You pointed out that this thread has been done many times. I'd just like to point out that the most flamboyant flame-baiting and trolling I've seen on here hasn't been on political threads or Duke Nukem threads or Ayn Rand threads; it's been on threads relating to women and girl gamers. The Escapist's primary demographic is video gamers and, as such, there are quite a few angry young men on here; within that smaller "demographic" is quite a large number of angry young men who are vitriolic, even vindictive, toward women, and a smaller subset of this group are convinced that men have it worse then women or that men are victimized/demonized more often. This is my second read of the OP; I skimmed through it this morning before going to work and was intrigued. So, full disclosure, before I comment on some of your statements, let me get one bias out of the way first. Nearly every time I see one of these threads I find that it's coming from this group of disaffected men.
retyopy said:
ok, so I was watching spongebob because my Dad hates that show and I wanted to spite him.
Right here you've shown yourself to be vindictive and removed yourself from the somewhat-capable-of-objectivity club. I hope that doesn't sound too rude; it just sounds thoroughly adolescent.
retyopy said:
Anyway, a commercial came up for some shoes, were a bunch of boys were in a soccer match with a bunch of generic girls, and the mascot says sarcastically, "ready to give up, girls?" Then, one of the generic girls, which is meant to represent girls in general, remember,cheats by turning off the lights, at which point the boys shoes light up bla bla bla. But the general potrayal of girls is as weak, cheating, epic fail prone losers, whereas the boys are strong, athletic, great, fabulous, athletes. Pretty bad, right?
But I'm lying. The genders are switched around. So it has to be equally bad.
The frequency with which an offense is committed doesn't define the severity, but rather the nature. Yes, this is "equally bad." What's much worse is that we are told from everyone that girls aren't as good at sports, aren't as competitive, and aren't really as good at anything other than nurturing, cooking and whoring. This is instilled in us before we even start talking. There is no equivalent bias against men. There are biases against men, and if you've yet joined the workforce you may have already butted heads with it, but there are plenty more biases there against women, at least women who aren't inclined to suck their way up the corporate ladder.
retyopy said:
All I'm saying is that there has to be a double standard. Otherwise, men will be being called perverts if they so much as glance at a woman. Plus, you do realise that men are raped too? Why isn't THAT big news?
I would say "let the girls have their trite commercial," except that that commercial isn't doing women any favors either. It's part of the insipid world of marketing governed by cynical, unintelligent fuckups who think that
everyone, most especially women, are stupid. Ever see a guy trying really hard to get into a girl's pants by insincerely kissing her ass? Ever see one of the 95% of rom-coms out there that are bat-shit stupid? That's what you're seeing. Ever watch a McDonald's commercial on BET? Shift demographics. It's the same damned thing.
And yes, men
are raped. In prison. By other men. Outside of prison, reported rapes of women by other women usually number in the single digits, if I'm correct, and reported rapes of men by anyone are virtually unheard of. Meanwhile, rape of women by men, out in the free world, is reported by the thousands every year. I suspect the reason it isn't bigger news is that prison is a business and the state benefits from said business, and would rather not have the vast shortcomings, to put it lightly, of said system, be a part of the public discourse.
retyopy said:
Another example is a movie that came out a few months ago, and did reasonably well. It was about two men trying to help a hot girl, but they end up having to be helped by her. What if the positions were reversed? Two girls try to help a muscular, handsome man, but end up being ditzy and having to be helped by the manly man.
Firstly, without at least the title of the movie, I can't give you an opinion, since I have no idea which film you're talking about. It sounds like what I was discussing above, or it may be addressing the very real form of sexism in Western culture wherein we guys try to care for our weak little flowers of civilization. Or it may be both. Other than sheer stupidity, I don't find anything wrong with this film based on your description. If the roles were reversed I'd say the same thing.
retyopy said:
I am simply pointing out that you have to pay attention to both ends of the spectrum. There is a lot of work to do on both sides, and I'm just trying to help.
I couldn't agree more. Good on you for putting your thoughts out there even though it may have attracted a few flames.