Defying age with a sword: Meenakshi Gurrukkal, Kerala’s grand old Kalaripayattu dame
“Meenakshi Gurukkal crouched low, sword poised; her eyes unblinking as she faced her opponent in the mud-paved ‘kalari’ or arena. From the tree tops, a mynah’s call resonated in the silence. In a flash she moved to attack, twirling her sword; metal clashing loudly as it made contact with a shield.
At 74, she is possibly the oldest woman exponent of Kalaripayattu, the ancient martial arts from Kerala. She has been practising Kalaripayattu for no less than sixty-eight years – training and teaching.
Around 150 students learn Kalaripayattu in her school Kadathanadan Kalari Sangam, in a tiny hamlet in Vadakara, near Calicut, Kerala. From June to September every year, classes are held thrice a day teaching the Northern style of Kalaripayattu, including “uzhichil” or massages for aches and pains. Techniques have been passed down through generations, written in a palm ‘booklet’, grey and delicate with age. When school term is over, Meenakshi takes part in performances. “Nowadays, apart from teaching, I practise only when I have a show,” she says nonchalantly. This, from someone who on an average performs in 60 shows a year…”
Another awesome example of warrior women from the real world, reading through the article confirms that this martial art was traditionally practiced across genders until it was suppressed by colonialism.
Oral folklore in north Kerala, known as Vadakkan Pattu or Northern Ballads, is rich with tales of Kalaripayattu champions. Among them are the Thiyya/Ezhava warriors of Puthooram tharavad in North Malabar- heroes and heroines such as Aromal Chekavar, an expert in ‘ankam’ (duelling) and Unniarcha, a women skilled in ‘urumi’ combat who singlehandedly took on vagabonds to ensure safe passage for women in that area.
It’s not that I mind seeing breasts everywhere; after all, I have two of my own that I quite like. But it’s disheartening that breasts are often considered more interesting than the people they’re attached to – as if we’re an afterthought compared to our body parts.
Exactly my thoughts whenever I see just another design focused on cleavage window or boobplate, while serving no practical function or informing us nothing about who wears it.
Bringing this back as the general reminder that there’s certainly nothing wrong with loving boobs, but definitely something wrong with placing them ahead of the people who have them.
Thinking female characters as people, rather than just sexualized bodies, should not be a rare and radical approach.
– wincenworks
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It’s not that I mind seeing breasts everywhere; after all, I have two of my own that I quite like. But it’s disheartening that breasts are often considered more interesting than the people they’re attached to – as if we’re an afterthought compared to our body parts.
Exactly my thoughts whenever I see just another design focused on cleavage window or boobplate, while serving no practical function or informing us nothing about who wears it.
Bringing this back as the general reminder that there’s certainly nothing wrong with loving boobs, but definitely something wrong with placing them ahead of the people who have them.
Thinking female characters as people, rather than just sexualized bodies, should not be a rare and radical approach.
spooky showed me injustice killer frost and i screamed
You know, they say art is supposed to stimulate your imagination, but I am pretty confident whoever signed off on this design didn’t try to imagine what it would be like to move around in that outfit.
– wincenworks
But, but… she has ice powers! That TOTALLY justifies her (barely) wearing that… thing! She breathes through her skin… I mean, doesn’t get cold, so it’s EXPECTED she’d dress exactly like that, right?
The fact that Manveer Heir is heavily involved in the development of the next Mass Effect game, and doesn’t tolerate sexism in video games, gives me a lot of hope for the future of the franchise.
Manveer Heir is one of the best things to happen to AAA games development. He’s been active not just on Twitter talking about sexism, but along with gaming sites (Rock Paper Shotgun) and on video.
He’s always calling for games to be more inclusive and for creators to listen to people from marginalized identities when they talk about their concerns and their experiences. And why?
Because he believes that video games and other media do matter and they’re the opportunity to make the world a better place.
– wincenworks
Now I dare someone to come and tell us that fiction is “just for fun” and we shouldn’t care about proper inclusivity in it.
The fact that Manveer Heir is heavily involved in the development of the next Mass Effect game, and doesn’t tolerate sexism in video games, gives me a lot of hope for the future of the franchise.
Manveer Heir is one of the best things to happen to AAA games development. He’s been active not just on Twitter talking about sexism, but along with gaming sites (Rock Paper Shotgun) and on video.
He’s always calling for games to be more inclusive and for creators to listen to people from marginalized identities when they talk about their concerns and their experiences. And why?
Because he believes that video games and other media do matter and they’re the opportunity to make the world a better place.
– wincenworks
Now I dare someone to come and tell us that fiction is “just for fun” and we shouldn’t care about proper inclusivity in it.
Hello, dear friends. It certainly has been a while. I haven’t had a lot of time lately to be angry about costume things. But today, I found the time to get very mad about how terribly misunderstood boobs are, and how misrepresented the relationship between boobs and the people who have them is, especially by people who would design characters with boobs for video games.
So here is my attempt at explaining a few facets of the relationship between a person, their boobs, and clothes. Because like with any external, protruding organ (AHEM), barring some rare circumstances and exceptions (like red carpet events), you’d rather not spend the day constantly aware of its presence.
Okay here’s the revised version of the post about breasts and creating costumes that would be practical for a person with breasts doing rigorous video game actiony things. The OP changed some stuff to make clearer what they meant (there were some misconceptions, including that they were saying the breast shapes of the 3 images below were unrealistic when they were talking about the impracticality of the outfits for sustained physical activity) and I removed the old post on their request. 🙂
Reblogging again for anybody this might be useful for.
A little bit off-topic, but still relevant in many cases this blog discusses.
If we add ignorance of how boobs work to ignorance of how clothes made of metal work, the result very often is boobplate, very often with added ‘benefit’ of being unprobably skin-tight.
If this tutorial have been up earlier I would have linked it in my requested critique. What a handy guide!
Reblogging again for the revised version. Old post deleted already.
