Male Dwarves vs Female Dwarves?

[Sailor Vulcan]

What do female dwarves look like? The same as male dwarves? Are there any physiological differences at all?

I have a theory that there actually is a VERY reliable way to tell the difference between a male and a female dwarf, aside from the obvious one: the distribution of their muscle mass. I suspect that the males would tend to have more upper body mass (bulging biceps) while the females would have more  lower body mass (six-pack just above the hips, strong legs, maybe the six-pack becomes an eight pack when she's pregnant.)

The reason I imagine it would be like this is for several reasons. First, because the female dwarves need their muscle mass lower down towards their hips and below, both so that their offspring have better access to whatever magical chemical/nutrients which makes dwarves unfailingly grow up to be really buff, also so that if they find themselves needing to take a tactical retreat to protect the future of their clan (even if it will really hurt their pride) they have stronger legs to run with, while males, who don't have this evolutionary restriction have their muscle more in their upper body for swinging axes. This also probably means the females will be slightly taller than the males, because of their bigger, stronger legs.


Other potential ways to tell the difference:

-There could be some differences in the development of young dwarves, like perhaps, maybe the females start getting facial hair before the males, or vice versa. I'm fairly certain dwarves aren't born with facial hair.  If you've known dwarves since you were a child, you should be able to tell the difference.

-The obvious way (probably shouldn't do this unless you swing both ways)

Is my theory accurate at all? I really hope it is. For the sake of all of those poor clueless and heart-broken adventurers, both male and female, who've tried to woo a dwarf only to find out that they'd misjudged the dwarf's gender...I really hope it is.

[HeatStryke]

Easier way to tell. Female dwarves don't have beards. 

[Sailor Vulcan]

Easier way to tell. Female dwarves don't have beards. 

Uh...yes. They do. They definitely do. Exactly how familiar are you with the dwarf race in general? (Not just mage wars)

[Lord0fWinter]

Easier way to tell. Female dwarves don't have beards. 

Uh...yes. They do. They definitely do. Exactly how familiar are you with the dwarf race in general? (Not just mage wars)

In some sources of canon they do, in others, they don't. It depends. In some popular book series, most notably Lord of the Rings, I believe that they do. But this doesn't mean they do in Etheria. Maybe we'll get a definitive answer from somebody with more knowledge of the different cultures of Etheria *cough* Laddin *cough*

[lukard]

Some interesting reading about the subject: http://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Dwarf-women

I particularly like the idea of female dwarves with facial hair. Maybe, they would even shave or do some sort of hair style during special occasions (e.g.: wedding).

[HeatStryke]

Admittedly most of the fantasy dwarves I've been exposed too either avoid the subject of females or show them without beards. D&D, WoW and I *believe* Warhammer (not 100% on that one) all fall this way.

If only because its easier for a person to instantly recognize it as female simply by silhouette.

It's sort of the same reason many humanoid races follow typical appearance, then you don't confuse anyone either way.

This is especially true if you broaden the target audience. A hardcore fantasy fan might have no issue with the concept, but if you look at what most people are exposed to I'd expect they'd have an easier time identifying them if they're beardless.

[reddawn]

I'm not sure facial hair really adds anything to dwarf women; if anything, it takes away female identity.  It's basically a statement that the dwarf race is a race of men, and when you have to allow the existence of two sexes for basic biology, you pretty much make a dwarf man and tack on breasts.  The identifying with which now means increasingly little, given the rate of obesity.

I think it would be interesting for AW to invent its own take on dwarf women, maybe going way back to the concept of dwarf women as almost incorporeal beings.  I'm not sure how the balance would work out, but dwarf women as mystics or assassins that can turn Incorporeal until the end of a round would be neat.

[Sailor Vulcan]

I'm not sure facial hair really adds anything to dwarf women; if anything, it takes away female identity.  It's basically a statement that the dwarf race is a race of men, and when you have to allow the existence of two sexes for basic biology, you pretty much make a dwarf man and tack on breasts.  The identifying with which now means increasingly little, given the rate of obesity.

I think it would be interesting for AW to invent its own take on dwarf women, maybe going way back to the concept of dwarf women as almost incorporeal beings.  I'm not sure how the balance would work out, but dwarf women as mystics or assassins that can turn Incorporeal until the end of a round would be neat.

Um, facial hair doesn't add anything more to dwarf women than it does to men. There are human men with and without facial hair, and the same applies to human women. It's just much less common in part due to biology and in part due to custom. Who's to say that dwarven biology or culture is the same as human culture? Human women already get hair in other parts of their bodies. It's not a stretch for dwarf women to get hair in one more place.

And knowing dwarf culture, both the men and the woman probably just don't bother to shave because they think it's trivial/superficial/pointless.

Also, identity? There's a difference between biological sex and gender identity. What makes you think dwarven society even has systematic partial cultural segregation of the sexes that we've all grown accustomed to in real life? Maybe men and woman really aren't so different from each other...if they're dwarves. Don't forget they're a different species than we are, so both their physiology and psychology could work differently.


Statement that the dwarf race is a race of men? Maybe it only looks like that to a human outsider who isn't familiar with dwarf biology or culture.

[reddawn]

Well apparently I don't know much about dwarves then haha.  It's kind of hard to learn about female dwarves though, because not much is written about that.  The only thing I could gather from some random germanic folklore sources is that female dwarves are borderline nonexistent, or that they're some kind of seductresses.

And I didn't really mean that they shaved their faces, but I don't think the average consumer of fantasy lore would buy a bearded lady, regardless of the logic behind it.  I'm aware of the difference between gender and sex, and I'm aware that human sexual dimorphism is rather significant by biology standards; for them to be nearly indistinguishable though would have to mean that there's basically no competition for females.  And even then, it doesn't really explain long beards.

Basically, there's nothing inherently wrong with facial hair on women (they already get some, though a very small amount), I just think giving them full beards would seem comical to people who don't have the kind of knowledge you do.

[Satenus]

The point boils down to the existence of Dwarfs as a fantasy race, and the reality is that they are a creation of us humans. I mean the people of old with their folklore histories, modern age fantasy writers, fantasy role players... Each group has its own ideas and limits of what is acceptable in terms of humanoid creatures physical looks, and in that regard the Mage Wars world is just a creation of another group of people who like fantasy.
So the answer to the question: How do you can tell male and female dwarfs apart? is that, it depends of each person knowledge and experience, the OP has a very good theory, based in his common sense and influences, whatever they may be. In my experience with fantasy lore, Female Dwarfs have beards, but softer and shorter than male, and also have al classic female shape (big curves, defined waist line, and broad hips), but again that is my point of view.
In this specific case we need that the creators of Etheria share their point of view with us about this. So, What physical characteristics differentiate a Male Dwarf  from a Female Dwarf in Etheria? that is the question.