thread: 2006-08-16 : GenCon 06 observations 1-4
On 2006-08-16, Ron Edwards wrote:
As many have noted, Mortal Coil provided only one of this year's games to feature a Free Willy. Others may be found in It Was a Mutual Decision, The Dictionary of Mu, and ... geez, I know there were more, somewhere. I was told that at Origins, someone present proclaimed, "It's the year of the cock!" when the Willys appeared during various leafings through games.
Thought provocation - display of male genitals in our artwork is, at least to Justin, evidence of openness regarding gender, and I agree with him. Could display of female genitals, in the right games, with the right aesthetic decisions and roles, do the same?
I showed Em some of the nudie pics in the game Degenesis, German version, which was at the Shadowrun booth across from ours. I'd seen them earlier in the week upon meeting one of the artists and learning about the impending translation into English (and probable speedos/halters being added to the art). I was most impressed with one illo from a female artist, not because of the uncovered vagina, but because of its solidity and accuracy regarding the female form overall.
Depicting female anatomy both accurately and in tandem with images of genuine power, rather than over-compensatory posturing, seems to me to be a high goal to strive toward. I do not consider denial or pious prudery to be anti-sexist, but rather weakness and failure. Sexism should not own sexuality.
Here's a call for graphic sexuality in the service of openness, awareness, appreciation, power, and drives both between and among men and women.
