In Your Face, Caesar!

I came across a Cracked! article in my Facebook feed, which was looking at various warrior women from ancient societies. (i t would be nice if game designers look to them for armour design!)

The first example on the list was Roman Gladiators. It got me thinking that not only would I struggle to play Fallout New Vegas as a Legionnaire, but that I genuinely have bad thoughts about the people who do. Now I don't mean people who play the game as evil characters, or roleplaying, per se, but players who have no problem with Caesar's Legion, and pick it as the most stabilising force to reduce crime, and feel that that rebuilding society in this way just makes the most logical sense. Any old means to an end. 

What kind of privileged bastard would you have to be to think that slavery and oppression of women is fine, because SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST BITCHES!?

Sorry, but Darwin has long been taken out of context, and people should have a good read of Kropotkin's Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution, to get a different side. (Available at Freedom Bookshop ;) )

Survival of the fittest has been adopted, not only to excuse atrocities of the past, but to push the idea of the Free Market as a necessity in the natural world. Free Market libertarians are not inherently sexist or fascist, though it is something Mussolini had a strong faith in, and it ends up linking together well, as it tends to benefit those with natural benefits, by arguing either that the natural benefits do not exist, or that those with the natural benefits are supposed to outlive those without. The latter of course works into the ableist side of eugenics.

Archaeologists and scientists believe that there WERE TOO female gladiators, Caeser, you pig! Not that I'd want to fight for some patriarchal fascist army, but ya know.

It took a while to uncover, because scientists and historians mostly just presumed the nature of the patriarchy at the time, and that women would not be able to do these things, and reasoned out that things they found were actually something else. Take this sculpture for example. They presumed this to be a cleaning instrument at first.

After finding clearly female remains in gladiator tombs however, they had to reassess their ideas. 

BUT ANYWAY

"Manas believes the woman is holding a sica, a short, curved sword associated with a type of gladiator known as a thraex, or Thracian. Thraexes typically fought in plumed helmets, with small shields and metal leg guards called greaves. Their unarmored backs were particularly vulnerable—and were likely ripe targets for sica.

Experts had previously interpreted the curved implement as a strigil, which Romans used for scraping the body clean.

The woman's pose, though, doesn't support that explanation, Manas said."

If our modern day scientists and historians took so long to figure this out, it is hardly surprising that the information available to Caesar after nuclear fallout is scarce. Caesar is not an idiot though. As the courier is strong, she may join the Legion, regardless of gender, but she will be the only exception, and she still cannot participate in the arena. This is unlike the Roman Empire.

However, so long as you are a member, you will be constantly put in your place as a mere woman and get tons of misogynistic comments.

I have no idea how the ancient Roman men talked to women. I daresay that women who did so well as to earn their place didn't get constant sexist comment though, as the sexist views were the norm and there would be no reason to bleat on about ones superiority. This kind of forcing and reinforcing roles is the clear fascist element.

Despite the 1950s America theme of the pre-war world, women have come a long way. They've had to. They've survived. Try running around the dangerous wastelands with period cramps or whilst heavily pregnant!

I'm highlighting this because so much of the modern day sexists who label us a "feminazis" see themselves sometimes as conservative traditionalists, but more often as progressive dudes who are just following scientific truisms about sex. It involves a lot of cherry-picking specific reports and research which back up their beliefs. Feminists do this too. (other vegans certainly do this!)

But, things which back up the status quo beliefs are pulled in as truisms, even if this particular study was exceptional. Lots of reports which could be taken to mean many different things are narrowed down as evidence for modern day ideas of gender roles.

It is very common for anthropologists from all backgrounds to come to a range of conclusions, many of which being radical, feminist, or female-worshipping, but on the other hand evolutionary psychologists often come out with opposing views.

Often they are working to a confirmation bias. As are many feminists, but with the "evolutionary" label, their theories are often understood as scientific fact despite that it cannot be falsified. Sometimes the articles published in the newspapers have not even been fact-checked against basic history, science, neurology or sociology knowledge. "Women like pink because they picked pink berries" cries one, whilst 200 years ago pink was considered a colour only suitable for boys!

There has been a movement to reclaim and nuance eve-psych in the opposite direction. Just for the record: We have never been binary!

I'm off track, but I wanted to point out that many who let off Caesar's sexism on the grounds of it working are making a fascist ideological statement in presuming his binarist methods to be the best for achievement. Not that it isn't effective. Mussolini was highly effective. But the imperialist notion of spreading "our" people as far as possible and dominating them, enslaving them, forcing them to have Legion babies...

This wasn't all that there was to the ancient Romans and other imperialist nations. But more than that, not every society did these things, and there is nothing to say that conquering is inherent to our nature. People who support the ideas of the Legion need to understand their eugenic logic for what it is.

You will find far more hateful and consistently bigoted opinions on most MRA forums than if you trawl gender and race politics in Storm Front. Because they are backing up their ideology and personal pains with this world, with some form of science and "that's just how it is, man!" they are far more confident in their assertions about gender, sexuality and even race.

Feminists are known for using analogies as proof, but go on any MRA site and look at how they talk about Black people, or women. Or Black women. Or don't because its painful.

I'm not going to link to their trollish sites and give them views. If you've played through as Caesar's Legion, let me know your thoughts on why. Or if you can't bring yourself to it also!