To boldly be inclusive where no inclusiveness has existed before
Nerds and Male Privilege by Harris O’Malley
Just wanted to leave this awesome link here where it can be enjoyed thoroughly. Obviously problematic issue with the article: the language itself is not very self-aware in its cis-bias, and limiting the discussion to “this is how male privilege hurts only women” doesn’t include the gender spectrum. Additionally, there are very obvious biases in gaming and geek culture in general that aren’t just limited to gender issues, but also racism, classism, ableism, etc.
But!
For what the article set out to do, which was introduce the rampant male privilege in geek culture to a wider audience, I think it did it very well.
Some good quotes:
“Men also won’t have their opinions weighed or dismissed solely on the basis of how sexy or attractive they are. The most common responses a woman can expect in an argument – especially online – is that she’s fat, ugly, single, jealous, a whore, or a lesbian – or any combination thereof – and therefore her opinion is irrelevant, regardless of it’s actual merits. This is especially true if she’s commenting on the portrayal of female characters, whether in comics, video games or movies.”
“Geek society prides itself on being explicitly counter-culture; nerds will crow about how, as a society, they’re better than the others who exclude them. They’ll insist that they’re more egalitarian; geeks hold tight to the belief that geek culture is a meritocracy, where concepts of agism[sic], sexism and racism simply don’t exist the way it does elsewhere. And yet, even a cursory examination will demonstrate that this isn’t true.”
Also, I think this is a good summation of the importance of privilege-checking, and the attitude behind this can be applied globally:
Changing this prevailing attitude starts with the individual. Call it part of learning to be a better person; being willing to examine your own attitudes and behaviors and to be ruthlessly honest about the benefits you get from being a white male in fandom is the first step. Waving your hands and pretending that there isn’t a problem is a part of the attitude that makes women feel unwelcome in fandom and serves as the barrier to entry to geeky pursuits that she might otherwise enjoy.
(Also maybe we should think for a few seconds about how this can apply to the science community as well. As much as I love my roommates, I am also aware that my cis-female non-scientist opinion is much easier for them to disregard than the opinion of their cis-male, non-scientist friends. There are a plethora of reasons why the fields of science, mathematics and engineering have difficulty finding female scholars, but the continuance of this treatment is definitely not part of the solution.
Just saying.)
