Ya know, I love it when I say something pretty funny, but then someone uses it to say something Really funny. It feels like solid, satisfying teamwork.
Alley-oop!!
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I love the Streisand Effect that the gaters have triggered. When neutrality isnât viable, so many more people come down on her side than against her.
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[quote=âjaphroaig, post:33, topic:65641â]
You are right. Contrary to contemporary evidence, it isnât even remotely hard to treat people with empathy and respect.[/quote]
Well yes, though I think what my friend realized is: Since we basically swim in a constant tsunami of demeaning, sexually objectifying imagery, and thus can hardly help having its messages seep right into our pores, it actually can be hard to treat women with empathy and respect. And that it can be easier to do so when we try to hold at least our heads up and above the swirling, infectious sewage.
Some day Iâd would love to have a long conversation about the points Anita brings up. But there is too much nuance for this medium. With that said her messages are Important with a capital I.
Right on, mon. And with that said, I think her basic message is pretty easy to grasp. And all too easy, apparently, for many to resist, tooth and nail, and spittle and bile.
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Certain drugs are often harmful, and drug prohibition has worked out great for the addicts and drug lab workers making it (that was actual sarcasm). Criminalization of arguably unwise consensual activities doesnât ban or banish them, it deregulates them, feeding criminal enterprise, including criminals who donât care about consent.
Another parallel: certain words (for example misogynistic and ethnic slurs) in some literature and song lyrics have no artistic value IMO, but censorship is the far worse evil. I donât believe prohibiting expression protects society; I believe it robs society of the chance to reply to and reject it. And if the majority donât share my rejection of a particular work or type of expression, I donât seek to make them do so. I would rather live in a society of equals who think differently from me than a society of subjects whose thoughts I control (even if I could which neither I nor anyone else actually can).
So by all means, criticize creative expression you find objectionable. I donât accept what I find objectionable, but I do tolerate it because part of the cost of free expression is that no one is justified or qualified to be elevated or elevate themselves to the role of anyone elseâs censor. Becoming their critic, however, is merely another use of free expression and an integral part of debate.
I do not believe society would become less misogynistic by censoring how women are depicted. IMHO, it can only be achieved by the free exchange of ideas and the education that facilitates. Which is why Sarkeesianâs critics should listen to what she has to say and support her freedom to do so without threats.
Specifically, as for pornography (literally nude pictures), I personally find most of it (with the exception of some erotic photography and classic artwork) vulgar, boring, mechanical and uninspiring. But I make a distinction between tasteless and unethical. Pornography becomes unethical, in my personal moral reasoning, when it isnât consensual (revenge porn being a salient recent example).
TL;DR - Rejection by oneâs self doesnât necessarily imply censorship or prohibition for others.
Edited to add: Just watched the video. Iâd say those games are geared towards 13 year-old-boys, but that content would have been cringe worthy even at that age. And whoever made the burlesque-show sequence has rather obviously never been to an actual burlesque show.
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I liked Pirates. Iâm pretty sure that that particular game mechanic had some validity in the real world that was being simulated, or in the world of Hollywood swashbucklers.
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I totally do not get her outfit. Kojima tries to weasel out from this design claiming that she is supposed to breath through her skin after damages she had received while attempting assault the Big Boss in hospital. This sound like complete bullshit argument for: âwe want nearly naked woman in game, now figure out good reason to have one.â
I am dorky and this annoys me. I really like how she looked like in hospital, normal combat look of professional warrior. I just do not understand why they have to do this to her it is not even sexy, it is somehow sad and feels uncomfortable weird to look at. For similar reason I can not go through third instance of Resident Evil the movie (âExtinctionâ is it?) where Milla forgets to wear pants to zombie apocalypse.
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Youâre going to have to bring it down to at least a Baritone if you want to be taken seriously. Possibly even the upper Bass range.
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Iâd draw the distinction between âempathy and respectâ and ânon-asshatâ.
Empathy requires both willingness and ability to model a foreign mind. Iâm not sure everyone is up to it; and Iâm damn sure that Iâve run into a number of people who think that âproject my emotions onto others, treat them accordinglyâ qualifies, which is a mistake that goes really, really, badly.
Respect is easier than empathy; except that it isnât clear that many people actually deserve ârespectâ for any reasonable definition of the term. Their rights do, their autonomy does, and so on; but respect of the person is earned.
âNon-asshatâ, though, is something that anyone who is qualified to be released from psychiatric oversight is capable of. It doesnât demand the ability to empathize, the willingness to respect, or much of anything else aside from the ability to keep your mouth shut at intervals. If you canât handle that, you are either deliberately being an asshole, or are really scraping the lower bounds of what qualifies as a functional human.
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I do not think it is good definition. I do not mind her doing the studies, as I like analysis and statistics. She has taken the subject and tries to deal with it quite good. The problem I have with her it that she tends to fall into misandry by taking one side approaches and stretching stories to fit her purpose. For example She does that with âRed dead redemptionâ where she presents what player may do to woman by beating her up, tying dropping on horse and under the train which is true, but you can do that with nearly any character, which discards it as proof of sexism - it is proof of brutal game mechanics. Same with Hitman - you can beat the shit of anyone there. Sometimes She does not seem to understand what she sees like in case of Jade, protagonist of âDying Lightâ which She tends to interpret as damsel in distress (in her tweets) because âmainâ character is supposed to help her a lot; which is not true as Jade is one of leaders of survivors and the âmainâ character is trying to pay his debt to her.
Is there problem with sexism and mistreatment of women in games? Yes there is, but there are many valid, hard, proofs and examples, and there is no need to fit in other examples by force.
What? I thought we hated vocal fry on ladies round these parts⌠why, its like women just canât win! ;p
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I donât disagree with your ranking or assessment. And this is not an argument or critiqueâin fact I suspect you will agreeâempathy is a pretty damn important life skill. If you value happiness and not just immediate reward, that is.
One Internet Beer for you! 
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Slight bit of pedantry here, but Oxygen is far from neutralâcorrosive, actually.
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Noted, thanks.
Understood and appreciated.
Itâs worth mentioning that, in the video linked above, Sarkeesian actually does mention one game that clothed female player characters in outfits that were somewhat (or moreso) apropos for the specific mission. And as @Missy_Pants mentioned, sheâs not a reviewerâsheâs critiquing the industry as a whole. Lastly, your critique of her style comes off as tone policingâwhat is it, in particular, that makes you disagree with her premise?
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Critiquing the industry and committing misandry apparently. 
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On a side note, thereâs at least one Anime/Manga out there I am aware of that gender swaps the damsel-in-distress trope that Ms. Sarkeesian has talked aboutââWitchcraft Worksââand probably many more I am not aware of. (Donât get me wrong, though, WCW still has lots of issues)
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