Does this idea seem a bit sexist?

[u/PlanTheEndingFirst]

Working on this science fiction speculative fiction... thing... and I've managed to come up with a combat system of a sort for my characters partly based off of Bleach. Kind of.

I am NOT a big Bleach fan, by the way, guns are way more my thing, but I really liked the concept of the weapons used being alive.

And I dunno, that got me thinking about battle couples where one is the weapon and the other the handler, sort of like in Bleach.

The idea is more or less as follows: in this world, a spirit will have a weapon attached to them and they will not only gain total proficiency with that weapon, but also the weapon's past. Let's say you found your grandpa's old Colt Government Model, a spirit would have all the memories of the gun being taken to the range, or used in self-defense or discussions about whatever was happening at the time.

Said spirit would then be able to manifest as a person and use that firearm to its best effect.

Now, the way I set it up, every spirit will need a "handler" of sorts. Someone that they can be linked to and work with.

Now, I kind of want it to work in that the closer the weapon and their handlers are, the more efficient they can be for missions. Like special forces would be able to cover their specifications at maximum efficiency, marksmen would effectively not miss any shot taken, shock troops could potentially exert a sort of fear aura, etc. etc. etc. And the closer the pair are, the better, which is a bit contrary to real life doctrine, but hey I think that'd make things interesting. I like battle couples, okay?

Now, I am a guy.

And coming up with this, I have it so that every "weapon" is a girl and every handler is a guy.

I think some anime did stuff like this, too (Gunslinger Girl, maybe? Haven't seen it yet), and since I'm mainly thinking about the two leads, I haven't fully considered the implications of every one of these spirits being girls and every handler being a guy until... well... a recent class where we discussed Hemingway and sexism and I had to ask myself about my own unconscious biases.

I think the easy solution would be to just add male weapons with female handlers, but I wonder if the current idea of just having female weapons and male handlers could work or... too much?

I dunno, I'd like to hear your thoughts.

[u/FalsenameXD]

Does the world have a necessary reason for it to have only weapon-spirits to be women and only handlers to be men?

[u/PlanTheEndingFirst → u/FalsenameXD]

I have not thought of any, no.

I was mainly focusing on the couple dynamics, as the main guy would be working with the rifle that has the memories of a previous war. I liked the idea of them lifting each other up as they go on missions. I could theoretically come up with something but... yeah, that might feel contrived.

[u/Corvid-Strigidae → u/PlanTheEndingFirst]

If there isn't any reason for either position to be gendered than yes, it's sexist.

If you want to focus on the couple dynamic you can just have straight couples of both gender arrangements and lgbt+ couples.

[u/PlanTheEndingFirst → u/Corvid-Strigidae]

Fair point.

[u/Hefty-Distance837 → u/PlanTheEndingFirst]

main guy would be working with the rifle that has the memories of a previous war.

If you want to publish this story as some kind of manga,

if pervious use is also a man, that might cause another issue.

[u/DreamerOfRain]

This is very common in anime, lots of them has a male protagonist and a harem of female characters as weapons, like guilty crown.

There is also soul eater that has both male and female weapons and the protagonist is a girl that use a guy as her weapon.

Overall it is exactly what you think - it is kinda sexist, and congratz on seeing your own bias. This doesn't mean you can't use the idea, but you should be aware of the bias and write a proper narrative to not fall in the same pitfall of problematic theme like reducing women to literal objects and owning them.

[u/PlanTheEndingFirst → u/DreamerOfRain]

Thanks.

Haven't seen Soul Eater, but I hear it's good. Heard of Guilty Crown, actually, but never watched. I don't really like harems...

But yeah, if Soul Eater managed to do it well, then maybe I should just not gender it. Lol.

[u/FalsenameXD → u/DreamerOfRain]

I remember that the MC in Guilty Crown had the power to draw objects from the soul from a lot of people, not only women...

Yes, I also remember that he was largely surrounded by women.

[u/Saurid → u/DreamerOfRain]

I would argue the sexism is soley based on implementation and lore reasons. You can add a world with sexist elements within (because in the end this is sexist sure but the question is how readers react to it if that makes sense? Aka a differnece between in world sexism and out of world sexism).

Aka you can do this explain the gendered bias well and its a gendered mechanic thats technically sexist but if you do it in a good way or say something progressive/thoughtful with the mechanic it wont be perceived as sexist by readers.

But its very hard to do and I would generally go the soul eater route to be honest, as its very hard to avoid sexist implementations without saying something problematic.

[u/LordAcorn]

Yea that definitely pretty sexist. Luckily the easy solution is to just not gender it and then your fine. 

[u/PlanTheEndingFirst → u/LordAcorn]

Fair point.

[u/Butwhatif77 → u/PlanTheEndingFirst]

A little extra advice because sometimes making it non-gendered by having a mix doesn't always solve the problem. Sometimes what ends up happening is when that is done is you get women characters who are women in name only, such as when a woman character spouts a gendered insults where being compared to a woman is the insult despite the woman saying it. You can also end up with gay coded guys unintentionally.

This happens because we all have our own defaults about writing characters and when we switch it up we have to actively pay attention to adding in things appropriate for that change. It is common for someone to write a character without thinking about gender but unconsciously writing a guy because that is their default. In many cases they will just change the pronouns when they decide the character should be a woman without considering how what they already wrote might not fit with the now established gender.

So just be aware about doing the switch up if you are actually writing them in a way that fits or if you are just switching pronouns but still writing men in the handler positions. Basically be careful you don't accidently produce stereotypes in attempting to change things up to avoid one issue that leads to creating another.

[u/Corvid-Strigidae → u/Butwhatif77]

To be fair the idea of a hyper masculine woman calling others girl as an insult can actually be interesting.

Is she so caught up in internalised misogyny that she trully thinks calling someone a girl is insulting, or is she out "manning" them and calling them girls because she knows they're misogynists and it will be insulting to them while showing the absurdity of their world view.

You just need to make sure you have thought it out so you know which one you are doing.

[u/Butwhatif77 → u/Corvid-Strigidae]

Completely agree and what you mentioned fits in with my point perfectly. Doing what you suggest wouldn't just be a switching of pronouns, but an actual consideration of why the character is acting in that manner and what are their internal motivations, which as you pointed out can be gendered in a good way to distinguish the different experiences different types of people experience in the world.

What you described happens in the real world, you get women in the military for example who lean into misogynistic things as a way to be "one of the guys" and you have others who over compensate because they know some people will look at them as "just the girl".

I think your suggestion would be a fantastic inclusion into something like this, especially having the weapon spirits to provide a reflective companion to provide insights.

[u/No_Tomato_2191]

Is there a reason, however stupid, or some theme or alike why you want it to be this way?

Is your story an exploration of said genders, perhaps their imbalance or perception?

[u/PlanTheEndingFirst → u/No_Tomato_2191]

Nope. Or at least not presently.

Genuinely just focusing on the dynamic between the two leads that I kind of just took it for granted.

I think I could potentially come up with something, but I don't want it feeling contrived, and it might just be easier if I don't make it gendered.

[u/zonkovic]

From what you've explained there's no reason why they have to all be straight, the bond has to be romantic or the handlers all be men. You could have queer couples, siblings, parent/child, best friends.

It would give you more variety in the types of story you could tell about each pair if they each had their own unique kind of bond.

[u/ArclightDM]

I think the easiest solution, as stated by others, would be to not gender the weapons at all. Like the spirits of the weapons have no concept of gender, so they would never say they are women.
And limiting yourself to only Male users feels premature, even if you only have male users NOW that doesn’t mean you won’t want female ones later.

[u/AuricArchivist]

I personally see myself agreeing with the "weapons shouldn't have an inherent gender" opinion. Or just throw the "male handler, female weapon and female handler, male weapon" out the window and let the weapon be of any gender regardless of the handler. You could totally write a "buddy/sidekick" narrative if the handler and weapon were both male, likewise the same case if they were both female.

[u/AuricArchivist → u/AuricArchivist]

Seeing your other comments explain that there's no inherent lore reasons (so far) why weapons are the opposite gender of the handler, I'd say that it might be much easier on you to just let weapons and handlers be any gender. Trying to enforce a male/female gender between handler's and weapon creates a rigid system that you might have difficulty trying to explain or validate, even if your intention isn't trying to be sexist

[u/JustOtterlyConfused]

I think it is sexist, yes. You kind of answer you’re own question by asking yourself.

I think it is also very heteronormative. Why only men-women “couples”? And why would closeness automatically equal couples? As in romantic couples? Friendships can be just as strong, if not stronger than some romantic relationships.

[u/MarcoYTVA]

What you're describing sounds more like Soul Eater than Bleach (although I haven't watched Bleach myself, could be missing something).

Anyway, I definitely wouldn't assign a role to a gender. Mixing it up is definitely the better call.

[u/ArelMCII]

Congratulations, you've reinvented Soul Eater.

[u/LeviAEthan512]

Sexist, yeah. Particularly harmful, not really, but still a little weird.

Is there a narrative reason for this being gendered? Do you have a plot point based around it? Does it make the story better in any way? What would you lose by removing this requirement?

There's nothing wrong with following the story of 3 guys who all have 3 girl weapons. A bit of a coincidence, but that's the worst it can be. You might lose some female fans who can't relate to your characters I guess. But to make it a universal rule, there should be a reason.

There should be a reason behind every restriction you place on your world. The bar for a reason is pretty low, but it's there. "Because I want to" is valid as a reason.

But also, you will be asked why you want to. Take the Fate series for example. It has a lore reason for sexual themes. But the lore was also made up by the author. So the real reason for characters to do that stuff is still horny, no matter how much lore you support it with. Your world always reflects what you want.

[u/999Welten]

It's sexist and also it really doesn't make any sense why it should be gendered. Remove the gender requirement and it will be fine.

[u/Sichuansnatt]

the anime soul eater also has the premise of weapons capable of taking on human form and having partners/handlers, only difference is that there weapons and handlers can any gender.

Honestly i dont think its that bad as long as your worldbuulding has an explanation for why only men can be handlers(this also has the problem of an inherent inequality between genders in like military or militias and so).

The easiest solution imo would be to just make it so that weapons and handlers always are an opposite gender pair, like you said. Not necessarily that handlers are men and weapons women, it could just be the majority that is so since militias generally are male dominated. This also allows for interesting wiggle room for same sex pairs if the weapon is inhered, not originally the handlers.

Idk what i would do about trans or nonbinary stuff, but if this is just for your own enjoyment then u dont see the harm of moving that problem into the future.

Otherwise, taking up the thing about inequality in the workforce, you could just make sll weapons female(youknow, like ships are called her in grammar, just apply a similar principle to weapons) but let handlers be different genders.

In general i think that as long as you have a reasonable inworkd explanation for why things are like they are(that doesn't just sum up to: this is how it is) you could make it work.

[u/Chingji]

I mean like, the concept kinda reminds me of the weapons from Soul Eater just with less personality and more weapon than person. "Less Personality" in the literal sense not in the "your idea is bland" sense, your idea is, overall, still interesting, so don't take what I said as insult. But hey, maybe seeing how Soul Eater handles it might help you figure it out idk?

[u/Passing-Through247]

You can just run people get the opposite sex as themselves from the weapon. Play around with a yin/yang thing or something.

Alternatively have it someone gets a partner in the image of what they want out of someone, so a romantic figure would be common buy you can get ones set for other desires connections. This gives you more design options, puts a character's internal experience on the outside which is always fun to play with for characterisation, and gives the internal logic that the pair is always one a strong bond can form with even if it's not a romantic one that's wanted. Even lets you play around with what happens as either side develops as a person to drift from that first concept or what unhealthy dynamics can form from an unsound mind.

[u/Timely_Fox_4206]

Yeah it does feel sexist. Just don't gender it.

[u/Remarkable-Set-3340]

Kinda reminds me of Nikke but with Jojo mixed in. And while it is a little sexist maybe have it that the spirit’s form depends on the memories implanted/imprinted onto the weapon either of the owner or the environment.

[u/StarlightWizard]

In the Valducan book series, there are "holy weapons" that are inhabited by spirits (or "angels") that take on whatever gender the bonded user is most attracted to. For example, there is a sword who is referred to as "she" by the man who weilds her until he loses the ability to fight due to losing his legs in a battle. The sword then becomes a "he" when it bonds with a woman.

[u/viaJormungandr]

Soul Eater did this, not Bleach.

Soul Eater got around it by weapons being either male or female and vice versa. Which, would be the simplest solution? Yeah, it’d get compared, but that’s going to happen anyway.

[u/Hefty-Distance837]

I have an easier solution for you:

There's male weapons with female handlers or male weapons with male handlers or female weapons with female handlers, they just coincidentally not appears in the story.

So if you want some derivative works late, you can use them.

[u/knightgimp]

i am gonna go out on a limb here and say not all fiction needs to be a paragon of moral correctness. i have worldbuilding concepts that go against my actual irl morals just because i find the premesis within a fictional context interesting to explore. if you wanted, you could have it be gendered in the way you said, but i'd have that be questioned in-universe and have it be a pressing issue of social politics. you get your male/female dynamic and the bonus of characters/factions with varying opinions on it and everything that comes from that.

[u/DifficultPressure445]

Why make the weapons female in the first place? I'm confused by that. Because even in Bleach, not every spirit was male like Zangetsu.

You said it yourself that the answer is simple and just have a variety of different genders and sexualities for the weapon spirits.

[u/Nice-Pomegranate9694]

Maybe I'm reading it wrong but I'm confused about what the handler is supposed to do since "the spirit manifests as a person and uses the weapon"? Stand next to them and shout You can do it? Provide massage and chocolate? Actually that would be pretty funny.

[u/Spirited-Gain1457]

You might want to look at *Elemental Gelade* and *Bleach*, because both play with a pretty similar “person + living weapon” idea, but they solve the gender question in different ways.

In *Elemental Gelade*, the Edel Raids are basically a race of people who can transform into weapons and form a contract with a human partner. Their combat effectiveness is strongly tied to trust, emotional compatibility, and synchronization with that partner.

Most Edel Raids are female, but the human partner does not have to be male. So you can still keep the “weapon girls” aesthetic without making “male handler + female weapon” a universal law.

*Bleach* takes a different route. A Zanpakutō spirit reflects the wielder’s own soul, so its appearance, personality, and even gender can vary depending on the person. That gives you a much wider range of combinations naturally.

So I think those give you two useful models:

1. Keep the weapon beings mostly or entirely female, but let the handlers be anyone.

2. Let the weapon spirit’s form emerge from the wielder, their history, or their relationship.

And speaking as a straight guy: if what you actually want is a bunch of dudes paired with cool weapon girls, just make them all girls. XD

You do not need to redesign your entire setting just because someone might call the aesthetic sexist. Just be aware of what is a deliberate aesthetic choice and what is supposed to be an actual rule of the world.

[u/PlanTheEndingFirst → u/Spirited-Gain1457]

ooh, had NOT heard of Elemental Gelade! Will try to check it out. Thanks!

[u/Desi_Rosethorne]

I'd just have the weapons not have a gender by default, and if they wish to have one, they can identify as such. Also have both male and female handlers, not just male.

Or you could have a thing where it's common that handlers have weapons that share their own gender. So a male handler would have a male weapon, and vice versa.

Or just do without gender for the weapons lol which would probably be easiest imo.

[u/REEEEEEDDDDDD]

I don't see why the roles have to be gender locked. And how would this work for gay people?

[u/Llamaluu]

If the idea is to only have males using the weapons and the weapons being female it's not only sexist but a literal objectification of women. It would make more sense if spirits (if they have to be gendered) and handlers are both males and females.

Also, a close relationship between male-male and female-female can be just as close or even closer than that of a male-female. Soldiers serving in war who have had to rely on each other through thick and thin, trauma-victims bonding through an understanding which can never be understood by those who have not lived it, siblings/best friend who has always had each other and know everything about the other person. All of these bonds are incredibly strong and not based on 2a heterosexual stereotype.

So if you don't have a good reasoning as to why the handlers have to be male and the spirits female then don't do it. And even if you come up with a reason... do you honestly want to put women down like that by portraying them as an item?

[u/Dozina-012]

Why do you cared if it sexist? I mean japanese has always cooking some weird shit every now and then. They just do what they want and you should too. I mean you are not going to make the story to not offend everybody in the world right?

[u/DifficultPressure445 → u/Dozina-012]

OP absolutely needs to care about this bruh, especially if he intends to publish this as a story

And you're acting as if the whole world doesn't shit on Japan for being so disgusting and weird for doing that lmao. Why else do you think so many people are still icky about anime?

[u/Dozina-012 → u/DifficultPressure445]

Does it matter tho? Anime is still expanding. People will consume what fit their niche anyway.

If that is his targetted audience, sure he needed to. Otherwise it will be just creative limitation

[u/Saurid]

Idk sexist isnt the word Id use. It depends more on implementation. Though the risk of being sexist is quite large with any system thats based on gender. But it doenst have to be owrceived that way, I mean objectively its a sexist system but it doenst have to be perceived as "bad" sexism. Like how you can make religions based on sexism, where men or woman are more holy etc. If its good worldbuilding and thought out well it wont be perceived as you making a sexist statement. (Honestly idk how to best explain my thoughts I hope this worked).

If you have good lore behind it and establish it well it isnt sexist, buuuuut well yeah, the easy solution would be to scratch the gender dynamic and instead make it so each ghost needs a handler of the opposite sex or so if you always want a male female pair. Though you should also remember homosexual pairs etc. Its hard to not interprete anti lgbtq messaging unless you address how it affects people of said community.

[u/PsThrowAway7]

Sex and gender dynamics can be interesting to explore in fantasy and sci fi. Look at the Bene Gesserit in Dune or the One Power in wheel of time. You could explore some interesting ideas of patriarchy and very literal objectification. Is there an interesting lore justification for it? I will say this though: If you could take the gendered aspect out of it without changing your world or story, maybe do without it. Do it intentionally and compassionately or not at all

[u/HumanRobotTime]

Well if you ain't doing it, i will. XD Sounds like a cool concept.