(Disclaimer: Wizards of the Coast already took the article down, but they also chose to put it up, so phooey on them.)

WotC hired a man to write an article on young girls and DnD.

I am a man.

Despite living a rich and fulfilling life, one thing I never got to be is a woman. Therefore, some readers are likely to ask, “What gives you the right, as a man, to talk about women?”

First of all, this article is not about women, but about children of the female persuasion. Children rarely write pedagogic articles (and thank goodness for that!) and so this ungrateful task falls upon my hairy adult shoulders. So while I may not be female, you, my hypothetical accuser, are not a child, hence we’re both in equal violation of authenticity.

Secondly, an observer from the outside may notice some truths that a member from within won’t. This is why people, at least smart ones, listen to other people. This is why we have psychologists, rabbis, priests, strangers on a train, and Uris: to get a different angle on our lives.

Thirdly, while I’m neither a girl nor often DM for young girls (they make hardly 10% of the demographic in my gaming groups), while writing this article I have consulted with female DMs, female players, and a guy who had the rare experience of running an all-girl group for a year. Much of the article is a summary of their experiences.

Lastly, and this is my main point, it’s all about fun and games. So please, for the aforementioned goodness’ sake, don’t take anything I write too seriously. My aim as I embarked on this monumental project was to help DMs avoid some of the pitfalls into which I had stumbled in the beginning of my career and to tell some amusing anecdotes while at it, not to expose all the intricacies of the human spirit.

So, an adult man is just as good an authority on girls as an adult woman, being a man means he can say things that women wouldn't, and he talked to girls, so all is cool! And if you take him seriously you fail, because he told you not to.

The rest of the article is pretty much 100% generalizations based on gender. If you don't fit into his stereotypes, prepare to blink out of existence when you read it.

Trigger warning for talk of rape and domestic violence:
LJ user Kynn did some web detectiving and discovered he is a raging misogynist, too.