pbhawks45

@CornBREDX said:

@pbhawks45: I realize that. I think you misunderstood my point when I said "women should stand up for themselves..." What I mean by that is that I am not against them discussing this issue on twitter, creating a hash tag, or Patrick raising awareness for it in an article trying to promote discussion on it. It was a statement of agreement with what Patrick was saying and a mild "for the record I'm on the side of equality." I suffer from social anxiety, PTSD, and other what not, which have stigmas attached with society at large. Even if it's not the same (it's not), I can sympathize with not wanting to lose a job by raising a fuss over something mild but distasteful that someone just wanted to raise awareness of. So, hopefully that clears things up.

Totally! I've dealt with similar issues in the past as well. Apologies if it seemed I lashed out at you, did not mean that at all.

@biosfear said:

while I am very grateful you're keeping up the discussion on this and calling out some comments for what they are - ignorant. I take issue with the fact that you make sure to distance yourself from the term "feminist". Like someone else said, all it means is you're for equality for women which is what most people should be. If you care about human rights, surprise! You're a feminist!

LIAR! You want to PUT MEN DOWN...or something. Sigh. It makes me sad seeing that you had to explain this point.

@EnduranceFun: I do have an argument. I've made several here. Women deserve to be treated fairly, and shit like "just stand up for yourself" ignores the underlying problem at hand where people think harassment is okay.

@EnduranceFun said:

@BrianP: If it isn't a dead horse, it's a morbidly obese horse after feeding on all these sexist / feminist articles posted by Patrick. To much of the community, these have become a tiresome part of the site.

Then too fucking bad. It's a real issue, and your awful, derogatory comments these past two days are proof enough that this is a problem.

@CornBREDX said:

@pbhawks45: I feel you are reading way to much into what I said haha

When I say there are bigger issues in the world, I mean say- the fact that Iraq was put in the middle of a "war" it's people never wanted or technically deserved and it's country is in shambles. Or hungry children everywhere in the world. There are bigger issues.

This is an issue and I do think it should be discussed. I do not wish to downplay it with further arguments, but I think people blow equality issues in general into major proportions (meaning sometimes they say it's not a big deal, sometimes they say they don't care, etc. etc.). I don't want to get into that, though. It's not my intent to start an argument over equality semantics. Anyway, I had (still have really) no intention of discussing this further. My main goal was to point out that I agree with a point Patrick raised, and why I don't generally comment on articles like this. =)

My apologies. I hope you get what I mean, though. I think there are women who want things to improve, and are afraid of receiving backlash in their workplaces, however unjust it may be. Especially in this economy, where finding a job is really, really hard.

@Bishop113 said:

I know it's a mistake commenting on this crap more because it's just going to go to shit as these discussions always do.

Patrick, I agree with you that it would be nice to have more strong female roles in games, there are a lot out there IMO, but it's pretty clear not as many as there are male protagonists. The problem I have with this and with -most- feminist movements is that it's not about change, it's not about getting the word out and fighting for improvement in respect for women. It's about shock and awe, it's about acting like a victim and blatantly focusing on only a few negative examples whilst ignoring literally thousands of positive examples. This happens in all media and quite frankly, the fact that you are dragging it onto giantbomb instead of giving me actual news on the industry and more insider stuff like you usually do, it just pisses me off. I don't want this melodramatic bullshit on the one gaming site I still visit and if it continues, I'll just stop coming here just like I unfollowed you on twitter. I know that means nothing in the grand scheme of things given you probably have several hundred thousand visits monthly/bi-monthly, but it disappoints me that the site I've been coming to for years is becoming a place I want nothing to do with when you guys talk about this type of shit.

Someone on the last article said this is like a gawker article, just made for click-bait and I agree. Keep this on your twitter and out of this website please.

Peace out, then.

@EnduranceFun said:

@anarchyzombie9: Sexism can be argued to be 'prevalent' everywhere. This is not unique to the gaming industry and Patrick fails to do any more than beat a dead horse.

So, because it is everywhere, it can't be more prevalent in the games industry than in other fields? Is that a valid excuse to keep things the status quo?

@EnduranceFun: I'd be interested to hear what your problems are with this issue. Surely it's not for women wanting sexual harassment to stop in the workplace and be treated as equals.

@DrKunze: That's all you get out of this? C'mon, man.

@CornBREDX said:

Despite some grammar mistakes, (sorry, I couldn't resist, they get real bad near the end) you raise some very valid points.

While I really don't like to partake in this discussion (as it's one that makes everybody get all riled, and those are not fun discussions for me) I have always been for equality in all things. I think there are bigger issues these days, then this, but if women are not being treated equally in any work place they really should stand up for themselves. I would never be against that.

I understand where you are coming from, but I think you're making things a little too simple. There's an underlying fear of going to HR. It gets people involved, it creates more tension, and can often make the situation worse for the woman. It's a different sect, but here's a report regarding the military and sexual harassment.

"GAO found several reasons why servicemembers may choose not to report an incident, including the belief that the incident was not sufficiently serious to report or that the incident would not be taken seriously if reported," the report states. "...support for sexual harassment policies and programs by military commanders and senior enlisted servicemembers is not consistently strong".

Military personnel reported that incidents of sexual harassment were sometimes ignored or "swept under the rug", according to interviews conducted by GAO investigators, because leaders believed complaints would reflect badly on their command.

Not taken seriously. Afraid it would be ignored. These are common themes you will read. If it were as simple as you described, I very much thing these women would have gone through those avenues. Not trying to pick a fight or anything.