Feminism

[Gormongous]

Okay, I've got a question (okay, looking back now, just a ramble really) for people here who are smarter than me. My favorite fantasy author, R. Scott Bakker, posted an explanation and defense of the overtly misogynistic settings for his works. It took me a while to fight through the jargon, because he is an academic several levels farther down the rabbit hole than me, but what I gleaned from it generally agreed with me. He wants his fantasy settings to buy into the horrific assumptions of their historical influences, and to have his female protagonists succeed only in light of the unfair expectations placed upon them, in order to discomfort and shock his readers out of the pleasant "progressive" reverie that fantasy novels usually provide as escapism. That's fine, that's mostly what I prefer to a fantasy novel where the misogyny is simply pseudo-historical window-dressing or where an unjustified and half-assed egalitarian society is invented as whitewash. Any kind of persecuting society is an acceptable setting to me so long as its precedents and consequences are fully explored as part of the work's plot and themes.

 

So far, so good. But then a lot of the trim of his argument, in addition to the vast majority of the comments, is dripping with condescension for those "radical feminists" who believe in rape culture when there's "no direct causal correlation" between consumption of misogynist materials and actual physical rape. The word "evolutionary" is also thrown about way too much and "heuristic" criticisms are contrasted with their "rational" responses. So I don't know, has anyone else read The Prince of Nothing series or The Aspect-Emperor series? What do you think about them, since both have horribly misogynistic settings? I mean, they clearly seem like they're meant to be upsetting to me, but does Bakker have to be such a dick about why? It bums me out, although it really doesn't surprise me deep down, given the tone of his other posts.

[osmosisch]

While I think overall his points about culture and morality/judgement may be valid, I find it really hard in the current climate of GGers appropriating this kind of language not to knee-jerk and dismiss an article so chock-full of italics, jargon, and stressing the lack of objective facts used when judging him.

I haven't read any of his books so I can't judge the content angle.

[SuperBiasedMan]

Here's an interview with Jim Sterling about realising he was behaving sexist while being oblivious to it.

[Codicier]

Social Justice Hunter

 

 

tbh i was hugely disappointed they weren't playing warrior

[jmbossy]

Arthur Gies of Polygon just published his review of Bayonetta 2.

Let's just say the reception hasn't been all that progressive...

 

http://www.polygon.com/2014/10/13/6957677/bayonetta-2-review-wii-u

[Bjorn]

My wife and I went and did something we've never done before tonight, we volunteered to do some phone calling to drum up support for pro-choice candidates for Planned Parenthood for the upcoming mid-term elections.  I've never really done any political activism, I've typically maintained a kind of journalist's distance from the proceedings, paying a lot of attention but not doing anything.  My wife was near panic levels of anxiety as we drove in.  She's dyslexic, and the thought of reading from a script about politics to a stranger on the phone was terrifying to her, mortified she'd make an embarrassing mistake.  But she cares a lot about this, and wasn't going to let her fear stop her.  I'm super fucking proud of her for going through with it, and committing to go back again in a week to do it again. 

 

I've never been in a Planned Parenthood office before.  It's a bit surreal.  They have a security guard, we had to be buzzed in, as they can't just leave the doors unlocked even at 6 p.m. in the suburbs.  We had to have a little security briefing that all volunteers are required to go through (it was minimal, but fucking still, volunteering to do make some phone calls still requires that).  Out of dozens of calls, I only had two where people pledged their support for our candidates, so I don't know how much good this stuff does.  But it was a really educational experience to go do it, meet some other volunteers, meet some of the office staff of the PP.   Both of us have been pro-choice for as long as we can remember, but doing this made it hit home a lot more the amount of work that goes into just maintaining the line where it is for women to have access to abortion, a variety of birth control and other services. 

 

The calls weren't as awkward as I expected.  Most people who didn't want to talk either hung up, or I had time to politely thank them and say goodbye.  The few who did want to talk were all supportive.  Theoretically the list we were using are all people who should be pro-choice in the first place, and we're just informing them about the candidates, but it's always possible to end up with someone's who's anti-choice.  I got one of those, but even she wasn't rude. 

 

I'm not convinced that phone banking like this is the most effective way to do political communication in the 21st century, but I'm at a loss to identify a better way to do it either.  It's one thing when a candidate has a big budget, but when you're talking about some local and state offices, the candidates don't have the resources to reach people as easily. 

 

The whole thing has given me a lot to thank about.

[Dewar]

In that case it's all about awareness. Even reminding people that there's a vote coming up can do some good. We recieve our ballots in the mail and I still forget sometimes.

[Bjorn]

True, and I also realized that it likely helps remind people about Planned Parenthood in general as well.  Lots of folks have never need to go to a PP for anything, even if they support the organization.  Our biggest mandate in our calls was simply to be unfailingly polite.  So along with election and candidate awareness, we were probably giving a lot of people their first ever contact with PP, and hopefully making it as positive of an experience as an election phone call can be (which, hey, is limited). 

[Henroid]

And so, terrible things are going on.

 

Anita Sarkeesian only just tweeted about it, but earlier this afternoon the news was out that a lecture / talk she was to give at USU (Utah University) was postponed. It is now just outright canceled.

 

The university received a threat from someone claiming to be a student, who had very specific things to say in the threat. Including it being the biggest school shooting, and how feminists "ruined" his life and he wanted to take revenge.

 

Problem is, this is about to become a gun control issue because Utah makes it illegal to bar carrying concealed weapons (as in, you can legally hide a gun and nobody can stop you from doing it). That detail changed the postponement to outright canceling. And I don't blame Anita for that decision.

[Bjorn]

What the actual fuck Utah? You can't search for guns even after a specific targeted threat? That sounds like some bullshit.

[Henroid]

What the actual fuck Utah? You can't search for guns even after a specific targeted threat? That sounds like some bullshit.

FREEDUMBS!

[syntheticgerbil]

Yeah but the thing is another person in the crowd could have a concealed handgun just as well and be a hero when the shooting starts. THINK OF THAT PROTECTION! THINK OF THE HEROISM!

 

I feel extremely safe knowing there's many heroes around me at all times.

[Nachimir]

Well guns are just a super way to keep everyone in a crowded space safe.

[tegan]

[Gringor]

 

yeah, more fuel, thats a good idea

[BusbyBerkeley]

I'd say she can retweet whatever she darn well pleases. Gotta need to vent after this bullshit.

[Denial]

Dude, Anita Sarkeesian is not the problem here.

[Gringor]

I'd say she can retweet whatever she darn well pleases. Gotta need to vent after this bullshit.

 

weak excuse

[Gringor]

Dude, Anita Sarkeesian is not the problem here.

 

retweets like this does not help "solving" the issue in any way.

[Twig]

weak excuse

WE GOT ANOTHER ONE, FOLKS

[JonCole]

And you're doing a really good job of solving the issue with responses like "weak excuse".

[Gringor]

And you're doing a really good job of solving the issue with responses like "weak excuse".

 

its just a comment on a comment, so I didn't really try to solve anything. I have no real good answer how to de-escalate the whole situation. it's a realy mess, but I hope we can find a solution.

 

 

 

WE GOT ANOTHER ONE, FOLKS

 

ok, I'm a enemy of some sorts by saying that it's inappropriate of her to retweet generalized statements about a group of people?

[JonCole]

Did she purport to be solving something by retweeting that? Also, what qualifies you to be an arbiter of what is appropriate for her to retweet?

[aeolist]

it's a true statement though. some gamers did threaten a school shooting.

 

unless your argument is just #notall* again which is so tired i just can't

[Gringor]

Did she purport to be solving something by retweeting that? Also, what qualifies you to be an arbiter of what is appropriate for her to retweet?

 

she is a important figur in this "debate" and should be aware of the effect tweets like this have on the other side. thats all I'm saying. I mean it's understandable for her to be mad, but she should know better.