Today has been a day for posts that really resonate with me. Since I don’t feel well (hence me being home right now instead of at class) and therefore don’t want to work on a real post, I’ll share the words of wisdom from the other bloggers.
First off, a post (inspired by my Gaming While Female post, how special am I!) over at Guilded Lilies about the genderdization of gaming labels, entitled Hardcore Vs. Casual: It’s A Woman’s Prerogative:
The term “hardcore” when applied to gaming brings up the immediate image of a young male player, most likely with a game controller tightly gripped in his hands. For many, this idea of the “hardcore” gamer defines gaming – it is the standard by which all other gamers are measured. Any approach to gaming that falls outside of this parameter is not given the same status as being serious enough to be considered a real gamer. Using this standard alone “casual” gamers fall short, and since female players are the ones being identified with the “casual” gamer classification, women are often seen as not being real gamers.
Next up we have a post from Killer B of Modern Feminist, a geeky feminist new to me, where she “vlogs” (video blogs) about facing sexism in the vlogsphere. I don’t have a quote for Follow up thoughts on the vlogosphere because, well, it’s a video (only audio for me, ’cause my quicktime had problems), but it’s well worth the 6+ minutes it will take to listen to it.
And, finally, over at The Bipolar View, Spotted Elephant calls the popular picture blog Cute Overload out on its objectification of women in her post, Face the Facts:
Treating women as the cats ‘n’ racks photos do causes real damage. They show that’s it’s ok to view women as sex objects. They perpetuate the belief that women exist for the pleasure of men. All of these beliefs protect the status quo: men are human but women serve as decoration and sexual outlets.
Where do you suppose violence against women comes from? Why are women battered, raped, and murdered by their male partners? […] When a man gets angry at work, does he punch his boss? No, he needs his job, so he controls himself. Why do some men control themselves with their bosses, but beat their wives into a bloody pulp?
Because they can.
Attitudes and beliefs inform behavior. You don’t batter, rape, and kill someone you view as your equal. But when you view women as being less than men, all kinds of terrible behaviors become acceptable. The ubiquitous message that women are worth less than men matters. When violence and hate are everywhere, there’s no such thing as acceptable objectification.
I’m glad that she reminded me that it was past time to take Cute Overload off of my blogroll. It’s not like they need whatever paltry traffic I may give them, anyway, and their response to criticism about their “Cats ‘n Racks” section was… unacceptable, is the most charitable word I can think of. Misogynist, dismissing, the same old bullshit of men justifying their bad behaviour are probably more accurate.
Where’s the link to their dismissive attitude toward the Cats ‘n’ Racks thing? I remember rolling my eyes at that, but wasn’t terribly offended. However, a stupid response to someone’s legitimately expressed concern about the serious of photos would be cause for offence to me.
I think we should stuff rabbits down guys’ buttcracks and take photos. Then it can be Bunnies ‘n’ Buns. But that would be pretty cruel for the rabbits. :/
Make that “series of photos.”
The first I ever heard of the “Cats n’ Racks” section was the ppl who run the site doing a “get over it ppl” type of post. It wasn’t nasty, but had the “jeez, it’s all in good fun, so stop complaining” kind of tone to it. But, of course, since I didn’t think of bookmarking it I can’t find it at all.
thank you so much for letting me know! I had no idea because everything was normal on my Safari browser and then i checked with a pc and..yikes!
Good grief. Why can’t people just say, “You know, I get what you’re saying. I still don’t agree, but it’s your opinion”? Why does the “get over it, you thin-skinned feminazi” response prevail instead?
DS: Because we’re taught that Right and Wrong exist, and that if one person is Right (which, of course, whoever is epousing the opinion invarabily is), then the other person must be Wrong, and therefore Teh Eval and Teh Stupid.
But you know what? I *miss* Cute Overload. I really miss it. 🙁
DS – what tekanji said – plus the fact that even entertaining the idea that such complaints might be just as legitimate as their own views would require considering more than their immediate comfort.
Hi T! Thanks for the nod. I’m getting kinda reamed in the vlogosphere, so I’m taking refuge on the blogs like yours (and in books, etc, too). I feel overwhelmed and dejected by the unbelievably negative feedback I’m getting. I came over here just to browse and was so happy to be called “geeky”, I could have cried. Thanks. Whether you know it or not, you helped me personal struggle today quite a bit. I hope you’re having a lovely day.
B
I’m sorry the vlogsphere is sucking so bad 🙁 I’m glad that the little I do helps, though. And, come on, you’re so obviously geeky that anyone who doesn’t see it needs a reality check ^_^ I hope things look up for you, but at least you can be secure in the knowledge that your blog has at least one more regular reader.
Yours does as well, tekanji. Thank you 🙂 Oh, have you checked out vegankid? He might be a cool addition to your vegan section I just noticed. http://vegankid.solidaritydesign.net/
Because, you know, we all need more to read 😉
Vegankid is actually under “queer feminists” because I don’t currently have a “veg*n feminists” section (that’s more Ariel’s specialty than mine). Definitely a cool blog though 🙂
Hey, since it’s a link-farm thread, have you seen this? — http://adistantsoil.com/blog/?p=415