
thejeff |
This is definitely worth a read for anyone still insisting that gamergate was born completely from misogyny and bigotry.
Gave up skimming about halfway through, but from what I can tell the claim is still that it started with the post from Quinn's ex, and quickly spiraled into using that to attack Quinn.
From your link the summary of the first dayIn every option that can be discerned on the first day of this, the channel seems to focus on those around Quinn. (https://archive.today/Ler4O). Anita Sarkeesian does not figure into any plans discussed on 8/18. The plan appears to always be destroying Kotaku, destroying Josh Boggs, and destroying Zoe Quinn. This plan to destroy the three continues day after day from 8/18 until around 8/21 with the Phil Fish and Zoe Quinn alleged hacking events. Again, only called alleged because no case has come of it
Along with a lot of actual misogny behind the scenes and occasionally referred to even in this writeup. SJW's are targeted.
All of which is pretty much what we all knew. Thanks again for the support.

aatea |

Where is the goblin when you need him? Summon Comrade Anklebiter! (Did it work? Darn it -- I hate doing links!)
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Color Blindness -- I think you'll find that racism isn't really as settled as everything seems to think it is.
Still Failing at Fairness: How Gender Bias Cheats Girls and Boys in Schools and What We Can Do About It -- Gender stereotypes cause problems for boys and men as well as for girls and women. And so much of it is unconscious bias that people have to be shown that they're doing it before they recognize it.
Lies My History Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong -- There's a lot that's taught in school that emphasizes what white men have done to build America, but not the contributions of women and other minorities.
I'm sure the goblin could give even better references than this, though I got the first one directly from him.

Simon Legrande |

Maybe start another thread, or resurrect the Fergietown one for this, if you want to take if farther.
In the long run, if everyone does it, not just lip service, but down to the ingrained subconscious prejudices and assumptions. Otherwise you just mask the existing problems.
Maybe it seems to you like we're already there. I live in New England and we're not there yet and I know it's worse in some other parts of the country.
New England as a whole isn't there yet. But as a resident of Western Mass, some of us are living the life Ashiel described.

thejeff |
thejeff wrote:New England as a whole isn't there yet. But as a resident of Western Mass, some of us are living the life Ashiel described.Maybe start another thread, or resurrect the Fergietown one for this, if you want to take if farther.
In the long run, if everyone does it, not just lip service, but down to the ingrained subconscious prejudices and assumptions. Otherwise you just mask the existing problems.
Maybe it seems to you like we're already there. I live in New England and we're not there yet and I know it's worse in some other parts of the country.
Absolutely. There are certainly places and I really am thrilled to see biracial couples and the like, though I suspect they run into more trouble than some might suspect, even if it isn't in every store they walk into.
It's fairly rare that I see something personally that reminds me. More common stuff on the news. OTOH, I'm a white guy. It's easy for me to miss things, because it's not my life.

Chris Lambertz Paizo Glitterati Robot |
1 person marked this as a favorite. |

Removed a few posts/replies. We're really giving this thread the side eye right now. There's some serious derail in the last few pages surrounding topics that have not gone well on our forums in recent history (including recent controversy in the video game industry, racism, rape and so on). I'll remind all posters in this thread to keep in mind our Community Guidelines prior to posting. It would be a good idea to keep contentious terms (see: "feminazi") and tangentially related topics out of this thread. This is not to say "do not discuss them", but simply that they're likely better off in a thread concerning them specifically. Please be cognizant that these topics are likely to illicit very strong feelings from all sides, and avoid baiting posts and personal insults where possible if you'd like to have a constructive discussion. Thank you.

Sebastrd |
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I just don't buy into the dichotomy that says that anger and rationality can't co-exist in a person or argument.
It is possible to be angry and still express oneself rationally. In fact, it's expected of those who wish to be perceived as mature or who expect to carry on mature relationships. Control over one's emotions is a hallmark of adulthood.
Basically, there has never been a time when video game marketing didn't use women's bodies to sell games. There has never been a time that didn't have video game marketers who saw women as objects used to sell games rather than people they should be selling games to.
There has never been a time when marketers in general haven't used the bodies of both genders to sell everything. Sex sells. Why expect that video games wouldn't use it to target their core audience?

Ashiel |
2 people marked this as a favorite. |

It's fairly rare that I see something personally that reminds me. More common stuff on the news. OTOH, I'm a white guy. It's easy for me to miss things, because it's not my life.
That's right. It's not your life and you have no business telling other people who and what they should and should not identify with, enjoy, or be anymore than anyone else. You can call yourself a "white guy" if you want, and that's your choice.
I personally have never seen a white, or black person. I've seen a lot of people with varying skin tones that range from a pale pinkish to dark brown, and everything in between. I've seen people that change colors (especially with sun-tans), and people who were speckled or had different unique patterns.
But man, it's people like you that make it a harder world for the rest of us to live in, because you're so dead-set on separating people into arbitrary groups and then try to keep score between. We could all just play for the same team and win at life.
Is their negative discrimination? Yes, yes there is. I work retail and a young woman came into the store and walked up to the counter to buy something. She was kinda cute actually, and I thought her shoes were really cool, so I complimented her on her shoes (I could never pull off those shoes but she was rockin' 'em well). She giggled with a bit of embarrassment and after a moment I realized she was transgendered (but she was really good at "passing" as my other TG friends call it). I helped her out and told her to have fun, and she walked out pretty giddy.
Then her cousin came in and said "You ain't laughin' at my gay ass cousin are ya?". I told him I said I liked her shoes and told her to have a great night, and he said "Man don't call him that, that's a guy", which bothered me truly. He then said, "But he's family and you gotta stick together". I simply responded "Everyone needs somebody" and left it at that. Did it bother me that he didn't fully accept his cousin? Yeah, it did. I know it happens, and it shouldn't. That starts "at home" with taking responsibility for yourself and with each person the world changes.
You surely aren't going to rally anyone towards the call of equality by grouping them into arbitrary groups and then telling them how horrible the world is because of them. You don't make war on people because of skin color, sexual preferences, gender, etc; yet that's what some of these "feminists" do. Why should anyone take anything they say about equality seriously when they consistently lie and twist statistics and information to push their agenda, all while acting like you being any combination of white, male, or cisgendered makes you a monster (the more of those tags the worse you are)? It's not inclusion and it just makes matter worse. Salting the wounds and pointing fingers at people who in most cases have never done anything to anyone and condemning them for it.
If I had to describe my position in a word, I'd call it "Equalism". I have a position of inclusion. I'm not going to separate people into arbitrary groups not supported by science. I'm going to teach my children (if I ever have any) inclusion and love for everyone, and not this false "Treat those black people the same way" or "Don't be mean to the mexicans" bullshit, but "Be nice to everyone" will surely be a thing.

Ashiel |
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Ashiel wrote:Need to hear more to be able to make a decision.Sissyl wrote:Because it's horrible that men like to look at nekkid women?Some of my girl friends and I talk about sex and swap porn. Which of us is more of a monster?
Well one of my girlfriends is really into some crazy stuff like vore, submission, and lolis, but that doesn't stop me from talking about it with her. Meanwhile another girlfriend of mine really likes sex, and despite being strait likes looking at pictures of hot women, and we had a fun time sitting in my den one day just browsing the foundry one night. Another girlfriend of mine and I would swap adult doujinshi links, and she was a big fan of most anything by Dr. Graevling and Clumzor (who doesn't like Clumzor, it's D&D-esque :P) and she would confide things like how she really wanted to forceful seizing and despoiling the lady from the Orbits commercials. One of my other girlfriends was big into furries and it really got her all hot and bothered, though I have trouble imagining a romantic relationship with someone who's head reminds me of my dog (to each her own, I guess).
We often talk about the joys of cuddling and stuff too, and sometimes about sexual techniques, and/or what we'd prefer (though humorously the one into the loli's and submission can't even manage to get through a short slashfic I wrote as a joke concerning one of my D&D characters and her psicrystal, 'cause she says it makes her too squirmy and toe-curly. Such a lightweight :P).
How's that? Which of us is the bad one? :P

Ashiel |

thejeff |
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thejeff wrote:It's fairly rare that I see something personally that reminds me. More common stuff on the news. OTOH, I'm a white guy. It's easy for me to miss things, because it's not my life.That's right. It's not your life and you have no business telling other people who and what they should and should not identify with, enjoy, or be anymore than anyone else. You can call yourself a "white guy" if you want, and that's your choice.
I personally have never seen a white, or black person. I've seen a lot of people with varying skin tones that range from a pale pinkish to dark brown, and everything in between. I've seen people that change colors (especially with sun-tans), and people who were speckled or had different unique patterns.
But man, it's people like you that make it a harder world for the rest of us to live in, because you're so dead-set on separating people into arbitrary groups and then try to keep score between. We could all just play for the same team and win at life.
"I can call myself a white guy" if I want, because that matches people's perception of me. If I called myself a black guy, the best that would happen would be that I'd get laughed at.
Social constructs are real. They have real effects on people's lives. For centuries in this country people who matched one social construct were enslaved. For another hundred years they were legally second class citizens. Since then they've still suffered from prejudice to this very day. It's real. It still happens. I see it, even though it doesn't effect me directly. If people perceived me to belong to a different social construct, I suspect I'd find it a lot more obvious.You don't like labels. Fine. That's admirable, in a way. But taking away the labels just makes it easier to hide the elephant, since you can't talk about it. If I took your high road and ignored all the differences in skin color (and other features that we use to assign people to various social constructs: facial features, hair, etc), would I even be able to notice if a boss of mine behaved differently towards people who had darker skin and certain other traits? How could I? There's no group there to pay attention to. Everyone is just individuals and there can be no patterns. Unless he specifically said something about that particular social construct, I'd have no way to know that he wasn't as enlightened as I was and was actually prejudiced.
As it is, I can actually notice things like that. Maybe even try to address them.
If there are no races, it's not possible to oppose racial discrimination. But it doesn't magically go away if all the non-racist people pretend it isn't real. The racists will keep seeing races, though they can pay lip service to the concept, since it lets them get away with it.

Rynjin |

Orville Redenbacher wrote:Ashiel wrote:Need to hear more to be able to make a decision.Sissyl wrote:Because it's horrible that men like to look at nekkid women?Some of my girl friends and I talk about sex and swap porn. Which of us is more of a monster?Well one of my girlfriends is really into some crazy stuff like vore, submission, and lolis, but that doesn't stop me from talking about it with her. Meanwhile another girlfriend of mine really likes sex, and despite being strait likes looking at pictures of hot women, and we had a fun time sitting in my den one day just browsing the foundry one night. Another girlfriend of mine and I would swap adult doujinshi links, and she was a big fan of most anything by Dr. Graevling and Clumzor (who doesn't like Clumzor, it's D&D-esque :P) and she would confide things like how she really wanted to forceful seizing and despoiling the lady from the Orbits commercials. One of my other girlfriends was big into furries and it really got her all hot and bothered, though I have trouble imagining a romantic relationship with someone who's head reminds me of my dog (to each her own, I guess).
We often talk about the joys of cuddling and stuff too, and sometimes about sexual techniques, and/or what we'd prefer (though humorously the one into the loli's and submission can't even manage to get through a short slashfic I wrote as a joke concerning one of my D&D characters and her psicrystal, 'cause she says it makes her too squirmy and toe-curly. Such a lightweight :P).
How's that? Which of us is the bad one? :P
*Eyes Ashiel suspiciously*
You sure you don't hang around on subSPUF?

Necromancer |

Sissyl wrote:Because it's horrible that men like to look at nekkid women?Some of my girl friends and I talk about sex and swap porn. Which of us is more of a monster?
[sarcasm]Everyone involved, obviously. The actors, the crew, the producers, the hosters, the buyers, the random people finding free clips, and anyone enjoying it.[/sarcasm]
On a related note, it's always funny to me how masculine sexuality just causes some people to lose their minds and degenerate into a fear-induced supor. One person's excitement is another person's discomfort, I suppose. shrugs

thejeff |
Orville Redenbacher wrote:Ashiel wrote:Need to hear more to be able to make a decision.Sissyl wrote:Because it's horrible that men like to look at nekkid women?Some of my girl friends and I talk about sex and swap porn. Which of us is more of a monster?Well one of my girlfriends is really into some crazy stuff like vore, submission, and lolis, but that doesn't stop me from talking about it with her. Meanwhile another girlfriend of mine really likes sex, and despite being strait likes looking at pictures of hot women, and we had a fun time sitting in my den one day just browsing the foundry one night. Another girlfriend of mine and I would swap adult doujinshi links, and she was a big fan of most anything by Dr. Graevling and Clumzor (who doesn't like Clumzor, it's D&D-esque :P) and she would confide things like how she really wanted to forceful seizing and despoiling the lady from the Orbits commercials. One of my other girlfriends was big into furries and it really got her all hot and bothered, though I have trouble imagining a romantic relationship with someone who's head reminds me of my dog (to each her own, I guess).
We often talk about the joys of cuddling and stuff too, and sometimes about sexual techniques, and/or what we'd prefer (though humorously the one into the loli's and submission can't even manage to get through a short slashfic I wrote as a joke concerning one of my D&D characters and her psicrystal, 'cause she says it makes her too squirmy and toe-curly. Such a lightweight :P).
How's that? Which of us is the bad one? :P
None of you, obviously.
Consensual adult sexuality is awesome. There are a few things that skeeve me out, even as fantasies, but I suspect I've got a few of my own that would bother other people.
But there's a difference between people's personal preferences and marketers exploiting those preferences to get you to buy stuff.

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But there's a difference between people's personal preferences and marketers exploiting those preferences to get you to buy stuff.
This statement is what is so confusing to me. I don't have a problem with marketers directing products to my personal tastes. What I don't know is when that product crosses the line into discrimination or harmful stereotyping. Is all objectification bad? Or is objectification ok as long as there are numerous alternatives and counter examples? where is the balance because clearly some folks feel video games are way over the line.

thejeff |
thejeff wrote:This statement is what is so confusing to me. I don't have a problem with marketers directing products to my personal tastes. What I don't know is when that product crosses the line into discrimination or harmful stereotyping. Is all objectification bad? Or is objectification ok as long as there are numerous alternatives and counter examples? where is the balance because clearly some folks feel video games are way over the line.
But there's a difference between people's personal preferences and marketers exploiting those preferences to get you to buy stuff.
It's complicated and I don't have any hard and fast answers for it.
I don't have a problem with marketers directing products to my personal tastes. I do have a problem when it's nothing to do with the product itself. I'd much rather have advertising (and cover design and everything else) that's about the product rather than advertising designed to make my back brain think that if I buy the product beautiful women will like me. I don't like manipulative advertising and sex is one of the big ways to do that. Far from the only one and it's used far beyond gaming of course.And it works, which is apparently enough to excuse anything.
In this case, I'd say it's bad partly because it is exclusive. Because from the very beginning the video game industry has been geared towards men and both the marketing and the games themselves reflect that. From that early ad posted up thread with model in a see-through dress by the arcade game right up till today. And of course, that's self-reinforcing: the ads and games are directed at men, so women don't buy them, which is a reason to focus the ads and development on men.

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In this case, I'd say it's bad partly because it is exclusive. Because from the very beginning the video game industry has been geared towards men and both the marketing and the games themselves reflect that.
Two questions for you thejeff
- Why was it geared towards men?
- Are all things that are exclusive (in their nature, their marketing or just core demographic) innately bad?

thejeff |
thejeff wrote:In this case, I'd say it's bad partly because it is exclusive. Because from the very beginning the video game industry has been geared towards men and both the marketing and the games themselves reflect that.Two questions for you thejeff
- Why was it geared towards men?
- Are all things that are exclusive (in their nature, their marketing or just core demographic) innately bad?
1) I don't know. I wasn't there. Probably because of the reality of the day that computers and other geeky things were for guys. Which was driven by the even stronger prejudices back then.
2) "All" is a very strong word.
What seems to be happening here is resistance to an strongly male enclave being invaded by women. More women are becoming geekier and they're not thrilled at the sexist aspects of the culture and some parts of the community are pushing back against letting the presence and influence of women change anything.
This isn't a new pattern or unique to video games.

Simon Legrande |
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Auxmaulous wrote:1) I don't know. I wasn't there. Probably because of the reality of the day that computers and other geeky things were for guys. Which was driven by the even stronger prejudices back then.thejeff wrote:In this case, I'd say it's bad partly because it is exclusive. Because from the very beginning the video game industry has been geared towards men and both the marketing and the games themselves reflect that.Two questions for you thejeff
- Why was it geared towards men?
- Are all things that are exclusive (in their nature, their marketing or just core demographic) innately bad?
(a few more questions)
Wait, what stronger prejudices?Who was driving these views - the ones making the games or playing them? Or are you saying that these prejudices are derived from another source?
Also, does that mean that innately men are not or were not attracted to or interested in gaming on their own - that they were directed or driven to their attraction to gaming due to other external factors?
Are you also saying that historically women had no real desire to be part of the gaming scene as a sizable demo due to some external factor or prejudice? That women stayed away from gaming not because there was a lack of interest but because they were historically "kept out"?
I'm just trying to break down the reasoning of this thread and trying to figure out what the driving factors that is to making this an issue.
2) "All" is a very strong word.
What seems to be happening here is resistance to an strongly male enclave being invaded by women. More women are becoming geekier and they're not thrilled at the sexist aspects of the culture and some parts of the community are pushing back against letting the presence and influence of women change anything.
This isn't a new pattern or unique to video games.
I agree that it isn't new, the question is it a correct reaction?
Should a hobby that was made for boys/men created by men accommodate and change to adapt to a new demographic for the sake of being inclusive? Should inclusiveness be the focus of gaming creation and design?

BigNorseWolf |

What seems to be happening here is resistance to an strongly male enclave being invaded by women. More women are becoming geekier and they're not thrilled at the sexist aspects of the culture and some parts of the community are pushing back against letting the presence and influence of women change anything.
This isn't a new pattern or unique to video games.
I doubt that anyone is going to object to their presence. (Woo whoo D&D AND Girls? I thought I had to pick!)
What is going to get objections is when a minority of people decide that they know the right way to act, everyone else is doing something wrong, and think that they can tell everyone else what to do.
Geeks are notoriously bad for ignoring social conventions. They are also very big on individuality and just letting people do their own thing. Trying to impose a social convention that someone can tell someone else they're doing something morally wrong the same way they can in a work environment just isn't going to fly.

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Ashiel wrote:Let me save you some time: saying that you aren't a racist because you treat everyone equally makes you a racist for ignoring that not everyone is like you.mechaPoet wrote:I'll have to check your links when I get back. Gotta go to work. Hugs and kisses. Toodles!That must be nice.
Here's the actual summary:
It's awesome to treat people based on their merit as a person and not be a racist.Race shouldn't matter, but it does. Non-white people experience racism their entire lives, and to claim that you don't acknowledge race as a factor that effects them shows that you are ignoring the problems of racism they face. And it's not your fault, necessarily, because one function of racism is to obscure and erase and dismiss the voices of the oppressed. Can you look at the white cops and the white officials of Ferguson and the black inhabitants of Ferguson and tell me that you "don't see race" as an issue here?

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Are you also saying that historically women had no real desire to be part of the gaming scene as a sizable demo due to some external factor or prejudice? That women stayed away from gaming not because there was a lack of interest but because they were historically "kept out"?
Yeah.
Should a hobby that was made for boys/men created by men accommodate and change to adapt to a new demographic for the sake of being inclusive? Should inclusiveness be the focus of gaming creation and design?
Why shouldn't it?
And why do nerds act as gatekeepers to the things they like instead of being excited that other people are interested in them?
And why do women who play games and point out their more sexist aspects--while still be able to enjoy the experience these games--meet with this nerd gatekeeping in the form of gendered insults and threats of rape and death in far greater numbers than any male critics or non-gender-related criticisms?
EDIT: LINK to an interesting article about gendered nerd gatekeeping.

Simon Legrande |
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Simon Legrande wrote:Ashiel wrote:Let me save you some time: saying that you aren't a racist because you treat everyone equally makes you a racist for ignoring that not everyone is like you.mechaPoet wrote:I'll have to check your links when I get back. Gotta go to work. Hugs and kisses. Toodles!That must be nice.
Here's the actual summary:
It's awesome to treat people based on their merit as a person and not be a racist.Race shouldn't matter, but it does. Non-white people experience racism their entire lives, and to claim that you don't acknowledge race as a factor that effects them shows that you are ignoring the problems of racism they face. And it's not your fault, necessarily, because one function of racism is to obscure and erase and dismiss the voices of the oppressed. Can you look at the white cops and the white officials of Ferguson and the black inhabitants of Ferguson and tell me that you "don't see race" as an issue here?
That's what I said, I just said it more succinctly.
Believe it or not, there are some people who believe that race/gender/hair color truly does not matter. This is obviously not good for people who are pushing the agenda that race/gender/hair color does matter. The goal is supposed to be to live in a colorblind/genderblind world, some of us are already there.
I look at the police in Ferguson and see a bunch of bigoted a&&@)(#&. And then I see a bunch of people wanting to lump me in with them because my skin is the same color.

BigNorseWolf |

If you say there's a difference then you're promoting the racist/sexist/speciesist/isist agenda that there is a difference when all should be equal.
If you say there's no difference then you're blind to the reality that the minority has to deal with and promoting the inaction that the racist/sexist/speciest/isist hegemony wants.

BigNorseWolf |

Why shouldn't it?
Because the underlying themes of pretending to beat an orc over the head with a sword or blowing them up with a fireball will never have equal appeal. You have a male audience inherent in the product, which will lead to a self reinforcing feedback loop. Its largely male, so it will be made for males, and there are mostly male players, which all leads to mostly male players which leads to it being made for those players which leads too...
And why do nerds act as gatekeepers to the things they like instead of being excited that other people are interested in them?
Guys haze the living hell out of each other. Nerd hazing just looks a little weird.

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Auxmaulous wrote:That women stayed away from gaming not because there was a lack of interest but because they were historically "kept out"?Yeah.
No. It was lack of interest pure and simple. Anything else is framing it to benefit an agenda or cause.
Now that geek (somehow and someway) became cool (not really), everyone is jumping on the bandwagon.
Not just women who make the claim of geek, but many men. The same people who "back in the day" beat the living shit out of any nerd or geek they could gang up on.
Auxmaulous wrote:Should a hobby that was made for boys/men created by men accommodate and change to adapt to a new demographic for the sake of being inclusive? Should inclusiveness be the focus of gaming creation and design?Why shouldn't it?
Why should it?
No one owes you shit.You want to be a female "gamer" or change the content of gaming to better reflect your gender then do so. Other people have.
No one is obligated to change what they like to accommodate you - be it accommodating your gender, your race or your favorite color.
No one owes you. These are things you hopefully lean that as you grow up and mature. Just as I would never ask/hope for/fight for a woman to create a novel, video game or rpg to be more "male" oriented to accommodate me.
I either: make it myself or buy if from someone who creates along the lines of what is attractive to me..i.e, what I want.
My favorite band is not obligated to write an album just for me, nor is my favorite author only allowed to write to my likes/dislikes. The create the vision of what they want and if anyone is interested in it then they buy it, that's how it works.
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And why do nerds act as gatekeepers to the things they like instead of being excited that other people are interested in them?
Could be a lot of things - resentment for when your gender was not there creating and propagating niche X (video game, rpg, geek sci-fi, whatever). Most people resent Johnny-Come-Lately's even it turns out to be a Jenny-Come-Lately. Gender doesn't always matter - who was there first does.
This goes for music, art, team fandom, pretty much anything that started small and gained a following. It isn't tied to gender but to adherence and proximity to the being there at the beginning.I do find it interesting that every reference you make of "nerd" is the assumption/context of the male sex. Yet you use the term women who game. Interesting. Sexist, and also interesting.
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And why do women who play games and point out their more sexist aspects--while still be able to enjoy the experience these games--meet with this nerd gatekeeping in the form of gendered insults and threats of rape and death in far greater numbers than any male critics or non-gender-related criticisms?
Again - men = nerds, women = gamers, who play games.
You are making this distinction, not me. Seems like you can't even get over your own nerd bias.As far as the gendered insults/threats - I think that stems from the maturity of the source making those threats. A troll is a troll and an idiot the same, you combine that with anonymity of the internet and you are going to get nasty responses to every and anything - check the comments sections on any part of the internet that are not supervised. This is not relegated to young men making threats to women, its anonymous people making outrageous comments and threats to anyone who offends or threatens them.
Your link and the guy blogging there where... eh, weak.
Let me break it down for you: a guy faking that he's a geek/nerd would not be questioned. Why you ask? Because back in the day nerds would be subjected to severe cruelties for what they were into. 5 on 1 fights (those were fun) having your gaming stuff stolen and destroyed (that was nice). Even without the physical violence or threats at best a nerd/geek would be perceived as ugly, less than a man/weak, undesirable, perpetual virgin, awkward. All with their own weights and implications when assigned to the male sex.
So a guy claiming to be someone or something that was traditionally reviled is not called into question because what man in their right mind would make such a false claim unless he was trying to fit in with other geeks?
A woman who makes the same claim is met with automatic suspicion and maybe some resentment - mostly because they didn't have to endure what their male counterparts in that same subculture had to endure (the physical violence stuff) and questioned because of how currently fashionable it is to be a geek.
Anyway, that went much longer than I wanted it to.

Klaus van der Kroft |
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What ruffles my feathers about the whole GamerGate/Zoe Quinn/etc issue is the implied (and many times express) assumption that you can either be a misogynist or a misandrist, depending on which side you choose.
I'm pretty pissed off at that handful of journalists/media critics shooting off blanket statements and trying to own the discourse, like they are some sort of prophets that all those of us who enjoy playing games must follow lest we fall prey to our own innate capacity to hate women. When people like Kuchera start with things like "Gamers are rotten carapaces", by Jupiter it bothers me.
I'm pretty pissed off at that handful of webdwellers who think that their degrading treatment of those who think or act different is a proud banner to carry onward and that anyone trying to point out a problem in gender representation is either a SJW or a fool being manipulated. When some anonymous commenter spouts something on the lines of "Lol, get back to the kitchen" everytime a woman tries to make a statement, by Toutatis I'm jimmied.
And I'm seriously pissed off at the manner in which false association of independent elements is being conducted to create a smorgasbord of ideas that then have to either be taken as a whole or discarded, following a "You are either completely with us or completely against us".
Someone can be both a horrible person and spouse worthy ideals, and the other way around. People are not binary things that are either great or horrible. If someone seeking equal opportunities for women (good thing) sleeps with a bunch of game journalists for reviews (bad thing), she's not a monster/beacon of hope; she's a person, and we should be able to agree and disagree with different aspects of her actions without falling into separate boxes. I can enjoy good-looking women in videogames without thinking that women are just for pleasure of the man.
But, more than anything, I really, really dislike that for some people, an opponent is the same thing as an enemy. By Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli, that seriously grinds my gears.

BigNorseWolf |
3 people marked this as a favorite. |

Oh, okay, I get it now. Men don't want to let women be nerds with them because male nerds earned it by getting beaten up for being nerds.
You're extrapolating "I don't want you here" from "I'm making fun of you" , which works for most groups but doesn't work for geeks.
-I want you to treat me just like any of the other guys
-I don't want you to be mean to me
-I don't expect the special treatment of making you all change your behavior to accomidate my presence
together create a bit of a contradiction.

Klaus van der Kroft |
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Oh, okay, I get it now. Men don't want to let women be nerds with them because male nerds earned it by getting beaten up for being nerds.
Which women can't relate to because women don't suffer from high rates of violence in comparison to men.
Oh wait.
I think the point Auxmalous was going for (sorry if I'm missinterpreting) is trying to explain why some male nerds can act so dismissively of female nerds. Traditionally, being a nerd constituted a pretty serious affront to what could be considered the "ideal man": Indulging in seemingly childish pleasures well into maturity, participating in passive activities that relegate fitness, etc. Also, since the nerdom was/is also a pretty big harbour for people with some degree of social impediment (a good friend of mine wrote a whole sociology thesis on the issue, it was pretty interesting. He was trying to find out if there is actually such thing as a "nerd subculture"), it conflated to create the idea that a nerd is the last thing a proper man should be.
So, I think it's not that a male nerd raging at a female nerd could say "You have never suffered like I have, woman! Stay away from the dice!", but rather create this protective layer around his identity if it was under constant attack and conjoining it with the idea that "those of his kind" are those under similar circumstances (ie, other men who were ridiculed for being nerds/not proper men), that as a result would make him suspicious of a woman claiming to be part of the same group.
I don't think it is right (I've been lucky to never have experience bullying, and I grew along with both male and female nerds), but I kind of can sort of maybe understand why some people act that way.
While it could be just angry teenagers being asses online, I suspect there's something else. Particularly since I've seen it happen in some pretty varied cultural contexts, and there seems to be a lot of similarities that suggest a common cause deeper than just "anons be derpers".

Simon Legrande |
4 people marked this as a favorite. |

Oh, okay, I get it now. Men don't want to let women be nerds with them because male nerds earned it by getting beaten up for being nerds.
Which women can't relate to because women don't suffer from high rates of violence in comparison to men.
Oh wait.
I can't help but find the humor in attacking people who are sympathetic to your cause but have problems with your presentation of it. Maybe it's just me, but that seems more likely to drive people away.

Necromancer |
4 people marked this as a favorite. |

Which women can't relate to because women don't suffer from high rates of violence in comparison to men.
Oh wait.
Persons ages 12 to 17 had the highest prevalence of violence (2.2%) of all age groups in 2013
In 2013, 1.2% of all males age 12 or older (1.6 million males) and 1.1% of all females (1.5 million females) experienced one or more violent victimizations (table 5). While the prevalence rate declined for both males and females from 2012 to 2013, a slightly higher percentage of males (1.2%) than females (1.1%) were victims of one or more violent crimes in 2013.
Male - 1,925,560 (2004) 1,917,390 (2012) 1,567,070 (2013)
Female - 1,553,060 (2004) 1,658,520 (2012) 1,474,090 (2013)

Comrade Anklebiter |
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Summon Comrade Anklebiter!
[Blushes furiously]
Alas, I have no idea what you pinkskins are arguing about (Gamergate? Zoe Quinn? Mass Effect?), but it is very pleasing indeed, to be summoned by a stranger [DJdD](and such a pretty one, too! [Waggles eyebrows])[/DJdD] and gratifying to learn that I have successfully disseminated communist propaganda on the Paizo messageboards.
Vive le Galt!

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Auxmaulous wrote:These are things you hopefully lean that as you grow up and mature.You have mostly good points IMHO, but the ad hom here kind of detracts from it.
That wasn't directed to her or women - that was directed to all people - including myself. This is something I have to contend with when it comes to many things I like moving in a direction I don't like, and ending up being disappointed. You just need to learn to deal and not place blame - you being you, her, me - everyone.
I'm sorry if that came across as an attack on a specific poster - I was addressing the notion of entitlement when expecting something from a source of creativity (band, game company, etc) and not getting it the way you would like to (i.e "its perfect for me").
And Klaus thank you - that is what I was getting at.

JurgenV |

Oh, okay, I get it now. Men don't want to let women be nerds with them because male nerds earned it by getting beaten up for being nerds.
Which women can't relate to because women don't suffer from high rates of violence in comparison to men.
Oh wait.
Not in the same way, no more than a white nerd can claim to understand an inner city black kid since they are both likely to face violence.

BigNorseWolf |

Video games, like any other story telling media, exist partially to sell a product to an audience. By whatever mixture of sociological conditioning and biological imperative you believe comes to form a human being, that intended audience has different conscious and unconscious assumptions and varying reactions to different genders. I don't know if anything is big enough to change those (and as I tend to lean towards biological explanations, I also lean towards no), but the fact is that any individual game maker is far better off using or playing with those assumptions than raging against the heavens and trying to change them.

thejeff |
thejeff wrote:Auxmaulous wrote:1) I don't know. I wasn't there. Probably because of the reality of the day that computers and other geeky things were for guys. Which was driven by the even stronger prejudices back then.thejeff wrote:In this case, I'd say it's bad partly because it is exclusive. Because from the very beginning the video game industry has been geared towards men and both the marketing and the games themselves reflect that.Two questions for you thejeff
- Why was it geared towards men?
- Are all things that are exclusive (in their nature, their marketing or just core demographic) innately bad?(a few more questions)
Wait, what stronger prejudices?
Who was driving these views - the ones making the games or playing them? Or are you saying that these prejudices are derived from another source?Also, does that mean that innately men are not or were not attracted to or interested in gaming on their own - that they were directed or driven to their attraction to gaming due to other external factors?
Are you also saying that historically women had no real desire to be part of the gaming scene as a sizable demo due to some external factor or prejudice? That women stayed away from gaming not because there was a lack of interest but because they were historically "kept out"?
I'm just trying to break down the reasoning of this thread and trying to figure out what the driving factors that is to making this an issue.
thejeff wrote:2) "All" is a very strong word.
What seems to be happening here is resistance to an strongly male enclave being invaded by women. More women are becoming geekier and they're not thrilled at the sexist aspects of the culture and some parts of the community are pushing back against letting the presence and influence of women change anything.
This isn't a new pattern or unique to video games.I agree that it isn't new, the question is it a correct reaction?
Should a hobby that...
The discussion's moved on (and exploded) while I was away, but I'll add a couple of points back towards the start.
When I said the "reality of the day" I wasn't talking about when you (or I) were nerds in school, whenever that was, but back to the earliest roots of computer gaming. Back to that ad for the arcade game with the model in the transparent dress and back beyond that to the first hackers writing games on the old time share machines.
Women weren't involved back then to any noticeable degree, not because women just didn't happen to be interested in computer games, but because there was tremendous social pressure against women in any kind of hard science, including computers. This was back in the very early days of second wave feminism. I would hope that even those who deny sexism today will admit it existed back then.
For your response to the second point: it doesn't really matter whether I think it's a correct reaction or not. It's going to happen. Women are coming into gaming culture and gaming culture is going to change. You can fight back, but it can't be stopped, short of changes in the status of women in the outside world.

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Admittedly, I was a bit hasty in throwing out that violence thing, but I was leaving work.
So, as the stats Necromancer provided show, the split between male/female violence is pretty close.
But consider:
-women, people of color, and LGBTQ individuals are disproportionately the victims of hate-crimes and hate-related violence (trans women of color, especially, have ludicrously high murder rates)
-when these people suffer this violence, it often isn't taken as seriously, e.g. women facing slut-shaming when they are raped, from their communities and legal systems
-to bring it back to nerd culture more broadly: if two random guys get in a fight at a con, they'd probably get thrown out. But sexual assault and harassment against women is still prevalent despite there being rules against it; and when women try to get this addressed, they have a much harder time having any action brought against their violent offenders
-but lets go back to violence against nerdy men: yeah, it sucks and it's unacceptable and awful, and I'm sorry if it happened to you. But men of color face disproportionately high rates of violence as well. Consider the murder of Darrien Hunt, who police shot to death because he was carrying a sword. A fake sword, because he was cosplaying as a character from Samurai Champloo. The police say he "lunged" at them despite the fact that he was shot in the back 6 times, and are now on paid leave.
So rates of violence overall are comparable. But white cisgender men (in American at least) don't suffer from hate crimes at anywhere near the same level as women, LBGTQ people (especially trans individuals), or people of color. The latter groups also have a harder time obtaining justice for the violence against them, and often suffer violence at the hands of police officers and other parts of the legal system.
I could also bring up the issue of non-physical violence that these groups suffer (colonialism, erasure, cultural appropriation), but I feel like this would be a contentious environment for discussing what does and doesn't count as "violence." I'm just going to point that many oppressed groups and scholars consider these to be forms of violence against them.
I also noticed that people keep assuming I'm female, and I'll tell you that you're wrong on that front, and you should go ahead and use male pronouns for me, if you use 'em.