Inappropriate Figures

[cynthialee]

always been done this way and appeal to tradition are no excuse for continuing a bad behavior once it is pointed out

[Goblin-King]

But I explained WHY ugly = evil... It's not tradition for the sake of tradition. It serves a purpose.
Distributing negative traits to evil characters makes sense.
You distance yourself from them.
It's easy to understand for everybody.

What seems to be the problem here again? Wherein lies this "bad behavior"?

There's a clear distinction between real life where you have to get to know a person to know what he/she is really like... Despite their appearance...
And a fantasy rpg where orcs are evil because the monster manual says they are evil.
Archetypes is not something that ever will nor should be removed from gaming or storytelling. Trying to is a battle already lost.
But that doesn't mean you can't twist it or diverge from it. Sometimes the charming young prince is actually a psycho killer. Or surprise! Orcs are just misunderstood.
That's still archetypes - but playing on expectations to surprise the player/reader/viewer.

Also Hasslefree really does make excellent miniatures!
Here's an old knight and a shapely female barbarian - and of course we have the dick demons posted earlier:

[TMU]

What's this problem anyways about? It used to be no brainer that men are the "leading" gender of fantasy gaming, why? Because it's true. Yes, female players are a rising force, but still, the majority are men. You don't find miniatures that satisfy your taste? Mod one yourself. That is what the miniatures are about. If you find a hole in the miniature range, you fill it up yourself. It is part of the fun.

[cynthialee]

Not all of us have sculpting skills. That is a cop out.

[slev]

What's this problem anyways about? It used to be no brainer that men are the "leading" gender of fantasy gaming, why? Because it's true. Yes, female players are a rising force, but still, the majority are men.

But the difference is far easier to correct if women aren't made unnecessarily uncomfortable in the first instance.

For years, some of us bloke have been going "I wish there where more women about, what can we do to make gaming less of a sausage-fest?" This kind of thing works against us.

[Big Bene]

Crying unfair argument is the sure sign a raw nerve is struck. It seems unfair because there is no defense of the current paradigm.

First, I did not cry.
Second, you and the others have presented many good arguments. It is an ongoing discussion, with many good points.
The reasons and consequences of gender representation, even in such a small genre as 28 mm fantasy miniatures, are an extremely complex subject, so I think this is not a win-or-loose debate anyway, but just poining out different aspects from different points of view.
I objected to only one sentence of yours:

To deny it is an attempt at preserving your male privilege.

You can hardly deny that this is an apodictic statement that leaves no room for the other side to even explain it's view (which doesn't have to be entirely opposed to your one, just different).
Pointing this out can't make any of your real arguments any less valent and is no attempt from my side to do so.

Third, we are not discussing a "current paradigm" here.
We are discussing miniatures, more exactly: the different representation of genders in miniatures.
Part of this discussinion is the question if this difference in representation is a sign of some underlying sexist tendence, what you call the "current paradigm".
Denying this does not mean to deny there is sexism in the world (or the fantasy gaming scene) or defending it.
And I didn't even deny that the minis may be a sign of an underlying tendence. If you ask my opinion, I don't think so, but I'm ever open for debate.

Personally, I would have no problem with male miniatures in any of the representations you objected for female ones - be it just nude or otherwise "sexual", be it chained or otherwise subjunctive, or be it just ugly. If I would have any money to spare on my hobbies, I would even buy some of them (but not as much as female ones, for obvious reasons, being a straight male).
I would like seing women buying such minis. I think most men would like seeing women buying nude male material. It would make women more understandable if they had the same preferences, just with reversed sexes.
But I can't see this coming. Most women would not buy such minis. There are exeptions, of course, but the majority would just not be interested.

Please honestly imagine a world where both fantasy gamers and miniature producers are male and female by equal numbers. Given the develpement of the last 20 years, this is not entirely utopic in the near future. Then imagine "inappropriate" minis would be available for both sexes in equal numbers. Obviousely, some male slaves would be sold. But the mass market for this kind of stuff would still be male consumers buying female minis.

This is probably bacause male sexual instincts are triggered mainly by optical input, while female are triggered by thoughts (obviousely such generalizing statements are never true for all individuals and have statistic value only, but still).

[Goblin-King]

Sorry for the wall of text...

Not all of us have sculpting skills. That is a cop out.

yes and no. It is true that the "if you don't like what's available, make one yourself" is an empty argument when spoken to an individual.
Of course you can't just shoot a billion dollar movie, or write a great american novel! Or even produce a miniature range.

However as a group it start making more sense.
If the demand for any given product is big enough, it's not an unreasonable thought that at least some people in said group would care enough to acquire the will and skills to produce it.
Or the will to invest financially in someone who can produce it for you.

If the demand is big enough, why aren't existing miniature makers cornering it you might ask?

Several reasons.
For starters, some actually are to a certain degree... eg based Hasslefree are in close dialogue with their costumers.

Second, it's hard to produce for a demographics you don't belong to. You might listen to said demographics, but it's impossible to gauge if there's an actual demand. Or if the demand is actually representative of the desire. Or even a good idea in the first place.
Imagine making a product for kids... I once showed one of my games to a group of kids and asked which features they thought would be cool to include.
Of course some had god ideas, but others had absolutely atrocious ideas that hardly even made sense and would ruin the game completely.

Third, remember my post about producing something out of love? If your product is doing well, why should you make products you don't care about just to please somebody else?
Perhaps there's a certain demand for horror novels, but I'm specialized in writing historical drama. I could, but I'm not gonna. It's not what I love doing.
That's an absolutely reasonable stand to take!

Maybe you'll get lucky and an established producer will pick up on your demand.
But odds are that someone who want the product him/herself will have to produce it him/herself.

[TMU]

Not all of us have sculpting skills. That is a cop out.

No, I didn't mean sculpting necessary. Modding is something anyone can do in a way or another. If you say you can't mod a miniature I say you are not trying hard enough

[StratosVX]

Not all of us have sculpting skills. That is a cop out.

Not exactly. 20 years ago, yes. However, we live in an age where you can collaborate with an unlimited number of people from across the world without leaving your home. You can find people that have sculpting/3D rendering skills that either agree with you or can be paid to make what you envision. You can get the public to fund this via websites like Kickstarter and you can make whatever type of mini's you want to make. You don't need any of the skills, you just need the drive to find the people that have the skills that are willing to help. As I said, all of this can be done without even leaving your own house or quitting your job. It can all be done in your free time and if successful, you can proudly say that you saw a problem, you confronted it and you made a change. If you feel that strongly that someone needs to do it, then do it and stop waiting for someone else to do it. All of those big manufacturers started out as a person with a vision and the drive to follow their vision. Blaming others and doing nothing to try to actively change the situation is pointless. Finding one excuse after another as to why it isn't being done by someone else is the cop out. You see a flaw in the mini industry that you don't like. If you stand by and do absolutely nothing to change it, then you are also contributing to the situation being what it is. Everybody has the power to attempt to make a change.

[cynthialee]

By pointing out the problem to those who do make miniatures I am doing something.
The argument presented above is an argument from a position of privilege.
I don't have money and the only sculptors I know are here on the Inn. I said, clearly, what is wrong in the industry. It is male dominated and when women do make their opinions known we get a mountain of excuses as to why we are wrong. Thanks again for the lecture in how a person of privilege might go about getting things done. Now as an activist type I will use the best tool I have, my voice.