The Context of Gary Gygax's Sexist Comment

"Damn Right I'm a Sexist!"

In 1975, E. Gary Gygax claimed he was a sexist! “Damn right I’m a sexist!” the morons repeat. Over and over again in my replies on X or in Youtube’s comment section, I see low IQ mouth breathers repeating this line and some parts surrounding it as if it is some kind of smoking gun or cudgel by which they can FINALLY kill and destroy all vestiges of hobby’s roots and all that came before. Why? Because these people are incapable of making anything new, and like a parasitic tapeworm, they need a host to thrive in any capacity. In our case, the host is Pen and Paper Roleplaying games. But what I told you the window that is Gary’s comments in question were a window into how, even in 1975, screeching activists were already trying to burrow their way into the hobby to chastise, subvert, and fundamentally change the space. The context of Gary’s quote is from a Europa article in 1975. Europa was a wargamer zine in the 70s, generally for those in Europe, such as the UK.

In this issue, an article or question about sexism in the wargaming sphere was posed. The article includes the words of a self-proclaimed feminist who had nothing nice to say about wargames and wargamers even in 1975. Her words, which I will provide in full, amount to “I don’t understand wargames, men, or masculinity, but I do know it’s bad.” It’s clear by 1975, the brain rot of radical feminism and activism was already well established in the minds of some. As such, the adherents of these ideologies were looking for anything to complain about in the world around them since the root of these stupid ideas is critical theory. Critical theory is a philosophy that looks to critique societal structures and institutions in a way that focuses on power dynamics to perceive and expose inequalities. In short, it’s a fancy way for over-educated morons to complain about anything and everything and feel smart about it. In our case, our feminist in 1975 was essentially upset that her “lover” was happy and having a good time when he gamed with his friends. She says:

There is a school of thought which puts forth the theory that man has an instinctive drive to increase his territorial holdings. Robert Ardrey, author of “African Genesis,” calls the drive the “territorial imperative.” Although as a feminist I object to the use of “man” as the generic for all human kind (including womankind), in this case I use it advisedly. The need for constant expansion of territory seems to me to be a male trait; male dogs, tomcats, roosters, stallions, and bulls are the ones who instinctively assert their masculinity by doing battle with any other male of their species who invades their neighborhood. This is the territorial imperative at work.

Man is the only creature who consciously kills others of his own species for sport. Man is the only animal who kills those NOT of his own species for sport. Man is also the only creature who kills females of his own kind for any reason. At this point I can almost hear Jack reminding me that this was supposed to be a statement on wargaming, so perhaps I’d better make my point.

After living with an avid wargamer for over a year, I have come to the realization that wargaming is a form of sublimation for the animal kingdom’s territorial imperative, and not a pleasant one at that. It is not to his credit that a man chooses to kill for sport, even if the “bodies” are only cardboard game pieces. Wargaming is not, like chess, a game of pure strategy. All the wargamers I have met (and I know several–all male, needless to say), have had a strong element of homicidal maniac in their nature. A lust for violence–on the game board at least–seems to be a prerequisite for being a wargamer.

So far, I have tried to be theoretical and objective. But I am curious to know if there are other women who have shared my feelings of nausea and disgust when my lover has been involved in a wargame in the next room, and I have heard him pounding on the table, yelling, “BLOOD MUST FLOW!!” He is, at the moment, separated from me by a gulf that I don’t WANT to bridge. It’s no wonder to me that so few women are wargamers. I think the tendency to lose touch with one’s humanity is a trait shared by far more men than women, with wargaming as a prime example.

-Europa 6-8, Page 80 to 81, 1975 (emphasis mine)

So Gary’s comments are in response to this statement by a woman who is, if she is still alive today, a lonely childless cat lady. When we understand that Gary was responding to such an outrageous misandrist comment about men, their nature, and their hobbies, we see scathing sarcasm directed at someone who deserves it.

This crazy cat lady claims all men are psychopaths who are violent and easily lose touch with their humanity. Her basis for this conclusion is that her man is just having too good of a time in the next room with his buddies playing a wargame. Honestly, we see the foundational logic used by Evangelicals against Dungeons and Dragons just a few short years later in the Satanic Panic being employed here by a feminist activist. We see this same logic used by activists in the hobby today! That should be very telling. So with this absolute moron's words here for context, what did Gary Gygax say?

I have been accused of being a nasty old sexist-male-chauvanist-pig, for the wording in D&D isn’t what it should be. There should be more emphasis on the female role, more non-gender names, and so forth. I thought perhaps these folks were right and considered adding women in the “Raping and Pillaging” section, in the “Whores and Tavern Wenches’” chapter, the special magical part dealing with “Hags and Crones,” and thought perhaps adding an appendix on “Medieval Harems, Slave Girls, and Going Viking.” Damn right I’m a sexist. It doesn’t matter to me if women get paid as much as men, get jobs traditionally male, and shower in the men’s locker room. They can jolly well stay away from wargaming in droves for all I care. I’ve seen many a good wargame and wargamer spoiled thanks to the fair sex. I’ll detail that if anyone wishes.”

We know Gary is employing sharp-tongued sarcasm because none of the sections he mentions ever existed in any version of D&D he penned. And when we see Gary’s comments to a woman who is hell-bent on being serious in her sexism regarding men, we see that it is probably deserved! Gary is not being serious, but the woman in the article he is responding to is, and her comments regarding men are infinitely worse because she is being serious. The activists today, just like this moronic childless activist cat lady in 1975, don’t want to be honest or argue in good faith. It’s perfectly fine to say any sort of evil false thing about males because their moronic ideology encourages and allows. Also these people are just straight-up evil liars. I hope this context helps in fighting back against those who love to take Gary’s comments out of context here and neglect to inform those they are bashing over the head with it that he was responding to a sexist woman who is potentially passed away in her own home but her remains were never found because her cats ate her over the course of three months.

The Full Europa Issue can be read HERE.