textbook:
Shiva is one of the main gods of the Hindu religion. When all is said and done, there are millions and millions of deities in the Hindu pantheon, so I guess Shiva is pretty special. In truth, my first exposure was in Final Fantasy VII when I summoned her using red materia to vanquish some foes. As one might imagine, Square Enix’s interpretation of Shiva is pretty off the map and hyper-sexualized but whatever. Shiva, like many (if not all?) gods of the Hindu religion is both man and woman and takes many different forms. As the god of destruction, Shiva represents positive and negative changes that range from the introspective to the more physical world and is often referred to as “The Destroyer”.
I’ll be honest, my knowledge of Shiva is very limited, so if you’re interested I suggest digging a little further on your own. Obviously, I have chosen to depict Shiva in a fully female form, but like I said, he/she has attributes of both sexes.
1. Dress by Marchesa, shoes by Tsumori Chisato
2. Dress by Peter Pilotto, shoes by Alexander McQueen
3. Dress by Mary Katrantzou, shoes by Altuzarra
As one might imagine, Square Enix’s interpretation of Shiva is pretty off the map and hyper-sexualized but whatever. Shiva, like many (if not all?) gods of the Hindu religion is both man and woman and takes many different forms.
But whatever? But whatever???
No.
No.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Fuck Square Enix and how it appropriated Shiva without even taking one moment to think about how complicated the Ardhanarishvara roop is.
Fuck how everyone thinks Shiva is a woman thanks to this stupid game.
Fuck how he’s being dressed up as a fictional character.
Fuck how my religion is being explained away in a sentence
Fuck everything
fuuuuuuuck
