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I didn't see a thread yet about Solaria, so I thought I'd start one.

In the Dawn of War 3 trailers, it has been made clear we'll be able to field Imperial Knights, or at least one of them. The one seen so far is Lady Solaria, a free blade.

And... I was kind of shocked.

The issue of gender in 40k keeps forums like this one hopping. Could there be female Space Marines? (Nope, says the forum, too unrealistic, upper body strength, etc) What about female Imperial Guard miniatures? (Nope, says the forum, when women put on a uniform they look exactly like men) In the dark future, at least for humanity, there are only men. (And the occasion inquisitor or ancient battle sister)

So, when Imperial Knights came out, I thought "Oh, well, there's one race you can say has female fighters - no one can claim only men can sit in a chair and run a robot. You don't need superior upper body strength to use a joystick or a nuero-helmet or whatever." Then I read that codex, and learned that, no, like all human armies in games workshop games they're absolutely one hundred percent Y chromosome oriented, just like every other human army. Sorry buddy, steer your daughter toward Eldar when she wants to play, humans reproduce by spore, and the biggest and muscley-est are the ones in charge.

Then, Relic goes and says "Yeah, we didn't read that codex, you shouldn't have either," and pops out with The Forbidden Gender piloting a knight. Honestly, it was like when there was a black Space Marine librarian in DOW2, and I realized I had never seen a space marine painted anything other than "tanned flesh." The games, it seems, invariably go for more diversity than GW feels comfortable with.

So, what do you think? Anything gained in having female knight pilots be a thing? Anything lost?

Everything is gained, nothing is lost. For what it's worth, BrookM's Knightly House are piloted entirely by women, and my own currently imaginary House Skye is a nice mix of men and women.

The licensed properties and Black Library books consistently portray a much more diverse Imperium than the ALL WHITE MEN shown in the Codexes. Everything from female techpriests and Naval officers to black Guardsmen and all sorts of other people.

Which is, you know, sensible and accurate and conforms to the background - because it is the background.

So hurrah! for Lady Solaria!

Oggthrok wrote:


The issue of gender in 40k keeps forums like this one hopping. Could there be female Space Marines? (Nope, says the forum, too unrealistic, upper body strength, etc)

This is down to lore and physiology - the female body cannot withstand the implants and enhancements needed to become a Space Marine. If they could, there would be zero reason not to have them. Instead, female soldiers who want to be just as fanatical as the Space Marines are part of the Adeptus Sororitas.

What about female Imperial Guard miniatures? (Nope, says the forum, when women put on a uniform they look exactly like men) In the dark future, at least for humanity, there are only men. (And the occasion inquisitor or ancient battle sister)

This is silly - female Guardsman are very common and it would be cracking if they had model representation outside of 3rd party miniatures. I think you've got twisted with the thread regarding the DKOK, who wear so much heavy fatigues that making out males from females would be pretty hard.

So, what do you think? Anything gained in having female knight pilots be a thing? Anything lost?

Nothing gained in theory since females exist and work in practically every Imperial organisation outside of the Adeptus Astartes, but it is a gain to actually see some more human females on the field.

G.A

Oggthrok wrote:
I realized I had never seen a space marine painted anything other than "tanned flesh."

I have to disagree. The whole Salamander chapter is black. And how the players paint their chapter isn't up to GW. Dark Angels were Native American.
And I have the feeling that there are more white people playing 40k than non white, so it isn't really suprising^^

 godardc wrote:

Oggthrok wrote:
I realized I had never seen a space marine painted anything other than "tanned flesh."

I have to disagree. The whole Salamander chapter is black. And how the players paint their chapter isn't up to GW. Dark Angels were Native American.
And I have the feeling that there are more white people playing 40k than non white, so it isn't really suprising^^

No, the whole Salamanders Chapter used to be black, but now they are literally black. As in, coal-black-with-red-eyes-like-a-demon black.

And Space Marines aren't actually the best at displaying skin colour, as almost all chapters can wildly vary the amount of melanin in their skin anyway, depending on local conditions and whether or not they're in or out of armour. Space Marines aren't really humans any more.

The Dark Angels were still painted white, even back in the day when they recruited heavily from the Planet of the Native Americans, before it was Genestealerised and the Deathwing painted their armour bone.

And, sure, I suspect the entire staff of GW HQ are going to be white, but it hasn't killed me to paint my Guardsmen black and brown and white as opposed to white, white and MOAR WHITE.

All that said, there have been at least two White Dwarf articles showing how to paint black skin...

 Gen.Steiner wrote:

 godardc wrote:

Oggthrok wrote:
I realized I had never seen a space marine painted anything other than "tanned flesh."

I have to disagree. The whole Salamander chapter is black. And how the players paint their chapter isn't up to GW. Dark Angels were Native American.
And I have the feeling that there are more white people playing 40k than non white, so it isn't really suprising^^

No, the whole Salamanders Chapter used to be black, but now they are literally black. As in, coal-black-with-red-eyes-like-a-demon black.

And Space Marines aren't actually the best at displaying skin colour, as almost all chapters can wildly vary the amount of melanin in their skin anyway, depending on local conditions and whether or not they're in or out of armour. Space Marines aren't really humans any more.

The Dark Angels were still painted white, even back in the day when they recruited heavily from the Planet of the Native Americans, before it was Genestealerised and the Deathwing painted their armour bone.

And, sure, I suspect the entire staff of GW HQ are going to be white, but it hasn't killed me to paint my Guardsmen black and brown and white as opposed to white, white and MOAR WHITE.

All that said, there have been at least two White Dwarf articles showing how to paint black skin...

Catachan were frequently shown to be black. Also how did I know someone would rebuke the post that the Salamanders are black? White Scars are Asian, there's your non-whites. Unless Asian's arent brown enough for you.

They are your dudes paint them how you want.

I'm not sure why people are so keen for a more diverse Imperium when it's supposed to be a cruel and archaic regime that openly discriminates against any who fall outside of its ideal.
On the issue of female Knights, it's been done, no real gains just your typical mulan type stuff.
As for Salamanders having been black, the very same codex which originally showed this had one black Salamander compared with two white Salamanders, so they've never been the black guy chapter until they turned pitch black.

 Gen.Steiner wrote:

The licensed properties and Black Library books consistently portray a much more diverse Imperium than the ALL WHITE MEN shown in the Codexes. Everything from female techpriests and Naval officers to black Guardsmen and all sorts of other people.

Graham McNeil's Knights of the Imperium have the male knights react in shock and indignation when it's revealed that their mystery Freeblade is a woman. At least the novel suggests that female Knight pilots are unheard of.

Animus wrote:
I'm not sure why people are so keen for a more diverse Imperium when it's supposed to be a cruel and archaic regime that openly discriminates against any who fall outside of its ideal.

The thing is that the Imperium cannot afford to discriminate anyone other than the Mutant and the Heretic, since manpower is its greatest weapon outside of the Space Marines. To disregard, or not to make good use, of such a large chunk of Imperial populations (that being females) in war efforts across the galaxy would be way too idiotic even for humanity in the 41st Millennium to consider.

I know what kind of argument might come of that - "But G.A, females could just be used to increase the population and raise male children to fight for the Imperium". Yeah, but in the 18 years it would roughly take to raise young, who may or may not be male, their mothers could be employed to serve in the military arms of the Imperium. This actually happens on Cadia, where even female regiments have been created or companies have been formed to be attached to already existing forces. As for the ones who care for children, they often serve in the PDF on Cadia, either on deck or as other military personnel, such as logistics and communications. Point is, to cut them out of being able to serve in these jobs would be a cost the Imperium can't cover.

As for race within the human race, same kinda principle - if you aren't a filthy Mutant, you're in. Just because GW hasn't painted many black guys for their display armies doesn't invalidate their existence, since no piece of lore has ever said they don't. To that end, I have plenty of black, white and a bit in between Guardsman, as well as a black Commissar. Hell, I've even painted a black Blood Angels Scout, as the Master of Recruits is not going to disregard talent and worthiness to become a Space Marine based on a person's skin colour.

So believe it or not, the Imperium is actually very diverse. We just have a 0 tolerance policy for heretics

G.A

Oggthrok wrote:
I didn't see a thread yet about Solaria, so I thought I'd start one.

In the Dawn of War 3 trailers, it has been made clear we'll be able to field Imperial Knights, or at least one of them. The one seen so far is Lady Solaria, a free blade.

And... I was kind of shocked.

The issue of gender in 40k keeps forums like this one hopping. Could there be female Space Marines? (Nope, says the forum, too unrealistic, upper body strength, etc) What about female Imperial Guard miniatures? (Nope, says the forum, when women put on a uniform they look exactly like men) In the dark future, at least for humanity, there are only men. (And the occasion inquisitor or ancient battle sister)

So, when Imperial Knights came out, I thought "Oh, well, there's one race you can say has female fighters - no one can claim only men can sit in a chair and run a robot. You don't need superior upper body strength to use a joystick or a nuero-helmet or whatever." Then I read that codex, and learned that, no, like all human armies in games workshop games they're absolutely one hundred percent Y chromosome oriented, just like every other human army. Sorry buddy, steer your daughter toward Eldar when she wants to play, humans reproduce by spore, and the biggest and muscley-est are the ones in charge.

Then, Relic goes and says "Yeah, we didn't read that codex, you shouldn't have either," and pops out with The Forbidden Gender piloting a knight. Honestly, it was like when there was a black Space Marine librarian in DOW2, and I realized I had never seen a space marine painted anything other than "tanned flesh." The games, it seems, invariably go for more diversity than GW feels comfortable with.

So, what do you think? Anything gained in having female knight pilots be a thing? Anything lost?

The BL novels are much better than GW which has been erasing its female characters and ignoring those that are left - like say Adepta Sororitas.

That Imperial Knights were suddenly men only was annoying - but then the tie in book (which is quoted directly in the original codex) has a femlae pilot so its not impossible just unusual and likely tradition rather than anything to do with tech or biology like it is with Astartes.

Nothing to say a Knight world could not (like any Imperial world) be female dominated - interestingly the importance and influence of the consort was highlighted in the original codex and erased in the second.

Animus wrote:
I'm not sure why people are so keen for a more diverse Imperium when it's supposed to be a cruel and archaic regime that openly discriminates against any who fall outside of its ideal.

Only to a certain extent. The Imperium is a massive empire of a million worlds and thousands of different cultures. Look at the Imperial Guard regiments alone and see how the Tallarn differ from the Vostroyans or the Tanith. For a grimdark empire the Imperium is surprisingly diverse place with countless different cultures and planets. You have have a dizzy array of differences from hive worlds, to shrine worlds, to agri-worlds, to Space MArines homeworlds, to death worlds, etc, etc.

Black Library and Fantasy Flight Games tend to really expand on this more.

GW has done its best to try to pretend the female gender does not exist, and all the males seem to be pasty white. As others have already noted, BL and other publications do better at showing females and other ethnicities, although GW has made Salamanders supernatural black rather than ethnically black, and White Scars are token stereotypical Mongol (and artwork often even then shows ethnically white person dressed up as Mongol-like, like who white actors portrayed Mongol characters in movies during the 50's and 60's).

GW has tried to handwave things like Knights only being suited for males on a physiological or neurological issue, despite then this conflicting with the existence of female Knight pilots. One could rationalize this I suppose as biased pseudo-science, in the same way that historically (male) scholars had falsely concluded that females had a temperament and physiology unsuitable to getting a formal education, and that doing so would be harmful to their fragile brains.

the nurological issue with knights ISN'T that women can't do it. the neurloigcal issue is that the mental conditioning that produces knight societies ALSO tends to enchourage a patriarchial system. now, moving away from that...

GW has told us about a number of freeblades. of that number we know the identities of 3. (including Lady Solaria) of thsoe 3, 2 are women. given I know for a fact that GW would have had a hand in approveing Solaria, my guess is their intent is that freeblades are often women, breaking the shackles of society etc.
I suspect GW made this decision because they wanted a faction they could tell stories of knighthoods etc in space. freeblades are intended to fill the role of the "Black Knight" and part of that story tradtion is the "Eowyn"

not sure it really has worked out that way, and if I was in charge of writing a 8th edition IK codex I'd specificly include in the codex that "despite the tendancy towards patriarchial society, legends abound of women knight pilots, stepping up as freeblades and becoming great heros in their own rights"

Only male knights is so stupid, indeed...
I don't understand why they did it. Why had they to tell us this ? What do they earn by doing this ? Really surprising to me.

 godardc wrote:
Only male knights is so stupid, indeed...
I don't understand why they did it. Why had they to tell us this ? What do they earn by doing this ? Really surprising to me.

To make it more like medieval knights?

SomeRandomEvilGuy wrote:

 godardc wrote:
Only male knights is so stupid, indeed...
I don't understand why they did it. Why had they to tell us this ? What do they earn by doing this ? Really surprising to me.

To make it more like medieval knights?

Oh, that's not a stupid idea, in fact.
How did I miss it ?

Relic have always been excellent at representation. This is the first I've heard of this (other than the basic knowledge that there was a Knight character in DoW3), and I'm thoroughly pleased.

EDIT: Not only that, she's the ruler of her house and is known for being "fierce and stubborn". Excellent.

 General Annoyance wrote:

Oggthrok wrote:


The issue of gender in 40k keeps forums like this one hopping. Could there be female Space Marines? (Nope, says the forum, too unrealistic, upper body strength, etc)

This is down to lore and physiology - the female body cannot withstand the implants and enhancements needed to become a Space Marine. If they could, there would be zero reason not to have them. Instead, female soldiers who want to be just as fanatical as the Space Marines are part of the Adeptus Sororitas.

This is very much a cop out on GWs part. They are putting a human body through such a vast transformation that it barely resembles a human afterwards except for some outward characteristics. The differences between a man and woman are pathetically small compared to the differences in the end result from where you start.

To argue that the technology which can accomplish that big a change from man to Space Marine cannot do so from a woman base that is only marginally different to a male is absurd.

Score one for Relic.

Can we get GW to catch up on this please?

 A Town Called Malus wrote:

 General Annoyance wrote:

Oggthrok wrote:


The issue of gender in 40k keeps forums like this one hopping. Could there be female Space Marines? (Nope, says the forum, too unrealistic, upper body strength, etc)

This is down to lore and physiology - the female body cannot withstand the implants and enhancements needed to become a Space Marine. If they could, there would be zero reason not to have them. Instead, female soldiers who want to be just as fanatical as the Space Marines are part of the Adeptus Sororitas.

This is very much a cop out on GWs part. They are putting a human body through such a vast transformation that it barely resembles a human afterwards except for some outward characteristics. The differences between a man and woman are pathetically small compared to the differences in the end result from where you start.

To argue that the technology which can accomplish that big a change from man to Space Marine cannot do so from a woman base that is only marginally different to a male is absurd.

It wouldn't be a problem (for me) if not for the sheer lack of women otherwise in the setting. I'm fine with them wanting all-male monastic-space-knight Astartes and Orks. Making it a result of the process of their creation, in the case of Astartes, is much preferable to "women can, but they're just not allowed to", especially given the nature of the Imperium as discussed previously. It's only when this is considered alongside the suspiciously missing women (particularly of the Eldar and other Imperial groups like the Guard and Inquisition, not forgetting the treatment of the all-female Sisters of Battle) that it becomes telling of a wider issue. If girls got to be cool too, it wouldn't matter that they couldn't be Space Marines. As it is, however, the only women we see are there specifically to be women - ie, they are women because their position requires them to be. The Sisters of Battle are female because they're space nuns, while one out of the eight Phoenix Lords - Jain Zar of the Howling Banshees - is only female because the mythological banshee is a female spirit. The Howling Banshees themselves are thus the only Aspect (out of 9+) to be shown as regularly having female members. Of four kinds of Assassin, only the Callidus is regularly shown as female; the in-universe explanation is that it is because of Polymorphine (groan), but that just means that the only women among the Assassins are the ones who literally have to be female or else their equipment won't work - but why can't they use a big sniper rifle, a head-cannon, or crazy drugs?

The Knight thing, however, is inexcusable for a number of reasons. It makes no sense within the context of itself for one; because women are fully capable of piloting Knights, this barrier is purely cultural even though we know that these worlds are far removed from each other and have vast cultural differences, even if they are all shaped by the presence of giant mechs. To state that the majority of these "many hundreds" of worlds have cultures which specifically disallow women from piloting is absurd. If it was because they wanted to make female Knight pilots whose story incorporates this, they should have made it specific to the House that pilot comes from. In-universe discrimination can be used as a powerful character background if it's handled properly, but this is not the narrative they were aiming to create and it shows. It is a blatant "cop out", as you said.

This all said, GW has created a record-breaking number of three whole female character models recently (Drycha Hamadreth, Alarielle, the Mistweaver Saih, as well as male and female Branchwraiths). And one black man, even! One can only hope that these shocking creations are the start of a new trend.

You are always free to fill in whatever head canon you please. Why would anyone wait on GW to make it official to have a female pilot model in an IK?

Immolator pilot with any bare head would be perfect I would think.

Which chapter is the Russel Peters Indian of space marines?



What about the mexican sm chapter?

 A Town Called Malus wrote:

 General Annoyance wrote:

Oggthrok wrote:


The issue of gender in 40k keeps forums like this one hopping. Could there be female Space Marines? (Nope, says the forum, too unrealistic, upper body strength, etc)

This is down to lore and physiology - the female body cannot withstand the implants and enhancements needed to become a Space Marine. If they could, there would be zero reason not to have them. Instead, female soldiers who want to be just as fanatical as the Space Marines are part of the Adeptus Sororitas.

This is very much a cop out on GWs part. They are putting a human body through such a vast transformation that it barely resembles a human afterwards except for some outward characteristics. The differences between a man and woman are pathetically small compared to the differences in the end result from where you start.

To argue that the technology which can accomplish that big a change from man to Space Marine cannot do so from a woman base that is only marginally different to a male is absurd.

It's not about the end result, it's about the process. A human male can naturally grow and develop faster after puberty than a female can, and typically finds it much easier than a female to develop muscle across the arms, the cortex and so forth, and to maintain their development. This is what makes them able to withstand the harsh transformation into a Space Marine from a young age.

At least this is what biology theorises in real life - it may or may not have a huge impact, but I assume it does based on the reasons that male and female sports exist separately to achieve "fairness" and how the average man is likely to be stronger than the average woman. This effect could be greater on certain recruitment worlds even, with the population being weaker or stronger based on environmental factors.

Again, I reckon that if females could be plausibly enhanced into a Space Marine en mass, the Imperium would not hesitate to do so if it had the resources. I believe that the idea would have been debunked by the Emperor himself many years ago though, since all the Gene Seed Zygotes are "keyed to male hormones and tissue types". Females seem better off, therefore, serving in the Adeptus Sororitas, with training to match a Space Marine's skill combined with armour that better fits their physique.

Argh, the point is not to replicate modern day nationalities in 40K, but to demonstrate that 38,000 years in the future, there are ethnic differences from world to world and thus throughout the Imperium. Hell, there'll be ethnic differences within global populations as well, because 30,000 years of space colonisation and living is long enough to create evolutionary divergence, not to mention the side effects of Golden Age of Technology genetic meddling with space travellers and colonists.

So rather than talking about "Mexican Space Marines", we need to be talking about different skin colours across the Imperium, and also the depiction of women within the Imperium.

I too am glad to see more female figures coming out of AoS, and more non-white paintjobs, but it would be nice to have even more, and also less of all this "HURR NO GURLS CAN DRIVE KNIGHTS" business.

 godardc wrote:
Only male knights is so stupid, indeed...
I don't understand why they did it. Why had they to tell us this ? What do they earn by doing this ? Really surprising to me.

Probably because they're stereotypical medieval knights... IN SPACE! Right down to the patriarchal society, and the Knights being shocked in that-one-novel when their Freeblade pilot turns out to be a woman.

Honestly, I'm a bit torn. I think Imperial Knights being patriarchal and potential Freeblades being women to get away from that adds a more unique spin on the idea of a female Knight, rather than "the Imperium is 110% politically correct when it comes to us humans." On the other hand, there's so many worlds in the Imperium that out there among a million planets there would be at least one Knight-world that doesn't have enforced gender roles for its pilots. So eh, I'm mostly indifferent.

 Frozen Ocean wrote:

The Knight thing, however, is inexcusable for a number of reasons. It makes no sense within the context of itself for one; because women are fully capable of piloting Knights, this barrier is purely cultural even though we know that these worlds are far removed from each other and have vast cultural differences, even if they are all shaped by the presence of giant mechs. To state that the majority of these "many hundreds" of worlds have cultures which specifically disallow women from piloting is absurd. If it was because they wanted to make female Knight pilots whose story incorporates this, they should have made it specific to the House that pilot comes from. In-universe discrimination can be used as a powerful character background if it's handled properly, but this is not the narrative they were aiming to create and it shows. It is a blatant "cop out", as you said.

Knights share a culture across worlds because the throne mechanicum affects their minds, turning them into feudal lords. And Harlequins and Dark Eldar have loads of females.

Hey, thank you for the replies everyone! I'm actually surprised to hear so much support for female knight pilots, and diversity in general, but it's good to hear.

To add my response to what some folks have said - I absolutely agree that, in most cases, the all male armies have fluff reasons for why they're all male. They're patriarchal, they're old fashioned, they're intolerant, they're etc etc etc.

Which is cool... it's just, it gets really old. And, the fluff is only that way, because they keep writing it that way. Because, ultimately, this is all fantastical fiction.

And, there are cases where the exclusion makes sense to me. Take the Space Marines - I'd love there to be random female marines amongst the men. But, thematically, I can see a very good reason why there shouldn't be that has nothing to do with genotyping or gender-genetics or whatever. The reason is, because it would give the marines hope. Hope for a life of any sort like that which normal men and women enjoy. Hope for families, or affection, or any sort of relationship outside of their brotherhood. Concepts like family, or mother and fatherhood, are torn from a young marine recruit's world view, to make room for the singular, miserable task they must devote their lives to. They understand us and the way we live, the way we understand plants and photosynthesis. We can explain the whole process, we can stand in the sun and enjoy the warmth, but ultimately we have no idea what it's like for the plants. To change this, I feel, would relieve some of the atmosphere that marines are both much more and much less than ordinary humans, which for me makes them so interesting.

But, for my giant robots... I grew up on Battletech and tales of Natasha Kerensky. It gives me no joy to hear they're too stoic or patriarchal or whatever... variety is the spice of life, and gaming, after all.

The irony is, when I imagine a female pilot in my Knight in 40k... no one would know or care, because at the end of the day, it's just a stompy robot to the people it's shooting at.

The Space Marine conversion process being incompatible with women doesn't have anything to do with arm-chair biology, it has to do with the fact that the Emperor based the process on the Primarchs who were in turn based upon his own genetic template. The result being something that only works on men is a medical limitation, that those men had to be particularly good specimens to survive the process was a separate and distinct limitation.

At the time he didn't see a need to refine the process to be compatible with women (whatever those reasons were, who knows, but the Emperor wasn't infallible) but they served in all other facets of the Great Crusade without it being commented on, so I don't really think one can infer the Emperor or the society he was building was necessarily sexist.

But to my point: the Imperium has regressed technologically, the process is breaking down, mutations are being introduced, space marines need to be recruited from increasingly young ages and failure rates are much higher. It is less equipped now than its ever been to modify the process and what may have began as a whim of the emperor (or simply a matter of expediency) is now an unchangeable fact.

... Also, GW wanted to explain why they didn't have female space marine minis without using the words 'target audience', 'focus group', and 'concerned parents'. It was the 20th century, after all...

As for the other things, I'm less patient: fluf-wise the Tau field mixed regiments as a rule but our poor human eyes aren't able to pick out their dimorphosizm, and the Eldar do the same, even if the middle range is over saturated with relatively masculine parts.

The guard ostensibly field units with varied gender ratios depending largely on their world's attitude towards their tithe. Some send out mixed gendered units, some segregated, some planets treat women as second-class citizens unsuitable for fighting, others as second-class citizens to be rounded up and shipped off to fight, etc. There's lots of opportunity, but very few actual female models. I don't really buy the idea that a female Cadian would look exactly like a male in armour, but the Lt. Mira solution in Space Marine goes way too far, with her extra small armour plate and insistence that her men never refer to her with personal pronouns in order to maximize the reveal. (We were saved by the leftennant, you'll find the leftennant in the leftennant's command bunker, tell the leftennant I said hi!)

The knight one is particularly egregious. I actually didn't believe it the first time I heard someone complaining about it, they argued it seemed like they only made up that women couldn't pilot knights just so they could introduce this female knight pilot in the same breath.

Black Library has always been more actively diverse in its depiction of the Imperium, probably intentionally, and i think to good effect. The Cain books alone have male and female regiments, black valhallan's, female commissars, stormtroopers, homosexuality, and so forth, and generally does a good job depicting it all as such a useless thing to worry about in the times they're facing.

BL also made the entire Celestial Lions chapter black, if you're sick of parroting that Salamanders argument.

... that doesn't make any sense, since a given man is going to be more genetically-similar to his sister than he is to some other, random guy off the street.

If I had to make a guess as to why Astartes are only selected from males, my guess is it'd have something to do with testestrone.