Changes: Recreational Medievalism

Revision as of 20:48, 5 August 2014

Recreational Medievalism covers a range of hobbies and groups including the Society for Creative Anachronism, Renaissance Faires, and other such things.

The SCA is the largest and most common medieval activity group and has a strong geekish culture which crosses over with Science Fiction Fandom, technology, etc. The SCA has roughly 50/50 participation with regards to women, and women hold many leadership positions in the organisation; sometimes it is refered to as a matriarchy. However, there are still issues of sexism to be addressed.

Issues

General

Women's activities within recreational medievalism may be constrained, overtly or covertly, by real or imagined historical gender norms.
Power structures within the group may make it hard or impossible for a woman to lead without a man by her side (eg. SCA expectation that Kings and Queens are male/female couples, although there are small positive changes regarding this issue).
Medieval events offer an environment which exaggerates gender differences, in ways that may make some women uncomfortable
There may be an expectation that women dress sexily (low-cut bodices, etc) or participate in sexual or romantic activities (flirting games, hand kissing). This is an example of a Sexualized environment.
Some groups (esp. re-enactment and metal weapons groups) have far more men than women participating. It may be hard for a women to participate in such a group without a man (eg. husband/boyfriend), or she may be taken less seriously and assumed to only be there because of her husband/boyfriend.

Combat

A number of issues are specific to, or most common in, combat-related activities such as SCA armored combat or fencing:

Women may have physical difficulties due to different body shape, and may have psychological barriers to doing combat which need to be overcome in order to succeed.
Women may have trouble finding teachers who understand how to teach women successfully
Women may be overlooked for opportunities/recognition/awards in this area

Incidents

Resources

The Armored Rose - a classic book on women SCA fighters
Sword Maiden - a resource for female fighters in the SCA
Tribe.net - SCA women fighters
"The Iron Rose: Women Warriors, Past and Present" A set of web links to information on women warriors - Stefan's Florilegium

@@ Line 8: / Line 8: @@
 * Women's activities within recreational medievalism may be constrained, overtly or covertly, by real or imagined historical gender norms.
-* Power structures within the group may make it hard or impossible for a woman to lead without a man by her side (eg. SCA expectation that Kings and Queens and Barons and Baronesses be male/female couples)
+* Power structures within the group may make it hard or impossible for a woman to lead without a man by her side (eg. SCA expectation that Kings and Queens are male/female couples, although t[http://www.sca.org/BOD/announcements/SSCAnnouncement.pdf here are small positive changes] regarding this issue).
 * Medieval events offer an environment which exaggerates gender differences, in ways that may make some women uncomfortable
 * There may be an expectation that women dress sexily (low-cut bodices, etc) or participate in sexual or romantic activities (flirting games, hand kissing). This is an example of a [[Sexualized environment]].