Post
by pingupingu » Mon Aug 05, 2019 5:13 am
Well, if you dig deeper, you have to realize that the idea of individual human value is a relatively recent notion. Women, who can bear children, were a resource, a necessity to ensure the continuity of civilization and to support the growth and expansion of everything from a household to a fully fledged sovereign nation state. Men, who cannot, were fodder for war and grist for the labor mill.
To put it another way: manpower can be replenished through procreation, and the bearing of children by women. Men, on the other hand, cannot replenish women, except by conquest.
Thus armies are historically male; Men being not only physically stronger and possessing more stamina on average, but being more expendable. And since men are primarily good for conquest in this context, war and violence and the power fantasy of the indomitable warriors is glorified.
Even today we revere idols of powerful male figures exerting their brawn to conquer and overcome (Superman, Captain America, The Hulk, Thor etc). Even today, or perhaps even more so, men lust over weapons of war and murder. If the value of a man is in how large his muscles are, and how deadly his capacity and prowess, then war games will reflect those ideals.
Incidentally, this is why the Imperial Guard is ostensibly gender neutral - they aren't deadly, they don't have indomitable strength and prowess. They fight by will and numbers. Whether the soldier holding the lasgun is male or female is completely irrelevant when they are likely to die 30 seconds into a combat anyway.
Space Marines 40k is both a power fantasy and a reflection of war and survival.