Well, you'd be weird not to...
I mean, she's blue, she has head tentacles and... she blue.
Seriously, what's not to like?
Call me weird then. Nothing you listed sounded even remotely attractive. Infact, they were part of the reason I don't find them attractive. Hurray for diversity of personal taste.
I find them attractive because 1.) from the neck down, they look like chicks, 2.) their idiosyncratic facial qualities also make them like chicks.
I think the color of their epidermis is merely a coincidence.
Finding them sexually attractive probably has to do with how they were generally portrayed from the get-go as these sort of idyllic and female-only species that are mostly beautiful by default (as per description). One of the first things you get to explore about the Asari is how the nature of the sexuality plays out and stuff like that, not to mention the Consort which is likely one of the first things you'll see once you start exploring the citadel.
In general there's been a lot of favoritism towards all the alien romances also for Femshep players who romance Garrus, Thane and etc. so I like to think also, that it's something about wanting to live in this fantasy where alien creatures are shown to be as seducive and sexually attractive or even more so than those of our own species.
Yeah, I guess it really is just the escapism, but strangely I never felt the same about the Twi'Lek from Star Wars for instance, probably because their tentacle horn thingies look gross when they're worn by real actors.
Finding them sexually attractive probably has to do with how they were generally portrayed from the get-go as these sort of idyllic and female-only species that are mostly beautiful by default (as per description). One of the first things you get to explore about the Asari is how the nature of the sexuality plays out and stuff like that, not to mention the Consort which is likely one of the first things you'll see once you start exploring the citadel.
In general there's been a lot of favoritism towards all the alien romances also for Femshep players who romance Garrus, Thane and etc. so I like to think also, that it's something about wanting to live in this fantasy where alien creatures are shown to be as seducive and sexually attractive or even more so than those of our own species.
Yeah, I guess it really is just the escapism, but strangely I never felt the same about the Twi'Lek from Star Wars for instance, probably because their tentacle horn thingies look gross when they're worn by real actors.
Yep, all female, bisexual... sorry - "no concept of gender", stay young for centuries, mostly spend their youth shakin' it... They really were designed to be attractive (and hey, it works). Even the fact that their culture frowns upon inter-Asari mating seems intended to remove the whole 'unavailability' aspect of gay girls, although I wonder if that was even deliberate.
Since you mentioned Thane I wonder how the ladies here would feel about him in real life. Or the guys about female Drell for that matter. I'm pretty sure they'd be bloody hideous irl. With the double eyelids, spiky heads and necks that look like exposed muscle and those fingers - if it weren't for Thane's perfectly formed nose he'd be a monster. Same goes for Turians.
But like you say, escapism, which is cool.
Personally I don't see drell as being hideous. Scary as all hell because I have a phobia for solid black eyes... but not hideous. I'd be more intimidated then I would be repulsed. That being said I'd rather go with a drell than I would a batarian.
Personally I don't see drell as being hideous. Scary as all hell because I have a phobia for solid black eyes... but not hideous. I'd be more intimidated then I would be repulsed. That being said I'd rather go with a drell than I would a batarian.
Since you mentioned Thane I wonder how the ladies here would feel about him in real life. Or the guys about female Drell for that matter. I'm pretty sure they'd be bloody hideous irl. With the double eyelids, spiky heads and necks that look like exposed muscle and those fingers - if it weren't for Thane's perfectly formed nose he'd be a monster. Same goes for Turians.
Now imagine Thane sporting this guy's schnoz.
The reason people in ME feel the kid is genetically there's is merely a matter of the drastically different biology and cultural differences. It's the same reason we all associate the Asari as being female even though they don't actually have a concept of gender within their own society. We look at them from the perspective of our own species. For us to have a child with an Asari we just associate it with being genetically ours because that is how having kids works for us. It is how we perceive it. Which is fine, I don't care how people view their Asari kids, I was only speaking from a technical, scientific perspective. It is fact, in ME, that no DNA is taken from the father. It is not genetically theirs, it is always the mother's. How they choose to feel about it is an entirely different matter.
There's perhaps a big philosophical debate in there somewhere about what makes the kid yours, but thats not a subject I wanna touch. None of the DNA is that of the fathers, period. Even if the randomized Asari dna could give the offspring the father's eyes or nose, it still technically isn't the fathers DNA. For some reason this reminds of Miranda and her situation of being 'birthed' by solely her father's DNA. It wasn't entirely his DNA, since she isn't a clone, but it was still based around a modified version of it. Does that make her his daughter or an imperfect clone? Dun dun dun.
It's still speculation, though. All we know for certain is that they don't use the DNA of the father and that its always randomized from the mother. We're assuming this could mean Salarian-Asari offspring could have wider eyes and narrow face. We're assuming krogan offspring have tougher skin or ridges. Its never indicated to be that way in the lore.
The only instance where we've seen that an Asari resembles a parent is with Morinth. Which means little since she looks like the mother, whom is the only one who provided any DNA for the birth in the first place. Unless we see otherwise I'm not convince the father plays any role in appearances. Infact you could argue that there is more circumstantial evidence pointing to this definitely not being the case when you factor in all the different ways the Asari have had children where physical traits COULDN'T pass down to offspring (hanar, elcor, raditation).
They would clearly have a concept of gender, whether or not there are two distinct sexual identities within their own species. I assume (which is again an assumption but it's a reasonable one considering the variety of life on Earth already) not all life on Thessia shares Asari reproductive traits, so they must have encountered other animals that do show sexual dimorphism, and therefore have an understanding of what sexual dimorphism entails. It's also shown that Asari recognise alternative sexes in other species, too (which you could argue was learned later in space-flight, but I digress), even going so far to prefer one over the other. Aria has an obvious preference for women, considering the two Omega kisses for ManShep and FemShep, for example.
There's also an obvious separation of father and mother as gendered words, defining sexual roles, which would result in a cultural separation of those identities. The father would still fulfill a "male" role, even though they have no term for that, in that they don't give birth to the child. Aethyta chastises Shep for assuming that all Asari are mothers because all Asari fulfill the biological role of sexual females, and she says that she's clearly the father regardless of that. Cultural gender.
tbh this is a complicated argument I don't care to get into, and it all depends on your definition of gender and whether or not you're referring to cultural identity, societal roles, or strict sexual dimorphism. But, yeah, they obviously know what gender is, both physically and culturally. They might not have sexual males, but they absolutely have gender.
And yes, none of the DNA comes from the father, but the child's DNA is nonetheless shaped by the father, so it's a purely down to technicality of reference with no practical difference between the two. Asari can't reproduce asexuality, so the father is still genetically required, the same as fathers are needed with our species, it's just the father has an alternative involvement that doesn't involve strict combining of genes to make a total whole.
There are plenty of ways Hanar/Elcor/etc. could factor into appearance and physiological traits. Lung capacity, vocal tone, physical strength, muscle density, weight, etc.... It's not all facial features. Those were just examples.
Asari children are 100% Asari, with all of their genetic code inherited from their mothers. The role of the 'father' is just in providing a genetic map that somehow helps randomize genetic sequences inherited from the mother to create a unique individual rather than a clone.
Which is functionally the same thing as our methods of reproduction.
They would clearly have a concept of gender, whether or not there are two distinct sexual identities within their own species. I assume (which is again an assumption but it's a reasonable one considering the variety of life on Earth already) not all life on Thessia shares Asari reproductive traits, so they must have encountered other animals that do show sexual dimorphism, and therefore have an understanding of what sexual dimorphism entails. It's also shown that Asari recognise alternative sexes in other species, too (which you could argue was learned later in space-flight, but I digress), even going so far to prefer one over the other. Aria has an obvious preference for women, considering the two Omega kisses for ManShep and FemShep, for example.
You're taking me way too literally. Though perhaps I am at fault, I probably could had worded it better. To avoid further confusion I'll just do what I probably should had done in the first place and just copy/paste the wiki:
"Though they resemble females, at least to humans, asari are non-gender specific, with no concept of gender differences. Liara says her species is "mono-gendered—male and female have no real meaning for us," and, if asked, says that she is "not precisely a woman"."
We view the asari as females because to us they look like females. The asari have no concept of gender within their own society. I meant that they don't have gender association within THEIR culture in regards to themselves. Not that they don't have male and female animals. I'm sure the concept of male and female, in general, is not beyond them. Just not something they relate to themselves in their culture.
There's also an obvious separation of father and mother as gendered words, defining sexual roles, which would result in a cultural separation of those identities. The father would still fulfill a "male" role, even though they have no term for that, in that they don't give birth to the child. Aethyta chastises Shep for assuming that all Asari are mothers because all Asari fulfill the biological role of sexual females, and she says that she's clearly the father regardless of that. Cultural gender.
That is entirely different. For us mother is the woman, father is man. For us the gender is explicitly tied to the role the person plays. Asari would indeed have different roles, one that is what we would refer to as the father. This however does NOT mean they associate a gender to that role. To an Asari father and mother have no gender role because Asari do not have gender. Their culture and biology is radically different from our own, which is why we always interpret them as being females even though they do not put such labels on themselves. That was my point.
Coincidentally it turns out the question about offspring getting traits from the father is directly brought up in the codex.
"Asari believe that their offspring acquire the best qualities of the "father" from the melded genes, but evidence is anecdotal."
If it was true, frankly, I have to imagine it would not be referred to as anecdotal. This is definitely a question that would be answered by now. The asari have, afterall, be around mating with other species for thousands of years. Surely after all that time they would have proved this to be true if it was really the case.
Though the codex does leave it open to some speculation.
You either believe that the asari do pass down traits of the father and its just never been proven or studied or documented... or that they cannot and it is only an 'old wives tale' situation.
@Valmar: So you find Oriental chicks intimidating?
P.S. I think kinda like female Turians.
Personally I don't see drell as being hideous. Scary as all hell because I have a phobia for solid black eyes... but not hideous. I'd be more intimidated then I would be repulsed. That being said I'd rather go with a drell than I would a batarian.
Scary might be a better word than hideous. I actually like how alien they are in terms of design, but irl I'm sure most any woman would be terrified of going near one. Although they do wear nice jackets.
@Valmar: So you find Oriental chicks intimidating?
What are you talking about? I'm confused. How exactly did you interpret that from me being intimidated by drell? Drell look nothing like oriental women. Least, not to my knowledge anyway. Lol.
Oriental? What is this, the 1920's?
Forgive me for not being politically correct, lol. Still, Myron is the one who brought it up seemingly at random, not I.
You're taking me way too literally. Though perhaps I am at fault, I probably could had worded it better. To avoid further confusion I'll just do what I probably should had done in the first place and just copy/paste the wiki:
"Though they resemble females, at least to humans, asari are non-gender specific, with no concept of gender differences. Liara says her species is "mono-gendered—male and female have no real meaning for us," and, if asked, says that she is "not precisely a woman"."
We view the asari as females because to us they look like females. The asari have no concept of gender within their own society. I meant that they don't have gender association within THEIR culture in regards to themselves. Not that they don't have male and female animals. I'm sure the concept of male and female, in general, is not beyond them. Just not something they relate to themselves in their culture.
That is entirely different. For us mother is the woman, father is man. For us the gender is explicitly tied to the role the person plays. Asari would indeed have different roles, one that is what we would refer to as the father. This however does NOT mean they associate a gender to that role. To an Asari father and mother have no gender role because Asari do not have gender. Their culture and biology is radically different from our own, which is why we always interpret them as being females even though they do not put such labels on themselves. That was my point.
Coincidentally it turns out the question about offspring getting traits from the father is directly brought up in the codex.
"Asari believe that their offspring acquire the best qualities of the "father" from the melded genes, but evidence is anecdotal."
If it was true, frankly, I have to imagine it would not be referred to as anecdotal. This is definitely a question that would be answered by now. The asari have, afterall, be around mating with other species for thousands of years. Surely after all that time they would have proved this to be true if it was really the case.
Though the codex does leave it open to some speculation.
You either believe that the asari do pass down traits of the father and its just never been proven or studied or documented... or that they cannot and it is only an 'old wives tale' situation.
You need to be literal, though, because sexual roles in culture are complex things and it's easy to get mixed up. Which I was kinda doing myself as I wrote that at like 4am, so apologies for being less than lucid.
Anyway, what I meant was, they clearly have defined roles that resemble our own gendered ones in their culture, even if they don't ascribe those roles with masculinity or femininity in the same way we do. There is a father and there is a mother, and they both have separate identities and separate expectations. Liara says that male and female specifically don't apply, but it's more than likely that what she means is that their physical sex doesn't affect their positions in society - other things do.
I say this because of this sentence, also pulled from the Wiki: "Despite this, the Codex states that the asari are an all-female race, and the Galactic Codex: Essentials Edition 2183 explains that "while asari have only one gender, they are not asexual like single-celled life—all asari are sexually female"."
So it's clear they are actually sexual females, and it's not incorrect to view them as such.
In answer to your other point, I admit the use of anecdotal does seem to suggest some doubt, but the Codex is supposed to be an in-universe thing, but it's referring specifically to inheriting the "best" traits, not the inheriting of traits in general. The codex uses pretty factual language there, confirming that the genes are melded and mapped using the father's nervous system, and done so consciously by the Asari doing the melding.
Actually, re-reading the original question - do you think you could get with an asari - is this actually 'are you attractive to them'? 
I say this because of this sentence, also pulled from the Wiki: "Despite this, the Codex states that the asari are an all-female race, and the Galactic Codex: Essentials Edition 2183 explains that "while asari have only one gender, they are not asexual like single-celled life—all asari are sexually female"."
The codex the player reads in the game is told from the perspective of humans, though. It's even narrated to you by a human. I imagine its standard-issue Alliance stuff.
When you ask the real, actual Asari about it she explictedly tells you that they are mono-gendered and that gender has no real meaning to them. Meanwhile the other species continue to persist that the Asari are female and label them as such because what most easily relates to their own species.
So it's clear they are actually sexual females, and it's not incorrect to view them as such.
I was merely pointing out that this is an association (female) that WE place on the Asari and that the Asari themselves do not have a concept of it in their own culture.
If you recall this all stems from me using this as an example. You mentioned that in the ME-verse fathers feel that the child is genetically theres.
I was using the male/female thing as an example for why that is. They feel that the child is genetically theres (even though biologically it is only the mother's) because there is a cultural and biological difference between the species. It is for this very reason that we also all associate Asari with being female despite the fact that the Asari themselves do not view themselves as female or male or anything because they do not hold a concept of gender within their society. They must be female, its the only thing they could be that fits within our conventions. The child must be genetically their's because she had it with them and was faithful. It is all a matter of perspective.
Unrelated to the above talk but if you want to wander a bit in headcanon territory one could also mention the lack of 'traditional' sex as being a possible thing to consider with Asari. Asari have sex differently than other races, due to the whole mind-melding thing. Given that they are a species that was born without penises it would be rather unusual if they evolved to get any kind of sexual stimulation from penetration. Why would they if penetration is not only not required for reproduction but also no Asari have any equipment to make said penetration? They get the mind sex. I like to headcanon that they get genemods inorder to allow them to enjoy the practices of the other species.
Yep, probably.
Heck, teenage boys have been caught fooling around with far more exotic and strange things than an almost-entirely-human-looking blue woman.
Yep, probably.
Heck, teenage boys have been caught fooling around with far more exotic and strange things than an almost-entirely-human-looking blue woman.
That's a purtey turtle...
Since when the word "Oriental" wrong to use?
Anyway, @Valmar, I was half-asleep when I wrote that; what I meant was: Whenever I take a quick glance art a oriental chick's eyes, they almost always look black to me.
You said you find "black eyes" intimidating, so I jokingly asked if you find oriental girls "intimidating". I was only trying to be humorous.
I have no idea. Society has become increasingly PC as of late. I have literally never, ever heard the phrase used in ANY negative light whatsoever... and I live in probably the most hick part of the American South you can live in...
Anyone, no, I can't say I find them very intimidating. Though the men on the other hand? I think they make excellent authority roles. They have a great presence about them for it, imo. Then again maybe this is just because my only experience with them is subbed films. Their eyes can look black (hell, my own eyes are near black) but I meant /solid/ black. No white whatsoever. Thane has enormous black eyes that don't blink (well, they do, but its like a snake) so they just stare into your soul... He's one of my favorite characters and I think he's awesome but to see that in person sitting across from me starring at me? I might cry, I'm not sure. Drell are my clowns.
Since when the word "Oriental" wrong to use?
Around 1975 I think.
"Oriental" isn't necessarily wrong on its own, it's just... antiquated, and has become associated with certain outmoded viewpoints since the 70s, as Han Shot First already pointed out.
Glad this topic was resurrected after almost three months just to comment on the word oriental.
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