Crude sexism?

[ThePlasmatizer]

I recently read an interesting news article, you might have already seen it, it's about game designer David Jaffe's response to Game Politics accusation that he was degrading or as Jaffe said sexist.

The story is he posted a vlog where he calls Sarah Palin a milf.

Game Politics then responded by posting an article saying Jaffe's comments were degrading and vulgar.

Jaffe happened to come across the article and posted a video response saying he was annoyed with the accusatory tone they were using like he was crass or sexist.

Then Game Politics then posted another response (yep it's long but try to keep up) to the video saying any comments like milf reduces a woman to the level of a sex object.

Side note - Kotaku also have an article titled "David Jaffe: I am not a sexist because I want to bone Sarah Palin" which is slightly inflamatory since they've misquoted what he said to make it more interesting, and as far as I can see Game Politics never called him outright a sexist but it was implied.

So, do you think David Jaffe is sexist?

Imo it's debatable, but what David Jaffe said was indeed crude and immature.

Another interesting point is this attitude isn't just relegated to the male sex, and you need only look as far as the nearest Harry Potter, James Bond or Johnny Depp fan site to see it.

EDIT: forgot to mention David Jaffe is a games designer, one of the notable titles he has worked on is God of War.

 

[Reaperman Wompa]

No it's just a term, it's like saying a guy thinks a girl is cute, a bit offensive but not sexist. It was a bit immature, but nothing to merit such a response.

 

[John Galt]

Retarded and crude? Yes.
Sexist? Not really. Just something you never say when a camera's rolling.

 

[mark_n_b]

Jaffe's the one that aggravated the response. He called Palin a MILF in passing, which is crude, and given Jaffe's cultural position in the game's industry, it is something he shouldn't have done because what's going to happen is anyone outside the gaming community is going to nail on this as typical behaviour for a gamer.

Namely that even the most prestigious of this community are immature jack asses who don't even offer the respect of common sense courtesy in a highly public field.

In a thirty word article game politics nipped that in the bud by saying it was not appropriate, which shows that even the gaming community understands that loudmouthed characters like this are considered just that. IT was sort of a proper acknowledgment of the gaming culture that there is a world outside of the gaming community and we are not going to disrespect it just because one person from "within the gates" says so.

Jaffe's response was like three times the article size and resorted to name calling (Victorian ideals?), but that's Jaffe, he's an asshole. We all knew it already and his insistence that he needs to continue acting that way just because he was the original lead designer on GoW is going to end up in him being filed under the likes of JT if he doesn't come up with another solid IP or two to justify his eccentricities.

Fact is if he didn't flip out in response to a pretty minor response the more in depth review of his behaviour never would have happened.

They are good points too. I mean who here would want to work for an uppity goofball with the attitude of a twelve year old, especially when he uses American Pie terminology in discussions of serious political figures.

 

[LordCraigus]

I don't know who this Jaffe guy is, but I have to agree she is a bit of a milf, though it's always a turn-off when she opens her mouth and spews forth all this political bullshit and propaganda.

That said, from people's comments in this thread it sounds like this Jaffe guy is in a position where saying something like that is irresponsible and detrimental to his professional reputation, whatever that may be. It also sounds like his response to these allegations of sexism was overly dramatic and worsened the matter tenfold... again I'm just going from the few posts in this thread.

 

[Mirika_the_warrior]

It was rather crude an immature but it was not sexist because sexism implies treating a sex differently, sure he treated her differently, but despite the idiocy and presentation it should be taken as a complement.

 

[Yunatwilight]

Crude, yes. Immature, yes.

Sexist, no. Saying that someone is physically attractive is not sexist in and of itself -- though it can easily become sexist coupled with other remarks.

 

[cleverlymadeup]

yeah totally not sexist, if anyone thinks it is, they should look up the definition of sexism

like if he said "she's totally a milf and should barefoot and pregnant in my kitchen and cook me pot pie" then it would be sexist but as it stands no it's not

 

[Yunatwilight]

Correction:
Just read the ENTIRETY of the comments. Calling her a MILF is only immature, not sexist -- but stating that her good looks mean that he can't see her as competent definitely is.

 

[Joeshie]

As others have said, it's not sexist. Calling her a MILF doesn't reduce her to the level of a sex object.