I am a feminist....and this is hilarious.

[DANEgerous]

If someone asks me "Do video games cause violence?" I reply "Do the The Marines teach 360 no scopes as a valid tactic?" and they respond with "What did you just say?" and I am just like exactly. If video games train you to kill than The Marines need to start saying get on a tower with a sniper rifle jump off while spinning ignore the scope and fire. I mean that is what video games say is cool, oh yeah P.S. Guns suck use your knife way more bro.

 

[Thaluikhain]

If someone asks me "Do video games cause violence?" I reply "Do the The Marines teach 360 no scopes as a valid tactic?" and they respond with "What did you just say?" and I am just like exactly. If video games train you to kill than The Marines need to start saying get on a tower with a sniper rifle jump off while spinning ignore the scope and fire. I mean that is what video games say is cool, oh yeah P.S. Guns suck use your knife way more bro.

The US military has developed certain videogames as training aids, mind.

I have some vague recollection about someone recommending even very unrealistic multiplayer games to get people used to communicating and working as a team, but I could be wrong.

 

[God'sFist]

Ok when it comes to me and feminism I just can't get behind the movement or whatever it is because it is so ill-defined. Often I will watch one "Feminist" say something very anti men or anti not feminist and be hailed as the best thing ever while another "feminist" says they're not feminist only people who want equal rights for women are feminists. I'm so confused there that I can't honestly say what a feminist is or what they stand for. What I think a feminist is, is someone who works toward getting women the right to vote and hold office which has been done get women the right to work in pretty much any job they want to which has been done and get women the right to hold office which has been done. Feminism as I see it has done what it was supposed to do when it was created decades ago. Whatever feminism is now its too bogged down with feminist x isn't a feminist because reason y or feminist y isn't a feminist because reason x. Until it can focus on what the hell it stands for I cna't say I'm for or against it.

 

[Gorrath]

If someone asks me "Do video games cause violence?" I reply "Do the The Marines teach 360 no scopes as a valid tactic?" and they respond with "What did you just say?" and I am just like exactly. If video games train you to kill than The Marines need to start saying get on a tower with a sniper rifle jump off while spinning ignore the scope and fire. I mean that is what video games say is cool, oh yeah P.S. Guns suck use your knife way more bro.

The US military has developed certain videogames as training aids, mind.

I have some vague recollection about someone recommending even very unrealistic multiplayer games to get people used to communicating and working as a team, but I could be wrong.

Being a person who used such simulations, allow me to shed some light on this. We actually had Nintendo games which helped teach basic marksman skills. The game itself was nothing more than a simulated range and we used a standard rifle with a light-gun attachment. Simulations like these are really no different than any computer simulation to teach a very basic set of skills, so it's not like the Army had a bunch of murder simulators designed to turn us into hardened shock troops or anything (I know you didn't say that, I've just seen that link made before.)

Every skill simulator we used was less violent than duck hunt.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Being a person who used such simulations, allow me to shed some light on this. We actually had Nintendo games which helped teach basic marksman skills. The game itself was nothing more than a simulated range and we used a standard rifle with a light-gun attachment. Simulations like these are really no different than any computer simulation to teach a very basic set of skills, so it's not like the Army had a bunch of murder simulators designed to turn us into hardened shock troops or anything (I know you didn't say that, I've just seen that link made before.)

Every skill simulator we used was less violent than duck hunt.

I didn't mean that sort of thing, I meant "America's Army" and the like.

Mind you, there doesn't need to be any difference between a game and a simulation anyway. We still need to judge individual programs on their merits, and not say all games are or are not X.

 

[michael87cn]

I see the two things as kinda different, on one hand you have people thinking an activity programs your brain. On the other, we have people who think that people are programmed to hate a certain gender and seek to change people forcibly.

It's very different.

Video games do not make people murders or sexists. Fox News and, IMO! Feminists are equally silly.

 

[Gorrath]

Being a person who used such simulations, allow me to shed some light on this. We actually had Nintendo games which helped teach basic marksman skills. The game itself was nothing more than a simulated range and we used a standard rifle with a light-gun attachment. Simulations like these are really no different than any computer simulation to teach a very basic set of skills, so it's not like the Army had a bunch of murder simulators designed to turn us into hardened shock troops or anything (I know you didn't say that, I've just seen that link made before.)

Every skill simulator we used was less violent than duck hunt.

I didn't mean that sort of thing, I meant "America's Army" and the like.

Mind you, there doesn't need to be any difference between a game and a simulation anyway. We still need to judge individual programs on their merits, and not say all games are or are not X.

Oh, well, I don't know about "America's Army" but we never used it as a training aid. As far as I know that was a recruitment tool that took the player through various bits of basic training. And I agree, a game is a simulation, I wasn't saying that the simulations were used were not games, I was simply making the point that they were totally innocuous. Some people have the idea that video games designed for/by the U.S. Army are some kind of device to brainwash soldiers and the like when really all they are are simple skills simulators. You didn't allude to a belief about what they were or were not, my clarification was just so that people could learn a bit about what military simulators were comprised of.

 

[Muspelheim]

Ok when it comes to me and feminism I just can't get behind the movement or whatever it is because it is so ill-defined. Often I will watch one "Feminist" say something very anti men or anti not feminist and be hailed as the best thing ever while another "feminist" says they're not feminist only people who want equal rights for women are feminists. I'm so confused there that I can't honestly say what a feminist is or what they stand for. What I think a feminist is, is someone who works toward getting women the right to vote and hold office which has been done get women the right to work in pretty much any job they want to which has been done and get women the right to hold office which has been done. Feminism as I see it has done what it was supposed to do when it was created decades ago. Whatever feminism is now its too bogged down with feminist x isn't a feminist because reason y or feminist y isn't a feminist because reason x. Until it can focus on what the hell it stands for I cna't say I'm for or against it.

The thing is, political and social interest groups are always going to be messy. It's always going to be difficult to find a united core. That is why parties and movements tend to split up in smaller and smaller groups. It's usually not possible to support one united ism as a whole, because there is always going to be different philosophies and grades of radicality within them.

Further, while indeed the lionshare of work reguarding equality is done, there is still work to be done. Not least keeping the ground we've gained (which is always the drawback of freedom and self-rule and so on, it's upkeep intensive). Of course, the work that remains is nowhere near as monumental as it was, but it's too early still to discount the gender equality movements.

And in all honesty, smaller groups speaking for a whole that it really has no business speaking for is common practically everywhere organized opinions are concerned. "Not all feminists" isn't that different from "Not all gamers", is it? Both are true, but seems such a miasmic mess that one just want to lump the lot together anyway, for order's sake.

 

[Bara_no_Hime]

Ok when it comes to me and feminism I just can't get behind the movement or whatever it is because it is so ill-defined. Often I will watch one "Feminist" say something very anti men or anti not feminist and be hailed as the best thing ever while another "feminist" says they're not feminist only people who want equal rights for women are feminists. I'm so confused there that I can't honestly say what a feminist is or what they stand for.

What is a gamer?

Someone who plays games.

However, there are a lot of different kinds of gamers.

I prefer single player RPGs where I have full control over a party from an isometric or third person POV. I hate MMOs and multiplayer shooters. I think CoD is crap. I also prefer story over challenge in games. I dislike "Nintendo Hard" or other forms of artificial difficulty. I often play games on normal or even easy settings.

A lot of gamers disagree. Multiplayer shooters and MMOs are both very popular. Many gamers would consider me a "dirty casual" because I prefer easier difficulties.

What is a feminist?

Someone who believes that women should have equal rights to men.

However, there are lots of different kinds of feminists.

General "feminists" often don't even consider themselves feminists - they simply believe in the core "equal rights" idea.

Meanwhile, there are two main "schools" of feminism currently in vogue:

"Second Wave" Feminism, which is often the core of "Women's Studies" and the school to which people like Anita Sarkesian belong. The particularly radical second-wavers believe that men subjugate women for sex (if you've ever heard a feminist say that "all sex is rape" or that "all men rape" - that was a radical second waver).

and

"Third Wave" Feminism, which is often the core of "Gender Studies" and the school that says that sex is awesome and that women should not be ashamed of finding pleasure in it. Third Wave is focused on personal freedoms (and personal responsibility.

Third Wave feminism is now more popular than second wave... however, most feminist pundits are second wave feminists. Second wavers are VERY vocal.

Edit:

An easy way to spot Second Wave feminism:
Is the writer angry about sexualized characters or clothing? Probably second wave.
Is the writer talking about "the patriarchy" and not being ironic? Second wave. Third Wavers mostly crack jokes about "the patriarchy".
Is the writer suggesting that the only interaction between men and women is exploitative or about the exchange of goods and sexual services? Second wave.

 

[Callate]

There was a time when I would have been happy to simply define myself as a feminist. I believe in equal pay for equal work, support the right for unfettered access to birth control and abortion, and think that women should have a far greater role both in government and in the upper echelons of the business world. I also think "traditionally" female jobs like teaching and nursing are grossly under-appreciated and in many cases underpaid. I'm on the mailing list of Planned Parenthood and the League of Women Voters, among others.

A lot of the feminism that I see on the Internet is a close-minded, dogmatic thing that believes its role is to lecture and scold, and that it has nothing to learn from those it seeks to lecture. It deliberately creates a shell within which it is beyond criticism, and happily casts out anyone who has doubts as either a misogynist or a "benevolent sexist" at best (if male) or "internalizing [cultural] misogyny" (if female).

It is, bluntly, precisely the feminism I would create if I was engineering a movement to facilitate backlash and self-destruction.

I don't really want to be seen as part of something like that. Anytime something becomes dogmatic and incapable of self-examination, when its view of the world becomes something akin to an us-vs.-them paranoia, I don't want a part of it.

Now to be clear, this isn't all feminism, not by a long shot- but I think an honest assessment would have to recognize that it's some of the most visible and vocal.

I believe in the feminism that says "feminism is the radical notion that women are people." People with a stake in the way things are run, a responsibility, and a power of their own. People with empathy for others who aren't a part of their sub-group.

When the great lingo-monster comes up with an unambiguous and non-derogatory term for that, I will happily accept it as my own.

 

[one squirrel]

"Feminism is the notion that men and women shoud be equal in society" OK, if that was really it, I would count as feminist. But then the label seems to be a BIT misleading, why not call ourselves "gender egalitarianists" or something alike?

 

[deth2munkies]

The problem with internet debate is that the loudest voices tend to be the most radical, not because there are more of them or even necessarily because they post more, but because their words get shared more either as a rallying call or as a mark of derision for the entire movement. For all the social and political labels people put on themselves, most people have such diverse thoughts across the spectrum of issues that they cannot be neatly pidgeonholed into a single ideology.

In my opinion, we should stop trying. Ditch the buzzwords "feminist", "conservative", "liberal", "libertarian", etc. and instead focus on each issue as its own problem in need of solutions that may differ from what you believe about the broad topic generally. If you wanted to pidgeonhole that ideology, it would be "pragmatist", but I don't use that label or find it particularly useful.

 

[Weaver]

I believe all people should have equal rights and equal opportunities, but don't consider myself a feminist. I'd go so far to say I'm relatively anti-feminist in a pragmatic sense.

Quite frankly, I've seen some incredibly off-putting statements like "all men are just rapists waiting to happen". I don't believe if a women sleeps with a man then regrets it the next day the man raped her; women are grown adults who can make their own good or bad decisions, and regret or revel in those decisions just like everyone else. What if two women slept together and both regretted it?

Moreover, I don't see sexual harassment exclusively as a women's issue, especially framed in the "men act on women 100% of the time" argumentation I keep seeing online. Women can be harassed by women and men alike; I know a female cosplayer who was approached by a woman who said "I know this is inappropriate, but i would fuck you so hard right now" in the middle of the floor. Men can be harassed by women and men alike. This is not exclusively a woman's issue to me. Does it happen more to women? Absolutely. Does it happen exclusively to women? No.

Currently there are women who started a Women Against Feminism movement and their critics are saying they're brainwashed by the patriarchy and don't even know they're oppressed because the group seems to have this George Bush rhetoric of "You're either a feminist or a misogynist", which is an unbelievable dichotomy. For a movement that's supposed to be about free thought and forward thinking basically saying "either you agree with us or you're a sexist pig" is purposefully secluding yourself from criticism and debate because you're 100% sure you're right and no one can ever critically examine your arguments.

This is one reason why people get so upset at Sarkeesian. If you criticize her work she claims you're an anti-feminist, when really you're just criticizing the veracity of a single video on youtube without intention of critiquing feminism as a movement. If a Christian made a video on how anti-christian games were and had their examples questioned and factual errors pointed out, would dismissing all your critics are just anti-Christians or atheists really fly?

In terms of Zoe, this is what happens when your private actions conflict with your public image: you're not seen as a favourable person. Even worse when you're thought to - literally - be in bed with the press. It happened to Josh Mattingly, Pee-wee Herman, Brendan Eich, Gamespot, Phil Fish, etc. This is not a new phenomenon and has been around as long as there have been famous people to make mistakes.

When you act and say things in public, then are found to contradict those beliefs, people see you as untrustworthy. That's the long and short of it. I honestly really don't care much about Zoe or her work, but obviously others do.

I could go on but I'm sure I'll get enough colourful replies as it is.

 

[Mr.PlanetEater]

I love seeing women in games, and the game industry. It's a fantastically wonderful thing that the hobby has grown to be able to appeal to different people. What I don't like is both sides incessant need to inject feminism into every minor spat. Don't people realize that doing that isn't going to solve any issues or move the dialogue along? It's like the issue of race. Just because two people of different races have a spat doesn't make it a race fueled spat. It just makes it a spat where they happen to be two different races.

Needlessly focusing in on the issue doesn't do anything to advance either side. If a game doesn't have female protagonist it's not because the devs are misogynistic, it's because they didn't want a female protagonist. Likewise if a woman makes a game it's not because she's trying to push her feminist agenda, it's because she wants to make a fucking game

Basically, unless feminism is clearly at the forefront of any given issue don't needlessly inject it--whether pro OR con. You're just helping the cycle continue.

 

[God'sFist]

snip for wall of text if I don't

Thanks I appreciate that, but still according to this definition what I'd really be is someone just wants equality period and that's not particularly feminist it's really more of egalitarian belief and not something else. Also with a "gamer" it is a little easier to define to someone not in the group than feminism. I mean look at your own post for the example. An average Joe would be like "ok...." and then forget everything you just told him and leave. With a gamer you can just say someone who plays games and most everyone would agree with that definition. I'm not a huge shooter, mmo guy either by the way. I do appreciate the explanation that is helpful sorta.