Yo sup guys. So the feminism in video games thread thing kinda ran its course, but there were some good conversations and heated battles and stuff that happened, so here’s a new thread to continue talking about stuff. This thread doesn’t have to be about feminism in video games obviously, but it seems like those are good places to start and see where we go from there. Also…even though the thread title says daily, it’s possible I might even post two thoughts in one day, or some days not even post anything at all. Literally anything could happen in this thread, I mean ANYTHING, shit’s gonna be mad insane up in this thread.
So here’s an interesting little oped from Laurie Penny, who some people would probably consider a “Social Justice Warrior”, while other people would probably think she is a person with interesting opinions who happens to be a feminist, while others still would be like “who the fuck is this I don’t care gimme another PBR w00t go COWBOYS!” (note I am implying if you’re from Texas you’re less likely to know who Laurie Penny is, sorry for the truth bomb).
Anyway, here it is: http://www.newstatesman.com/laurie-penny/on-nerd-entitlement-rebel-alliance-empire
Basically, it’s long, but there’s two arguments:
(1) Just because you had some elements of trauma in your background, i.e. being bullied in high school, does not negate the fact that you still have certain other privileges vis a vis other people, like for example being white, male, or being born in an advanced economy like America. Those privileges don’t ignore the fact you were traumatized in some way, but they can coexist.
(2) Nerds and feminists should be allies, not enemies, because their traumatic experiences are in some sense a shared experience. Instead, many nerds for whatever reason blame women for “rejecting them” instead of blaming the actual people who bullied them, and they develop a sort of stockholm syndrome like affection for the bullies. when those same nerds grow up to become successful tech entrepreneurs or whatever, they end up recreating elements of the bullying culture they themselves were subjected to in their own companies and social circles, rather than creating more welcoming environments like you might expect.
Don’t get me wrong, there are also some laughably horrible expressions in her article too, like “And this, for me, is the root and tragedy both of nerd entitlement and the disaster of heterosexuality” (emphasis mine). I mean…nothing but lol.
But those two arguments are two things I myself alluded to in my initial post in the other thread, which I don’t think ever got discussed because we got bogged down in specifics. No. 2 I think especially is fascinating. I saw it myself in my MBA program, endless numbers of people who were OBVIOUSLY bullied sexless nerds in high school who all of a sudden thought they were jocks cause they were investment bankers for 3 years and had fat stacks of cash to blow.
