Malygris said:
The idea, which is in some ways tangential to the article but in some ways not, isn't that girls are "catered to" more than boys, but that "boy stuff" tends to be less tolerated than "girl stuff." Everything from clowning around in class to playing too rough during recess to after-school snowball fights and running around with toy guns (or reasonably-gun-shaped facsimiles) tends to be male-dominated, and when those kinds of activities are institutionally suppressed, what the kids are being implicitly told is, "We wish to hell you'd act more like girls." A frustrating and confusing perception is created that boys' behaviour is somehow wrong or bad.
Woah... that huge can of worms you've opened there.
There's probably an acceptable middle ground between Sparta and Bambi.
While women are gaining more and more liberties, but still struggling a lot, men get progressively criticized, probably as a backdraft of millenia of male domination in certain areas.
Now, some say women can be as ruthless as men, notably in politics and economics, or even war, but some would reply that it's to compete with men and stand a chance against them.
Do men like violence more than women? Would have societies been less destructive (not necessarily better politically) if only governed by women, reproducing through manual genetic mixing and in-vitro growths?
Violence is indeed fun, and we have to deal with that. I'd rather loose steam by playing virtual murder games, instead of hurting someone for real.
The difference between video games and martial arts is interesting. In video games, you can virtually do anything, literally free your mind and achieve most gruesome acts, while having no consequence at all on the physical plane. Your mind explores territories which can be socially reprehensible.
What a sinful activity to let the mind be perverted by such emotions and boundless activities! Where is the discipline in that?
Quick! Rate that game!
But again, it's all fake.
The discipline happens on the mind plane, where you identify and put the barrier between the virtual and the real.
On the other hand, martial arts tell us truths about discipline, sometimes respect, but it they have a more practical side to them. In may cases, though, it's still - and mainly - a case of kicking the crap out of someone else, inducing pleasure (fun) by weakening an oponent, with refined techniques of combat (which is not restricted to men only).
From a certain point of view, it makes little sense to blame video games for their violence, and acclaim people like Armstrong, Ali, Pedrosa, etc.
I suppose that what is disgusting about video games, in many minds, is the lack of physical activity mixed to the unrestricted exploration of any plausible scenario, ethical values be damned if wanted.
Yet, again, I can understand how people can view this as sick, but it does not mean I agree with them.
