Not The Bees said:
As for backing down from things... women's rights, as it were, is just one of those things that aren't my pet projects. I have two, three technically, that are incredibly close to me (how people view mental health and treat them, the people of Gaza and the war, and child abuse, but that ties in with the PTSD). I would never back down from speaking up about them. And because of that, I have lost family members, friends refuse to speak to me, I have alienated people in my husbands family, and in general have made myself a very lonely person.
Yegads, Gaza. Another reason I get compared to the Nazis. Because saying "Palestinians are people, too" is the same as saying that all Jews should die. Or something. I'll never understand the extreme responses I get, but they actually kind of run parallel here.
In any case, and I'm not trying to be holier than thou, I tend to address inequity when I see it. On a gaming board, I'm most likely to be Social Justice Warrioring for women or LGBT issues, since they come up the most. In "real life," I've done political campaigning for various causes. These also include LGBT issues and feminist issues, but aren't limited to them. I am more active over some issues, and admittedly, some I just complain about because I don't have much recourse. Even then, I kind of hope people are listening.
I think I deal in women's issues the most because of sheer volume. Half the population (give or take, and varying by nation) is comprised of women, so odds are, you'll know someone impacted by these issues. They may or may not be the most severe, but...They're there.
I just realize how sad that sounded, but don't worry. I'm good at being lonely.
If it helps, I know how you feel, sort of.
I understand your point. I just wanted you to know that not everyone that is looking to get help for male domestic abuse victims is clouded by false equivalences. Sometimes it's just wanting to help those who actually need it.
Yeah, it's basically just an automatic response at this point. I get screamed at a lot on YouTube by people who are infuriated that I don't think straight white males are the most persecuted group ever. I get told I hate men, disparage men, etc., Because of dogma surrounding these concepts. And the absolute best part is that they often don't seem to be doing it to improve the social standing of men but as more of a "screw you" to women. "Men are raped, too" is often uttered in the same fashion Thunderf00t recently complained that he's been threatened, but you don't hear
him complaining about it.
The Escapist's own Critical Miss did a comic on it [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/comicsandcosplay/comics/critical-miss/9966-The-Counterpoint] way back. Oh, 2012. To think, a comic like that would only get 150 or so posts at one point.
You have to remember, I don't know EVERY feminist out there.
I understand, I'm just pointing out how broad it is. And that's one of the issues. People try and label feminists as though we all believe X or Y. For example, people complain about the term "patriarchy," and its use. You don't have to accept patriarchy, and most of the people complaining seem to think we believe it's a big manspiracy where the ill-man-ati are actively stroking their white cats in underground lairs, saying "how can we keep those miserable women down today?"
"Do you expect me to come up with a more realistic scene?"
"No, Mister Bond, I expect you to die!"
Feminists, essentially, agree one one point. Women are treated worse, overall, than men. I doubt we could even agree on the severity. Anything else? It's like trying to herd cats. I even afford for the notion that there may be feminists who actually believe in the Illu-man-ati out there. I think it's absurd. I don't think there's a systematic attempt to keep women down on a broad social level, and I wouldn't support the notion without some evidence. But I afford for them existing.
Anyway, I'm rambling because it's 2:30 in the morning and I'm only up because my spine won't play ball, so I'm loopy and in pain. Where was I?
When I say handling poverty and minimum wage and so on, see my example above about two different women having different ideologies. Until people can start having at least the same education and chances at life, then we can't expect any real change in how women are treated. The lawyer may be treated much better than that rural white girl with just the high school education. But the African American may have problems with wage gaps while the young girl may have trouble with sexual harassment.
I get what you're saying, I just can't wrap my head around it. Doesn't mean it's wrong, you're wrong, or you're bad. Just...Well, see the above ramble on my courses of action. I don't think I even could choose.
Perhaps it's a bit optimistic of me, or perhaps because I was a teacher for so long, but I have always felt that education is the first step to fixing any problem.
Well, it certainly helps. I mean, at least you're not completely off-base.
My family is very right leaning, my father being Catholic, and I haven't gotten any peace ever from being more liberal than they are. I still don't. I usually try to preface anything I say to my dad with... I know you think I'm a communist, but... It usually doesn't work, but at least I tried.
Most of my family was Fox News before there was a Fox News. Back when O'Riley was saying "fuck it, we'll do it live" and Hannity was doing...whatever it is Hannity did, I don't really care. I've given up. My parents are the liberal wing of the family, and they did civil rights protests back in the late sixties and early seventies. My father fought the draft in Vietnam, and stuck it out despite risk of deportation. And I can't imagine how any of us developed in this family of all places. But, weirdly enough, both my parents had the benefit of better education, which certainly doesn't hurt the argument that education is the cure.
I'd like to be someone I can be like, though I am just a white woman, my half brother is mixed, I'm sure he'd like to be able to play as black sometimes. But moreover, just from a writing perspective, I've always just thought it was lazy writing. Is it really that hard to think of a new character that isn't JOHN Q SMITH EVERYMAN! I mean, it's the Superman Complex. You can't keep giving him every super power because you've run out of ideas for interesting bad guys. That's your fault, not ours. Not that Superman really ever had interesting bad guys, Lex was about it... although it is early, I'm probably forgetting someone.
Gaming is still largely about power fantasy, and I'm not sure it'll ever not be largely about power fantasy. Part of that is keeping them vague enough to imprint on. Granted, I find the quality of writing in video games suspect, but I think this part is more marketing. But then, this is why I like the Saint's Row approach. Voliton let yo play as anyone. Hell, SR2 even had a "gender slider" so you could mix sexual traits. And since Saints Row was the biggest franchise THW published that wasn't a tie-in to someone else's franchise, I'd imagine it didn't hurt them any. Of course, Saints Row still has kind of weak writing. It's just that it demonstrates you can have power fantasy and still afford for an intesexed Latino with a giant afro who saves the world in a cowboy outfit and pumps.
As far as characters go, I keep hoping that we'll see more exploration in RPGs, but we don't. JRPGs play out like novels, and WRPGs tend to be rooted in the same power fantasy as other games. You're generally the wandering Messiah. I mean, sometimes it's fun to be space JAYSUS, but it gets boring.
Well I don't want to know your SSN, or your first pet name, or the street where you grew up on, or your mothers maiden name... unless you want to tell me them...
Uh uh. No way are you finding out my password is 12345!
Oh, crap.
Sometimes people tend to take my passionate, which I'm glad you understood that for what that was, as anger. I'm not a very angry person, I spent entirely too much of my life like that, and suffering from PTSD as I do, I still have inexplicable rages, so I try to focus those where they need to go, not on people that don't deserve it. And you certainly don't deserve it. We may not agree, but you are an honest and forthcoming person that I truly enjoy chatting with. Don't find that too often any longer, or at least I don't.
You should hear me rant about the things I love. I may not always pick up on it, but I do understand it.
