe fantasy RP. No excuses for that one.
Divia Esha Patil - Indian female, sexuality indeterminate.
Holly Serow Koboi - ginger, so she's white, female, and lesbian.
Amala Bahenchod Pati - Indian female, sexuality indeterminate.

I usually don't make a huge deal on the races/sexuality/gender thing, but you can see that all of them are female, and if they're not Asian characters, they go to the default white. The variety in sexual orientations is due to my own indeterminate sexual orientation, which is why you see a wide range from indeterminate to lesbian to straight. But it confirms to my biases as well.

Also, to note, some of the character's backstories (Alison's father, Ilsa's lost lover) do involve males. They all happen to be white.

This is just something to think about, for me to ponder on as a writer.

OOh, Ooh, can I say what characters I made for RP?

I love comparing characters.

[Individuality-ness]

Ahhh, okay. Lots of misunderstandings then.

Even then, when you say "John Smith is all about his job these days", you're saying John smith is very involved with/interested in his job, or is paying his job an unusual amount of attention. Many, many religious scholars would disagree that homosexuality is much of an issue in Christianity (and probably other Abrahamic religions, although I know less about them), especially since (as many liberals like to point out to conservative christians) Jesus never mentioned homosexuality.

... have you not read 1 Corinthians, for example? Sexual morality is a huge issue (and a lot of people think Paul condemns homosexuality in it too, although others have pointed out that Paul used a different word in place of the established word for "homosexuality" and that it's likely that he meant "temple prostitute", and I'm not going to get into that either).

[Individuality-ness]

Since I do non-NS related RP on this site, I was thinking of all of the RP characters that I've made up as of so far.

Alison Carter - mixed race (mom was Japanese and dad was white), sexuality indeterminate.
Ilsa Martin - straight white female, initially created for a pesudo-medieval Europe fantasy RP. No excuses for that one.
Divia Esha Patil - Indian female, sexuality indeterminate.
Holly Serow Koboi - ginger, so she's white, female, and lesbian.
Amala Bahenchod Pati - Indian female, sexuality indeterminate.

I usually don't make a huge deal on the races/sexuality/gender thing, but you can see that all of them are female, and if they're not Asian characters, they go to the default white. The variety in sexual orientations is due to my own indeterminate sexual orientation, which is why you see a wide range from indeterminate to lesbian to straight. But it confirms to my biases as well.

Also, to note, some of the character's backstories (Alison's father, Ilsa's lost lover) do involve males. They all happen to be white.

This is just something to think about, for me to ponder on as a writer.

OOh, Ooh, can I say what characters I made for RP?

I love comparing characters.

Considering that this is a thread discussing fantasy, sure, why not?

[NERVUN]

No we don't. Falling back on default means you're not doing too well in telling an original story. "I need a stock character for an innkeeper" is fine if the innkeeper isn't doing more than charging the cast some money for a room, but it doesn't automatically have to be a SWM. The more the innkeeper becomes important, the greater the justifications needed.

When you get write down to it, until recently, in western society (which is where the kinds of books I'm thinking of take place), women were unlikely to get a chance do much of actual importance, as were non whites (who were also pretty rare or universally 'the enemy' or slaves, depending on how far back you go), and homosexuals were discriminated against and thus tended to stay "in the closet." Therefore, any given 'adventurer-ish' type character was most likely to be a straight, white male, and any deviation from this (at least in this sort of setting) requires some explanation, or at least some recognition that this is unusual from the other characters, which violates the 'law' of conservation of detail if it's not done for a reason relevant to the plot.

The point being that no, that's not true.

There were, and are, many women running things. Minority characters were not as rare as all that in many instances, and again, the sexuality of a character needs be answered as to why you are bringing it up at all. Not to mention the whole fantasy bit so...

In other words, if you're offering a description of anything, the best writing has a reason for it to be that way. If the innkeeper is an old, gruff guy, why mention it at all unless it serves a point, otherwise a generic innkeeper works, you don't even need to name, describe, or anything else.

[NERVUN]

Even then, when you say "John Smith is all about his job these days", you're saying John smith is very involved with/interested in his job, or is paying his job an unusual amount of attention. Many, many religious scholars would disagree that homosexuality is much of an issue in Christianity (and probably other Abrahamic religions, although I know less about them), especially since (as many liberals like to point out to conservative christians) Jesus never mentioned homosexuality.

... have you not read 1 Corinthians, for example? Sexual morality is a huge issue (and a lot of people think Paul condemns homosexuality in it too, although others have pointed out that Paul used a different word in place of the established word for "homosexuality" and that it's likely that he meant "temple prostitute", and I'm not going to get into that either).

It should be noted that Victorian sexual hang ups are just that, Victorian. While it is indeed in the Bible... eh... there was a lot more swinging going on.

Hell, look at Shakespeare, raunchy stuff. Eternal erections and all that.

[Individuality-ness]

... have you not read 1 Corinthians, for example? Sexual morality is a huge issue (and a lot of people think Paul condemns homosexuality in it too, although others have pointed out that Paul used a different word in place of the established word for "homosexuality" and that it's likely that he meant "temple prostitute", and I'm not going to get into that either).

It should be noted that Victorian sexual hang ups are just that, Victorian. While it is indeed in the Bible... eh... there was a lot more swinging going on.

Hell, look at Shakespeare, raunchy stuff. Eternal erections and all that.

The conversation between Ophelia and Hamlet in Act 3 Scene 2 for example. "I think of nothing." Heh.

But yes, I know Victorian hangup are well, their hangups. However, it's pretty obvious from the text that Paul was endorsing celibacy if they had the willpower to stay celibate, as that would bring them closer to the Lord.

[NERVUN]

It should be noted that Victorian sexual hang ups are just that, Victorian. While it is indeed in the Bible... eh... there was a lot more swinging going on.

Hell, look at Shakespeare, raunchy stuff. Eternal erections and all that.

The conversation between Ophelia and Hamlet in Act 3 Scene 2 for example. "I think of nothing." Heh.

But yes, I know Victorian hangup are well, their hangups. However, it's pretty obvious from the text that Paul was endorsing celibacy if they had the willpower to stay celibate, as that would bring them closer to the Lord.

Oh don't get me wrong, it IS indeed there in the Bible... it's just that no one followed it.

How many popes had mistresses now?

[Empire of Narnia]

I think it's because people are willing to accept certain breaks from 'reality' for the story. They can accept dragons and magic since that's the premise of the story but they expect everything else to fit into the common view of medieval society. In the olden days it was uncommon to have woman in combat situations, Europe was mostly white and homosexuality was looked down upon. Unless the story is explicitly about an ancient society with modern values having those types of people will be seen as weird. It would be like having a knight hop off his horse just to yell out "yo! yo! yo! wassup, dawg!" It would be seen as bizarre, even with a setting with dragons and magic. People are willing to accept dragons and a bit of fantasy creatures, but otherwise they expect a traditional medieval society without modern values thrown in.

[Conserative Morality]

Considering that this is a thread discussing fantasy, sure, why not?

Going over my main viewpoint characters, I'm fairly comfortable with them. Maybe a little whiter than they need to be.

Primary universe:
Arab-equivalent (So... I don't know, white maybe?) straight (Mildly homophobic) male (Excuse: Western-style Military)
White, gay male (Excuse: Western-style military)
Mixed-race bisexual (In a heterosexual relationship) male (No excuses)
Turkish-equivalent (Dammit, does one define whiteness on European-ness or the equivalent thereof or on a broader 'caucasian' level?) straight female
White lesbian female
East Asian-equivalent Straight male

Individual Fantasy Stories:
White bisexual male (Excuse: 19th century/Western-style military, so doubly sexist in recruitment)
Black straight male
White male with unaddressed sexuality
Four white males (With one explicitly heterosexual and the others unaddressed) and one straight white female
Bisexual female of indeterminate origin
East-Asian equivalent female with unaddressed sexuality
Black straight male
White male with unaddressed sexuality

[NERVUN]

I think it's because people are willing to accept certain breaks from 'reality' for the story. They can accept dragons and magic since that's the premise of the story but they expect everything else to fit into the common view of medieval society. In the olden days it was uncommon to have woman in combat situations, Europe was mostly white and homosexuality was looked down upon. Unless the story is explicitly about an ancient society with modern values having those types of people will be seen as weird. It would be like having a knight hop off his horse just to yell out "yo! yo! yo! wassup, dawg!" It would be seen as bizarre, even with a setting with dragons and magic. People are willing to accept dragons and a bit of fantasy creatures, but otherwise they expect a traditional medieval society without modern values thrown in.

*reads this, looks at Discworld* A-wha-huh?

[Olthar]

I'm writing a short story and I admit to having sorta presumed all the characters to be white. They're all male (at least the ones introduced so far) but that's an intentional thing (it's a dystopian medical compound and the sleeping quarters aren't coed). It's explicitly pointed out that not everyone is straight, though. I guess as a gay white male I reflect my own biases just as much as the heteros.

Since I do non-NS related RP on this site, I was thinking of all of the RP characters that I've made up as of so far.

Alison Carter - mixed race (mom was Japanese and dad was white), sexuality indeterminate.
Ilsa Martin - straight white female, initially created for a pesudo-medieval Europe fantasy RP. No excuses for that one.
Divia Esha Patil - Indian female, sexuality indeterminate.
Holly Serow Koboi - ginger, so she's white, female, and lesbian.
Amala Bahenchod Pati - Indian female, sexuality indeterminate.

I usually don't make a huge deal on the races/sexuality/gender thing, but you can see that all of them are female, and if they're not Asian characters, they go to the default white. The variety in sexual orientations is due to my own indeterminate sexual orientation, which is why you see a wide range from indeterminate to lesbian to straight. But it confirms to my biases as well.

Also, to note, some of the character's backstories (Alison's father, Ilsa's lost lover) do involve males. They all happen to be white.

This is just something to think about, for me to ponder on as a writer.

I don't think you can really blame yourself for RPs. While stories are about independent characters, RPs usually just involve author avatars due to the nature of RPing. Thus, they should be treated differently. While it would be ideal for stories to involve new and original characters, that's not necessary in RPs. When I RP, all of my characters are usually-white lesbians because that's what I am. In stories, however, I will branch out and write about other people.

[Tahar Joblis]

Despite the fact that theoretically only 21.8% of people in the US happen to be straight white males (calculated here if you're curious)

Did you seriously just calculate the percentage of "straight white males" by taking the population of straight white males between 15-64, and then divide by the population of all people in the country?

Bad math. Seriously bad math.

[Aina Lani]

When you get write down to it, until recently, in western society (which is where the kinds of books I'm thinking of take place), women were unlikely to get a chance do much of actual importance,

Entirely untrue. Outside of a military context, women could and often did wield a great deal of power.

It's only a brief window of democracy in which women held almost no legal political power, and even then, they found ways to make their voices heard.

as were non whites (who were also pretty rare or universally 'the enemy' or slaves, depending on how far back you go),

Late 17th century-early 19th century, maybe.

Must I remind you of Othello? Non-whites were usually considered unusual and exotic, but scientific racism denoting all non-whites as the enemy or slaves wasn't present for most of Western history. The myth of Prester John and the cordial relations between the Japanese and European powers during the Sengoku Jidai shows this pretty handily.

A relevant Rennasaince-era painting, early 16th century, I think.

and homosexuals were discriminated against and thus tended to stay "in the closet."

Despite this, we have significant evidence for the homosexuality of many history western figures, complete with various reactions by their peers and varying degrees of openness.

Therefore, any given 'adventurer-ish' type character was most likely to be a straight, white male, and any deviation from this (at least in this sort of setting) requires some explanation, or at least some recognition that this is unusual from the other characters, which violates the 'law' of conservation of detail if it's not done for a reason relevant to the plot.

Any 'adventurer-ish' type character was more likely to be an outcast of some sort, considering the danger, time, and lack of security in terms of finance associated with travel in a pre-modern era.

So no excuses.

I'm not saying there weren't people like this (there definitely were).

I'm just saying that any given character was much more likely to be a straight white male than anything else, and authors like to write about typical people doing extraordinary things. (Of course, authors also like to write about people who are different from the beginning, but these books don't tend to fall into the SWM much).

Let me put it another way. I know many people, but none of them are openly gay, and only one is transgendered. Also, I know tons of asians, but only 2 black guys. This isn't because of prejudice on my part; I know lots of asians because where I live the population is probably at least 40% asian, I don't know many black people because there aren't many black people where I live, and I don't know any openly gay people because they just aren't super common (partly due to discrimination/fear of coming out, and partly because fewer people are gay, period). I also know more males than females because I'm male, and people tend to associate more with others of the same gender. If someone was writing a story that took place in a setting similar to the one that I live in, it would be perfectly reasonable for the main character's friends to be mostly white or asian, mostly male, and all straight, because that's realistic. If the character and five of his friends were all black and gay, and this irregularity wasn't related to the plot at all, it would seem strange and not do a very good job of representing the setting. Even having one black friend and one gay friend out of a small number is sort of unlikely, in this sort of setting.

[NERVUN]

Entirely untrue. Outside of a military context, women could and often did wield a great deal of power.

It's only a brief window of democracy in which women held almost no legal political power, and even then, they found ways to make their voices heard.

Late 17th century-early 19th century, maybe.

Must I remind you of Othello? Non-whites were usually considered unusual and exotic, but scientific racism denoting all non-whites as the enemy or slaves wasn't present for most of Western history. The myth of Prester John and the cordial relations between the Japanese and European powers during the Sengoku Jidai shows this pretty handily.

A relevant Rennasaince-era painting, early 16th century, I think.

Despite this, we have significant evidence for the homosexuality of many history western figures, complete with various reactions by their peers and varying degrees of openness.

Any 'adventurer-ish' type character was more likely to be an outcast of some sort, considering the danger, time, and lack of security in terms of finance associated with travel in a pre-modern era.

So no excuses.

I'm not saying there weren't people like this (there definitely were).

I'm just saying that any given character was much more likely to be a straight white male than anything else, and authors like to write about typical people doing extraordinary things. (Of course, authors also like to write about people who are different from the beginning, but these books don't tend to fall into the SWM much).

Let me put it another way. I know many people, but none of them are openly gay, and only one is transgendered. Also, I know tons of asians, but only 2 black guys. This isn't because of prejudice on my part; I know lots of asians because where I live the population is probably at least 40% asian, I don't know many black people because there aren't many black people where I live, and I don't know any openly gay people because they just aren't super common (partly due to discrimination/fear of coming out, and partly because fewer people are gay, period). I also know more males than females because I'm male, and people tend to associate more with others of the same gender. If someone was writing a story that took place in a setting similar to the one that I live in, it would be perfectly reasonable for the main character's friends to be mostly white or asian, mostly male, and all straight, because that's realistic. If the character and five of his friends were all black and gay, and this irregularity wasn't related to the plot at all, it would seem strange and not do a very good job of representing the setting. Even having one black friend and one gay friend out of a small number is sort of unlikely, in this sort of setting.

*sighs*
Let's try this again, IF you are setting up your world in that way... congratulations, you have a good justification.

Now what if you didn't set up world that way, what is your justification then?

[Aina Lani]

I'm not saying there weren't people like this (there definitely were).

I'm just saying that any given character was much more likely to be a straight white male than anything else, and authors like to write about typical people doing extraordinary things. (Of course, authors also like to write about people who are different from the beginning, but these books don't tend to fall into the SWM much).

Let me put it another way. I know many people, but none of them are openly gay, and only one is transgendered. Also, I know tons of asians, but only 2 black guys. This isn't because of prejudice on my part; I know lots of asians because where I live the population is probably at least 40% asian, I don't know many black people because there aren't many black people where I live, and I don't know any openly gay people because they just aren't super common (partly due to discrimination/fear of coming out, and partly because fewer people are gay, period). I also know more males than females because I'm male, and people tend to associate more with others of the same gender. If someone was writing a story that took place in a setting similar to the one that I live in, it would be perfectly reasonable for the main character's friends to be mostly white or asian, mostly male, and all straight, because that's realistic. If the character and five of his friends were all black and gay, and this irregularity wasn't related to the plot at all, it would seem strange and not do a very good job of representing the setting. Even having one black friend and one gay friend out of a small number is sort of unlikely, in this sort of setting.

*sighs*
Let's try this again, IF you are setting up your world in that way... congratulations, you have a good justification.

Now what if you didn't set up world that way, what is your justification then?

Honestly, most worlds do seem to be set up this way. In fact, it kind of makes sense that if most of the characters in a story are white, straight males, maybe that in itself is an indicator that the story takes place in a world predisposed toward white, straight males.
Now, whether worlds should be set up this way is a bit of a different issue.

[Individuality-ness]

The conversation between Ophelia and Hamlet in Act 3 Scene 2 for example. "I think of nothing." Heh.

But yes, I know Victorian hangup are well, their hangups. However, it's pretty obvious from the text that Paul was endorsing celibacy if they had the willpower to stay celibate, as that would bring them closer to the Lord.

Oh don't get me wrong, it IS indeed there in the Bible... it's just that no one followed it.

How many popes had mistresses now?

Too many to count.

Despite the fact that theoretically only 21.8% of people in the US happen to be straight white males (calculated here if you're curious)

Did you seriously just calculate the percentage of "straight white males" by taking the population of straight white males between 15-64, and then divide by the population of all people in the country?

Bad math. Seriously bad math.

The original question was in regards to "straight white males in the demographic of 15-64 years of age", hence the calculation.

Obviously I know this is just bad, but I tried searching for an exact statistic and it doesn't exist.

Since I do non-NS related RP on this site, I was thinking of all of the RP characters that I've made up as of so far.

Alison Carter - mixed race (mom was Japanese and dad was white), sexuality indeterminate.
Ilsa Martin - straight white female, initially created for a pesudo-medieval Europe fantasy RP. No excuses for that one.
Divia Esha Patil - Indian female, sexuality indeterminate.
Holly Serow Koboi - ginger, so she's white, female, and lesbian.
Amala Bahenchod Pati - Indian female, sexuality indeterminate.

I usually don't make a huge deal on the races/sexuality/gender thing, but you can see that all of them are female, and if they're not Asian characters, they go to the default white. The variety in sexual orientations is due to my own indeterminate sexual orientation, which is why you see a wide range from indeterminate to lesbian to straight. But it confirms to my biases as well.

Also, to note, some of the character's backstories (Alison's father, Ilsa's lost lover) do involve males. They all happen to be white.

This is just something to think about, for me to ponder on as a writer.

I don't think you can really blame yourself for RPs. While stories are about independent characters, RPs usually just involve author avatars due to the nature of RPing. Thus, they should be treated differently. While it would be ideal for stories to involve new and original characters, that's not necessary in RPs. When I RP, all of my characters are usually-white lesbians because that's what I am. In stories, however, I will branch out and write about other people.

I know they're just author avatars, but even then, it's still essentially storytelling, just with different narrators all contributing to the whole. As such, I still think it matters somewhat. The fact that they seem similar is laziness on my part.

In my own personal writings, I don't ever mention gender, sexuality, or race at all. I won't state what I think the intended narrator looks like or what gender said narrator is, of course, although I do know this amount of detail on who the narrator is, and I do know who the subjects are in the poems that have been so far posted on my thread. I try to do that on purpose.

[Tahar Joblis]

I don't think you can really blame yourself for RPs. While stories are about independent characters, RPs usually just involve author avatars due to the nature of RPing. Thus, they should be treated differently. While it would be ideal for stories to involve new and original characters, that's not necessary in RPs. When I RP, all of my characters are usually-white lesbians because that's what I am. In stories, however, I will branch out and write about other people.

Now that I think about it, strikingly few of the characters I RP with are, in fact, straight white males...

[Conserative Morality]

I'm not saying there weren't people like this (there definitely were).

I'm just saying that any given character was much more likely to be a straight white male than anything else, and authors like to write about typical people doing extraordinary things. (Of course, authors also like to write about people who are different from the beginning, but these books don't tend to fall into the SWM much).

Not really. Typically, fantasy writers tend to go the route of extraordinary people doing extraordinary things. The metaphorical farm boy is never a farm boy for long, and even if you're counting him as an acceptable SWM default position, that still raises questions like 'what about all of his True Companions, who are almost always straight and white, and usually male?', particularly considering that the sexism and human-human racism of fantasy societies is either toned down, played for minor drama but mostly pointless, or nonexistent.

Let me put it another way. I know many people, but none of them are openly gay, and only one is transgendered. Also, I know tons of asians, but only 2 black guys. This isn't because of prejudice on my part; I know lots of asians because where I live the population is probably at least 40% asian, I don't know many black people because there aren't many black people where I live, and I don't know any openly gay people because they just aren't super common (partly due to discrimination/fear of coming out, and partly because fewer people are gay, period). I also know more males than females because I'm male, and people tend to associate more with others of the same gender. If someone was writing a story that took place in a setting similar to the one that I live in, it would be perfectly reasonable for the main character's friends to be mostly white or asian, mostly male, and all straight, because that's realistic. If the character and five of his friends were all black and gay, and this irregularity wasn't related to the plot at all, it would seem strange and not do a very good job of representing the setting. Even having one black friend and one gay friend out of a small number is sort of unlikely, in this sort of setting.

I know relatively few people - I'd say perhaps I know the names of fifty people in my local area, which is of moderate size. Out of these fifty-ish people I know, four are out LGB. In an area where literally 92% of the population is white, I know five people who are black or mixed race. About half of the people I know are female.

Anecdotes mean shit. And how many people do you know whose stories are worth the paper they'd be printed on? Fiction is all about what is interesting, not what is statistically likely.

[NERVUN]

*sighs*
Let's try this again, IF you are setting up your world in that way... congratulations, you have a good justification.

Now what if you didn't set up world that way, what is your justification then?

Honestly, most worlds do seem to be set up this way. In fact, it kind of makes sense that if most of the characters in a story are white, straight males, maybe that in itself is an indicator that the story takes place in a world predisposed toward white, straight males.
Now, whether worlds should be set up this way is a bit of a different issue.

Exactly. That's the whole bloody point. If the justification is that the story takes place in Gerlach, Nevada, sure. But we're talking about a genre that can be anything, anywhere, anywhen. You're not limited! If the justification is good, great. If the justification is that "I can't be bothered to think of why I need it this way" then it's not so great.

[Aina Lani]

I think it's because people are willing to accept certain breaks from 'reality' for the story. They can accept dragons and magic since that's the premise of the story but they expect everything else to fit into the common view of medieval society. In the olden days it was uncommon to have woman in combat situations, Europe was mostly white and homosexuality was looked down upon. Unless the story is explicitly about an ancient society with modern values having those types of people will be seen as weird. It would be like having a knight hop off his horse just to yell out "yo! yo! yo! wassup, dawg!" It would be seen as bizarre, even with a setting with dragons and magic. People are willing to accept dragons and a bit of fantasy creatures, but otherwise they expect a traditional medieval society without modern values thrown in.

*reads this, looks at Discworld* A-wha-huh?

When you think about it, a lot of the discworld's protagonists (Sam Vimes, Moist von Lipwig, Rincewind, The Faculty of UU etc.) are straight, white males, and those that aren't are mostly straight, white females.

[Olthar]

I don't think you can really blame yourself for RPs. While stories are about independent characters, RPs usually just involve author avatars due to the nature of RPing. Thus, they should be treated differently. While it would be ideal for stories to involve new and original characters, that's not necessary in RPs. When I RP, all of my characters are usually-white lesbians because that's what I am. In stories, however, I will branch out and write about other people.

I know they're just author avatars, but even then, it's still essentially storytelling, just with different narrators all contributing to the whole. As such, I still think it matters somewhat. The fact that they seem similar is laziness on my part.

In my own personal writings, I don't ever mention gender, sexuality, or race at all. I won't state what I think the intended narrator looks like or what gender said narrator is, of course, although I do know this amount of detail on who the narrator is, and I do know who the subjects are in the poems that have been so far posted on my thread. I try to do that on purpose.

Perhaps it it laziness, but I don't think that particularly matters in an RP as they serve only to entertain the participants and no one else. Hell, even Mary Sues can oftentimes be acceptable in RPs. They're different from normal stories.

[NERVUN]

*reads this, looks at Discworld* A-wha-huh?

When you think about it, a lot of the discworld's protagonists (Sam Vimes, Moist von Lipwig, Rincewind, The Faculty of UU etc.) are straight, white males, and those that aren't are mostly straight, white females.

I'd argue that Pratchett actually has a lot of strong female leads (Which, incidentally is part of the above). The thing with Pratchett is that, yes, a LOT of modern sensibilities get tossed into the mix, just with dwarfs and what not. Given how popular it is, people seem to follow along just fine.

[Forster Keys]

...............

You.....my god....I....REALLY? FUCKING REALLY?!

I....I think I need a drink...

Hey, look, another Tolkien fanboy.

*sigh*

[Individuality-ness]

I know they're just author avatars, but even then, it's still essentially storytelling, just with different narrators all contributing to the whole. As such, I still think it matters somewhat. The fact that they seem similar is laziness on my part.

In my own personal writings, I don't ever mention gender, sexuality, or race at all. I won't state what I think the intended narrator looks like or what gender said narrator is, of course, although I do know this amount of detail on who the narrator is, and I do know who the subjects are in the poems that have been so far posted on my thread. I try to do that on purpose.

Perhaps it it laziness, but I don't think that particularly matters in an RP as they serve only to entertain the participants and no one else. Hell, even Mary Sues can oftentimes be acceptable in RPs. They're different from normal stories.

*cough*Crowley*cough* *nod*

Don't tell Night I said that.

[Empire of Narnia]

I've never heard of Discword. Sounds like a torrent site to me lol. I was thinking of more Skyrim, WoW, and the countless generic medieval-fantasy movies and games.