Tim referenced an article on another blog, Nerds
and Male Privilege. And I have some
thoughts on it I’d like to share. I
strongly recommend reading this, because even if you disagree it’s a compelling
and thoughtful read.
Now I am at least mildly guilty of the transgressions
outlined by Dr. Nerd Love. Although I
would never argue that a costume that
looks like something an exotic dancer would wear moments before she takes her
top off is inherently important to a super hero’s characterization, I have
designed City of Heroes costumes for female toons that look EXACTLY like
that. It’s kind of a joke with me, I am
incapable of designing a female costume that doesn’t look like a stripper (I am
similarly incapable of designing a male costume that doesn’t look like a masked
professional wrestler.) As time has gone
by, costuming has become less and less important to me, I now simply hit random
until something passable appears and adjust from the hideous colors
generated. But even the random ones
still come out provocative. My last
female toon I rolled was “Spirit Desire”.
And although the random costume doesn’t show a bare midriff, it’s still
skin tight purple leather.
Now I am positive I have also made in game remarks that were
offensive. Liz and Mermoine, I apologize. I treasure our online friendships, and I am
going to try to do better in the future.
I have very poor instant communication impulse control though, please be
patient.
The contention I have with Dr. Nerd Love is the assertion
that geeks should be above this (I have no idea if the good doctor meant to
imply this, but it was something I inferred).
This is a society wide problem (just watch a football game or frequent a
club that Bro’s go to). And while
geekdom is a subculture, it’s still part of a society. The single most hypocritical thing about geekdom
is the assertion that they are individuals.
If you are wearing an Anime costume, or dressed with the stupid strappy
pants you got from Hot Topic, you are dressed for nerdy society’s norms. To paraphrase Summer Phoenix from SLC punk “You
say you are about freedom and individuality, but you dress like a punk. That’s a uniform. Individuality isn’t a dress code, it’s in
your mind.”
Amy here. Thanks for sharing your take, Darren. I hadn't really picked up on the "we're geeks so we should be better than this" vibe, though now that you've brought it up, I can see how it sounds that way. And maybe that implication is there, which any subculture might want to be true of its members. However, when I read the article (for which I'm not exactly the target audience) I interpreted it as saying "If you like ladies and you want ladies to like you, you need to treat them with more respect." The context was geek but the message was universal.
ReplyDeleteP.S. Great blog!
I am certainly a part of the problem as well. I appreciate the point that we are not "individuals" but part of a subculture that still adopts many of the elements of patriarchal mainstream (my words, not yours). I think part of the effort of undoing the culture of sexism is to first point it out, discuss it, and work with others to stop feeding it. For me, that means recognizing my own creepy behavior and ending it. It also means being open to hearing from others what I am still doing that is sexist or demeaning to others (and to myself).
ReplyDeleteIf you haven't, I recommend playing female characters in games, especially RPGs like Mass Effect and Fallout. The NPCs in both series treat male and female player characters differently. I saw somewhere that only 20% of all players in Mass Effect play a female Shepard. I think it's stats like this that lead industry leaders to assume that only male gamers are relevant.
Thousands of Darrens at Gencon? I don't think I can ever go again, that's just too much Darren in one place to deal with. :)
ReplyDeleteAmy and Tim: I pretty much agree with the article. For a long time I was under the delusion that women didn't play games or read comics because they just liked different things. That article articulated in a way I would be unable to why disrespecting female players directly leads to their shunning those games. If I was that objectified, patronized and called a whore, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't like games either.
ReplyDeleteI found this preachy, pedantic article to be a mind-boggling mixture of straw man arguments, stereotyping, and anecdotal pap that had the gall to follow it all up by declaring with holier-than-thou attitude that using straw man arguments, stereotypes, and anecdotes that refuted the points it ostensibly made worthy of nothing more than derision and dismissal, and then added to the hypocrisy of the whole thing by declaring derision and dismissal the most offensive transgression one might impose.
ReplyDeleteThe author would have done better to spend some time taking their own advice 'to be a better person' than to write this article that needs to create some unified 'geekdom' that can be held accountable for having the exact same characteristics as any other tribe created by humanity to which they might belong in order to profess their superiority and denigrate others of lesser quality.
Of course this whole thing is just to HELP you, the creepy, self-awareness lacking nerd/geek. You can be fixed! And boy, do you ever need to be fixed! But don't worry, the author is here to tell you how wrong you are and to set you straight, because let's face it, you're not as good as the benevolent author is.
I don't know how many of you checked back on Friday for the list of stereotypes the author spams over both men and women, but it's a cavalcade of ignorance.
chauvinist.
ReplyDelete