HeyGuys

I won't argue whether or not the term "gamer" is something worth preserving, I'm not sure, but your point that people do not incorporate enjoyment of other forms of media into their identity is wrong. People call themselves film buffs, readers, and a whole host of other things to indicate their appreciation or time spent with a form of media that is higher than the general population.

I'm not sure you know what victim blaming is, I see no people suggesting any victims of harassment are to blame for their being harassed.

@loiosh: I'll give Danielle's work a look, thanks for the tip.

@anund: I still think there's utility in the word feminism due to structural and institutional problems that urgently need to be addressed that face women today, especially if you think of it as an international movement. If it helps clarify some people prefer to use the term "egalitarian feminist". I've always been of the position that prejudice is a double edged sword, even when it doesn't cut equally, so everyone should have an interest in making the world more fair.

If you believe the word isn't the best to convey your views though that's fine, if you tell people you believe in equality I'm sure they'll know what you mean.

I think you might be misreading what I'm saying here. When I say "both sides" I am referring to the frustration felt by individuals on either side of this argument. Whatever you think of the pro-GG side I'm sure you can understand that there are people supporting it that are frustrated and have expressed themselves in a way they might not if they weren't. I'm not speaking to the GG movement as a whole but you must agree that there have been reasonable, normal individuals who have supported it. This has nothing to do with equivalence.

Edit: Yes Twitter is poison.

@truthtellah: I'll use an excuse for him that I've been extending to far too many on the site (on both sides of the issue of course) and blame frustration.

@gloomytangent said:

@promanari:

Courtesy of xkcd.

Well, I mean the government is restricted from doing more than just arresting you by the right to the freedom of speech guaranteed in the 1st amendment but otherwise this is totally correct.

I think I can succinctly summarize the OPs thoughts, mostly, with my own and that's that I have no problem with feminist, structuralist, or critical theory based evaluations of games, they're media they should be analyzed, my problem is that the gaming press is really bad at it. The gaming press is seldom, if not always unqualified to pursue these critiques, they exercise zero rigor, they're ignorant of the history of these movements, and, well, they're lazy and trying to roll a bunch of competing interests into one review.

I disagree with you about how to communicate to those on the fence about an issue but I guess that's a matter of tactics and without enough proof, which I just don't have enough time to dig through and make a solid historical case, we'll just have to keep believing what we believe.

I'm a little unsure of how to express my feelings on this subject, but if it's true that women in gaming feel terrified to just speak their minds then damn that hits hard.

The central idea that has guided my identification as a feminist has always been freedom. It has been my belief that a society doesn't need a 50/50 split in all areas of human endeavor for any one of those areas not to be sexist but that society needs to foster an attitude that anyone can pursue whatever they want on a individual basis without any fear of consequences (social, economic,ect.) for pursuing that endeavor.

I still believe that so-called "core" gaming will not likely have a 50/50 demographic split without people changing the definition of what that is, which is just the semantic moving around of words, and that is okay, romance novels aren't going to have a 50/50 demographic either. But for there to be a feeling that there is a backlash for merely being a female who enjoys games means that there is a socially exclusive attitude towards that pastime keeping people out who, if not for that backlash, would rather be in. To me this creates a denial of individualism and self-expression that restricts people to gender-roles rather than encouraging people to be themselves. It creates a barrier to entry that some women by their courage or other personality traits might overcome but deters those without those traits regardless of their passion for the medium.

@patrickklepek: I would throw Rouge Legacy in there as a game that toys with the usual concepts of death in games. In Rouge Legacy it splits the "rouge like" gap of progression and reset, with the player never being expected to beat the game without dying but before each reset changing something about the rules of the game going in.