Month: September 2011
Granny Weatherwax Explains Objectification is Wrong
“There’s no grays, only white that’s got grubby. I’m surprised you don’t know that. And sin, young man, is when you treat people like things. Including yourself. That’s what sin is.” “It’s a lot more complicated than that—” “No. It ain’t. When people say things are a lot more complicated than that, they means they’re […]
jezebelfactory:
gamesandtrips:
Chainmail bikinis? For seriouscat feminists Critique goes deeper.
Chainmail bikinis serve as metonymy for all objectification of women in fantasy and gaming. Or, broader, for the problem of unrealistically scantily clad female figures.
Objecting to women scantily…
Yes! The problem isn’t that women are scantily clad, it’s that they’re scantily clad for fanservice. Could a female character who made a living as a performer wear not a lot of clothes onstage, while still being a well-developed character? Could some girl want to wear a bikini to the beach, without being strictly for the male viewer’s enjoyment? Could a woman wear a revealing outfit on her own time because she liked the outfit, without the writer being sexist? Could a character from a fantasy species (elf, fairy, whatever) come from a culture where clothes aren’t seen as that necessary, without descending into dumb trope fair?
I don’t think any of these things are the problem. I think the problem is that we never hear any of the actual perspectives of these women. We see the performer dancing around, but we never see the work and rehearsal and planning that went into the performance on her end. We never see her think about her costume choice or anything. We never get to relate to the girl in the bikini having fun at the beach. She’s just lying around, getting her tan, or at best doing some beachy things but in an obviously fanservicey, posed way. We never get to see the girl wearing the revealing outfit talk about why she likes it, or hear about how wearing something she thinks is cool makes her feel cool, or worry if it’s a little too much. And if we do, we’re not supposed to be really listening to her. We very rarely get to follow her around on her day and be part of her wacky misadventures. And the silly elf girl who doesn’t know she’s supposed to put on some pants? We never get to understand why nudity or almost-nudity is appropriate for elves, what cultural values or species differences led to this. We don’t get to see that to her, covering up arbitrary body parts makes no damn sense. We never get to see the culture clash from her point of view. We don’t get to see her embarrassment and frustration at not being able to figure out the new set of rules, or her decision to abide by her own rules and let people be uncomfortable if they don’t get it. In very few circumstances do we see the culture clash in other situations that aren’t sexy or funny.
A lot of writers just don’t let their girls be people. Scantily clad girls can definitely be a case of girls as objects, and when they are it’s bad, sexist writing. But scantily-clad girls don’t have to be objects, and if we’re deciding that “scantily clad girls = sexist” and “conservatively dressed girls = okay”, a lot of dumb sexist shit is going to slip through the radar. All the women who just exist to be moms or girlfriends or daughters and then die tragically so that the main male character can have feelings about it? Putting them in a turtleneck and nice set of slacks doesn’t make them actual characters instead of just props.
Fanservice, yes, that’s the word! Mostly I just want to reblog this because your extension of the critique of women-as-objects going beyond the scantily clad and into other object-roles is spot on.
Chainmail bikinis? For seriouscat feminists Critique goes deeper. Chainmail bikinis serve as metonymy for all objectification of women in fantasy and gaming. Or, broader, for the problem of unrealistically scantily clad female figures. Objecting to women scantily…Yes! The problem isn’t that women are scantily clad, it’s that they’re scantily clad for fanservice. Could a female character who made a living as a performer wear not a lot of clothes onstage, while still being a well-developed character? Could some girl want to wear a bikini to the beach, without being strictly for the male viewer’s enjoyment? Could a woman wear a revealing outfit on her own time because she liked the outfit, without the writer being sexist? Could a character from a fantasy species (elf, fairy, whatever) come from a culture where clothes aren’t seen as that necessary, without descending into dumb trope fair? I don’t think any of these things are the problem. I think the problem is that we never hear any of the actual perspectives of these women. We see the performer dancing around, but we never see the work and rehearsal and planning that went into the performance on her end. We never see her think about her costume choice or anything. We never get to relate to the girl in the bikini having fun at the beach. She’s just lying around, getting her tan, or at best doing some beachy things but in an obviously fanservicey, posed way. We never get to see the girl wearing the revealing outfit talk about why she likes it, or hear about how wearing something she thinks is cool makes her feel cool, or worry if it’s a little too much. And if we do, we’re not supposed to be really listening to her. We very rarely get to follow her around on her day and be part of her wacky misadventures. And the silly elf girl who doesn’t know she’s supposed to put on some pants? We never get to understand why nudity or almost-nudity is appropriate for elves, what cultural values or species differences led to this. We don’t get to see that to her, covering up arbitrary body parts makes no damn sense. We never get to see the culture clash from her point of view. We don’t get to see her embarrassment and frustration at not being able to figure out the new set of rules, or her decision to abide by her own rules and let people be uncomfortable if they don’t get it. In very few circumstances do we see the culture clash in other situations that aren’t sexy or funny. A lot of writers just don’t let their girls be people. Scantily clad girls can definitely be a case of girls as objects, and when they are it’s bad, sexist writing. But scantily-clad girls don’t have to be objects, and if we’re deciding that “scantily clad girls = sexist” and “conservatively dressed girls = okay”, a lot of dumb sexist shit is going to slip through the radar. All the women who just exist to be moms or girlfriends or daughters and then die tragically so that the main male character can have feelings about it? Putting them in a turtleneck and nice set of slacks doesn’t make them actual characters instead of just props.
Continuing the Conversation Beyond Chainmail Bikinis
Beyond Chainmail Bikinis: Objecting to Objectification is Not the Same Thing As Objecting to Indecency
Chainmail bikinis? For seriouscat feminists Critique goes deeper. Chainmail bikinis serve as metonymy for all objectification of women in fantasy and gaming. Or, broader, for the problem of unrealistically scantily clad female figures. Objecting to women scantily dressed for no reason (other than to satisfy the male gaze, of course) leads to accusations that one […]
Do The Right Thing: Women Fighters in Reasonable Armor
At Blizzcon 2010 I was really impressed by the Female Monk preview for Diablo III. The male and female character drawings were displayed side by side, and they both looked dressed to fight in reasonable armor, fierce and tough. The female monk wasn’t even smiling. She was just badass. Not only that, she had short […]
hotcityblues:
I was talking on Twitter about how I was approached tonight when standing with my friend at a bus-stop downtown by a creepy guy. A male acquaintance asked me how he was being creepy, outside of “unreciprocated flirting”, with genuine curiousity. This is the difference between me and men – I don’t…
It seems shy, nerdy guys are always asking these questions: How do I flirt with women without being creepy about it? Just asking the question presumes a lot, like that dudes have the right to flirt with women at any time and women have the duty to explain to them if it’s unwanted. It also sets up a false equivalency between a dude’s desire to flirt an a woman’s desire to be physically safe. So I normally just link them to the Schroedinger’s Rapist article, and call it a day. I will now add this blog post to my list of resources for well-meaning but uneducated nerds. Please read it. What she says is all true.
Hot City Blues: How to Talk to Women And Not Be “Creepy.”
Breakfast of Champions, or All Your Macronutrients in One Convenient Pot
Yes, this is really a post about what I had for breakfast. But this is not just any breakfast. This is the best breakfast ever. Inspired by Fitocracy’s gamification of exercise tracking, I’ve taken up weightlifting again. I take most of my weightlifting advice from Stumptuous, a site about exercise started by a feminist female […]
Playing Nice By Making Excuses for Sexism in Gaming
Most online discussion of women’s issues, even coming from self declared feminists, doesn’t go deep enough. People are always trying to say in some way “well it’s not so bad”. The tendency to make excuses for the poor behavior of men we play with is endemic among women gamers(self sadly included). There’s reasons to pretend […]
Are You Too Old for Videogames? (Hint: No)
Cracked.com, second only to the New York Post in their propensity for somewhat inaccurate attention grabbing headlines, published an article last week called 5 Ways to Tell You’re Getting Too Old for Video Games. The article is more about things that are wrong with video game design and an advertisement against having three children if […]
Melissa McEwan (via greaterthanlapsed) Yes, yes and yes. I keep saying things like this about game spaces but it applies to all public venues.
Telling women that they should merely abstain from reading and/or participating in YouTube threads—or other places online and offline plagued by unfettered misogyny—is akin to telling women their choices are to tolerate sexual harassment in order to participate in it, or segregate themselves and necessarily limit their opportunities in the public sphere. In addition to […]