Being in a minority and then being told that we should just IGNORE our differences and deal with it -- that's just appalling. To be told that we ought to blend with the assumed majority. We are NOT men and a lot of us don't wish to experience the game the same as men.
and
So long as one assumes the male experience as the default gaming experience, Astrid's Parlor needs to exist. It's a community. Women sometimes NEED that community of sisterhood. It supports us in a society where we are the minority and considered seconds. This is why so many women thrive in single-sex educational environments.
Yes, those in a position of relative power can seem quite insensitive to those who aren't so gifted, meaning that such environments do need to exist.
However, its much more important to take questions like the OP's as a chance for initiating constructive conversation rather than bristling when the unspoken becomes spoken.
Saying that a post like "blah blah blah" is exactly the reason why X exists isn't exactly helpful. Nor is using charged language garnered from similar discussion. Even if the intent was just to point out that one shouldn't use such language, some will only hear/see the offending terminology and tune out to the point being made.
"Now maybe its just the half dozen threads i have read on there but it makes me wonder, are most players this whiny and PC? Are most newbies really looking this hard for anything to be offended over? And to any female gamers, do you really want to be treated this differently then guy gamers are treated?"
As far as I can tell, ironvyper wasn't making assumptions- he was asking questions as to whether what he was reading was the norm or the exception. His eyes had been opened to a possibility that something he perceived wasn't quite right...and got jumped on.
As a counter point, why is there an all female gym chain (Curves) and yet, if a man (or group of men) were to make a similar all male gym chain it'd be boycotted in a second by all manner of upset people who want to be included?
Up until the 1980s, most gyms in the US- with the possible exception of the West Coast- were almost as male dominated as the NFL.
Even with more miscegenation of the sexes at the gyms, there is still the lingering problem that many gyms have become little more than meat markets/singles bars.
Remember, though, that while women gamers maybe non majority, half of the population of the world is comprised of women.
Actually, women outnumber men- that longer average lifespan of theirs that comes from a combination of genetics, cultural practices that shunt men into dangerous professions while barring men from the same, etc., adds up over time.
We just use our superior muscle mass, testosterone fueled aggression, and a love of & familiarity with weapons to make it seem as if we were the majority.
And to get back on topic, I feel the same way about Astrid's Parlor. I long for the day when a forum centered around female issues would be unnecessary, but today is not that day.
I think you misunderstood me- I have no problem with the existence of a women's issue gaming forum. I was merely cautioning against overimersion within it to the exclusion of other forums. That could lead to a skewed viewpoint or hypersensitivity to the form or substance of questions about the issues discussed within it.
Within my own subculture, "because I'm black," is the catchphrase for that kind of hypersensitivity.
Oh, and I think I can one up you on the being an uber-minority, second-hand. I had a college pal who was black, Catholic-raised but Wiccan-practicing, a gamer (but not a metalhead), extremely short, and gay. We used to joke he was collecting minority statuses like we all collected Magic cards.
Well, I can't match "gay," but I'm only 5'7"...a few inches shorter than the US average, at least. But I can't say I've met any black Wiccans, and I know a few Wiccans! That dude should have been nicknamed "Black Lotus!"
The sad one I
can add is my educational level- fewer than 1 in 500 black college graduates go into Law (only Medicine, and Hard Science/Engineering degrees are rarer), and fewer still get a second graduate degree. I say this is sad because there is a growing anti-intellectual streak in the black community- you'd be surprised to hear some of my relatives say I "talk funny"/"talk white."
