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Cadians are the 'standard' to which many other guard groups hold themselves, up to copying their gear and practices. Cadians also train every person on the planet, of which ~50% are female. In the first Caphias Cain book, it is claimed that the Guard is about 10% female. There might be a cultural idea that men are warriors, that makes women less likely to enlist in the PDF, but I haven't noticed any specific discrimination against them being combat troops in fluff.

I bet that if female Space Marines existed, women in the Imperium would be more likely to join up, having poster girls that aren't Sisters would probably be inspiring. (Nothing against Sisters, but you can't really choose to join them.)

 26FireGuy0369 wrote:
I know we are all really busy hurting each others feelings and trying to be clever.

But would anyone actually refuse to play with/against someone who had Female Space Marines?

Couldn't care less as long as they tell me what chapter rules they are using and the models are equipped and WYSIWYG I really don't care if their marines have lady bumps or if they just leave the models as is and call them females with a few female heads on the character/leader models. Not my minis so none of my concern. I know the codex and the chapter being used and can tell the weapons. Time to just play the game.

Skriker

Plumbumbarum wrote:
But seriously, it's just a nod to certain historic armies, and it works

History can kiss my ass. This is sci-fantasy. It's boring to just blatantly copy history when you can do better instead.

"It's history" is a lazy, boring excuse that I simply don't buy It's also frequently an excuse given to justify ahistorical things.

I would totally have female space marines, but the whole 40K universe basically makes no sense. So why should this?

Imagine if you could naturally reproduce space marines

Martel732 wrote:
I would totally have female space marines, but the whole 40K universe basically makes no sense. So why should this?

Imagine if you could naturally reproduce space marines

Arrrrrrgghhhh, imagine all the Marine x Femarine fanfics.

Slaaanesh is pleased.

That said, I wonder if a Marine is very strong in the entire body?

So he can break walls with his pelvic thrusts.

Imagine that, and weep.

 Melissia wrote:

Plumbumbarum wrote:
But seriously, it's just a nod to certain historic armies, and it works

History can kiss my ass. This is sci-fantasy. It's boring to just blatantly copy history when you can do better instead.

"It's history" is a lazy, boring excuse that I simply don't buy It's also frequently an excuse given to justify ahistorical things.

Just out of curiosity, are you a writer and do you comprehend the use of tropes? Because that right there was the point going clean over your head.

Female space marines would be giant brainwashed genetically-altered monster people exactly like their male counterparts, and you probably couldn't tell them apart without a long hard look at their horrible naked bodies side by side.

Big flopping titties would serve no wartime purpose and would be chemically or genetically removed. They'd probably shave their heads as well, don't need a big perm squished under that helmet getting in your eyes. No makeup, deep bellowing voices, and negligent differences in combat strength. A superhuman is a superhuman regardless of gender.

They'd be just as incapable of reproduction as the males, mostly due to all that genetic tinkering. The womb would probably regress to something like an appendix with no purpose. No menstruation, no ovaries, no sex drive, and no hormones other than the artificial hormones that make space marines fearless killing machines. No greater compassion, just an unrelenting drive to murder the enemies of the Emperor and bring glory to their Chapter.

A big barrel-chested humanoid brute in the same armor as every other space marine, with the same doctrines, the same brutal fighting ability, and the same warrior traditions.

Maybe the chapter master would be called a chapter mistress. I'd concede that one.

Sounds about right from what I got out of my Physiology classes.
Maybe at that point they all just gender identify as "Marine".

Female marines would be monstrous examples of barely-humanity.

Just like the men.

 Melissia wrote:

Plumbumbarum wrote:
But seriously, it's just a nod to certain historic armies, and it works

History can kiss my ass. This is sci-fantasy. It's boring to just blatantly copy history when you can do better instead.

"It's history" is a lazy, boring excuse that I simply don't buy It's also frequently an excuse given to justify ahistorical things.

Well to be honest the usage of history in 40k is pretty is pretty bad and ahistorical at times but that's not the point. It's all about visual conotations, you can read fluff explanations all day of how let's say Imperium of Man is a racist and facist empire but if what you see next is a picture of multiracial soldiers, it just will not fit and screaming bald white men send the message best. 40k is first and foremost about visual mood so yes, Black Templars are not as much like Knights Templar as Dark Angels are but that is an omissible detail and spoils nothing exactly because it's sci-fi fantasy. Giving them black or Arabic faces on the pictures would ruin the crusader connotation in an instant, it's deep down in your brain.

I could picture for example a high horse, high tech and enlighted faction made entirely of black people, fighting IoM but that would work on a strong connotation too, only in reverse. IoM with its screaming white bald men with occasional Mongol are good as they are, imo, racist or not.

btw if that offends someone, let me tell that one of my grandfathers spend half of WWII hiding in a basement because "Polnische Schwein, Polnische Hund" and a second half fighting, Germans took his parents property. The other grandfather was forcibly enlisted by Wermacht and got into Soviet concentration camp, upon return he was below 40 kg of weight and very sick. Now, Imperial guard is full of nods to Soviets and Nazis but I don't cry that 40k makes commisars look cool, despite their vital role in executing 15000 - 20000 Polish officers, war prisoners, one by one, point blank to the back of the head as part of the organised plan to destroy Polish elites:

"Those who died at Katyn included an admiral, two generals, 24 colonels, 79 lieutenant colonels, 258 majors, 654 captains, 17 naval captains, 3,420 Non-commissioned officers, seven chaplains, three landowners, a prince, 43 officials, 85 privates, 131 refugees, 20 university professors, 300 physicians; several hundred lawyers, engineers, and teachers; and more than 100 writers and journalists as well as about 200 pilots.[23] In all, the NKVD executed almost half the Polish officer corps.[23] Altogether, during the massacre the NKVD executed 14 Polish generals"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katyn_massacre

I don't cry, bacause it's a sci fi fantasy about shades of evil and how evil fights more evil for evil and has written offensive all over it. You either accept it or walk away.

btw 2 I'm curious what do you mean by better, regarding other races and Imperium of Man.

 Badablack wrote:
Female space marines would be giant brainwashed genetically-altered monster people exactly like their male counterparts, and you probably couldn't tell them apart without a long hard look at their horrible naked bodies side by side.

Big flopping titties would serve no wartime purpose and would be chemically or genetically removed. They'd probably shave their heads as well, don't need a big perm squished under that helmet getting in your eyes. No makeup, deep bellowing voices, and negligent differences in combat strength. A superhuman is a superhuman regardless of gender.

They'd be just as incapable of reproduction as the males, mostly due to all that genetic tinkering. The womb would probably regress to something like an appendix with no purpose. No menstruation, no ovaries, no sex drive, and no hormones other than the artificial hormones that make space marines fearless killing machines. No greater compassion, just an unrelenting drive to murder the enemies of the Emperor and bring glory to their Chapter.

A big barrel-chested humanoid brute in the same armor as every other space marine, with the same doctrines, the same brutal fighting ability, and the same warrior traditions.

Maybe the chapter master would be called a chapter mistress. I'd concede that one.

The sex drive bit is a bit confusing though, old (old fluff) states Salamanders had families (biological), but with the new fluff, their views seem suppressed to the point that Emperor's Children didn't even really think about women at all until exposure to Slaanesh. It's a bit convoluted.

 Wyzilla wrote:

The sex drive bit is a bit confusing though, old (old fluff) states Salamanders had families (biological), but with the new fluff, their views seem suppressed to the point that Emperor's Children didn't even really think about women at all until exposure to Slaanesh. It's a bit convoluted.

IIRC the Salamanders still have families, but not in the sense that they have children of their own. They retain most or all of their memories from before they became a marine and still visit their parents, siblings, children of siblings and so on.

Spetulhu wrote:

 Wyzilla wrote:

The sex drive bit is a bit confusing though, old (old fluff) states Salamanders had families (biological), but with the new fluff, their views seem suppressed to the point that Emperor's Children didn't even really think about women at all until exposure to Slaanesh. It's a bit convoluted.

IIRC the Salamanders still have families, but not in the sense that they have children of their own. They retain most or all of their memories from before they became a marine and still visit their parents, siblings, children of siblings and so on.

Ultramarines do as well, heck, the Primarch for them still viewed his 'mother' with care, along with those who he grew up with.

Several of the other Primarchs as well, though I don't know if it was different for them from standard space marines.

 Paimon wrote:
Cadians are the 'standard' to which many other guard groups hold themselves, up to copying their gear and practices. Cadians also train every person on the planet, of which ~50% are female. In the first Caphias Cain book, it is claimed that the Guard is about 10% female. There might be a cultural idea that men are warriors, that makes women less likely to enlist in the PDF, but I haven't noticed any specific discrimination against them being combat troops in fluff.

I bet that if female Space Marines existed, women in the Imperium would be more likely to join up, having poster girls that aren't Sisters would probably be inspiring. (Nothing against Sisters, but you can't really choose to join them.)

You don't really 'sign up' for the most part. The Imperium practices conscription.