How sixist is Cyrodiil? From TES4:Oblivion there is no sense that I can interpret, slight or acute, that women are lesser, greater, or equivalent to men. I can only assume sixism only because it is in a medieval type era. Specifically, inside of Oblivion's timeframe, how much respect do women have in general?:

1. A female commoner has what amount of respect that a male commoner would have ( The male has 100, the female has x )?
2. A female trader has what amount of respect that a male trader's would have?
3. A countess has what amount of respect that a count would have?
4. Would Cyrodiil ever accept an empress?
5. How much of a six object are women viewed generally? Worshipped and adored like Smurfette? Casually peeped like MaryAnne? Overlooked like Janet Wood? Or is Cyrodiil somewhat of a sixually dull atmosphere where everyone talks of mudcrabs?
6. Are women's opinions regarded fairly or are they waved off as over-emotional?

No arguing, please! Just Nirn / Cyrodiil facts.

I would think that there's quite a bit of sixism around tamriel.. look at the orc description (I'm pretty sure it's in Oblivion): Equality among the sixes.

Implies not many races are the same. Probably didn't want to offend anyone though, so left it out.

Someone is always offended by something :meh:

Tamriel history =/= real life history

It depends

Simple answer (regarding sixism): zero, men and women are considered fairly equal in Tamriel. Villiany has been acted out by both sixes over the years and either one can hold positions of power and authority over a large sect of their peers.

I don't think sixism is as pervasive as the racial footnotes would suggest, but I don't have anything to back that opinion. I think whoever wrote the char gen descriptions was grasping at straws.

First rule, don't compare RL with TES, it only ends in bad assumptions

Generally the same, but personality factors in.

Generally the same given all factors are equal

The same level of respect, but what has been seen in OB, more. The people of Anvil, Bruma, and Choral seem to love their countesses, and the Leyawinn count's wife has a level of respect for pro-cyrodillic groups (maybe moreso than her husband count). The Bravil count is a waste of food, and the Cheydenhal count is disliked. The only male count that is generally liked by his people is a freaking vampire.

It has happened many times before, and they generally were accepted, if they ruled well. Hell, there was an unofficial dark elf empress at one point, because the real emperor was bat [censored] insane, and did a LOT of good and ruled pretty damn well for the most part.

I'd say the latter. However, running around nvde as a woman in MW makes all the males around very happy. But, I think there are hints around that women tend to have to sleep around a little more often than their male counterparts, or that's just Berenziah. Actually, I think that's only Berenziah, that crazy dunmer lass.

seems to be regarded fairly


/flame. However, race has a bigger impact than someone's gender. Gender-wise, men and women have the same opportunity to climb and fail. Race-wise, not so much I'd say.

1. About the same. Commoners get no respect anyway.
2. At least the same, or more. Not counting fences, 18 of the 32 high-skill (Journeyman and up) traders are female. With the exception of the fences and Phintias the bookseller, all the Expert and Master traders are female.
3. More. The countesses of Bruma and Chorrol command tremendous respect. The counts of Bravil and Cheydinhal are widely disrespected.
4. Has done so, enthusiastically. Empress Katariah, a Dunmer no less, was one of the most popular rulers ever.
5. Women seem to have the say in their choice of partners. But there does appear to be a reason for the zero birth rate. Maybe it's the mudcrabs.
6. Best counterexample: Narina Carvain, Countess Bruma, who makes the key decision at the Battle of Bruma.

Agreed.

I don't see any evidence of a particularly male-dominated culture in either the games or in the in-game books about Tamriel's history.

I'm re-reading http://www.amazon.com/Uppity-Women-Ancient-Times-Vicki/dp/1567312497/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1266979275&sr=8-1, and you'd be surprised at the legal rights and the respect given to (some) women. (True equality for both men and women? Not in age of slavery and stark class divisions.) Rulers, a female pharoah, queens (not second fiddle to a king), stateswomen, military generals, physicians: you name, women did it.

Therefore, it isn't unrealistic to suppose a similar level of gender equality can exist in a fictional universe.

Prominent female figures in the TES universe (that I recall off the top of my head):
the Wolf Queen
Barenziah
Almalexia
Alessia
...
yeah, my memory is not that great. :frog:

People say history (such as medieval europe) was typically sixist but this is wrong. Sure men and woman had different roles but this is only due them being physically different and excelling at different things. As such women typically have better developed fine motor skill, whilst males have larger muscle mass and strength.
They're both equally important but they are undeniably different.

Henceforth they're not sixist.

Tamriel is not to be compared to Earth in an earlier age. I don't see a lot of sixism. In Oblivion and Morrowind both, there are high ranking officials from government and guilds who are female. The same could be said of racism or presumably homophobia. There are people of all races and backgrounds who are very successful.

No such thing has homophobia in TES because everyone is mudcrabsixual.

And we all enjoy the semans of vivec very much. Especially Crassius Curio.

Racism? Take a look at Morrowind and you'll see some fine examples of Racism there. Tell me, how many Argonians/Khajiit have an important position compared to other races? This was done away with in Oblivion presumably because Cyrodiil is more racially tolerant than other Provinces. I don't count that retarded Countess in Leyawiin as she is an Idiot.

When we refer to Tamriel at large we're obviously excluding traditionalist elements of Morrowind and other similar instances. But all of Morrowind isn't necessarily like that. The Imperial guilds in Morrowind obviously are quite diverse, for instance, and none of the Great Houses exclude membership based on race. You can become the Master as an Argonian, even. The Telvanni in particular seem to employ a diverse range of underlings as guards and merchants.

best character in morrowind.

It is very sixist. There is six everywhere. At any given moment, a knight is plowing his sword through rows of hoary evils.

There was a time, when remarking a man has a [censored] simply meant he had a tart on the side. Now it means you don't need two to tango.

...but what's wrong with being sixy?

Well the most hated races are Khajiit and argonian.

As for sixism....pretty much non-existent.

Actually, it's the orsimer (orcs).

Sometimes a spear is just a spear

And sometimes it's a metaphysical phallic symbol of power formed from the bones of one's ceremonial tribunal armor.

What about the female strippers in Daggerfall and Morrowind? That could likely imply that women were objectified and not men. I saw no beautiful Nord Chip n' Dales.

I miss those girls from Daggerfall.

Weren't there scantily clad men in Dibella's temple?