Voranzovin
Explorer
I'm not surprised that these discussions tend to become an endless morass, because the subject matter couldn't be more conducive to having one's rational thought overwhelmed by the lizard brain.
I'll use myself as an example. My first, gut level reaction to these two images wasn't at all rational. My first reaction was to say to myself, "Self, what the hell? You think that second image is attractive, don't you? Why do you keep objectifying women? You're just like one of those people." Followed by a very familiar internal debate, in which my self attempts to convince myself that I could avoid accidental misogyny if I could just somehow repress my attraction to women. This does not work, of course, and never has.
I had this gut-level reaction even though I know perfectly well that nobody is suggesting that my personal reaction to a drawing has anything to do with the history of sexism in DnD, that attraction and objectification are two different things (although, to be honest, I doubt my personal ability to tell them apart effectively), and that somehow becoming less straight would do absolutely nothing to help women who experience sexism.
I expect that if I were a different person, that lizard brain reaction could manifest itself differently--it could be outward directed anger, rather then inward directed shame, for instance. Both are equally useless, but when people think their sexuality is being attacked--even, or perhaps especially, when it is not in fact being attacked--they do not necessarily react usefully or rationally.
I'll use myself as an example. My first, gut level reaction to these two images wasn't at all rational. My first reaction was to say to myself, "Self, what the hell? You think that second image is attractive, don't you? Why do you keep objectifying women? You're just like one of those people." Followed by a very familiar internal debate, in which my self attempts to convince myself that I could avoid accidental misogyny if I could just somehow repress my attraction to women. This does not work, of course, and never has.
I had this gut-level reaction even though I know perfectly well that nobody is suggesting that my personal reaction to a drawing has anything to do with the history of sexism in DnD, that attraction and objectification are two different things (although, to be honest, I doubt my personal ability to tell them apart effectively), and that somehow becoming less straight would do absolutely nothing to help women who experience sexism.
I expect that if I were a different person, that lizard brain reaction could manifest itself differently--it could be outward directed anger, rather then inward directed shame, for instance. Both are equally useless, but when people think their sexuality is being attacked--even, or perhaps especially, when it is not in fact being attacked--they do not necessarily react usefully or rationally.
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