One thing about this year is that it’s getting harder and harder to be the voice of reason with anyone. My knowledge is always sought out but is pushed aside the second it’s received. Today, I tried to give insight about a person who committed suicide and streamed it online, and it was cut short because the person got pissed about how they did it and how it could’ve looked from others who found his body.
I knew about this case. Every detail about this morbid chain of events, I knew. And their search to try and understand why this happened came to an end because they got pissed? Because being angry is easier?
THIS.
This is why we have so much discord right now. Not just the volatile words we say to each other, but the fact that we have let our feelings and emotions have more weight and importance on the scale then reasoning and common sense.
Voices of reason are ignored or passed over.
People who want to solve the problems are ignored.
Every day it’s getting worse and worse, and what are we doing?
Yelling, screaming, getting pissed off and not taking the time to understand a thing. The rush of blood coursing through your veins, the sudden surge of adrenaline and the small feeling of invincibility coupled with a satisfaction of believing that you could raise hell in this world and be justified in doing so…
That is what you want. It makes you upset mostly, but there is a small part of you that’s is starting to like it. It’s addictive today and more so tomorrow. This week I have seen humanity reach a new low. The hunger for anger has turned into bloodlust and hatred and lives have been taken as a result.
We are so better than this. You are so better than this and are actively choosing not to be. you’d rather play the blame game and point fingers at each other — a desperation move any addict will embrace. A pathetic answer to justify the need to find another fix.
And how does that make me feel? Useless to everyone, fending for myself and standing alone. I’m not angry…I’m sad. I have faith in the good of humanity and right now, I feel that I have to look harder to find it out here in the real world and the digital one. I feel sick. I feel disappointed.
And the worst part is yet to come.
The one thing about an addict’s recovery is when they hit rock bottom. In this case, that means a catastrophe. My fear is that we haven’t hit that point yet. To me, what happened with the pipe bombs in the mail was a small warning. What happened in The Tree of Life Synagogue feels like it was a warning sign to a bigger event.
I feel that we have yet to see the actual catastrophe. I feel that it is coming. I hope I am wrong. I hope this is the end of it. I hope this is where we see the problem finally see itself be defeated with a proper solution that has been waiting.
Otherwise, if there is a pending catastrophe coming — then prepare for a major withdrawal and a lot of sobering up.
I hope now you’ve realized that anger is not the way. I hope you realize that this isn’t who we are. I hope you understand that reasoning and listening is a more constructive method to problem-solving.
Please, you who are angry — prove to me that your anger has subsided, your hunger for it gone. We have problems to solve…
UPDATED: I Added a video from Troy Leavitt to the blog. It’s a good listen. You’ll find it at the end of the blog.
Like I did once before in a past blog responding to Carolyn Petit from Femfreq: I’m going to respond to Anita’s childish blog about the “Harassment” she dealt with at Vidcon this past weekend. Her blog is copied here, verbatim (word-for-word, spelling errors included) from her website, and the link to it is HERE. Her blog is in black, and my answers to Anita’s blog are in red and in blockquotes like this one. Let’s start this shit.
To kick off the Women Online panel at VidCon last Thursday, the moderator posed the question: Why do we still have to talk about the harassment of women?
Good question: WHY? There are a ton of POSITIVE things you feminists could’ve talked about at Vidcon, but you didn’t. It was all negative (I agree with you Gines).
I replied, “Because I think one of my biggest harassers is sitting in the front row.” He showed up with several others; together, his group took up the two front rows at the panel.
Firstly, having and stating opinions is NOT harassment and Sargon of Akkad was just SITTING THERE, LISTENING TO YOU. An orange can tell you that sitting down and listening to you speak, IS NOT harassment. What do you think people are doing when they watch your videos? Is that harassment too, Anita?
Their presence was plainly not, as one of them later said in an “apology” video he posted to Twitter, to “give us the chance we never gave them” and to “hear us out,” but was instead to intimidate me and put me on edge.
They were sitting down and listening to you speak. Isn’t the whole thing about attending panels like this to get your message out and speak to the audience? Sharing and discussing different points of view? A point-counterpoint debate? Offering help and advice?
They will no doubt plead innocent and act shocked at what they characterize as the outrageousness of such allegations.
They have every right to be shocked by what you said. Everyone is. You were like a child up there. Better yet, you became the one thing you don’t like – the shithead that harasses people.
This, too, is part of their strategy: gaslighting, acting in a way intended to encourage me and their other targets to doubt ourselves and to wonder if all of this isn’t just in our heads.
They were sitting there, listening to you. They didn’t say a word or make any gestures toward you. They sat there, quietly listening. That’s not gas lighting. Also, this is a free country – anyone can go anywhere they want, including to any and all panels or events you are in.
But to anyone who examines their patterns of behavior with clear eyes, the intentions of their actions are undeniably apparent.
Yes, it was very apparent what they doing: Sitting there listening to you, and you flipped your shit the second you saw them, to the point you resorted to name calling. You can’t be the victim AND the instigator.
Carl is a man who literally profits from harassing me and other women: he makes over $5,000 a month on Patreon for creating YouTube videos that mock, insult and discredit myself and other women online, and he’s not alone.
No. Carl does NOT make money harassing you and other women. Carl is a man who talks about the things you say, which is his right to do. It’s called “having an opinion”, and for him to express his opinions about you are perfectly fine. He can express this opinion any way he wants, regardless of your approval. Anyone can express their opinion about you or anything they want. THAT’S what freedom of Speech is, after all. Now if people troll you, based on the things he said, that is not his fault – he didn’t tell them to harass/troll you, and he never supported that behavior in any way. He can’t control what people do or think any more than you can and are trying hard to do.
He is one of several YouTubers who profit from the cottage industry of online harassment and antifeminism; together, these people have millions of followers who are regularly encouraged by the videos and tweets of these individuals to harass me and other women who make videos daring to assert the basic humanity of women, people of color, trans folks, and members of other marginalized groups.
“the cottage industry of online harassment”…no. Look, online harassment is a thing, no one doubts that. But as I said before, having an opinion about anything in general, and that includes you, is NOT harassment. You REALLY need to stop confusing/lumping opinions and harassment as the same thing. They aren’t.
Because of the constant flood of threats and harassment I have received over the past five years simply for being a woman who argues for the basic humanity of women in a deeply misogynistic culture, I went for a very long time rarely participating in public conversations.
If you talk out of your ass all the time, people are going to call you on it. NO ONE likes people who talk out of their ass or pretends to know and love something they can’t stand. For 5 years Anita, you have talked about the video game industry, the gamers, and developers in the negative. Trying to insert your critical bullshit and vitriol in the name of feminism. 5 years it took you to make a series of 14 videos that do nothing but tell people how they should make video games, and the way they encourage harassment – all from someone who doesn’t know shit one about the time and energy it takes to make a video game, has never made a game, or gives two fucks about what the people who play video games ACTUALLY THINK.
As for “a very long time rarely participating in public conversations.” – You have to be willing to talk and have a debate and discussion about the subject, and that also includes accepting opinions from people who don’t agree with you. Mocking and making fun of you, along with offering constructive criticism is standard practice when you are in the public eye.
Being a target of cybermob harassment is a traumatizing experience, though harassers seek to deny this; one tactic of theirs is to dismiss this very idea, to say that everyone online is treated the same, everyone online gets “called names” sometimes.
Everyone, both men, and women, online and in real life get harassed. IT HAPPENS. You are a grown ass woman Anita, so put on the big girl panties and deal with it. Stick and stones break your bones. Names don’t mean shit. Also, it pays to remember that you get what you give – if you spew bullshit and talk out of your ass, what do you think you are going to get in return? Cookies? A medal? Kinky sex? Nope. None of that.
In fact, there is simply no comparison between being occasionally mocked or insulted online as a male antifeminist who occupies a position of power in an overwhelmingly sexist, patriarchal culture, and being a woman who receives a never-ending torrent of abuse while fighting tooth and nail to create an online culture that is a little less misogynistic and a little more equitable.
I refer you to my previous statement above.
However, despite the torrent of harassment, I recently made a conscious decision to participate more regularly in panels and conversations at public events, because I wanted to engage with people who show up in good faith to listen to our ideas.
Hey, Anita, YOU HAD THAT CHANCE AT VIDCON and you made no attempt to 100% do that. You just wanted people to listen to you, agree with your arguments, not have a single drop of criticism, or challenge any of your views, and when you didn’t get that, you flipped your shit. Be advised that you will get and have to deal with criticism throughout your entire life, no matter what you believe in or do for a living. As does everyone else, you’ll spend time answering for the things you have said and will be challenged for having your point of view. That goes triple when you are on a public platform, which is what the Internet has always been.
But let me make something very clear: When you have a history of harassing someone for years, and you show up in the front row at their panel with a camera and an entourage, that is not an act of good faith, to put it mildly.
Again, opinions and harassment are NOT THE SAME. Sitting down and listening to you at a panel at a public event with a video camera is NOT harassment. There was zero intimidation from anyone in the audience. Communication is a two-way street, not a one-way line to your ass and the shit inside.
That is itself an act of harassment and intimidation. No, it’s not. He and his companions were doing this not just to me but to other women as well, women like Kat Blaque and Franchesca Ramsey, Two other women who also talk out of their asses so that we all are aware at VidCon that this man who has harassed us and whose hundreds of thousands of followers have attacked us online for years is here, watching us.
And that’s all he was doing…WATCHING YOU. LOTS of people were watching you with cameras. I can only imagine how uncomfortable you feel when you walk into a retail store with cameras – which makes no sense because you make YouTube videos. WHY is this a problem with you?
It’s a deliberate act to create an environment that feels hostile, to communicate to us that if and when we dare to show up in public to express the ideas that we express online, the harassment will follow us into the physical world as well.
Harassment happens all the time, online and in real life. Everyone deals with it one way or another, in various amounts. IT SUCKS. You’ll never be able you stop it 100%, so the best way to counter it is to deal with it. Take the high road and shrug it off. All walks of life deal with it.
Now, he and his followers are acting as if me publicly calling him a “garbage human” is the equivalent of what he has done to me. In truth, he and his followers cannot begin to imagine what it is to have to constantly beg for and fight for your basic humanity in a culture that fundamentally refuses to acknowledge it.
Terrorists, Child molesters, Murders, etc….if the people who are messing with you Anita are any of these people, THEN I could see calling them “garbage humans” as valid. But Sargon is NOT any of those people. Many of his fans are not that either, myself included. I’ve spoken critically of you Anita for quite some time myself, and I can tell you that I’m not any of those people, thus I am not a “garbage human” or a “shithead”.
We are people rightfully critiquing and being critical/critiquing of your work and your ideas, and that is NOT harassment. You do the same thing just from a different point of view. I don’t even consider you a “garbage human” for the things you have said over the years and what you said to Sargon at VidCon, but I DO think you are a woman who is holding on to and lives in the past way too much. You have a big chip on her shoulder, a giant bug up your bony ass and making fans and money by bullshitting them with a crap rhetoric.
Just as you criticise others, others can criticise you.
To the reader of this blog: In short, she’s a angry bitch. And that’s MY OPINION. Harsh, but my opinion, nonetheless.
He cannot imagine what it is to spend years and years being the target of floods of harassment and hate, and then to still go out there and keep fighting.
Oh yes, he can. He’s been harassed for the things he has said. I’ve gotten harassed for the things I’ve said. You harassed him at VidCon, Anita. We have all at one time or another been harassed online AND in real life. Many of us understand harassment and being harassed. But that harassment doesn’t dictate how we should live our lives. We rise above it, push past it, and not let it stop us from doing our thing.
The companion of his who made that apology video I referenced earlier also tweeted that women are “powerful” enough to “deal with things like workplace harassment to rape.”
His companion is right. In order to push past things like that, you have to be strong and stay that way. You can’t let it get the better of you. It’s hard as fuck to recover from rape and aggressive harassment, but you need to push past it and if you need help to do so, get it. When it comes to traumatic events, you have to move on in some way, and that is the point of his tweet. Women and men DO have the strength to push through things like that and you do have to be strong when it comes to dealing with the heavy shit. We all have the strength to do anything, overcome anything, be anything. It’s not going to happen overnight, but it can be done nonetheless, and telling people that is enduring, not offensive.
As if power is in accepting a culture in which women are second-class citizens, in which misogyny and workplace harassment and rape are the norm. Fuck that. I’ll never settle for that. You’re damn right I’m powerful.
Misogyny is stupid, and not a common thing among society. I’ve rarely encountered it in my time. As for rape and harassment being the norm? A world without harassment of any kind would be nice, but that’s not going to happen. As for rape being the norm? NO. NOT EVEN CLOSE ON THAT SHIT. RAPE is NOT normal at all. PERIOD.
RAPE IS 100% ILLEGAL, and NOT “the norm”.
Rape and harassment are not even in the same category – Rape is a forced sexual assault on someone, and harassment is mostly words and insults. Sexual harassment MIGHT involve inappropriate, unwarranted touching, and unwanted sexually charged dialog toward someone, but that’s not similar to rape at all.
Online harassment and real life harassment is annoying as fuck. It happens, and when it does, you deal with it. “Harassment in the workplace” (first time I’ve heard Anita mention harassment of that caliber) can get a person fired or sued, thus not legal or normal.
Why do you group these things together, Anita? Rape and workplace harassment isn’t and wasn’t even part of the discussion here. What the fuck?
After everything I’ve been put through by Carl and other men just like him, I’m still powerful enough to go out there and try to change it.
If she:
Stops bullshitting people,
Stops being so negative about everything in the world,
Stops blaming men for the ills of the world, or the issues she might have,
Quits calling people “garbage humans” and “shitheads” for having an opinion,
Changes her attitude and own up to the BS she has tried to get away with ( Both men and women have caught you in so many half-truths over the years),
Stops telling people how we should run our lives and how we should create/think/feel,
Stops making herself the victim 100% of the time while contradicting herself,
Stops trying to make herself the spearhead to feminism,
Learns to take criticism and counterpoint and,
Learns that Communication is a two-way street….the list goes on…
In other words: If she changes her ways, and grows up, then maybe she won’t have so many problems, and we won’t have a reason to call her on her crap. The past is just that.
Gamergate is over. Having/Stating Opinions, challenging your ideas, and listening to you is NOT Harassment, lots of people have dealt with online harassment.
Seriously Anita – get over it and finally move the fuck on.
Thanks for reading.
Laters.
Bonus: Here is a video from Troy Leavitt, called “The Legacy of Anita’s Tropes Versus Women”. You can and should watch it. Click Here to watch.
Hello Paladins…um…we need to talk about a few things…
I think we should see other people. There. I said it. We had a good run, and for a long time it was great, but over the year, things changed. I’ve changed.
I…I met someone else. Someone more my speed and tastes. More in-tune with me and my needs.
Her name is Overwatch. I didn’t plan on this happening, it just did. It happened in the end of May 2017. It was celebrating it’s one year anniversary and offered a free play weekend. I just wanted to try it out, just a little. I wasn’t expecting much…
…and then…I started to like it. I liked it a lot. One practice game became 5, then 5 games became 20 Quick play games. The Leveling up. The Loot boxes, and the gameplay…
…I fell in love with it. All of it. My love for Overwatch runs deeply, and it’s not fair to keep you hoping like this. I don’t want to keep you hanging around and wasting your time and life.
Don’t get me wrong – I’ll always cherish what we had together. It’s not your fault, we just grew apart. You are a great game, but I’m not into you like that, you know?
I hope we can keep in touch, and can still be friends.
Good bye, Paladins.
Will always have Paris…
(This is a bullshit way of saying I’m giving up playing Paladins, and that I’m a whore for Overwatch now.)
I read an article on the Huffington Post, titled “People Want Bill Maher Fired After He Uses A Racial Slur As A Joke”.
In the article, People were upset that he said the N-word, and that he should be fired for doing so. I watched that episode and thought it was funny as hell, especially that joke. And yes I think it’s a joke, hence the laughter.
He DID NOT use the N-word towards another black man or any other person of color. He used it on himself, and he is a white man. But yet, people are calling for Bill Maher to be fired for USING the N-word. Using it.
I say to the people of the internet the following: You all need to calm down. WAY down. Take a major breath, count to 10, step off the soapbox and put the pitchfork down.
People are calling for him to be fired because he SAID the N-word. I don’t know about you, but I would call for his firing from HBO if he said the N-Word to A PERSON OF COLOR; But that didn’t happen. He was calling himself that. Think about it – people are calling for Maher to get fired because he, a WHITE MAN, used the N-Word on himself.
If you think that makes sense, I have a invisible bridge to sell you.
Society nowadays is becoming quick to anger and refusing to listen to reason until much later, after the yelling is all said and done. And even then, we don’t revisit it for fear that the yelling will just start up again. We’ve turned into an army of Political Correctness and complaining about anything and everything all because of it’s mere mention, or the way it’s presented to us. And that is disheartening. Does anyone remember the days of watching, reading, doing something, anything, and not worrying about outrage and boycotting?
We are so quick to slap a label on something, anything we don’t like, and slam people until we lose our voice, all for one thing that is out of place in a single person’s quaint worldview on the world according to them, and we don’t stop until “justice is done”. I say that in quotes because those who salivate over Social Justice think that seeing something they don’t understand, or just don’t like being pushed into oblivion after complaining and all-caps raging towards it until it’s pushed into oblivion is somehow “justice”.
Justice is about punishing criminals to break the law. About righting wrong. Using a word that you don’t like while ignoring the context or the knowledge behind it is not a crime against anyone – That’s called ‘Ignorance’. If you don’t like Bill Maher, fine – on your head be it. I have no problem with that. But you should have a valid reason to call for his head on a platter. What he did was harsh, but not the call for him to be fired.
I’ll say it again because it bears repeating: You are calling for Bill Maher, a WHITE MAN to be fired for USING THE N-Word on himself. You see it as “He’s a racist” but that’s not the case. He said the word, but that doesn’t make him racist. The context and reasoning was stripped down, and this is the result.
He’s not a racist and it was a joke. There is no need to be upset. Learn not to take everything you see and hear seriously. And HBO agreed as well – Bill Maher will be on as usual on Friday.
I say all of this not to shame or to upset anyone, I say it because there is no rhyme or reason for this outcry against Maher. It really was a joke. I found it funny, and I laughed my butt off.
All I’m saying is let cooler heads prevail. Don’t be so quick to boycott and be angry. Take a moment. Take a breath. There is no need to be “Always on”.
Hello everyone. I’m making this small post to let every one know that I haven’t forgotten about you. I check on this blog from time to time., and I see that people still come by and read it, which is crazy cool.
I’ve spent most of my time Podcasting, streaming, making my RPG games, etc etc etc, so that has left me with little time to blog anything. It doesn’t mean that I’m going to stop blogging, but if you all have been wondering why the blog has been empty, not you know.
One day I shall return here, and post something to feed your eyeballs. Just sit tight, and enjoy the previous posts.
Thanks to everyone who stops by and reads my blog. It means a lot that there is still an audience here.
NOTE: This post comes from the heart. Everything I say comes not from anger, but from quiet reflection.
So…. here we are.
On election day, we choose to elect a man who doesn’t believe in a women’s right to an abortion, has little respect for women, has a questionable business acumen, and has insulted just about every ethnic group in America.
This is a man, who is more than likely going to put all the progress we have made and needed to make in the last 8 years into the garbage. His VP is a cumstain dripping down the wall of an abandoned building, Mike Pense. He too is anti-abortion, and probably just as bad as our President-Elect.
The both of them hate the Affordable Care Act, or as everyone calls it “Obamacare” (Sidenote: it was actually the US congress in bi-partisan support that came up with the ACA, so if anything, we should call it CongressCare), and just about every GOTP member wants is 100% gone, only to replace it with something that won’t work, or more than likely, return it to the old system that benefited no one.
The LGBTQ community are also in trouble here. One of the people who could make up the President-Elect’s new cabnet members is an asshole who thinks that homosexuality is “a choice”. His cabinet members that he’s been eyeing are lobbyests, and they KNOW how to manipulate politicians and government more than anyone.
This was the most important election in history, we had the chance to show that we have FINALLY evolved from the things and ways of government that never worked, and were finally moving on to a better way…
And in the course of a handful of hours – we fucked it up.
I don’t want to hear “we should give him a chance” – we already know what we are getting, and republicans are already gearing up to make it all happen. We are about to find out why the GOP should never have had such a big win like this.
We are going to have to wait longer to finally get around the curve that we were just starting to get the hang of.
And you, the people who voted this fuckstain of a man into power will realize just how big of a mistake you made come Jan. 2017. And you’ll realize that it was a bad idea that we are all going to have to live with for the next 4 years, and the new mess we are putting into the hands of the 46th president.
I’m not going to say “God Bless America” – because this is our mess, and the big guy or whatever deity you worship can’t get us out of this one.
And when he fuckes up, and he will fuck up, you going to have to live with the shame of the crap storm you elected into office. I can only imagine how you are going to get to sleep at night.
I have a question for you: we know that a ton of rights and regulations, laws and policies that we need are about to go out the window…What are we going to replace them with? Will they be replaced at all?
With that said, enjoy that mountain of shit that’s coming in January. You’ll pick up on the smell soon…I hope.
This is a rebuttal of a blog post that was posted on tumblr by twitter user @carolynmichelle, who works at Feminist Frequency. This blog is not in support of @carolynmichelle or FemFreq, and I do not take ownership of her blog entry as it appears on Tumblr. It’s mainly being used as a template for my rebuttal, as certain parts stand out to me that I would like to respond to. My responses will appear in red text through this blog entry.
This is not an “attack” or “harassment”, nor is this some ass-backward attempt at infringement of copyright. The original blog post as of this writing (6/15/2016) can be viewed here: http://carolynpetit.tumblr.com/post/133752686305/on-male-as-default-and-what-ms-male-characters and was copied verbatim from that tumblr in its entirety. To avoid any other issues that might arise from this blog post given where it’s from, There is a Fair Use Notice down below.
FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
Why I didn’t just lead in with this, I don’t know. Let’s do this.
On Male As Default And What Ms. Male Characters Are And Aren’t
Whether willfully or sincerely, a lot of people who have been tweeting the image I discussed in my last post…
…continue to essentially say, “But you said a female Link would be cool, and Link as a woman would by definition be a Ms. Male Character! That’s hypocritical! What the fuck do you want?”
And for any who are genuinely unsure about this, I want to try to offer some clarification, if I can.
It’s quite simple. A female Link–that is, an incarnation of the Hero of Time, the link between players and the game world, who simply was a woman–would not be a Ms. Male Character because the character would actually be Link. If link is an incarnation, then that means link is a spirit. A spirit can take on any form it chooses freely, and can continue to manifest in that same from if it wants to, with subtle changes. Think of the living castle in the Castlevania games. You are always traveling to the same castle, but the castle is different every time on the inside. Some things are the same as the last form, but different, nonetheless, and it chooses its final form of its own will. Thus the spirit of link could be a woman, but selectively chooses not to be.
This would make sense, because Link is not one character but many characters, and would be cool, because Link is such an iconic character, and part of what is terrific about Link within the context of the Zelda games is that he functions as a blank slate character, one for players to seamlessly project themselves onto. We rarely have iconic female characters that function as blank slates for players of all genders to project themselves onto. A “blank slate character” has neither a gender-specific trait or characteristic from the start [gender neutral]. And seeing that Link is an iconic character, that means that said character must have some similarity to the previous version of the past self, thus requiring him to retain a similar form every time. It also explains why Nintendo choose not to make Link a woman.
As series producer Eiji Aonuma explains to Kotaku, “the main character [of Zelda] isn’t actually Link—it’s the player.” The silent protagonist is meant to serve as an empty stand-in for the player to project himself onto. Link is the link—get it?—between the presumably male player and his virtual world.
Meanwhile, Linkle is the definition of a Ms. Male Character because everything about her–her name, her appearance–is designed to position her as very clearly, very explicitly Not-Link, and this reinforces the notion of male as default which is so prevalent in our society. This doesn’t suggest a “default” of any kind. Creating a character that doesn’t look anything like the character from past games in any way, is simply A NEW CHARACTER. It’s like the movie ‘Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li’. You can’t really call it a movie from the ‘Street Fighter‘ series, because while the movie has the names of characters that are from the game, they look nothing like any of the characters from the game. That’s like saying that an apple looks like a watermellon. It’s not.
As Anita Sarkeesian says at one point in the Feminist Frequency video on the Ms. Male Character…
“In a male-identified society like ours, men are associated and become synonymous with human beings in general. In other words, male tends to be seen as the default for the entire species.” The “gender binary” is something that is created and exists in NATURE, and is beyond the control of human beings. Humans can be born as Male or Female, have one or both genitals of the sexes, and have characteristics to either gender. Mother Nature is a mad scienist, and doesn’t really give two cents if you like or dislike the cycle of life.
This is why, for instance…
…the character on the right, who has no signifiers of any kind, is read as male, while the character on the left needs the gender signifiers to differentiate her from the “default” and make it clear that she is female. What you are describing, is based on character design, something that is 100% in control of the game designer/developer. The fact the designer/developer chose this appearance for ‘Pac-Man’, does not make it a default in any way. For all we know, Pac-Man could have just been chosen to look like box with two eyes, or a stick figure with a big butt, or a spaceship. The possibilities are limitless as to what can be created, and just because the character doesn’t meet an individual’s idea of a protagonist doesn’t mean there is something wrong with it, or that it’s a form of sexism.
After the Ms. Male Character video came out, to further illustrate the way that male as default is ingrained in our culture, someone made this image, trying to convey what it might be like if we lived in an alternate universe in which female was seen as the default, the “standard” gender, and men had to be defined in opposition to that default. This again goes to personal preference of a single person. The fact that Pac-Man isn’t wearing blue or a top hat and tie, is again a personal opinion and preference of the individual. And around the time the game was created, you could only do so much with an arcade and console system in the 1980’s. By the way, from my POV, Pac-Man is NAKED. Just a thought.
Because we live in a strongly male-identified society, the idea of Pac-Woman as the “unmarked” default and Mr. Pac-Woman as the deviation “marked” with masculinizing gender signifiers feels strange and downright absurd, while Pac-Man and the deviation Ms. Pac-Man seem completely normal in our current cultural context. This whole paragraph is downright absurd. “Because we live in a strongly male-identified society”, no we don’t. Women have just as much as much rights and support as a man, and men do support women. This is the problem with “Modern day”feminism: It’s a toxic argument that focuses on problems that are almost virtually non-existent in First-World countries (USA is a First-World country), but are running rampant in Third-World Countries, and is only lightly addressed.
In a female as default society, as I explored in another recent post, this collection of pixels might be interpreted as female. A Pixel is a dot on a computer screen, and should not be interpreted as a gender part…That’s just weird as hell.
(Though this should go without saying, female-as-default is not a goal of feminism; rather, we’re working toward a culture in which genders are viewed more equitably, and female is not seen as an alternate, a deviation from the standard norm of male.) In other words, you want a gender-neutral character, that can be perceived in any gender, from any individual perspective. A game free from being subjected to any tropes. This is a personal preference from a single person, and a personal preference should never be made the rule.
The issue of male as default also gives rise to (and is in turn reinforced by) the prevalence of the Smurfette Principle, which the video discusses in detail. The Smurfette Principle, which is on display in so many TV shows and games, is the tendency for only one member of a group to be female while all the others are male; often, in situations like this, the men all have distinct personality traits, while the one female member’s personality is essentially “being the girl of the group.” Gender as personality trait. A thing about Tropes, from a developer’s perspective: A Trope should be seen as more of a variable that is part of a larger equation. And like a variable, a trope can be altered to any extent [it’s value can be changed]. This can result in a different trope being created altogether, or take a spin on a trope. The problem here, is that tropes are clichés, and anyone can make them up and use them in just about anything, including Video Games. It gets worse when you use them to describe real-life comparisons, when it fact, a trope is mainly for literary works, and not for real life. Life and art IMITATE each other – they do not dictate each other. That is blurring the line between fantasy and reality, something that only the mentally unstable do. It’s a dangerous concept.
Insert 1950’s sexist rhetoric here, or just use only the picture above. Your call.
So, let’s take an example of a character who is not inherently a Ms. Male Character: Commander Shepard.
Within the context of the Mass Effect games themselves, Shepard (as a woman) is not a Ms. Male Character because she does not exist solely in relation to Shepard (as a man). When you play as her, she simply isShepard. However, because the marketing materials so overwhelmingly presented male Shepard as the “standard,” “default” Shepard, Shepard (as a woman) is in some ways perceived as an alternate, a deviation from the norm. The prevalence of the notion of male-as-default is also why fans of Shepard as a woman (including myself) often refer to her as FemShep. Male Shepard gets to be just Shepard (yes, I know some people jokingly refer to him as BroShep) while female Shepard is in some ways othered by her gender. However, as I said, taken within the context of the games themselves, Shepard is not a Ms. Male Character. If a character in a video game looks like a woman, it’s a woman. If a character looks like a man, it’s a man. The same goes for gender identity – If a person identifies as female, they are female and vice versa. And again, this is going to personal preference of having a gender neutral character in video games. Also “othered”, “FemShep” and “BroShep” are not words. If you are going to make an argument/opinion/statement, use words that actually exist. And spell check. Don’t skimp on the spell check.
Similarly, if, say, in the next proper Zelda game, Link, the Hero of Time, were simply incarnated as female (as some of us hoped might be the case upon seeing the next Link for the first time)…
…and Link were still the same typically blank-slate character that players are expected to project themselves onto and inhabit, this would not be a Ms. Male Character. Again, Jess Joho:
Here’s the bottom line that Nintendo refuses to see: when people ask “why can’t Link be a girl,” they’re not asking for the option to maybe play as a girl who looks like Link in a game with a Zelda-related title. They’re not asking for girls to be kept to the side, marginalized to a lesser product and project (anyone remember the Nintendo Girls Club?) Instead, they’re asking why—amidst an otherwise very female-centric mythology about three goddesses and a badass princess—must the “Hero” character always be a boy? Why is it okay to ask female players to identify with Link despite their gender differences, but at the same time have it be inconceivable to ask male players to do the same?
(emphasis mine) You know, there was a popular character on Saturday Night Life, named Pat. And when people saw Pat for the first time, they asked one question: “Is that a man or a woman?”. And asking that question isn’t a bad thing in video games. What if you came across a NPC that was an alien that looked neither male or female, but found out quickly that the alien is male? And if you are projecting yourself onto a character in a video game, that’s a sign that something isn’t quite right with you mentally. Saying “I want to look/be like link” is fine [idol worship], is not the same as “I AM link”, and that person might have mental issues and a hard time determining what is and isn’t real. And just because a character isn’t a specific gender to one’s liking, does not mean that there is something wrong with the game itself, nor does it mean that the game will promote sexism.
If in the next Zelda, Link were Link, and a woman, this would not be FemLink in opposition to BroLink. It would just be Link, oh BTW she’s female this time, NBD. Rather than reinforcing the notion of male as default, this would be actively challenging it. Challenging a view is done from the opposition of the subject at hand. Proponents of the subject have the right to change their own views on their own terms, and when and IF they choose to do so. Just because someone doesn’t like something, doesn’t necessarily mean it’s wrong. At the end of the day, the developers have the final say as to what they want in their game, and what their game is about. If you don’t like it, don’t play it. Or make your own. It really IS that simple. Who’s really stopping you? Think before you answer that question.
Linkle, however, does the opposite. By being so clearly, so emphatically identified through her name and her female signifiers as Not-Link, she only works to reaffirm the notion of male as default, the notion that male is standard and that maleness is essential to the identity of this set of legendary heroes. This statement would only be viable if it were factually accurate, as there are a ton of games that have female protagonists. Amazing Princess Sarah, The Metroid games, Tomb Raider games, countless indie dev games, the list goes on and on on on…To suggest that male characters are the “default”, means that the devs really didn’t give a damn about the game they were making, and went with a male for the main character. That is lazy as hell, and no developer thinks like that. Video games are a work of FICTION – they do not need to conform to any kind of individual standard when it comes to their story line and character design, and to suggest that’s the case, is beyond reasonable – it’s disturbing.
And if you think that all the hubbub about Linkle seems grossly out of proportion to Linkle, well, I can understand that. As Sarkeesian herself says in the Ms. Male Character video, “Taken on their own, each individual example…may seem relatively benign or trivial.” But the larger pattern throughout media as a whole is significant (as the video clearly demonstrates) and does reinforce perceptions about gender in our culture. The problem with our society, is we blame the media for our ills. Our society is formed on the consensus of what is and isn’t acceptable, and that is based on the will of society, NOT the media. A TV show, movie, video games, books does not make or define who a person is and what they will become, or make of their lives or even how they treat others – it is the personal experiences we have in our lives that make us so. To determine that a form of entertainment is responsible for society’s problems is a lazy analysis of the human condition, and just plain wrong.
Some people like to respond to critiques like this by saying “Nintendo can do whatever they want! You don’t get to dictate what they do with their characters!” And, yeah, of course! Nintendo can do whatever they want, and I can express my opinions about those creative decisions. My opinion is that, considering that Link is one of the most iconic heroes in gaming history, and since there’s no reason why Link can’t be female, it would be really exciting and really meaningful if Link (not Linkle or some other character expressly designated as Not-Link) were a woman at some point, and players of all genders got to project themselves onto that legendary hero. For once, I agree.You are entitled to have an opinion like everyone else – free country. But just because you have an opinion doesn’t mean that it should become canon. Having a personal preference as to how a game should be is a singular Point-Of-View, and should be taken as such, and because a game has something that you don’t like or approve of, does not mean that it will in some impossible fashion, affect the way our society functions, nor should it be blamed for society’s ills. And there never has been, nor will there ever be a reason to create anything, no matter what form its in or its context, nor does there really have to be a reason to create something or anything – just create.
And I know this is a rebuttal, but this is the end of it, so it’s ok: Feminist Frequency doesn’t get any of this, hence why they suck so much. Thank you for reading, everyone.
I hope you are doing well today. Spring has sprung in my neck of the woods, and I hope it is doing the same where you are.
Today (4/1/2016), I have discovered something pretty cool, the WordPress desktop app for Windows, and it’s perfect.
I don’t like to use the online editor in a browser, mainly because I sometimes need the browser off at times so I can focus on my work (Game design, VB.Net Programming), and there have been times that I close the tab for wordpress by accident – I have on average 20-25+ tabs open at one time, and I end up closing the wordpress tab every time.
It’s not fun.
But this desktop app…oh man. It’s exactly what I needed for my blogging. I used to use Windows Live Writer, but it’s out of date and I don’t think it’s going to get updated anytime soon. Since 2013, I have been trying to find a replacement for WLW, and now by complete accident, I stumbled onto this little gem of yours.
Now I can edit my blog the way I want without worrying about my broswer tabs AND can edit the blog settings all at once.
This is exactly what I wanted. To this end I ask for only one thing, and I do apologize if I come off as desperate:
PLEASE DON’T GET RID OF THE DESKTOP APP!
I’ve had so many desktop apps disappear since Windows 10 was released, and they were great, but some of their newer apps are quite lackluster. A good example: Tweetdeck from Twitter. They are getting rid of the Desktop version very soon, and relying on the web browser version has been disappointing.
I so need this app for the desktop, as it saves me a lot of trouble and hassle, so please keep working on it, improving it as needed and fixing bugs as they are discovered.
It would mean the world to me if you did that, as it makes blogging easier for me.
I thank you so much for taking the time to read this.
Hi! It’s been ages since I blogged here. After Thanksgiving 2015 it appears.
So, here’s the thing:
The universe is which I do join Anita S, and her band of bullshitters might exist in theory, but I regret to inform you that you do not live in that universe.
I would NEVER support SJWs and their bullshit followers.
I like to use common sense and my brain, and form my own thoughts and
opinions. So there.
Happy April Fools everyone!
Sidenote: WHY didn’t ANYONE tell me that there is a desktop version to WordPress.com?!
I used it to make this blog, and it’s awesome!
Over the Thanksgiving weekend, I read an BuzzFeed article about adult performer Stoya, who had tweeted that her ex-boyfriend and fellow adult performer James Deen had raped her while they were a couple. Before I continue, I want to say a few things about this:
IF Deen DID what he’s being accused of, he should answer for it.
If he DIDN’T do what he’s being accused of, he should have the right to defend himself, i.e. Due Process.
The focus of this blog is NOT on the allegations Stoya has made about Deen, but is instead about how SJWs REACTED to the comments I made about the article.
I was amazed in the comments section how people has just automatically assumed that Deen was guilty as sin. One or two tweets in the negative and the accusatory tones, and that makes a person they are directed at 100% guilty.
What. In. The. Fucking. Ass. Is. This…?
So I decided to throw in my two cents on the matter with the following post:
Shortly after that, they came.
Social Justice Warriors – armed to the teeth with seething comments, all with the intention of breaking my will, crushing my spirit, and spitting on me, like the scum they said I was.
Now I’m not going to post their replies to this comment, because I don’t want to give a single SJW the attention they are seeking when they do this shit, but most of them ran along the lines of how “”Disgusting” I am, and how I’m supporting a rapist, or something along those lines.
After a few moments, I posted again:
And the really is a scary thing. You don’t have to believe in Government and the Criminal Justice System, Due Process, or anything for that matter. Believe in whatever you want – live and let live I say to that, but, when you are on the internet, there IS a simple rule you DO have to follow, and it also applies to everything that’s not on the internet – Take everything you read/see/hear with a grain of salt.
That means that no matter what it is you are looking at, if the source is shaky or can be validated with proper research and sources, you’ve got to be a tad skeptical. Otherwise it just makes you look like a gullible idiot who will jump head first into the empty pool of conclusions without fear or concern.
So after a few more comments we made about me, I posted one final comment:
And yes, I was completely speechless at this point, not because I couldn’t come up with things to say, but that I was done saying what I needed to say. I got it all out and made some pretty strong points.
On the upside, it wasn’t all bad comments and sour notes: I did get a reply from one person in my favor:
Thanks Alejandro. Just a heads up – I was the first one who gave you a like on that comment. Nailed it on the head, dude. I’m sure there are more comments as of now more against me than for, but I really don’t care. I don’t take things at face value, there are two sides to every story, and I do love to do my research before making any final thoughts or forming my own opinions, you know, all the things Social Justice Warriors dislike.
As I stated before: I didn’t want to draw any attention to the SJWs, but, I do like to quote sources, so if you want to see the comments they posted to me, and in general about the article you can do that with the link below:
And remember – I’m anti-bullshit and Anti-asshole.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I really do have a lovely cup of tea here that’s starting to get cold. I hope everyone had a great Turkey Day, and I hope you all stayed your asses home on Black Friday, or as I call it “The running of the evil cheap bastards”.
Note: this blog is going to talk about a very sensitive topic of rape, and rape jokes. I recommend read it with an open mind. Failure to do that, and you’re only wasting your time, not mine.
Laci Green has said it. Men and women have said it. Talk shows and news reporters, people on Twitter and Facebook and Youtube, and just about every 3rd wave Feminist out there has said it:
“Rape is not funny!”
And this is true. Rape isn’t funny. Forcing a person into any kind of sex act isn’t funny, it’s a crime, and it should be reported ASAP. It’s not OK.
HOWEVER…JOKES about rape are perfectly fine. 100% OK. – For serious. I can feel it already:
The sudden moment of surprise that I said that.
An increase in blood pressure
a strong urge to kick my ass
an even stronger urge to blow up my twitter, and just let me have it.
If you are mad, and choose now to stop reading and act out, congrats on being closed-minded to the point you straight up REFUSE to accept or consider a different point of view. Well done.
If you are still reading this, thank you for keeping an open mind. If you make it to the very end, you’ll get a pretty funny reward. One thing that has always been true about comedy: You always take shots from people who just don’t get the joke. It’s what comes with being a comedian, or having a sense of humor. Now even though this subject can cover any kind of joke, I’m going to keep it to the rape jokes, because those seem to get the most funk nowadays.
Now if you are still reading this, you might be thinking that , in a sense that this blog is supporting this thing called “Rape Culture”. A few things that we need to get out of the way about rape jokes, and there alleged “supporting” of “Rape Culture”. Let’s clear the air on that notion:
THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS “RAPE CULTURE”. IT DOESN’T REALLY EXIST AT ALL. STOP PURPORTING THAT IT’S A REAL THING THAT IS GAINING GROUND.
If it’s one thing that can be said about rapists, they are opportunistic assholes. There is no single scientific theory that conclusively explains the motivation for rape; the motives of rapists can be multi-factorial and are subject to debate. One thing for sure, is that there isn’t a group of people out there, who get together and dream about raping women – that’s just crazy, and telling a joke about rape isn’t going to exacerbate the problem. People are not going to get raped because someone made fun of it in some way.
Like I said before, any topic and subject can be made into a joke. Sometimes you’ll laugh at a joke, and sometimes you won’t. It doesn’t mean that you should and must stand on a soapbox and protest your ass off, all the while doing nothing else.
A joke is a joke. Nothing more.
Another thing that we should get out of the way on rape jokes: laughing at one doesn’t make you a bad person. It means that you get the joke, you found it funny, and it tickled your funny bone. That’s was a joke is. That’s the main purpose of a joke, the ultimate goal in its existence – to make you laugh. A joke is going to have shock value in it sometimes, it’s going to make you say “you did not just say that” as you are trying not to choke on the drink you were in the middle of enjoying as you got the punchline.
In addition, we laugh at these kind of jokes all the time, mainly because they are told well. Don’t believe me? I can prove it: Below is a clip from an episode of “Family Guy”, in which Peter gets raped…by a bug.
See? I’m pretty sure that you laughed your ass off, or maybe got a chuckle. It’s ok if you did. It’s funny (to me at least), and if you find it funny too, that’s ok. The joke did what it was intended to do. Mission accomplished.
What’s That? You are still not convinced? OK. Let me point out another thing about Rape jokes – the reason some people laugh and some don’t, is based solely on the the eye of the beholder. Something being funny, or scary, or gross, sexy, evil, good, awesome, the list goes on…its based on one’s perception of what is and isn’t appealing. It’s the reason people are and aren’t ok with these jokes, and believe it or not, its not the main problem with rape jokes. Not by a longshot. I’ll explain what the actual problem is at the end of the blog…and yes, there is more to talk about.
The main issue people have against these kind of jokes, is that they are offending the very people they have actually been raped. I can tell you right now that yes, that IS an honest, highly valid and fair reason to not like these jokes. But, that is also the reason it’s unfair to disapprove these jokes right off.
While it is true that there are people who have been raped, and are trying hard to live with that fact (and I do feel for you ), it’s not the fault or responsibility of the person telling the joke. No one in the world is psychic – a comedian can’t read your mind anymore than I can about what others have dealt with, and what they are going through. That is not the point of telling a joke – it’s not about sparing anyone’s feelings or being sensitive to them. The goal of any joke is to make you LAUGH, and this is achieved by making fun of something. And you can find humor in anything. Just don’t have a shitty delivery.
Comedians get a ton of flack for the jokes they tell nowadays. Yes, sometimes they’ll miss the mark, but not every joke they tell is bad. It’s all about the delivery. Poor delivery = poor joke. And if they tell a poor joke, THEN you have a reason to be upset, although not by much. Let’s prove it again with yet another rape joke, from “Family Guy”. Peter, yet again gets violated – but this time, by a bull – and by Meg with a loofah.
Now, there might be a possibility that somehow, someone may have been violated with a foreign object in the shower (Meg and the loofah), but here is the question: is it the responsibility of the creator of those jokes to take responsibility for not being sensitive to rape victims?
The answer is NO – it’s really not. We cannot blame entertainment for society Ills (That says ‘ILLS’, btw. It’s not a typo). As I have said before, its easy to blame a TV show, a movie, video game, or any form of entertainment for the reason things are so fucked up, but the truth is that we, the people of society, mess each other up.
Society is to blame for society’s problems, not our entertainment, and that includes Rape jokes. Telling/listening/laughing at a joke is not going to make anything worse or better. Like I said before – A joke is a joke.
This is something that I learned a long time ago, from someone who genuinely knew what the fuck he was talk about: The late comedian George Carlin. I managed to find the video clip of him talking about rape on YouTube. It’s down below, and I strongly encourage you to watch it from start to finish.
Now I might be a little off on the time, but I believe that this skit was done in the late 1980’s, early 1990’s. This skit is 9+ MINUTES long, and joking about rape. Did you hear anyone in the audience booing and fussing over what he said? Did you hear anyone say “That’s not funny”?
NO. It was a good series of jokes with perfect delivery. Time to ask yourself some questions:
Did you get raped after hearing those jokes?
Did it make you want to rape someone?
Do you have a newfound desire to rape someone?
I won’t be surprised if the answers to all of those questions are a resounding “NO”. The only reason anyone should ever not like a joke, is if the delivery sucks. And yes, you and others like you are doing to not certain jokes, but its not your place or charge to tell people that it’s not ok to laugh at the joke. Humor is in the eye of the beholder, and every eye is different. If you don’t like a joke, that’s fine. If a joke offends you, just walk away and find something else.
It’s ok to laugh at a good rape joke. You are not hurting anyone, or making things in society worse in any way when you do.
To end this blog, I’ll go with this one last video that I‘ve always found funny as fuck. And yes, it’s from ‘Family Guy’. Feel free to take from it what you will. Thanks for reading.
Today, I learned that Playboy, the cornerstone that started the concept of reading amazing articles and enjoying looking at naked women in tasteful poses, has decided to take the route Maxim has, and is doing away with nudes. Starting in March 2016, women will no longer show themselves in the buff.
This will effect the print edition of the magazine, and is being done in an effort to boost print sales at newsstands. If would so push the magazine from the adults only section and into (I’m only guessing) general section with other magazines.
And I, from my own observations can tell you right from the jump – that this isn’t going to work.
A little trip down memory lane: I remember the very first “Lad’s mag” I ever got, and it was the now defunct Gear Magazine, back in the mid-1990’s. It was that issue that had a then barely legal Jessica Biel in a state of undress, and it was a very good issue and photo spread. That issue caused so much controversy when it came out, because Biel at the time was on an highly popular FAMILY show called “7th Heaven”, where Biel was no where near close to going or looking sexy in any aspect.
That issue of Gear was so popular that the only way I could get a copy of it, was via back order. It sold like hotcakes when it came out.
It wasn’t just the controversy that got me interested in getting that magazine, but the fact that I could look at something that was legal to obtain and that I could call my own and enjoy. Gear was a great magazine, and it went belly up a few years later, when Maxim and FHM started to publish.
What drew me to those Magazines was, of course the celebrities in sexy bikini’s and lingerie, and yes the articles (Fun fact: men REALLY DO READ THE ARTICLES in these magazines. Sorry I don’t live up to the stigma ladies).
That was the thing with Lad’s Mags – they are a mix of interesting articles, and mixed in with tasteful nudity, and a reasonable amount of ads.
That’s what made them great. They were the perfect mix of innocent and sinful, where both sides of the equator were in a win-win situation every time you picked up a issue.
We jump forward to the now, and sadly, today that formula has changed. In order to keep the print versions of the magazines viable, and to make them more “appealing” to wider audience, they have chosen to dial back on the nudity. Now I know and accept that things change, and I’m not bothered by this fact that will continue even after I’m long and gone from this earth – what bothers me is that this is a change in the wrong direction.
I get that the publishers of these magazines want to stay in business and are looking to increase their subscription base, but I think there was/is a better way to do that.
The proof is in the one of the magazines that have made this change to the formula earlier this year: Maxim Magazine. This magazine is the magazine I know I could read, without having some kind of label being put on me, and that I could read in the open and wouldn’t have to worry about anyone looking over my shoulder, or being offended.
All that changed in February 2015. I read Maxim magazine every time I got it. I even collected a few issues. But then, in February 17th , 2015 the face of the magazine changed big time. Before the changes, the magazine cover looked like this:
You could tell beforehand what was in the magazine, before you even opened it up. I actually have this issue, and I read it cover to cover, and it was a great issue. Even the Turducken recipe was pretty cool. I knew what I was looking forward to, and I was never disappointed. Not once. They even talked about Movies, Video games, technology and while it did have ads, they weren’t always in your face every time you turned the page. It’s easy to read and you got your monies worth.
But now, The Magazine looks like this:
Um…ok. So, I see a woman’s face, it’s provocative, I guess, but who is she? I don’t know. So I opened up the magazine, and I still don’t know what is happening. At this point, I’m flipping through the magazine, and trying to understand when the magazine’s original content starts and when the ads end. Yes, the first thing I run into is ads. I forget how many pages, but it was more then 10.
That’s when I knew I wasn’t going to like this.
After going thru the mountain of ads in the beginning of the mag, I FINALLY found the table of contents, which was only one page long, and more ads followed after that, again I lose count. When I finally do reach an article that doesn’t look like it might be an ad, I try to read it, only to learn the the text is too small to read comfortably in any light. Now I do wear glasses, and I keep them clean, and my vision isn’t getting worse either (Last checkup was a few months ago, showed no change in vision). What is worse, the article was able to be finished up in 3/4 of a single page.
Just what the sam crazy is going on?
By the time I get to the lady in the photoshoot, they go on for several pages, uninterrupted. But there is nothing inspiring about the pictures at all. Nothing. Woman wearing swimwear or lingerie, and the venue is always the same: Bedroom or Beach. It’s a one note. After that, a few articles mixed in with a TON of ads.
The current issue (September 2015), follows the same layout. I have this issue in front of me, and I’m using it now for this blog. On the Cover:
Seriously, what the hell is going on here? Also, Playboy did this FIRST. Have a man on the cover of a Lad’s mag. Way to be original, Maxim.
So, I’m looking at this magazine, and already I have had to flip thru 21 pages of ads, mostly containing dudes wearing products I’m not really interested in, with on occasion, a woman next to them.
21 Pages of THIS.
On page 22, I get to the Table of Contents. It’s only one page, lists 4 featured articles, has a picture of actress Natasha Liu Bordizzo soon to star in the new ‘Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: The Green Legend’ movie, and what appears to be a dude cutting into a pair of pants, or some type of fabric. On the page adjacent, another ad, this time about about shoes and accessories for men.
Oh my what?
Turning the page, the second Table of Contents, same layout, but with Actor Idris Elba, looking like he is trying to eyefuck me – I tried not to curse in this blog, but fuck it, we reached the ”What the Fuck” limit 2 paragraphs ago. Oh, and there are 6 articles on nothing but styles for guys.
Back to counting the ads…one…Another TOC PAGE…
WHY NOT JUST HAVE THE FUCKING TOC PAGES TOGETHER?! FUCK!
Ok, If I keep doing a play by play here, I’ll never get this blog finished today. While there are some segments they kept, it’s all scattered around. I can never really tell which is and isn’t an ad, and even though I did see a model here and there, It looked more like a simple mention more than anything else. The magazine is more of a sausage fest than anything.
Now, I don’t see Playboy going this way. I’m sure we will know what the magazine is all about, and I hope it doesn’t become bogged down with ads like Maxim.
What I’m saying is that Lad’s Mags ran and functioned under the balance of smart articles, humor and nudity. That’s what made them worthwhile. That’s what made them unique and amazing.
Now, they are starting to stray away from that formula, the core that made them great, and in doing so, they have becoming a shadow of their former self.
They are becoming unbalanced, and the only people who are in praise of this, are the people who never really liked the magazines in the first place.
I’d rather the Print editions of Maxim, Playboy and any other magazine with a similar style and feel, go 100% digital and go back to what made them great, than try to continue this farce. There was a time I was strongly thinking of selling, or just giving my Issues of Playboy away, but after learning about the changes, I’m going to take them with me to the grave.
Before I forget, here is the cover of the very first issue of Playboy I ever bought. It’s the November 2000 Print Issue which I got November 18th, 2000 on a snowy afternoon.
I feel it’s best to post this cover, as it’s most likely the cover won’t look like this anymore come 2016.
Yesterday (9/9/2015), I was going through the people I follow on twitter, cleaning up the accounts that are no longer in service or have been inactive (I removed 60, btw – yikes), when I noticed that there was one account that was missing: Taylor Stevens (@TAYSTEVENS).
We follow each other on twitter, and when I have the time, I try to promote her account as best I can – I’ve slacked off on this a great deal, along with the Title is Pending Blog and twitter, where said promotions are to take place. So I went over to the twitter account link: only to find this:
Ah yes. I’ve been there. I’ve seen this warning quite a number of times in my digital life on Twitter. At first, I thought it was Twitter Jail – maybe she posted something that “Triggered” some asshat, or maybe it was some prude with a chip on his/her shoulder – either way, and I speak from personal experience on this, Twitter Jail is the fucking bullshit balls. No matter what the reason, being banned from Twitter can be a major hindrance. Personal/Business/Branding usage all come to a grinding halt, using accounts that are created by Twitter connect is a nightmare (No password to use or reset).
Getting back to the business at hand…The account suspension. The reason Taylor’s twitter account was suspended, was due to hackers. Some punk tried to hack their way into the account, and it appears that Taylor managed to stop it in time, so until it’s all sorted out, her account has been suspended.
I DID manage to get in touch with her from another account. For security, in case this happens again, I’ve redacted the username and twitter avatar (Read from the bottom upwards):
So as you can see, She’ll return to the twitterverse soon, and is going to be at tonight’s Patriots vs. Steelers game tonight. She’ll also be tweeting from the @chiksnpiks Twitter account, which you can follow here.
If anyone asks about Taylor’s account, please point them to this blog post, and I’ll pass the word on to other boobie bloggers.
Not long ago, “Modern Family” actress Arial Winter underwent breast reduction surgery, going from a 32F Bra size to a 34D.
Several entertainment news sites cited that it was because of back pain, and she was getting tired of having to strap down her chest while she was filming for “Modern Family”, which is completely understandable – I’m not a woman, and just thinking having to do that, every day you had to shoot a scene, sounds terrible as fuck. I can get, and stand by Ariel’s choice to get a breast reduction in that aspect. The same goes for any other woman who chooses to get a breast reduction for that matter…
…what I CAN’T agree with, is the SECOND reason Winter went through with this.
The following statement is a quote from Ms. Winter, from an article from the Washington Times. The full article can be found here, and I’ll post a screenshot of the article on the website, because I have noticed that since this has happened, many articles have redacted the original versions, and I’m NOT OK with that:
Ms. Winter said the misogynistic attention she’s received since she was 15 made her feel uncomfortable in her own skin.
“The Internet bullies are awful. I could post a photo where I feel good, and 500 people will comment about how fat I am and that I am disgusting,” she told Glamour. “It made me feel really uncomfortable because as women in the industry, we are totally over sexualized and treated like objects.”
What the fuck?
THIS, is what bothers me with breast reduction surgery: It’s not the choice of reducing the breast size, it’s the fact that women are choosing to have this procedure because assholes make them feel uncomfortable about having large breasts. The definition of the word “misogyny” is the dislike of, contempt for, or ingrained prejudice against women. It doesn’t matter how big or small your boobs are, and getting breast reduction surgery won’t change a thing – misogynists hate women, and getting this surgery won’t change that fact.
What ever happened to telling people to fuck off? What happened to people saying “I don’t give a fuck what you think of my body, go fuck yourself!”?
What the hell happened to this:
Women are so worried about someone getting turned on the second they see them. That’s normal sexual behavior – People are going to look at you, and some of them will get turned on, and become sexually attracted. What women are calling “objectification and oversexualization” is actually NORMAL HUMAN NATURE – you see someone with a attractive body, you’ll take notice . Having people be attracted to your physique, or certain parts of it, is a normal reaction, and is NOT a valid reason to get a breast reduction. There are women who like and prefer a large penis, does that mean that a guy should get a penis reduction because women are looking at his wangus all the time? If it makes zero sense in one way, it won’t make any sense in the other way.
Is the procedure going to stop anyone from looking at them in a sexual way? No. And it’s sure as fuck not going to stop misogynists from doing their thing. Misogynists HATE WOMEN. Your bra size won’t change that at all.
To all the women who are thinking of having their breasts reduced, here are some very valid questions that all women should ask themselves:
How does getting breast reduction surgery STOP or STIFLE misogynistic attention?
Why should you, a woman, have to change anything about yourself so people can respect you?
Are you doing this because you are in pain, or to shut people up?
As I have said before, and this is my official stance on this: ANY medical procedure that can help improve the mental, emotional and physical state of a person is ok, and that does include breast reduction. But the second, THE VERY SECOND, you have a procedure just to shut someone else up, or to think that it will stop assholes from messing with you, or because you are tired of all the attention you are getting, then you are doing it for all the wrong reasons. Because if it’s one thing that I know about assholes: You can change anything and everything about yourself – the only thing they will do, is find something else to pick at.
The ONLY way to stop an asshole, is to stand up to them, and tell them to go fuck themselves. Getting any cosmetic work of any kind will not change people’s perceptions of you, or give you the backbone to stand up against assholes. I could get a penis enlargement right now, and I know it won’t boost my confidence – I’ll still be me with a bigger dick.
Change because YOU WANT TO, not because you are being pressured into changing.
Below is the original article as printed Aug. 14, 2015, and authored by Jessica Chasmar for The Washington Times.
The Perverted Nerd 