Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is coming! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
When a man plays a woman
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 6941171" data-attributes="member: 4937"><p>When I say that "cultural appropriation is not a thing", what I don't mean is that some of the problems that get stuffed under the umbrella tag of "cultural appropriation" aren't problems. I mean that "cultural appropriation" as a tag is inherently not useful, inherently poorly communicates about those problems, inherently creates misconceptions, unfortunately lumps together things which would be better with their own tags, and has fundamental philosophical roots in some really dark places. It's not by accident that I choose to attack the notion of "authenticity", and I think people that traced back where that came from would be really surprised. I say it's not a thing, not to dismiss anyone's real problems and experiences, but to dismiss it as a useful description and mental framework for what those problems actually are. In other words, I dislike it in large part because I think it is sloppy thinking, and I link to the video that I link to because its someone who isn't white (and therefore, for better or worse has the privilege of speaking with moral authority on this topic) that eloquently attacks the sloppy thinking involved in "cultural appropriation", and the racist ideology at the heart of it, while not dismissing the often real problems that get labeled as "cultural appropriation". </p><p></p><p>One of the things I always look for in an ideology, is if that condemns something as wrong, it gives a functional description of how a person in the wrong can amend their behavior. And I really think one of the big problems with "cultural appropriation" as a description, is it isn't coherently proscriptive. Any attempt to describe what someone guilty of the crime should do, or how one should avoid the crime, invariably runs into wishy-washy thinking, self-contradiction, and most of all appointment of a preferred priesthood who can speak "authentically" on the particular subject. As I've just tried to show, defining "authenticity" in these matters is probably impossible, and is usually a tautology. But even worse "authenticity" in a racial context proves to be racist, as it turns out that whether you are authentic or not ends up being determined mostly by whether you agree and submit, and if you have some opinion about race or whatever that doesn't conform with the program, then you - as you've just experienced - get dismissed. I've seen too many cases of things like people who supposedly have good intentions, promoting "cultural appropriation" as "social justice", claim that the only "authentic" black experience is being a criminal, and dismissing as inauthentic (in far more racist language than that) someone whose skin is dark who has any other experience. When you do that to people who I count as friends, or count as people I admire and respect, I get a bit defensive about it, which may unfortunately spill out into aggressive rhetorical counter-punching.</p><p></p><p>Anyway, I think there seems to be consensus that men can play women (and women can play men). It might be interesting if there was any particular insight beyond the obvious on how to do that well, especially if you feel it isn't usually done well.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Celebrim, post: 6941171, member: 4937"] When I say that "cultural appropriation is not a thing", what I don't mean is that some of the problems that get stuffed under the umbrella tag of "cultural appropriation" aren't problems. I mean that "cultural appropriation" as a tag is inherently not useful, inherently poorly communicates about those problems, inherently creates misconceptions, unfortunately lumps together things which would be better with their own tags, and has fundamental philosophical roots in some really dark places. It's not by accident that I choose to attack the notion of "authenticity", and I think people that traced back where that came from would be really surprised. I say it's not a thing, not to dismiss anyone's real problems and experiences, but to dismiss it as a useful description and mental framework for what those problems actually are. In other words, I dislike it in large part because I think it is sloppy thinking, and I link to the video that I link to because its someone who isn't white (and therefore, for better or worse has the privilege of speaking with moral authority on this topic) that eloquently attacks the sloppy thinking involved in "cultural appropriation", and the racist ideology at the heart of it, while not dismissing the often real problems that get labeled as "cultural appropriation". One of the things I always look for in an ideology, is if that condemns something as wrong, it gives a functional description of how a person in the wrong can amend their behavior. And I really think one of the big problems with "cultural appropriation" as a description, is it isn't coherently proscriptive. Any attempt to describe what someone guilty of the crime should do, or how one should avoid the crime, invariably runs into wishy-washy thinking, self-contradiction, and most of all appointment of a preferred priesthood who can speak "authentically" on the particular subject. As I've just tried to show, defining "authenticity" in these matters is probably impossible, and is usually a tautology. But even worse "authenticity" in a racial context proves to be racist, as it turns out that whether you are authentic or not ends up being determined mostly by whether you agree and submit, and if you have some opinion about race or whatever that doesn't conform with the program, then you - as you've just experienced - get dismissed. I've seen too many cases of things like people who supposedly have good intentions, promoting "cultural appropriation" as "social justice", claim that the only "authentic" black experience is being a criminal, and dismissing as inauthentic (in far more racist language than that) someone whose skin is dark who has any other experience. When you do that to people who I count as friends, or count as people I admire and respect, I get a bit defensive about it, which may unfortunately spill out into aggressive rhetorical counter-punching. Anyway, I think there seems to be consensus that men can play women (and women can play men). It might be interesting if there was any particular insight beyond the obvious on how to do that well, especially if you feel it isn't usually done well. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
When a man plays a woman
Top