Fire Walk With Me
This page is a weird mix of rantings and ravings, Music, graffiti, punk,Doctor Who, postpunk, comics,art, general silliness and GPOB (gratuitous pictures of Bowie). Sometimes I post about the 2012 US elections
white radical nerd lady in my 30s
transplanted to the East Coast US
happily living in sin with my co-conspirator Mr. X
Why did I follow you??
my Dragon Age sideblog
Other tags of interest - Places I Wish I Was Right Now, GPOY, owls, you are cordially invited to my pants, this has been a post, OH MY GOD, Favorite of all the things, Maru is the best cat in the whole world
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Hmmm…correlation??? Uh, yeah, maybe so!!!
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“Cutting the line” is a japanese good-luck charm performed by making a chopping gesture through another person’s...
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SHRIEKING
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the Feminist Frequency series on sexism in video games is finally here
First episode is on Damsels in Distress. The montages of women being “stolen” and saying “help me” in old arcade games are especially striking.
Here’s a description of the study:
Ohio University researchers Jeffery Kuzenkoff and Lindsey Rose conducted a study to see the reactions of gamers to different voices during online games. Kuzenkoff and Rose created three Xbox Live accounts using similar, gender neutral gamer tags1. Each account was represented only by the gamertag and a pre-recorded voice – one male, one female, with the third tag remaining mute as a control. The researchers recorded sets of innocuous phrases – “Hi everybody”, ‘I think I just saw a couple of them heading this way’,”Good game”, “I like this map” and such – playing the clips via a soundboard app at appropriate moments.
In order to control for skill level, the researchers used Halo 3′s matchmaking system to pair each account with similarly skilled players… The pair played over 245 matches in Team Slayer - 82 as the “female” account, 81 as the “male” and 82 as the mute control account against a total of 1660 individual opponents. The in-game chat was recorded and scored for responses and cross-referenced with the skill level and performance of the account.
Not surprisingly, the female account garnered three times more negative responses – many of them gendered insults – than the male or mute accounts, including “Shut up, whore” (in response to “Hi everybody”), “She’s a [racial slur redacted] lover”, “Fuck you, you stupid slut”, “Hold on, who the fuck are you? Shut the fuck up, oh my God I don’t want hear your bullshit” and “So whatever that voice was, are you a hooker or are you a dude?” In fact, in one session, every phrase spoken by the female account – again, innocuous, inoffensive phrases like “nice one!” – was responded to with insults.
The female account also received far more private messages and friend requests after each match.
While the study is quick to point out that this is just the results of just one game and that other titles and genres may produce different results, it does validate what many gamers have said all along: female gamers get harassed and abused because they are women.
Sexism is such a thing in Trek. For all his utopian ideals, Roddenberry was bad at rising above his own flaws, sexism being the most obvious. (Not misogyny, mind. Dude seems to have been a sincere and dedicated advocate for female empowerment in spite of his own weird ideas about “what women are like.”) And that has utterly permeated Trek ever since.
I mean, is there any more glorious example of men not knowing how to write women than Deanna Troi? Data is a robot and Worf is a badass and Geordie has frigging cyborg eyes, but what do we give our token superpowered lady? Feelings powers. Oh, and all but invariably her episodes are those goddamn “alien shows up, Troi falls in lurrrve, feelings feelings feelings” plots, because Sagan forbid she end up in any other situation, ever.
Worse, some dumbfuck in the writers’ room eventually went “picard has his flute and riker has his beard and data has his cat and worf has his stupid parentheses sword, how should we humanize troi? oh i know: MAKE HER OBSESSED WITH CHOCOLATE.”
“bitches love chocolate”
Of course, supreme badass Dr. Crusher was constantly being undermined at the script stage by her precocious twerp of an offspring, and I’m not even going to get into the writers’ bizarre treatment of Tasha “Rape Gangs” Yar. (I will say that Ro Laren got unusually good writing. For the, what, five episodes she appeared in?) But when an actor is like “please, please, please can I wear the fucking uniform like every other fucking person in the cast?” and the writers answer, “no, trust us, your character is more comfortable with her cleavage showing,” you know what? That is some bullshit is what.
And it’s not just an unpleasant legacy that people moved away from post-Roddenberry. How about that long-running plot in DS9 where Kira is reduced to nothing more than a handy replacement womb for my baby, my baby! Homegirl is literally forced by medical necessity to go through another woman’s entire pregnancy, and it is never once addressed how fucked up this is, except that gee it sure does make Miles O’Brien’s marriage awkward!
Or Voyager? I haven’t watched Voyager for the same reason Jeff Winger isn’t into Glee (“I hate it! I don’t understand the appeal at all!”), but reliable hearsay from breathless fans informs me that, like Picard, Trek’s first female captain likes to turn the holodeck into an outlet for her wistful daydreams. Of course, there’s a slight difference: Picard fantasizes about being a detective from pulpy noir adventure novels, while Janeway fantasizes about being a governess. You read that correctly: a motherfucking nanny from the motherfucking Victorian era. Because heaven forfend that in a world where it ain’t even a thing for a woman to command a starship, that woman not pine for BABIES TO TAKE CARE OF and (no I will not get over this) THE. MOTHERFUCKING. VICTORIAN ERA!!!
So no, it didn’t surprise me to see an all-male, all-white, all-manchild creative team behind the Trek reboot. It’s fitting, in a way. And I’m going to go ahead and piss all the fanboys off by pointing out that the reboot is by far the best movie Trek has ever produced. Whine that it’s “bad Trek” all you want; nothing other than Wrath of Khan comes even close to being as solid a cinema experience. If anything about the reboot did surprise me, it’s that there was so little sexism in the finished product, in spite of its pedigree and the involvement of questionable minds like Lindelof. The treatment of Orions alone made me want to applaud.
So, as always: progress is slow. Progress is frustrating. But progress is progress.
I really only want to say three things. 1) ENSIGN RO WAS MY GIRL 2) Kira was so fantastic in the pilot episode of DS9 and so meh in every episode after that. She got defanged in a major way. 3) Dax got some good writing, but they were treating her as a male, due to her previous host being male. Very telling.
or, why the atheist community-at-large can kiss my ass.
Charlie Brooker on women in video games.
…Last week, a female culture critic trying to raise funds on the Kickstarter website for a series of short films exploring the stereotypical treatment of women in games was subjected to a bewildering level of harassment from a peculiarly angry slice of the gaming community. As well as trying to have her Kickstarter account frozen or banned, they subjected her to a barrage of abuse that must have felt like running face-first into a muckspreader. “Fucking hypocrite slut,” quipped one gallant observer. “I hope you get cancer,” chortled another. To be fair, it’s probably not the notion that games misrepresent the sexes that enrages them. They probably shout this sort of abuse at anything female. I say “shout”. I mean “type”. And not in person. Whenever there’s an actual woman in the room, they stare intensely at their shoes, internally composing their next devastating online riposte to uppity vaginakind. “WHY MUST THEY TORMENT AND BEWITCH ME SO?”, they think, in tearstained capitals. Just as rubberised assassins represent a tiny proportion of women, these idiotic pebbledicks represent a tiny proportion of men. The trouble for the games industry is that on some level it believes it has to pander to these monumental bellwastes. It doesn’t, and it’ll only gain widespread acceptance when it learns to ignore them. In 30 years, it’s scarcely improved on Ms. Pac-Man. Time to push forward.
(via xtremecaffeine)
People with disabilities are much more likely to be sexually assaulted, and the perpetrators are much more likely to get away with it.
- It has been estimated that 83% of women with a disability will be sexually assaulted in their lifetime.
- Among adults who are developmentally disabled, as many as 83% of the females and 32% of the males are the victims of sexual assault
- 15,000 to 19,000 people with developmental disabilities are raped each year in the United States
- 49% of people with developmental disabilities who are victims of sexual violence will experience 10 or more abusive incidents.
- In one study, 40% of women with physical disabilities reported being sexually assaulted
- 15.2% of children who are sexually abused have disabilities
- Males with disabilities are twice as likely as males without disabilities to be sexually abused in their lifetime
- 1 in 5 female and 1 in 6 male psychiatric inpatients reported abuse involving genital contact, which was often recurrent.
- Lifetime risk for violent victimization was so high for homeless women with severe mental illness (97%) as to amount to normative experiences for this population.
- 88 to 98% of sexual abusers are male and are known by the victim/survivor who has disabilities.
- 33% of abusers are acquaintances, 33% are natural or foster family members, and 25% are caregivers or service providers.
- Only 3% of sexual abuse cases involving people with developmental disabilities are ever reported.
This is absolutely horrifying.
But let’s talk about how African American women die from breast cancer more than any other women,
And how our survivor status isn’t as celebrated in popular culture.
How every time we see some Susan G. Komen stuff, it’s white women, white women, white women, but Black women are the ones dying.
I DARE one of you snarkobots to let your mouth get jazzy about this woman or this hair.
Dare you.You know that Komen shit is indeed shit right? But yes this, this all the way.
That “Komen shit” is actually incredibly problematic, and they spend more money on their salaries and pink merchandising than on actually finding a cure. Couple that with the “no more money to Planned Parenthood” nonsense of earlier this year, and Komen is one of the worst and most corrupt breast cancer foundations, well, ever. Here are some alternatives:
- The Breast Cancer Research Foundation
- Living Beyond Breast Cancer
- The National Breast Cancer Foundation
There’s no organization that is so necessary that it can be excused of racism and corruption, especially not a right-leaning organization that spends less than 20% of its funds on actual research.
Susan Komen sucks. pinkwashing
About ten minutes ago I was on the bus and this couple starts arguing right across from me.
They’re about two feet away and right in my face, so it was a little hard to ignore. The subject of the argument was completely nebulous to me but I thought it was clear that this was a couple about to break up. They were past the point of yelling or any kind of passionate interaction and were around the “quiet contempt” phase.
The woman was trying to tell him something, and although she was angry she was addressing him in a totally quiet and reasonable voice. Within the five minutes I could hear him I heard the man do all of the following:
- called her crazy
- called her irrational
- told her to calm down
- claimed she wasn’t making any sense
- said he wasn’t going to talk to her when she was talking crazy
- got up and walked to the other end of the bus so he didn’t have to talk to her anymore
It was so incredibly insulting I think my jaw actually dropped. I watched him walk away and when I looked back at the woman she was looking at me and our eyes met.
I said, “That guy’s a real asshole.”
She looked back at me levelly and said, “he’s my husband, though.”
+++++++
And there you have it: the number 1 reason I’m never getting married.
+++++++
Cue a dozen people telling me their husband’s not like that etc etc etc.
But let’s face it: marriage encourages men to act this way. It treats two people as a legal entity of one in which the husband is the head. Even if those two people don’t agree to it personally, it’s what happens. You get called Mrs. Hislastname even if you DIDN’T take his last name. Mail comes addressed to Mr&Mrs Hisname. Important phone callers ask for the man (and the school always asks for the woman). All your finances & taxes are wrapped up into one package that is expected to be handled by the man.
It’s a slow conditioning that tells the husband to view the wife as a legal appendage that should really be taking better care of his house. Is it any wonder that so many of them eventually dismiss and belittle their wives in this way, as though any thoughts and concerns they might have are so much less than relevant they might as well be a fly buzzing in his ear?
I live with a man. I love him. We enjoy each other. But get married? Nooooooo. No. Nonono. Anybody who wants to get married should be able to, of any gender combination, but as an institution marriage is pretty fucked up.
1. Does the image show only part(s) of a sexualized person’s body?
BMW2. Does the image present a sexualized person as a stand-in for an object?
Four Loko3. Does the image show sexualized persons as interchangeable?
Mercedes Benz
4. Does the image affirm the idea of violating the bodily integrity of a sexualized person who can’t consent?
Duncan Quinn
5. Does the image suggest that sexual availability is the defining characteristic of the person?
American Apparel
6. Does the image show a sexualized person as a commodity that can be bought and sold?
Red Tape Shoes
(via stfusexists)
- male character: i made a mistake
- fandom: oh you poor misunderstood soul
- female character: i made a mistake
- fandom: WANTON MISTRESS OF THE NIGHT, RETURN TO THE SHADOWS FROM WHENCE YOU CAME, THIS IS NO PLACE FOR YOUR SELFISHNESS PLEASE GO BACK TO YOUR HOME ON WHORE ISLAND
A long, but excellent read on Creepy Dudes and what to do about them, especially when your social group cops-out by saying, “But we don’t want to hurt his feelings.”
I also have a few semi-creepy guys in my social circle, but nowhere NEAR these levels.
Uugh I have an extremely creepy guy in my social circle, like I genuinely think he’s a rapist creepy, and nothing has worked against him. We even tried going through formal routes to get him out, because we all live in campus accommodation, and pretty much nothing happened. He very seriously sexually harassed my friend and not only have the guys I live with stopped talking to the victim to stay on his side but he actually got a job in the uni that gave him access to the master key for our building. After we reported him to the uni for sexual harassment. He doesn’t have that job now but I keep finding him in my kitchen so my door is locked pretty much all the time.
You highlight one thing the captain awkward post doesn’t: how often these men are not only enabled and supported by friends but also by institutions.
Sigh.
I hope you manage to work something out and get rid of him.
this is an actual quality advice column on the topic of rape culture. I’m kind of stunned. (see original link, it’s good)
That Condescending Feeling You Get From Dudes in the Office? Yeah, That’s Real. (via notemily)
Throughout my professional life I’ve seen men do the same pathetic maneuver in business meetings with women (which means hundreds of examples over two decades), which is to interrupt and disagree with or even summarily dismiss a woman’s ideas (on any given subject, doesn’t even matter, could be strategic innovation or it could be how to mow the lawn), then five minutes later rephrase those same ideas just slightly differently and receive praise for coming up with good stuff. Makes me wanna throw chairs through those glass walls. Another reason I can’t really go back to corporate life.
(via zuky)
This is why whenever possible I gravitate to organizations and departments that are run by women. This doesn’t guarantee that things will be different, but it does help.
(via gerutha)
“Women don’t know anything about comics because women don’t read comics!”
oh
ok
then.
“Women don’t appreciate mainstream/superhero comics, they only read manga and indie books!”
uh
huh.
“Misogyny and racism, etc, are just part of the medium/culture of comics, stop complaining about it!”
how about
no.
“The reason women, PoC, etc are so poorly represented in comics is because they don’t make any significant contributions to the medium!”
shut
the fuck
up.
“Comics aren’t a political medium.”
I don’t
really
think so.
“Superhero comics are the only kinds of comics that make money/that anyone cares about.”
oh my god
just
stop
talking
I’m Commander Shepard, and this is my favorite post on the internet.
I don’t particularly care to rehash all of the garbage he spewed on Twitter yesterday, but I wanted to briefly showcase some of the most disturbing messages that Tumblr politics tag editor Alexander Ryking posted on a public forum last night. I just have one question: is this mature, professional behavior? Is this the type of person you want curating your tag content, Tumblr? Reblog if your answer is a resounding NO.
In order, here’s just what we’ve got in the screencap—he says similar things on his personal Tumblr all the time, but I thought it was important to point out that his troubled behavior is now spilling over to other media:
- calling women morons, feminazis and cunts
- equating the denial of “misandry” (a concept that is overwhelmingly rejected by everyone who understands gender politics) to denying scientific consensus
- stating that women who dislike him must have “daddy issues”
- again with the “daddy issues” thing, which IMO is the most grossly sexist part of this entire tirade
- equating women to dogs
- telling feminists to go die
This isn’t about removing him from the position of editor because of political disagreements; after all, Ryking isn’t a conservative! This is about baseless personal attacks against women specifically (although non-women who disagree with him about “feminazis” have incurred his wrath as well) and for no reason other than they identify as feminists. I cannot stress enough that these attacks take place in an internet culture where being an outspoken, visible woman online will routinely earn you death threats, sexual harassment, and acts of intimidation. Here we have someone completely oblivious to the way his words contribute to that atmosphere, and yet we’re supposed to trust him to edit the official politics tag? How can we believe that this man’s raging misogyny doesn’t spill over into that? It’s absolutely unacceptable.
Aren’t they supposed to be rotating the tag editors? Why aren’t they rotating this guy the fuck out of here?
