This game made me hate Safana

HalfOrcBeastmaster

What part of her expanded personality and romance were we supposed to find better or less sexist than the one from the original games, exactly?

JuliusBorisov

This is an old topic, but here is my response from 2016, I still stand by it. https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/760231/#Comment_760231

Arvia

I have heard the claims about the way women are being portrayed in BG. Imoen the silly girl, Jaheira the nagging wife, Dynaheir the dominatrix, Safana the nymphomaniac... some people have called it sexist.

I have said it before and will say it again: They're stereotypes, caricatures.
Just like Khalid, Minsc, Ajantis, Xan... I don't see sexism here. (For the record, in case it matters, I'm a woman).

I have only used Safana in SoD until I got Glint, and I don't like her. Her constant sexual innuendo and exaggeratedly seductive voice gets on my nerves. But that's a matter of personal taste.
The way she is voiced is very well done and faithful to the BG1 original, and people who have played her romance until the end have assured me that taking her into Avernus makes you get to know her better and appreciate her.

So, if I can dislike Safana as a personality, that doesn't mean she's badly written or voiced, sometimes the opposite is true. Just like many people hate Anomen in BG2. If you can feel so strongly about them, they're most likely well done.

Conclusion:
Creating a female character that someone doesn't like or finds annoying isn't sexism. Especially not in a game world that clearly states even in character creation that in Faerun your gender will only affect who is attracted to you, not what you can or can't do.

Zaxares

I personally did not find anything wrong with Safana's depiction in SoD, although I WAS a bit disappointed that her writer chose to fall back on the "promiscuous female deep down really just wants to settle down with the right guy" trope. The thing I liked about Safana in BG1 was that she was the stereotypical "femme fatale", a woman who enjoyed sex, wasn't ashamed of it, but was well aware of what others thought about it and perfectly willing to use it to her advantage. While I can see why some might view her as being a rather unflattering stereotype, she was also a very sex-positive icon at a time when women were still shamed (and in many places, still are) for liking sex and having multiple partners.

Dharius

Safana rocks. Always did, always will. There.