Let's Stop Pretending E3 Is A Professional Event

[Blackbird71]

I find it absolutely mindboggling to see all the recent hate for booth babes. They're just doing their job, goddamn. :/

I, for one, thoroughly enjoy ogling a nice set of boobies whilst checking out the latest games.

As for "a place and time for such things", do you also think it should be forbidden for women to dress skimpily just because they WANT to? 'Cause lord forbid if the little kids see them~!

Are you being sarcastic or do you honestly mean to imply that women desire to put on skimpy outfits, stand all day in a hot crowded room and be ogled by less than desirable men? (To put it politely) Dammit man, most mobile phones have internet connectivity, if you're that desperate for breasts google search them. If that's not good enough, commit and go to a strip club.

(boldface added for emphasis)

I'm sorry but the hypocrisy/self contradiction here was just too blatant to allow to pass unnoticed. You're essentially saying "women don't want to have to wear skimpy outfits and be stared at by unnatractive men, so you should go to a place where the women wear skimpy outfits and get stared at by unattractive men." How does that kind of logic make any kind of sense?!?

The fact is that men are visual creatures, sights can excite us and draw our attention; it's how we're wired. I find things like booth babes (whether at gaming conventions, auto shows, or wherever) are a demeaning exploitation of that fact. I personally do not care for it as a marketing tactic, as I find it insulting (or an indication that the product can't stand on it's own). I'm not about to get upset at the women themselves; I'm sure that for the most part, they're just doing the best they can to make a living and it's the companies that hire them that deserve my ire. However I also will not pity the girls' "plight." No one forced them to take the job, and I'm sure they knew what it involved, so they had to be at least somewhat comfortable with the idea of being looked at and objectified by others. Basically, they chose their situation, so they can deal with it. If not, then I'm sure they'll avoid such jobs in the future. The bottom line is, they exercise their free will in taking these jobs, and they don't need any "internet champions" either attacking or defending their choice.

 

[Danzavare]

I find it absolutely mindboggling to see all the recent hate for booth babes. They're just doing their job, goddamn. :/

I, for one, thoroughly enjoy ogling a nice set of boobies whilst checking out the latest games.

As for "a place and time for such things", do you also think it should be forbidden for women to dress skimpily just because they WANT to? 'Cause lord forbid if the little kids see them~!

Are you being sarcastic or do you honestly mean to imply that women desire to put on skimpy outfits, stand all day in a hot crowded room and be ogled by less than desirable men? (To put it politely) Dammit man, most mobile phones have internet connectivity, if you're that desperate for breasts google search them. If that's not good enough, commit and go to a strip club.

(boldface added for emphasis)

I'm sorry but the hypocrisy/self contradiction here was just too blatant to allow to pass unnoticed. You're essentially saying "women don't want to have to wear skimpy outfits and be stared at by unnatractive men, so you should go to a place where the women wear skimpy outfits and get stared at by unattractive men." How does that kind of logic make any kind of sense?!?

The fact is that men are visual creatures, sights can excite us and draw our attention; it's how we're wired. I find things like booth babes (whether at gaming conventions, auto shows, or wherever) are a demeaning exploitation of that fact. I personally do not care for it as a marketing tactic, as I find it insulting (or an indication that the product can't stand on it's own). I'm not about to get upset at the women themselves; I'm sure that for the most part, they're just doing the best they can to make a living and it's the companies that hire them that deserve my ire. However I also will not pity the girls' "plight." No one forced them to take the job, and I'm sure they knew what it involved, so they had to be at least somewhat comfortable with the idea of being looked at and objectified by others. Basically, they chose their situation, so they can deal with it. If not, then I'm sure they'll avoid such jobs in the future. The bottom line is, they exercise their free will in taking these jobs, and they don't need any "internet champions" either attacking or defending their choice.

Context. Learn it. It'd help. I was arguing against his defense of booth babes (That they like it and hence their jobs should remain) because I don't think that it's plausible to believe women have their dreams tied to this job, so there's little harm to removing it for them. But wait! Oh hey! Look! There's more to the post that you quoted!? Funny that~! But hey, the surprisingly elusive first half of my post seemed to evade you the first time so I'll quote it here with some bolded bits for good measure:

That reminds me of my last convention. I was with my little brother and both of us were extremely excited to see the Child of Eden Kinect area free. He ran up to it and I followed. We were immediately drawn by the pretty colours and the previews we saw of the game. He started playing and two booth babes tried to explain it to him but couldn't quite get their head around the game. I explained it (I read enough to know) to my brother and them. One of the two started telling me that they were only introduced to the game (and by the sounds of it, gaming) that morning and were just told to stand around all day.

It's awkward. I was interested in and drawn to the game, as was my brother, yet here were two ladies in short tight shorts and shirts clearly in a very uncomfortable place. They don't know gaming and if they did, I'm sure that's not the costumes they'd wear to the convention. I don't gawk (I have manners) and I don't feel uncomfortable around women (Pretty females aren't a rarity) but I couldn't help but feel embarrassed for being part of a place where that kind of shallow pandering is the 'appropriate' way of drawing people. In the normal world we would've spoken like people and I would've thought nothing of it, in the perverse world of the convention, she was bait and I felt like a creep just for being a male gamer.

I'm not a sexually repressed desperate tween and I take offense to being treated as such. I felt sorry for the woman and wished her luck dealing with the rest of the day. By the end of the day I refused to buy from stalls/booths that used women like that (Scoffing at one particular jerk who had his 'friend' in a succubus outfit, she did not look very happy either).

I hate the implications the existence of booth babes in gaming conventions has for me, as part of the community who attends some of these conventions. Do I like approve of this kind of pandering in other media or strip clubs? No, but frankly, that's of little concern to me. If I did want to say something about it I probably wouldn't go to a gaming site to do so. Shockingly, my post to a gaming related article on a gaming culture website actually pertains to an issue that specifically concerns gaming culture.

tl;dr: No, that is not what I was saying. I was saying "Do you really believe that women love this job so much that we need to keep it despite the implications it has for the gaming community? - If you really desire that kind of pandering, go somewhere else where it does not impact the gaming community (And where, if you truly crave for such things, you'll get the full show).

Edit to avoid a double post:

Eh, assuming it pays well enough most people would probably suffer for a few days to earn some good bucks. In any case, my point is that by removing these jobs I really don't think we're depriving anyone so your initial argument doesn't justify keeping booth babes. Having them there does more bad than good.

Well, I doubt it's minimum wage, else they'd probably be working at McDonalds or something.

Personally I don't see how they do any bad, to be honest. Is it because they use sex-appeal to sell a product? If people fail to look past what is obviously meant to be an initial eye-catcher ("Oooh, look, pretty girls! I wonder what their product is about."), then that's their fault, quite frankly. Don't take it out on the poor girl who're only trying to do their job.

Sorry for the wait, it's been a busy week.

It's the implications they (Or more specifically, their job) have for the gaming community, mainly that we're a bunch of slack-jawed socially repressed young men that can be bought over with such shallow pandering. It's discomforting to me. I go to these conventions for the gaming, not to be treated like a perverted dimwit. The gaming community is expanding and changing and I think conventions need to change to accommodate this (and hopefully some of the games, but that's an issue for another thread).

Just to reinstate my view, I don't actually have any ill-will towards the individual women who are booth babes, my issue is with the idea of booth babes and the companies that keeping putting them there. Honestly if it's an issue of economics (As in, the fear that there will be less jobs), hire individuals who know games and let them do their job in more appropriate outfits (And yes, there's no reason why they couldn't be female. xD).

 

[wearesoneutralthatithurts]

btw-aniother thing

the picture you refered-the male sodier&/marine which "kissed" a girl the V-J Day picture

this was no kiss of love


it was sexual harassment


the women told the story afterwards, she didnt even knew him, he came to her, grabber her and kissed her AGAINST HER WILL.

you mght notice that she has a fist and clings to her dress. and this is a series, on one picture you see how she tries to push him away-but got so overpowered (and it came out of nowhere, so she had no warning, couldn't shield herself for that..)


everytime is see that picture, i see sexism and rape culture, i see an asshole who grabs a to him unknown women and sticks his tongue in her mouth witout asking because "we win, therefore the women is my toy" or whatever the shithead was thinking. and i see a photographer who might have seen that the victim didnt wanted to be kissed-but published the picture nonetheless. and i see a society which like to ignore the shit-dark-and yucktastic side of that picture although the information about that is available. but nobody likes to get their icon defiled.


so-its interesting that these two pictures hve a bit similarity-the ww2party-foto is worse because the booth babe have choosen to work (and i am the last to say its wrong to wear this stuff or to work like that-i just say that this will make a hellot of people-men and women feel shitty and insecure and will drive them rather away from the booth than to the booth. so this might just not be that good of an idea.


and yeah, i see the problem with the other photo as well-but i see also the problem with the guy-maybe nobody taght him that ist very very very rude to stare that way. its just is-if you are to awkward, go away, calm down, approach again. but dont stand there, open mouth like a dog wanting to drink. its just demeaning and rude and such behaviour needs to be called out-just to learn it. just dont stare-approach, talk, whatever, but dont treat persons like they are food or something like that.