When is the all male focused issue of the escapist?

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack [http://www.case.edu/president/aaction/UnpackingTheKnapsack.pdf]

Having read further, now that I've calmed down a bit. I'd say that a thesis that sets up an "Us vs Them" in the first sentence, attacks "Them" in the first sentence and then only speaks to "Us" is bordering on the same problems as the studies done by Samuel George Morton.

 

[Alex_P]

Between the KKK and affirmative action, you are not allowed to take any pride in being a White male, in fact you have to languish in guilt, tread on eggshells and take the blunt of the blame for every social/political/religious problem on the face of the planet, ...

Are you familiar with Stuff White People Like [http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/]? Let me summarize Stuff White People Like: SWPL takes things that are popular with yuppies, hipsters, people who went to a prestigious (undergraduate) college, &c. and labels it part of a "white" culture, and purports to give advice to educated minorities about how to fake having the same tastes in order to get ahead socially; this is supposed to be subversive because these folks don't like to think of their tastes as "white people" tastes.

And, well, despite its repetitiousness, SWPL kinda has a point. In Western nations, the middle class considers its aesthetics and mores to be high culture. In America, at least, middle-class whites tend not to like thinking of themselves as part of a specifically white culture. The implicit reasoning is "Everyone would have the same taste and values as us if only they were well-off and well-educated like were were!" (It's that age-old idea of national high culture as the "true" culture uninhibited by folk ignorance.)

Explicitly claiming your stuff for whiteness rather than for everybody-if-only-they-went-to-a-good-college, therefore, marks one as low-culture and low-class -- what SWPL calls "the wrong kind of white person".

It's not that minorities have guilted white people into never saying they're white, as many like to imply. It's that middle-class white culture emphasizes its class above its race to the point that any overt emphasis on whiteness has become a horrible faux pas equivalent to buying Jeff Gordon collectible plates on the Home Shopping Channel.

(The Christian-vs.-Gentile thing alluded to earlier applies, too. "Whiteness" is kinda empty because of the flexibility of the majority experience, so people tend to focus more narrowly -- choosing to celebrate an Irish-American identity rather than a white-American identity, for example.)

... apologizing for being born with a Penis while lamenting that you cannot belong to a more diverse culture.

I don't do that. I don't think I've ever done that. And I went to one of the most socially-left liberal arts schools in America, so it's not like I haven't gone through the indoctrination process or whatever. (I've had a few idiot college students tell me that I should be ashamed of this or that, sure, but, given how easy it was to dismiss them as idiots, it's clearly not a pervasive cultural thing I've been taught to do since birth.)

-- Alex

 

[orangebandguy]

I think gaming as a whole is more to do with men than women.

I'm not being sexist, I'm saying that more men play video games than women do.

 

[Vanguard_Ex]

I am personally offended and appalled at the mainstream portrayal of males as nothing more than mindless macho punks in video games. It's about time we guys took a stand in the female-dominated industry of complaining about our rights.

Doesn't it make you feel objectified? Like you don't really exist as a person... that people only view you as a personification of brutality, violence and rape?

Not when you have a girlfriend.

You're right, then you're an avatar of brutality, violence, rape and (in her eyes) the occasional quiet night in for a cuddle and a movie.

Haha, nice one, that made me laugh ^^

 

[Lullabye]

Hmm, I don't know. To me the market seems pretty damn diverse. The only thing I can't play as is a straight up gay guy, or maybe I just wasn't looking hard enough....In the end, if I want to play a game where i'm a muscle bound testosterone fueld football player, I'll play an American game. If I want to play a role more feminine, but not quite a girl, then I'll play Japanese games.-problem solved.

 

[Mr.Pandah]

I love how this went from "male-focused issues" to "Whitey needs to shut his mouth because he don't know nothin 'bout the hard times we minorities face!".

It's pretty much because of those kinds of statements that it did. Really dude? That's what you took away from all this, that it can be boiled down to:

Yup, thats what it boils down to when you grab one part of my post and decide to just respond to that.

Can't say that I exactly approve of just taking bits of pieces of other people's posts and deciding what you want to respond to.

 

[Void(null)]

Duh! it's not interesting obviously.
The majority are men on here, and a female gamer is hard to come by, so when we do HOO BOY.
It'll be like writing an article about girls who love shoe shopping. We know it's true, we don't need telling.

I guess you missed the ESA Survey [http://www.theesa.com/facts/pdfs/ESA_EF_2009.pdf] that presents the interesting statistic that woman now make up 40% of the Gamer Populace, and 43% of the online gamer population are woman.

There numbers are also growing and expected to continue to grow. So it's a significantly larger "minority" than people would have you believe.

With Woman making up 40% of the market share, I am all in support of Female focused articles. But I am sick and tired of being treated like a non person and told that my opinions or issues are unimportant or invalid because I happen to be a member of the other 60%.

When people do try to target Male Gamers, what do they do? Talk about Booth Babes and how awesome it is to blow shit up. I find that to be an insult to my intellect.

Do I like sex? Yes. Do I enjoy "Action" sure. But I am not a mirror of the the one dimensional male characters Video Games portray, and I am pretty sure if you look at most of the Men who play games, they are the furthest thing from the Duke Nukem stereotype, with interests as varied as they are.

How about the abuse of sex in marketing against Male Gamers? Is it fair to use sex against us when we have a natural, genetic predisposition to be drawn to it? Without that overwhelming pull towards sex we would be a much smaller and less significant force upon this planet. We only out number the Panders because we really, really like to fuck and we are exceptional at forcing our environment to adapt to us instead of the other way around.

How about the inequality of the representation of murder in Video Games? Its perfectly acceptable to kill a hundred thousand men, but kill a female hooker and the entire western would goes into an uproar.

How about the positives of Video Game Violence? Statistics show a decrease in violence since the early 90's. (I know co-relation is not proof of cause, but still, its an interesting statistic.)

How about the representation of men in Video Games? Muscled Psychopath, Emotionless Slate or Spiky Haired Idiot (totally forgot about that one, thank you.)

These things are just the most obvious tip of the iceberg. I am totally down for seeing discussion the problems Female Gamers face, I just want to take the real problems that Men face taken just as seriously.

You know... like we were all equal or something.

 

[Soxafloppin]

Nah we cant, it would be sexist.

 

[Void(null)]

It took me quite a while to find out the words to express my astonishment at how far you've missed the point, but actually I've got to applaud you for hitting the point square on the head.

That's all our sexuality is to others. Never mind the works of Shakespear describing courtly love, the compratiotism shown for others, the thousands of years of men giving up valuables to be with the women we love. Men fighting to win support and access to their children. Forget all about Les Miserables, Cyrano de Bergerac or Peter Pan. Forget all about marriages, poetry, dedications and all that.

Heterosexuality is JUST about girls with big titties.

Damn, how stupid of me not to see it before.

Bingo. Although I think it extends beyond Heterosexuality and moves into the realm of Masculinity. Masculinity is no longer defined by what it is to be a man, Masculinity is defined on how best to market towards a man.

Do Men like Tits? Certainly. Some also like the nice shoulders or back of another man. Some of us like both. None of which have anything to do with what it means to be a Man, only on how people make money marketing to us.

Its not a secret that sex sells, but people selling sex to us has become our entire identity.

 

[Thrydwulf]

Every other issue focuses on male issues. Just because it's not clearly stated doesn't mean it's not there. Would you demand a 'straight' issue if they did one focusing on 'gay' gamers?

I love it when white, middle class men complain because there isn't something special for them. *rolls eyes*

Just because something was made by men it doesn't mean that it's made exclusively for men.

Furthermore, there are things for Asians, there are things for blacks, there are things women, but there aren't things explicitly for white men. Why is it racist when white men ask for something, but it's not racist when black males ask for attention? Blacks are considered to be an identified minority, so they are granted special liberties when asking for concessions. However, whites aren't, so when we ask for consideration or concessions it's considered racist because as whites we are automatically assumed to be privileged.

The things that are made for "white, middle class men" often portray us as emotionally stunted idiots, violence-obsessed neanderthals, socially incapable/clumsy nerds or flat out incompetent. I'm not trying to suggest that other groups don't have negative stereotypes or representations, but it shouldn't be considered a bad thing when I complain about what other people complain.

I find it arrogant when recognized minorities (like gays, blacks, women, etc.,) assume that just because it doesn't explicitly say "for you" that it isn't "for you" or that it doesn't include you.

Also, when we see women dressed with next to nothing and breasts larger than their faces we identify it as sexual stereotyping, but when we see men bulked up on steroids, with forearms bigger than my torso, how is that not equally a sexual stereotype?

Why is it that a women can slap a man on TV and it be humorous, but a man slapping a woman is domestic violence?

 

[Tekyro]

At this point I am ready to burn my sports cup in the name of equality!

Unless it's made of wood, then good luck...

Anyway, yeah, it might be a good idea to do that. Not the trophy-burning, that is.

 

[funguy2121]

I'd hardly say that men are objectified in games like they are in porn, but I do like that someone is asking these questions about us. After all, there are unrealistic expectations and unrealistic ideas of us, just as with all other human beings. But if the OP is just bitching, I'd suggest he shut it, as it could be worse.

He could be a woman.

 

[Normalgamer]

As a young, white male, it seems I have no valid opinion anywhere and, according to the media, I only want to get drunk and have sex, and perhaps punch someone on the way home. That is wrong. You make some good points, and objectification goes both ways.

My feelings exactly.

 

[NoNameMcgee]

sigh.

*begins loading shotgun*

 

[The_ModeRazor]

Whatever.
I fail to see the problem.
That may be ignorance on my side, but I don't think so.

 

[Cpt_Oblivious]

What this is I don't even.

This is equality.

No, THIS IS SPARTAAAA!
[small]I'm so sorry...[/small]

I think that the amle focused issue is all those not about female gamers. We don't need specific targeting because we're the majority so the accepted articles and journalism about gaming has, through time, been engineered towards male interests.