Problem Machine

Even if it were true that sex would influence gender even without society to enforce the difference (difficult, for obvious reasons, to prove or disprove), that's no excuse to treat someone differently based on what you perceive their gender should be, statistically. This is the same problem that there is with taking broad statistical analyses of racial groups and inferring personality traits of individuals from that basis: Individuals are not statistics. Do not treat people as members of a group, treat them as individuals. Gender, at least as a concept tied directly and intimately to physical sex, is completely fucking useless, and I abhor that it's encoded into the very language we use at such a fundamental level as pronouns. Seriously, what's good about it? re: feminism/patriarchy terminology, I think the difference to me is in terms of how the conversation is introduced. As terms, they imply a very direct confrontation, women vs men: I think that does cause a lot of people who would be otherwise receptive to the tenets of feminism to tune out early, either because they feel personally under attack or because they find the concept of a literal war between the sexes gross. The conversation becomes less about the individuals who are harmed by these institutions, which include not only victims of sexism but transphobia, homophobia, racism, etc, then about the bad men who perpetuate the system. Because the people who actually perpetuate the system, in many cases, don't do so through an active contempt of social minorities, they are indignant at being cast as the villains and thus the people who are in the best position to change the system are lost as allies. And, I think, to some degree we see this enacted in feminist culture as it is now, that frequently prioritizes shaming perceived allies of the 'patriarchy' over supporting people who have been damaged by it or promoting understanding. By front-loading the confrontation, they may be able to bring more people to the war banner, but it also necessitates that it be a war banner instead of a dialogue. Am I naive for thinking it could possibly be anything else? Perhaps.

This is one reason why I'm not a big fan of the terminology that has been put behind this movement. 'Feminist' is okay if a bit narrow in scope, but I could almost believe that 'patriarchy' was something brought in by someone specifically looking to sabotage the movement. Together they suggest that this is specifically about girls and their daddies, which is the grossest and wrongest trivialization of what this is all about. Ugh. I feel like it would be easier to rally people under the same banner if that banner used terminology that was more inclusive and accurate, but any time someone brings this up it seems like they get chewed out for not appreciating the glorious history of the term. Is there something I'm missing here?

Yeah, but on the other hand I'm getting real sick of people talking about who things are worse for. Everyone has to deal with their own shit, and to some people other people's problems may sound petty, but they're still real problems and it's basically a garbage thing to do to try to devalue those experiences. IMO the more relevant point is that there's this social structure that is basically making things worse for everyone kind of across the board.

My twitter feed is full of women who feel shitty about themselves and their apparent place in the games industry and I don't feel like I know them well enough to say anything supportive. The omnipresence of people who use kindness as sexual currency makes me feel like I can't be kind without looking/feeling like a creep. I feel like I'm oppressing women by being attracted to them and feel incredibly isolated even by my standards. I hate feeling this way. Everyone hates feeling this way. And people find it super easy to just blame feminism because it it was something they didn't have to deal with (just the women who felt unsafe because of it), but the problem itself lies with the fucked up sexist power dynamic feminism has exposed. More than anything else, I want to dismantle this fucked up power structure just so I can be free of its context to express myself as one human being to another. I do not feel free to do so now. Not responding to anything in particular. Just needed to vent a little.

... oh wow harsh man harsh.

What are you some kind of Baby Agent? Baby Personal Assistant? Baby Club Owner? Baby DOTA Team Organizer?

I am super surprised that none of you guys have heard of Ursula Leguin. Pretty important science fiction writer. Some really incisive stuff about cultural power dynamics, gender and sexual identity, etc. Basically science fiction written from an anthropologist, rather than technologist, perspective.

... hey don't blame me, I didn't write it. (I may have actually written that just now)

fixed

Chris "I Know Butt" Remo

Wouldn't it be falsifiable by providing a single example of a woman who doesn't stalk? Perhaps one incapable of stalking, such as a quadriplegic or blind-deaf-mute?

You are a monster.

Well you followed me briefly on twitter I think, but I'm pretty sure that was after reading a blog post I linked here. As far as I can recall I don't know you from anywhere else, though I guess if you were at TIGJam or something we might have met? Regarding a portfolio, I don't have anything so formal set up. I've been doing weekly and daily devblogs for my project as it comes along which contain scraps of animation and whatnot, but I haven't made a formal portfolio. I really should, come to think of it. Maybe I can do that this weekend.

That. Well, not specifically that, but I'm basically self employed, doing commissioned artwork to pay rent, updating a blog to build reputation and practice writing and vent head-juice, and developing a personal game project all at the same time. I know that technically I work an average of 3 or 4 hours a day, but it feels like I'm always under pressure to get something done. To be fair, I've kind of intentionally structured my life this way, having discovered the hard way that I find it far too easy to just drift along if I don't set myself a network of goals and standards.

She has consumed the cookie monster. She has become the cookie monster. She has discovered the cookie monster that dwells within us all, silently, waiting for the opportunity to take over.

If it were possible to completely simulate a universe within a universe, wouldn't that imply that the odds of this one not being a simulation are infinitesimal? Would it make any difference at all, one way or the other?

Do you really need something sexier than the benign smiling face of Colonel Sanders?

Johnny Driggs, I just wanted to let you know that at the tiny size on the forum overview screen your Makoto avatar looks like a cowboy with a black hat, tiny stick figure legs and a huge muscled upper body, scratching the back of his head. That is all. Oh crap by posting this I'm making it difficult for other forum-goers to verify. What a Catch-22!

I gotta say, you guys have been fairly considerate in the past about warning about spoilers and... I dunno. That particular piece of frustration came on a really bad day when I could have really used the entertainment that the cast offered, and having to stop listening to it 15 minutes in was just the cherry on top of a shit sundae. I just... I don't know. Right now I look forward to listening a little bit less than I did before. Hopefully that will go away. I think what really bothers me is that it isn't an oversight. Sean brought it up, and you guys just didn't care enough to even put it in the forum post. Ugh.

Well. I am-- I was optimistic, and I believe that the apology was written with the best of intentions, but you do bring up some super cogent concerns. I still feel like waiting and seeing if he is able to follow up on those intentions or if this is just a token, but given the points you bring up, I'm... less optimistic.

Oh I always assumed that was some kind of salutation. Kind of like "heil Hitler", but with... less... Hitler. In Nicktopia, people on the street greet each other in the morning with a friendly "Congrats Nick!" (The polite response is to say either "Congrats Nick!" or "And I'm Nick Breckon!")

Maybe, but that's still a good place for him to start thinking about it. Whatever gets him to more honestly appraise the impact he has on people is, I think, all to the good.

Better than expected. There may be hope yet. I guess we can wait and see.

... I kind of really don't want to have the ending of tLoU spoiled for me, and you haven't provided a timestamp or anything I can skip to. :\ And it looks like people are discussing it without spoiler tags here too, so... awesome?

I mean, I get the impulse to avoid it, because it feels real fucking not good to think about that shit even from my position on the sidelines, and I can only imagine how much worse it would be to actually be in a position of responsibility somewhere near it. They are basically the only people, within the context of PAX, that have the power to affect it one way or another, though. If no one says anything, nothing's going to change, and right now the people who try are being censored by screams of censorship coming from those they are trying to reach.