http://www.cracked.com/article_22230_5-ugly-realities-being-woman-in-gaming-industry.html
So as I have decided to stop giving Cracked the benefit of the doubt on these articles i have to ask now.
Was this trash or not?
Every woman we talked to has encountered the attitude "You just need to suck it up and be strong." But, as Katie points out, that's putting the onus on the wrong person.
"I see that as kind of victim-blaming. It's not other people's fault for being terrible human beings; it's your fault for not being able to deal with it. There's something wrong with you, not them. And that's a really sad attitude for people to have to put up with. But it's quite common. I think every woman in the industry knows it, whether they admit it or not."
Katie once wrote an article about the time a PR representative took the keyboard away from her and played the game they were demoing on her behalf. All the while he explained the basics of the medium as though she were a newcomer to the phenomenon of "moving picture amusements" and not someone wearing a press pass. She was immediately accused of making the story up by some readers, because when has a man ever been condescending to a woman regarding technology?
Other readers said it was her own fault for not speaking up and correcting the misconception, while still others suggested she was exaggerating it on account of all her crazy female emotions.
This hasn't been my experience. I think men are less likely to immediately agree with my point of view on sexism than women are, but men are still willing to discuss it. If they weren't, we wouldn't be seeing this article on Cracked. There would be no audience."I think what men need to understand is that their voice is, frankly, more important than mine in talking to other men and getting their behavior to change. If I call out a guy, he instantly gets extremely defensive, and I'm just some pissed-off feminist chick being hysterical like women are. But if it's a guy talking to a peer, it has more credibility with the kind of men that need to examine their behavior. So, when you see guys saying awful things, just speak up about it. Because we can't change this without your help."
Tesseracts wrote:Besides, how exactly are women supposed to get their voices heard if they never speak up? I think women should speak for their own interests, just as I think everybody should speak up for their own interests. If I say that, am I "victim blaming?" Is the onus entirely on men to not be sexist and to speak out against sexism? What about when women in the industry are sexist, who's job is it to stop that? This is sounding a little too much like a damsel in distress thing to me, they're acting like women are never going to accomplish anything unless a man helps.
Zevran wrote:Magic can kill. Knives can kill. Even small children launched at great speeds can kill.
sunglasses wrote:Tesseracts wrote:Besides, how exactly are women supposed to get their voices heard if they never speak up? I think women should speak for their own interests, just as I think everybody should speak up for their own interests. If I say that, am I "victim blaming?" Is the onus entirely on men to not be sexist and to speak out against sexism? What about when women in the industry are sexist, who's job is it to stop that? This is sounding a little too much like a damsel in distress thing to me, they're acting like women are never going to accomplish anything unless a man helps.
I do agree with what you're saying but it's hard to speak up when you're called a bitch for speaking up.
I don't believe it is victim blaming to suggest women should confront anybody who disrespects them. If someone assumes your job is to make coffee and your job is actually more complicated than making coffee, don't make the coffee anyway and then complain in your blog about it. Tell them, to their face, you are not the coffee-maker. Facing issues head on is the best way to resolve them. I don't like the idea that men need to speak up against sexism for women, seems a little too much like a damsel in distress thing. Of course the more men understand sexism, the better, and it's a good thing if men are speaking up. I just don't think it always has to be men, and I don't think it's necessarily victim blaming to tell women to be tough and not tolerate any bullshit.
Tesseracts wrote:If the guy you're calling out is a complete asshole (which is likely considering that his behavior is bad enough it needs to be called out), then nobody, male or female, is going to make him reconsider.
Tesseracts wrote:Also, it's insulting to men to act like they're not capable of taking women seriously and must hear all arguments from the mouth of another man. I get that they're trying to get men to take part in stopping sexism, and that's a good goal to have, but I'm not entirely comfortable with generalizations about how oblivious men are.
gisambards wrote:I have to say the comments section on this article is like the perfect shit-storm of every negative stereotype you'd expect to turn up to an article on feminism:
IN THE ONE CORNER:
You have the extremist MRAs, who insist everything in the article is lies, and then you have the genuine, literal misogynists (i.e. men who literally hate women), who say everything in the article is probably true but a good thing.
AND IN THE OTHER CORNER:
You have the bad SJWs, the ones who spend more time attacking other feminists with slightly dissenting (read: reasonable) opinions than anyone else, and then you have that weird minority of feminists who in the ultimate irony have become misandrists, the exact opposite of the worst of the MRAs. There are commenters accusing Cracked of misogyny, simply because a man collated the article. I mean, holy shit, do they think that accomplishes anything?
I myself was accosted by a Sarcasmo, who said my personal opinion on feminism (that example-setting is the most likely way for women to get ahead in male-dominated industries) was invalid because I'm male, and then explained to me his opinion (because yes, Sarcasmo, who used to write articles for Cracked, is also male).
It's a mad, mad, mad, mad world.
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