Are Women Inferior in terms of Internal Power?

[HuangRong]

I have been wondering about this question for a while now...

In JinYong novels, it seems, there are no top-tier female fighters (or, at least, not that many) (although there's always A Qing although this, too, is debatable).
In the "Godly" level there's DaMo, Sweeper Monk.

In the "Slightly less than Godly but still a total pwn" level there's XiaoFeng, DuanYu, XuZhu, Xiao YuanShan, MuRong Bo, etc... (of course there's TSTL and LQS of HDSD, but they're only two among many, many male fighters) (I just love parentheses, don't you? )

So why do we see such a gap between genders?

Of course it makes sense that in the lower levels (think: really low levels, like JiangNan7Freaks) it makes sense that guys are stronger; with no internal energy factor, guys will win: they're just naturally stronger.

But why is there such a gap higher up, when physical power is no longer important (relative to internal power)?

Is there any barrier that keeps women from developing awesome internal powers? Because it is the only explanation that I can think of, however nonsensical.
Or is this just a "Guys Must Win" attitude from our favorite wuxia authors?

[Guo Xiang]

Why ask when the answer is obvious? :\

If you want to read wuxia novels that have more gender equality, you can try out Liang Yusheng's novels.

[jadebunny9]

I bet if women wrote wuxia novels, there'd be tons of badass women who have reached the peak of perfection.

[ByTmE]

LOL I will be the 3rd woman replying to this topic

I actually think it is negligent behavior more so than intent on the part of the authors. Well, not really. haha. There is some level of chauvinism involved at play here, of course.

[PJ]

I bet if women wrote wuxia novels, there'd be tons of badass women who have reached the peak of perfection.

Or just more mush.

[Son of Light]

Depends on writers, JY doesn't like girls to have strong internal strength, GL is a bit more equal but guys are still usually stronger.
Liang YuSheng is so far the most gender equal.
While WoLong Sheng is the best, his female chars usually equals or surpass the guys in internal strength.

[Son of Light]

I bet if women wrote wuxia novels, there'd be tons of badass women who have reached the peak of perfection.

Not really, there are guys that wrote novels with badass women who have reached the peak of perfection.
Depends on if the guy is chauvinists or not.
I personally like works where the girls' internal powers are much stronger then the guys'.

[Yuet Thi]

Or just more mush.

My thoughts exactly. But being a teenage girl like myself, I wouldn't mind more mush.

I don't think many people will enjoy reading about their favorite hero getting their butt kicked by so many women. I feel like women in wuxia are mostly used for their brains and beauty.

[jadebunny9]

My thoughts exactly. But being a teenage girl like myself, I wouldn't mind more mush.

I don't think many people will enjoy reading about their favorite hero getting their butt kicked by so many women. I feel like women in wuxia are mostly used for their brains and beauty.

They wouldn't mind reading if it was about their favorite heroine kicking butt! Or not...

Or just more mush.

Nah, I think they'd leave that for Qiong Yao and others of her mushy genre.

[LuNaR]

males are obviously superior because wuxia is so real

[Son of Light]

I personally like seeing stories where the heroines kicks the heroes' butts.

[sceonn]

If how much Chi you can generate is related to how much muscles you've got then yea... Of course the yin-yang thing could also apply, since women are usually identify with yin which is the softer one.

[Son of Light]

I don't think muscles is related to Qi.
For Yin-Yang, in TCM, man is supposedly lacks Qi most of the time while girls usually lacks blood.
And thus, while girls lacks muscles, they should be able to advance in Internal Power faster and have a higher capacity.

[S Beaver]

Nah, I think they'd leave that for Qiong Yao and others of her mushy genre.

I don't know about QY since I've never actually gone through her writing, but JY can have some pretty nausea inducing scenes, too.

GL tends to be too cynical to have actual "mush", and LSY is a bit dry most of the time.

They wouldn't mind reading if it was about their favorite heroine kicking butt! Or not...

well, if you were a true male chauvinist, then perhaps you don't believe women should be the "lead" character in a novel

[Banh Mi]

Early in LOCH when the Jiangnan freaks were discussing their odds of winning the bet. They said the 50% chance that Yang Kang was a girl would be in their favour because there would be a limit to how much women can progress. This was said in front of Han Xiaoying, she neither got angry or refuted it.

But then the freaks are kind of chumps, and they did get showed up by MCF.

[kidd]

I bet if women wrote wuxia novels, there'd be tons of badass women who have reached the peak of perfection.

I don't think that will be the case. Romance novels are written mostly by women, and there are many damsels in distress in romance novels.

[S Beaver]

I don't think that will be the case. Romance novels are written mostly by women, and there are many damsels in distress in romance novels.

but we arn't discussing romance novels but wuxia novels here

[goodrick]

I have been wondering about this question for a while now...

In JinYong novels, it seems, there are no top-tier female fighters (or, at least, not that many) (although there's always A Qing although this, too, is debatable).
In the "Godly" level there's DaMo, Sweeper Monk.

In the "Slightly less than Godly but still a total pwn" level there's XiaoFeng, DuanYu, XuZhu, Xiao YuanShan, MuRong Bo, etc... (of course there's TSTL and LQS of HDSD, but they're only two among many, many male fighters) (I just love parentheses, don't you? )

So why do we see such a gap between genders?

Of course it makes sense that in the lower levels (think: really low levels, like JiangNan7Freaks) it makes sense that guys are stronger; with no internal energy factor, guys will win: they're just naturally stronger.

But why is there such a gap higher up, when physical power is no longer important (relative to internal power)?

Is there any barrier that keeps women from developing awesome internal powers? Because it is the only explanation that I can think of, however nonsensical.
Or is this just a "Guys Must Win" attitude from our favorite wuxia authors?

The same reason why perhaps women are considered the weaker sex? And by weaker I mean in terms of pure physical raw brute strength and not weak in any other respect.

[Son of Light]

I find it boring for girls to be the weaker gender, specially in actions stories like WuXia.

[goodrick]

The same reason why perhaps women are considered the weaker sex? And by weaker I mean in terms of pure physical raw brute strength and not weak in any other respect.

As I wrote that I have started questioning myself. If age is not a barrier (Zhang Sanfeng at 100 can still kick *** and be the best martial artist in HSDS) then why is gender? There should be no reason to believe women are inferior in terms of internal power.