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[Column] General: Sexism in Gaming 2012: Anger & Intellect
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Lol @ jiggle physics. I do agree that it is bad when you have the girl gamers come out and attack everything in a game.
I can remember from GW2 that there was a girl that had a short skirt and it was all over the web how offensive it was. Then there was the Elin from Tera (although that was a bit more creepy).
I am conflicted on the issue to be honest. In one hand we have the "it is already there, deal with it" mentality and on the other "why should we?" mentality. I have been forced to deal with it and I think that has made me cowed into accepting it. I do not see males with overly large gentital swinging from their short shorts.
I really do not know what is right, I just think that maybe we have become complacent and maybe it is time that gamers became aware that there is a human behind the boobs.
I believe gaming has come along way.
Boys will be Boys and Girls will be Girls.
As an older girl gamer, I look back on my younger gaming days with fondness.
I loved the attention when I played Parsec and actually fueled my ship without crashing. ( If you are old enough to remember putting a cassette tape in and hooking up your "computer" to be able to play.)
My pick of boyfriends was amazing. (Because lets face it, they may have been nerds, but they had money.)
There are so many benefits to being a girl gamer....... I got married to one
Life is Short, Read a Book.
Different mods have different takes on things. Some can be more harsh/strict than others. Its also a matter of experience, and perspective (and context). If you have any questions about these types of things, send MikeB a PM. As I mentioned, he's always seemed pretty even handed and fair about these things.
Yes it was. Speaking of which I've not seen Pokket around here for awhile. It would be interesting to compare her take on issues like "sexism" in gaming with the new one.
Except that we aren't just talking about words and thoughts. 1 in 5 women will be raped. If you threaten to rape a woman face to face we have systems to deal with that (police, sexual harrassment policies, restraining orders, etc), but in an entertainment venue we're supposed to laugh it off and act like it's okay, just because we're supposed to be safe and anonymous? Hate to break it to you, but the internet isn't safe and anonymous. Doesn't take a lot to find someone.
This whole discourse isn't about being offended. I don't get offended over people talking smack. I think Stephen Fry said it best (if you aren't familiar with the quote, google it). But I'm not interested in being told in graphic detail how someone wants to disfigure my genitals and rape me with a knife. I should not ever have to hear that. And frankly, neither should anyone. That isn't me being offended, that's just foul and disgusting and should never be accepted by society, peroid. There is a difference between dictating what others must think and drawing moral lines. We've already drawn the moral line that says rape is unacceptable. We've already drawn the moral line that says threatening rape is unacceptable. If you want an example, google California criminal threat laws. It covers rape threats made over electronic devices.
And yes, in any circumstance, threatening rape is wrong.
Now, I understand that a guy who's about to go into a duel says "Imma rape that bitch, watch this" isn't threatening rape. Even if his opponent is female. He's just shit talking. Pretty standard stuff. And I agree that this falls into a much more broad category of how we generally treat each other. But someone who hounds a woman across 7 characters on 3 accounts over 5 days, graphically recounting how they want to maim and rape her - that is the misogynistic crap that I believe needs to be 100% unacceptable. That goes way above and beyond talking shit. That kind of stuff is the problem that women complain about.
I also agree if we tackled the entire problem of how we treat one another, it would likely be solved. But, that wasn't what the article was about. By all means, write one about the pathetic way gamers treat each other, I will be glad to see it written and will participate in the discussion.
Personally, I found the article pretty bad. Especially her "I'm angry at everybody" tirade. Add to that the entire pointless drivel, with no pertinent information, and altogether I don't think the site should've published it at all. You're right it focuses on the author crying about those mean men, painting them negatively in broad fashion instead of narrowing it down to the worst of it, the extreme misogynists, which are invariably a tiny fraction of the overall population. A better article would have examined the whole of gaming culture, demonstrating all the bile that gets spewed in its various forms, one of those being misogyny, but it would have taken it's place beside racisism, anti-semitism, homophobia, etc, but that would have required research, writing skill, and journalistic integrity, things lacking from the piece that was actually written.
If its in a game, as in part of the story I dont care about it. Imagine Age of Conan, where women are treated as "equals" with no sexual references at all...it wouldnt be Conan.
Of course, treating a female player or a gay/bi player in such a way is NOT right or OK at all and it should be stopped. Thankfully none of that happens in my guild, we have been together for a long time and no most of each others real names.
I hope we shall crush...in its birth the aristocracy of our moneyed corporations, which dare already to challenge our government to a trial of strength and bid defiance to the laws of our country." ~Thomes Jefferson