Quickies

Skepchick Quickies 11.9

Amanda

Amanda works in healthcare, is a loudmouthed feminist, and proud supporter of the Oxford comma.

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6 Comments

  1. That Zelda thing is absolutely brilliant. I can’t even imagine the effect growing playing games where the hero is almost always a different sex can have.

    1. I can imagine it, because I can see that my indirect route to feminism was partly the result of knowing that male characters did the exciting things, and female characters were pretty and needed rescuing. I wasn’t a feminist, because I knew that women were only interesting and important if they did male things, but I also knew that women who weren’t feminine enough were laughable and pathetic. So I absorbed patriarchal thinking, and tried to navigate the impossible line of being feminine while despising all things feminine. One had to be pretty and attractive, but one absolutely shouldn’t expend any effort on being pretty and attractive.
      Eventually, for me, the contradiction became obvious, and I became a feminist who could embrace the stereotypically feminine aspects of being female (make-up, fashion, liking babies, liking romance novels), while also claiming the right to have stereotypically male interests, ambitions, and adventures. It turns out that people of any gender should be allowed to enjoy or dislike make-up, war games, endurance sports, babies, etc. Who knew?
      I think it would have been easier if the books and games I knew as a child didn’t try to define what girls vs. boys could do.
      This was a long-winded way of saying: well done to that Zelda game hacker.

    2. I think it helped me become feminist, too. I don’t think I noticed it much as a kid, although, say while playing Super Mario Bros. 2, I would always choose the princess to play. When I got older, and some games allowed a choice of sex, I always chose women.

      I began to notice being tired of playing men all the time, and soon I started to notice that this problem was systemic, and invaded all media. That was like the “red pill:” once you see it, it cannot be unseen.

      Anyway, that is so awesome that one dad cares enough to try and make a difference. Seriously, video game industry: this “rescue the princess” crap needs to end. I can’t believe I still see it in games today. >:|

  2. Amanda,

    It is kind of odd that you can replace links’ name with yours, but the character will always be referred to as male, now that I think about it. Except for the fact that Link is obviously male in many of the games. For example in Ocarna of Time, when he’s an adult, he’s clearly male.

  3. On the Obama/Romney thing–this is common for both sides of the spectrum, I’m afraid. A sizable chunk of the electorate just cares about the label on the can, not the contents.

    I supported Obama with eyes wide open–he’s done some stuff that left me ill, but given a choice between the flu and ebola, well….

    (Note: Third-party campaigns don’t really work at the presidential level. I do try to support third-party folks at lower tiers, though, when a better fit arises.)

    1. Freemage

      I agree, unfortunately too many people do have a double standard when it comes to their party or their guy.

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