Quickies

Skepchick Quickies, 11.22

Jen

Jen is a writer and web designer/developer in Columbus, Ohio. She spends too much time on Twitter at @antiheroine.

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18 Comments

  1. Gee. Thanks, UN. That makes my day a little bit brighter. Fuck…

    From Reuters:

    Morocco and Mali introduced an amendment on behalf of African and Islamic nations that called for deleting the words “sexual orientation” and replacing them with “discriminatory reasons on any basis.”

    So basically, gays can still be executed as long as it’s done under the cover of said behavior being a “social problem” or some other such nonsense. Note how all the other groups that are forbidden from being executed still remain listed individually.

    It’s particularly frustrating that the USA abstained from the final vote, not to mention that South Africa (which legalized same-sex marriage in 2006) voted in favor of removal.

  2. A friend of mine posted the UN link on Facebook. Here is how I responded:

    The article’s headline is a bit misleading. A more accurate one, per my understanding, would be “Countries vote to implicitly but not explicitly ban execution of gays, while explicitly banning other types of execution.”

    They removed the words “sexual …orientation” and replaced them with “discriminatory reasons on any basis.” The anti-gay countries won a minor victory by making the wording ambiguous rather than explicit. Of course, the explicit ban against executions on the basis of the exectuee’s religion stays in. Why not cut out the whole list and say “discriminatory reasons on any basis”?

    http://af.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idAFTRE6AG0BM20101117

    And a still advocating but more thorough article:
    http://news.pinknews.co.uk/2010/11/18/un-deletes-gay-reference-from-anti-execution-measures/

    It’s still like the world moved a step backwards.

  3. Regarding gaming: It is obvious that girls game for different reasons. The Sims is supposed to be incredibly popular among girls. I tried to play it for five minutes. After I woke up, I shouted at the screen “Are you freaking kidding me!”
    Seriously, what is the point of that game? Do for imaginary people what you should be doing for yourself? I fell asleep watching a computer character read a book.

  4. I thought everyone gamed for the same reason I did…punk-asses bosses aren’t going to hit their glowing vulnerable spots on their own.

  5. The Royal Society has lost women scientists?

    That seems a little absent-minded of them. Next time, they should try the buddy system. Or maybe a roll call before they start the bus.

  6. The UN needs to stop trying to represent the whole world. Maybe it needs to start expelling some of the Islamic dictatorships that have been corrupting the process there.

  7. It doesn’t surprise me that gaming leads to a lower incidence of smoking… you’d have to stop playing to smoke, or take your hand off the controller.

    That shit just ain’t gonna happen.

  8. @hkdharmon:

    I’ll see your anecdote and raise you one.

    The first experience I ever had with any Sim games was way back in the early 90s when I watched my brother playing them.

    I’m a woman and I play games for the same reason that men do: to get to next level so I can use better equipment and fight stronger monsters, which will help me get to the next level even faster.

  9. @catgirl: The level treadmill, or what I call my three years playing World of Warcraft.

    Certainly, there are plenty of ladies playing that game.

  10. @hkdharmon: Yes, because all girls and women are exactly the same!

    Mmmm, stereotypes and anecdotes….

    I don’t game because I just don’t have time, but I do play D&D! And if I were to game, I’d probably play games where there was a lot of killing involved. Because it’s fun. I also like Street Fighter-type games. “MASH BUTTONS AND KILL THINGS WOO!”

    My best female-friend does not play the Sims. She does, however, play Sim City and Civilization, along with DDO, World of Warcraft, and Call of Duty. Among others that you probably consider “man games”.

    One of my very “manly” male-friends loves those stupid sim games on Facebook. BUT HE HAS A PENIS! *gasp*

  11. One of my brothers likes the Sim games, another prefers sports games like golf and hockey. I play games where I can stab bad guys. Meh.

  12. @marilove: Ironically, I always played a cleric in D&D.

    Between Libe Goad at AOL Games, the Frag Dolls, Morgan Webb at G4TV, the PMS clan, the ladies at IGN’s Girlfight podcast, etc., I’m hard pressed to find a stereotype to fit the “girl gamer”.

  13. Everything I’ve read regarding the percentage of girls vs. boys in gaming has the percentages much closer. More like 40/60 or even closer.

    I have to wonder what their sample was like if they are that far off the norm.

  14. That girls and gaming article was really confusing for me… I can see one of their points, but I kind of felt like their data was really just showing a very loose correlation. Hopefully no one takes that as a causation issue. Dumb.

    In my case, I love computer and console games, and I am definitely not in the “bad girl” category. I was even further from it when I was in middle school and high school.

    That being said, I will totally acknowledge being a bit socially awkward and introverted, and I have associated that with my preference to play a game, instead of go out, for a long time. But I’ve never been “anti-social” (violent).

  15. @durnett COTW (made me giggle after a long day.) I think I will now go home and play some video games. And after that go into the streets and pick a fight with a stranger – or I guess I could just have a smoke. Nope. Picking a fight.

  16. I liken the UN thing to hate crime legilslation. but, then again, I see the UN as the world’s mall cop.

    But I think the headlines have been spun to suggest the UN has declared open season on GLBT.

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