#don't put Martin down in favor of Tolkien because of his feminism

[tetsunabouquet]

George R.R Martin isn't lesser of an author for being a feminist

I saw someone put this man down in favor of Tolkien because Tolkien was 'a man who fought in one of the most brutal battles in history - WWI' and Martin was 'a man who safely recides in his armchair and is a feminist'. Excuse me? Why does his feminism discredit him? I never actually read the books, but I heard that in the books the female characters are less of a girlboss!Modern feminists but more old school and it acknowledges that female biology comes with stuff like less of a muscle mass. People really should learn that A, there is a huge difference between old school feminism and modern feminism and someone who says they're a feminist doesn't automatically mean they are a modern wave feminist. People should also learn that B, we can acknowledge that women are physically weaker whilst simultaneously point out that there is still sexism in the older days of warfare regarding the notion of female warfare. Like, the person in question used how Jean D'Arc inspired the French army, clearly this person has forgotten she was burnt at the stake for wearing men's clothing and that not everyone appreciated her. The blatant hero worship she has now is something she had to garner over time. I'm Dutch, my country also has a heroic female figure, her name is Kenau Simonsdochter Hasselaer. When the city of Haarlem was under siege, she inspired the women and children to help with repairs to the wall keeping the Spaniards out and encouraged everyone to throw burning objects over the walls. She supposedly led 300 women to assault Spanish soldiers with these burning objects, but did she and the 300 women get remembered fondly? Not until recent times. Did you know that 'Kenau' has been used as an insult to masculine women or women trying to take up a man's profession over here? Its only in recent generations that she became heralded as a hero and her name stopped being used as an insult. It's one thing to prefer men in warfare (especially in times when we didn't have weapons that could be used by everyone and still required strength to use), but its a whole other thing to demonize the women who do take up weapons. From what I've heard of the books, that's the angle George R.R. Martin is writing from and honestly that is an important angle. Because female patriots deserve to be remembered with just as much respect as their male counterparts, if not more because of the fact they fought the enemy despite being physically weaker. Thirdly, Considering that argument was coming from another person from the new world- don't make me laugh at glorifying Tolkien for having fought in WWI and putting Martin down for not having done so when this person is sitting just as comfortable as Martin. Part of why most people from the New World are especially offensive in their ignorance regarding gruesome topics like warfare, is the fact that the North American continent and Australia is so god damn safe when it comes to war. You guys usually fight in wars far away from your general public and global conflicts affect you guys the least out of everyone. Whereas over here in a country like the Netherlands, we are safe from Russia. But we know from experience that Russia could invade our country too someday. We deal with the refugees, the way the war is impacting the European financial world and bussiness, etc, etc. That's the thing if your continent is riddled with countries- if one war breaks out then even countries surrounding the conflict will feel it and look on with frantic eyes wondering if their country is next. I feel like Americans especially are pussies really in a lot of ways and sometimes I wonder if the pro-military attitude in the US is an attempt to compensate and make them feel like they aren't the most well-cushioned children around the planet when it comes to warfare. If you aren't from the Old World, you don't get to talk shit to others about being well-cushioned because you are so too.