Monday, June 2, 2008

So Much Hate

Apparently I'm still getting used to this being at home thing as I completely forgot a post for yesterday.

Anyways, Leigh Alexander is awesome again by thinking the same exact thing as me when I read this article.

Feministing and I have a unique relationship, or we did. I used to spend a good deal of time poring over the articles that appeared on the blog trying to figure out why I disliked the site. I couldn't figure it out for a long time, I mean, I like what their goal, and I feel in a global context feminism is still relevant (locally is a more complex topic), so why did I dislike them? I figured out that it was the anger that the writers voiced that turned me off. The sheer hate that permeated the articles made me nervous. Having figured this out I decided to lambaste them in one of my posts here, but I had to find an article to poke wholes in.

That's when I ran into a little bit of a snag.

You see, the writers at Feministing.com aren't bad writers, and they aren't bad journalists. While I may have disagreed with their message, everything they did was good work, so I couldn't have anything more than a personal beef with them. Then they slipped up and wrote this article on GTAIV, which the writer had not played. I didn't write the post that I had thought up partially because I have a number of friends who read Feministing and I didn't want to alienate them, but mainly I felt that it was too easy, and while I may foam at the mouth for the bad journalism that their article showed, I was still more worried about the anger and hate that I saw in their words. So for the moment you can consider Feministing and I at peace, the kind of peace where I send spies over at all times, but peace nonetheless.

3 comments:

Tracy Hurzeler said...

Oh, don't worry about alienating us. We agree 100% with you on the whole misconception on GTAiv. (I mean, I'm speaking on behalf of myself, Armand, and my friend Conley at least.)

Personally, I think Guitar Hero III was WAYYY more sexist then anything I've ever seen come out of the GTA universe. Not only that, but it was a poster-child for product placement.

I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with feministing on the whole. I only go there for the news; its the only decent place I can find for stuff like that.

They're bizarrely fixated with polyamoury, which the last time I checked has barely anything to do with feminism, and when it does its only in certain contexts.

They support circumcising male babies, which I think is completely disgusting, cruel, and unnecessary.

But most of all, they just aren't genderless enough for me. My interest has always been proving that biological sex has no effect on personality whatsoever, except that which society forces upon us. It was that, mixed with feeling anger over being "just a girl" and dealing with blatant sexism towards me that has made me become a feminist. Although, I don't really fit in with a lot of them.

Cory, we agree on a lot more than you realize. Don't be afraid to say whats on your mind.

Cory said...

I'm much more worried about Armand's sensibilities than yours, but it isn't really anyone in Oregon that I'm worried about offending.

I am however curious about your attitude on Guitar Hero 3. I see the sexism, or at least the gendering, but the product placement seems to be more of an attempt to recreate the rock experience than anything more subversive.

Tracy Hurzeler said...

Ok, this isn't gendering, this is straight up sexism. I mean....dancing axe girls during every boss fight?

My friend Conley was on some forum(or something) that the ever-so-classy not-treading-on-copyright-infringement-at-all people from activision were on. A person from the company said that they "fixed" Judy Nails. The answer is....they gave her a huge chest. Personally, I was willing to overlook the way that Judy Nails and the rest looked. But the dancing axe girls? I returned the game as soon as I saw that.