Punching Up the Patriarchy - I don't care if you laugh, I amuse myself

I resemble this teacher.

I would like to start this post with a disclaimer: I am not a comedian. This shouldn't be a big surprise to anyone. I am not very funny - to most people. I am that dorky lecturer that will drop jokes and references that none of the teenagers in front of me gets. "That's ok, I amuse myself," is the cue I follow jokes with so that the students know it won't be on the test (I mean if I gave tests, but that's another post).

To a certain extent, I also approach streams this way. This is not to say that I don't want to entertain my viewers, I do, but I want to enjoy myself first - or I won't continue to stream anyway. Playing The Witcher is great for me because I absolutely love this game (seriously, I haven't had this much fun playing a game since I had an actual raiding guild in WoW many years ago) and the extreme and obvious masculine point of view of the game allows for one of my favorite past-times - satirically behaving stereotypically macho.

This is not a new pass time for me. I noticed early in life, being raised in a fairly traditional Catholic household, that being a girl in America was not the best character creation roll I could've made (certainly by no means the least privileged, but that is also a topic for another day) and even as an elementary school kid, I remember pushing against the gender roles adults were trying to enculturate me into. At first, this was mostly born of frustration, but as I got older and I learned those boundaries and expectations better, I also learned that I am both amused by and feel empowered when I subvert such cultural expectations with this sort of satirical role-play.


I am Geralt. Sometimes this is because I immerse myself in that role while playing, but other times it is because I am playing at being a comically toxic version of Geralt. And, of course, nowhere am I more likely to start playing at being, rather than being, Geralt than when it comes to the sex cards.

Learn about my Sins, Witcher ...

I slept with the witch Abigail. I did it in a moment of empowerment. I did it to spite the villagers and the game. I did it because I liked her. 

Abigail

I finally finished up the outskirts of Vizima this past week. I killed the beast, the end of the major questline in the area, and I helped Abigail, one of the main people in that questline. The beast itself was rather disappointing, to be honest, so I will be focusing on Abigail instead. 

Abigail is a single woman living in her own house in the outskirts. She is an alchemist. She supports herself by selling potions to the villagers (for better or worse). She is pretty, but more or less looks and dresses like all the other women in town. Her home looks neat and orderly. She even takes in the orphan Alvin. 

Does this sound familiar? It should, historically, these types of women were accused of witchcraft. In the game, Abigail is an actual witch (she does not hide this) and other than the reality of her witchcraft, her story falls in line with depictions of historical witches in the physical world. 

I Was Almost OK with this Sex Scene...

The first sex scene in The Witcher is effectively in the tutorial. Given what I have heard about this game (it's sexist, misogynistic, clunky, and skippable) I shouldn't have been surprised, but I was. I had assumed all the nookie would wait until Geralt's training wheels were off, but I suppose he needs practice at this too.

Here's the context for those who haven't played the game before. The Witcher is an action RPG. The player is Geralt of Rivia and the opening cut scene establishes that he lost his memory from a battle injury. (Because this is an RPG and I am more accustomed to using first-person vocabulary in these types of games I will be doing so for the rest of this post.) The scene shows my being taken to a castle by friendly NPC and it is in the castle that I can first take control of Geralt. I know at this point that I am a witcher, that this castle is a place that trains witchers, and that witchers are ostracized magical fighters.

The sex comes after the break ;)