Pussy Plate

Warning: If the title didn’t already tip you off, there stands to be a fair amount of vulgarity in this post. If you don’t like it, don’t read it.

Recently there’s been a bit of buzz in the blogosphere about the cultural effects of transmogrification (wow, my spell check actually likes that word), particularly in regards to why people may choose the types of outfits they do, how others perceive them, and what the proper terms are we should be using to insult each other, or at the very least, label each other.

In particular, I would like to point to MMO Melting Pot for calling my attention to Apple Cider’s post titled Let’s Get Rid of “Slut Plate” Forever and Terri over at the F word with her post, You’ll catch your death in that. Go read them if you can, it’s OK, I’ll wait a minute.

I’ll be honest, I hadn’t heard the term “slut plate” before this post. So I imagine the “landslide usage” is either in the official forums (which I avoid) or in trade chat (which I ignore). Or it could be a local thing in her realm/battlegroup.

And again, I’ll be honest, I kinda like the term. It’s catchy. Her suggested replacement, “sassy plate” is also cute, but doesn’t roll off the tongue in quite the same way.

But wait! I’m a woman, how can I approve of a term that denigrates a woman’s sexuality?

Well, the answer to this can be found within the depths of my mind. Follow me, please, and watch your step.

*Hands you flashlight, can of Raid, and baseball bat.*

Words are words.

The English language is probably one of the worst in terms of words that have multiple meanings, particularly in the realm of slang and insults.

Take “whore” for example.

I am a self-proclaimed “achievement whore.” How many people honestly think that I’m exchanging sexual favors for achievement points? Hopefully none. (That exchange rate would probably be absolutely terrible and hardly effective at all unless you’re shagging a Blizzard employee.)

For being a non-gender based language (we don’t assign a masculine or feminine article to our nouns), a lot of our casual language is perceived to have gender slants.

Bitch, pussy, and slut are all lumped in as “feminine” terms. Using them in reference to a man is traditionally doubly insulting as you are attributing the original negative definition as well as then putting the spotlight on his penis or potential lack thereof.

Now here’s where I get weird.

I don’t automatically assign a gender flavor to an insult.

To me, bitch, pussy, and slut (as well as dick, asshole, cunt, twatwaffle, etc.) are all gender-neutral. Each term has its own definition that excludes a gender bias.

This probably stems from my own gender issues, or absence of. Remember, I’m a woman perfectly comfortable playing male characters.

When I played my previous MMORPG, I never challenged the assumption that I was male and even played along with it, flirting with individuals that presented themselves as female. (Laugh all you want, but I had a pocket healer for no more effort than a few jokes and compliments.)

There’s a huge tangent we could follow about the underlying problem that being referred to as something other than your identified gender is insulting (basically that gender itself can be an affront), but I’ll leave that bee hive alone for others to poke at with large sticks.

But for purposes of being insulted by me, kindly keep in mind that I attach no gender value to my words. If I call you a bitch, I mean that you’re being difficult with a side order of complaining/whining and just generally being unpleasant. I’m not passing judgement on your gonads.

So what does all that have to do with transmogrification and slut plate?

Apple Cider sums it up with this line:

“Our choice in in-game armor shouldn’t be a way of defining us, especially in a shameful way.”

Gender is an attribute that is often used to define individuals. It is a fairly significant physical difference in the real world and makes quite a bit of difference in how long one has to wait to use the restroom at a crowded public venue, but it really doesn’t come in to play in the game world and it certainly shouldn’t be a shameful definition regardless of environment.

If men want to wear slut plate on their female characters, so what?

If men want to wear slut plate on their male characters (there is some out there, just not much), so what?

If women want to wear slut plate on their male characters, so what?

If women want to wear slut plate on their female characters, so what?

What’s the difference? What’s the problem?

There’s the tired argument about “practicality.”

Why would your character go toe-to-toe with a dragon in a chain mail bikini?

Why the hell would your character go face off against a dragon AT ALL?

When we enter a fantasy world we’re sort of signing away our notions of what’s normal and correct.

I can SHOOT FIRE FROM MY FINGERS and you’re going to quibble about whether or not a few extra inches of steel (enchanted steel, at that) will make a difference in a FUCKING DRAGON finding your soft nibbly bits?

And so, in light of this, I would like to introduce the term “pussy plate” to describe the more conventional full-body, head-to-toe covering. (Remember I assign no gender bias to words, this just sounded good and conveyed a sort of cowardice.)

As Terri stated:

“I like conveying the idea she can be sexual and feminine and powerful and capable all at once without sacrificing any part of [femininity being accentuated in a tanking role, which requires strength and stamina].”

So wear your slut plate, your chainmail bikinis, and your netherweave robes proudly. You aren’t unconventional, you’re fearless. What you lack in steel you make up in sass and ferocity. You’re doing more with less. Conserving natural resources by using less packaging.

Slut plate isn’t demeaning, it’s empowering and it’s just plain fun.

“Remember, Ginger Rogers did everything Fred Astaire did, but she did it backwards and in high heels.” – Faith Whittlesey