New IGN Contest: No Girls Allowed

[Andy Chalk]

New IGN Contest: No Girls Allowed

District 9 [http://www.ign.com], but there's a catch: Only boys can play.

The winner of Peter Jackson [http://microsites.ign.com/d9/] and the cast and crew of District 9. The grand prize includes airfare to San Diego, two nights accommodations, two weekend passes to Comic-Con and access to special District 9 events taking place during the show.

The standard contest restrictions apply: Entrants must be residents of the United States, must be available to travel to San Diego for the weekend of July 23-26, must grant the right to use name and likeness for future publicity purposes, etc. But one unusual requirement sticks out from all the rest like a sore Adam's Apple: The contest is only open to males.

There are a lot of good reasons for this, of course. Chicks don't like comic books. Chicks don't understand sci-fi. Asking a chick to "cover" a complex, multi-layered film like District 9 is unfair and obviously expecting way too much. And let's face it, this is an internet contest so it's not like many chicks are going to find out about it anyway.

In spite of all that, it's difficult to understand why, with all the "women's lib" stuff that's so popular these days, IGN would choose to have a contest that's only open to the dudes. I thought for a second that perhaps the "males only" angle was meant to reflect the movie's themes of segregation and exclusion, but then I remembered that this is IGN we're talking about. Maybe there will be strippers?

Whatever the case, I'm sure the boyfriends of the nation will be happy to explain it using small words and short sentences when they get home.

via: Comics Worth Reading [http://comicsworthreading.com/2009/06/10/only-boys-can-win-trip-to-comic-con/]


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[ZeroMachine]

That's just... bad. No matter how you spin it. We're past things as large as boys-only voting, for fuck's sake, why would we devolve to have a boys only contest?

Ugh... I can't even find a good enough fail or facepalm picture to show my dissapointment on this.

 

[D_987]

Well im a boy so i qualify for this contest, but honestly the prize sounds really lame. I dont want to meet peter jackson or the people from district9. In my group of friends its only girls who care about comi-con, so why cant they just take my place? I guess no one at IGN has a girlfriend? Do they employ women at IGN, so many questions come up now.

Jessica Chobot?

(I think thats her name?)

 

[gigitrix]

Since they clearly haven't justified such a decision already, I call that this is just wrong.

 

[Kogarian]

That's...stupid. Humanity fails again. God, it's getting so depressing anymore.

 

[chronobreak]

This is good, except everyones gonna start screaming "BAWW Equal Rights!"

Just to clear that up, it's their contest, and they have no obligation to make it multi-gender. I'm sure after all the complaints, they'll cave and give the women some contest of their own. The prize sucks anyways though, it should be something manly, like a week splitting wood or working in a chewing tobacco factory.

 

[Esc.Control]

Number 1: This is obviously an attempt to generate controversy and thus press. Any press is good press, yeah?

Number 2: If they had a contest open only to girls, no one would bat an eye. So why the double-standard?

 

[Mr.Pandah]

"Whatever the case, I'm sure the boyfriends of the nation will be happy to explain it using small words and short sentences when they get home."

That made me laugh out loud.

 

[Sparrow]

Christ. I think you could possibly be over reacting.

So it's only open to males, so what? I'm sure they'll equal it up with a female only contest too. Maybe theres a more a specific reason?

Either way, it's not exactly trying to highlight the fact it's only for men are they?

 

[NotAPie]

This is good, except everyones gonna start screaming "BAWW Equal Rights!"

Just to clear that up, it's their contest, and they have no obligation to make it multi-gender. I'm sure after all the complaints, they'll cave and give the women some contest of their own. The prize sucks anyways though, it should be something manly, like a week splitting wood or working in a chewing tobacco factory.

Your so rig- BAWW Equal Rights!

 

[InProgress]

The whole: "male-only" theme is just wrong in so many ways that it's just plain stupid. I thought we evolved enough to know that women are equal to men, and that they too can be complete nerds (not using it demeaningly here).

P.S: A posibility to meet Peter jackson is great! Don't know about the District 9 thing as I've never seen it.

 

[The Shade]

I applaud your use of irony, Malygris.

And I can't wait to hear IGN try to explain this one.

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I'd love to meet Peter Jackson, though! But I live in Canada...

 

[uppitycracker]

The biggest comic book fan I know is actually a pretty attractive chick.... she puts most boys to shame with her comic book knowledge. That's a bad call on IGN's part, I gotta say.

 

[CakeDragon]

I would be offended by this, but I don't really like the prize so I wouldn't bother to complain to enter it in the first place.
Just shows how shallow and fickle some people can be, though. I'm surprised there wasn't an age restriction on it or anything. And height regulations. And you have to have green eyes. And blonde hair. And you're left handed. And shoe size of at least 8 (but no more than 10). And you own a kitten. And your name is Jonathan...

 

[Typhron]

Hahaha, oh wow. Way to morally bankrupt yourself 'the collective known as IGN'.

Perhaps they're worried that over half of gamers nowadays are females? Only reasoning I can see behind this, which still makes it unusual.

 

[Ralackk]

Unless its changed in the last 30 minutes meaning it was probably a computer glitch on their end or something, there is a Female(F) tick box right next to the Male(M) one. I just made a fake entry and signed up as a female without any problem.

Edit: Ok I just read the bit at the bottom of the page thats a bit odd.

 

[ArcWinter]

heh heh, what? Must be a misspelling in the rules. It doesn't matter at all, but really? Wow. This is less momentous than, say, other stuff that makes me lose my faith in humanity, but it still chips away at it.

And I agree, the prize is a bit lackluster. - except for the whole trip to San Diego for the Comic-Con.

 

[stormcaller]

Is it the same thing as the Nihilum mix-up maybe? Ofcourse there's no reason for it to be but still.

 

[Therumancer]

Well, actually I don't have a problem with this. There are plenty of women-only contests and such out there sponsored by cosmetic companies and the like. I believe "I can't believe it's not butter" did a "win a dream weekend with Fabio" contest years ago for example.

So really, having a "no chicks allowed" contest is perfectly fine by me. People simply don't think these things through. It's quite possible that the prize is very man-oriented, just like a "Dream date" with Fabio is women oriented (since I don't think he's gay all jokes aside, and if he is it doesn't work with his image).

It would be more of an issue if say for example the contest was "No Fat Chicks" and required that female contestants send pictures.

Also as one final point, since they are probably catering to fandom geeks it's quite possible they want a "this could be you" approach to the whole thing for future promotions. Thus they want some greasy neckbeard who fits the "every fanboy" stereotype as they see it to show off in later pictures.

Just my thoughts.

>>>----Therumancer--->