Re: [semi OT] Women wargamers -longish

> Stephen wrote:
> 
> > From the female starship captions/admirals on TV and in books you
find
> some
> > common traits:
> 
> > 1) Commands-most of the female captions don't command "the big
ships,"
> but
> > faster more maneuverable ships.

> > 2) Female captions are more likely to think before acting.

ok, here is my interpretation of this.

(1) the faster, more maneuverable ships are the ones that the
show/picture usually concentrates on, as they are more exciting for joe
scififan,: they go faster and fight at closer ranges. there are precious
few battleship captains in the sci-fi hall of fame (apart from in japan,
of course); there are often carriers, but the action typically focuses
on the fighters.

(2) the female officer is typically a major character (janeway, ivanova,
that new b5 captain whose name i forget, vansen of SAAB), and major
characters typically are smarter than the rest, and more likely to think
before acting.

it is also a bit of a stereotype (and since when could hollywood resist
a stereotype - i just saw 'Armageddon') that men (especially military)
are gung-ho psychotics (eg sheridan - how in the name of god did that
berk get to be the chief of the interstellar alliance?), whilst women
are more cerebral. now, this may even be true (and that is most
definitely another discussion, which we will *not* have on this list
...), but i think that in practice, someone of that temperament (like
sheridan) would never make it to captain.

this is just the way that popular (and, imho, especially american) drama
works.

Tom

ps that wasn't a flame against americans; there is just a difference
between hollywood and european attitudes to film; they are different but
equal. and, as i said, the extreme poorness of 'Armageddon' has
temporarily biased me against all things yank.

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