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Nerds and Male Privilege

kotaku.com

201–210 of 258 posts

Re: Nerds and Male Privilege

#201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a pretty good starter inventory for what feminists mean when they talk about "male privilege". http://www.amptoons.com/blog/the-male-privilege-checklist/ You may disagree with the analysis behind the list's construction, but I see little if anything on that list that obviously gets crossed off the list by virtue of being a geek. Social justice theorists also talk about different kinds of privileges, so the id…

Hmm, there are a few things on that list that don't seem to ring true, or at least seem to be leaving out large portions of the picture. For example: "41. Assuming I am heterosexual, magazines, billboards, television, movies, pornography, and virtually all of media is filled with images of scantily-clad women intended to appeal to me sexually. Such images of men exist, but are rarer." The last issue of Playboy that I…

That particular list has been around for years. While a recent issue of Playboy may have topless men, it is historically a men's magazine. If you counted the pictures of women and men in the last year, what would you find?

"A woman who has unprotected sex (or for that matter sometimes protected sex) is in a much better position than a man who does the same."

Men who have unprotected sex are expected to pay a state-determined minimum tax essentially to provide for their children. For men, children are abstracted into a financial problem. A woman who has an unexpected child has much more than finances to worry about.

Re: Nerds and Male Privilege

#202
post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am very aware. This is exactly why I picked pants for my example.

I don't understand how men wearing dresses works as a comparison to women wearing pants, as there hasn't been an equivalent attempt by men to adopt dresses as everyday attire.

He later changed 'dresses' to 'skirts'. And yes, that completely changes the argument (look at the other leg of this thread).

Re: Nerds and Male Privilege

#203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't disagree with your examples, but I do think that men are more common targets for the "creepy / sketchy" nexus of slurs, including the not-particularly sexualized varieties. The same goes for the "loser / choke artist" family, I think.

Oh definitely. But when was the last time having a reputation as a "choke artist" negatively impacted someone at work?

Having a few indicators of being a "loser" on you resume - like, say, being unemployed, can put a damper on your career.

Re: Nerds and Male Privilege

#204
post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually misrepresenting reality. Do you consider William Wallace as a wimp because he wore skirts ?

He wore a kilt, which is actually an interesting addition to my point. Despite the strong masculinity of a kilt, they do not appear to be very popular in modern society. I would suggest without evidence that this is in no small part due to a potential association with "feminine" skirts.

They are not popular, but men wearing them won't have their sexuality judged, so they probably don't have significance to your original point. I think they are not popular because they have a strong cultural association with being Scottish.

Re: Nerds and Male Privilege

#205
post #168
post #73

What a load of crap. Female comic book characters are scantily clad? You don't say. But let me suggest that has not much to do with "privilege" and everything to do with the fact that teenage boys are hard-wired to appreciate this kind of thing. No, it's not a "social construct" or an effort to keep the oppressed in her place. Where do I sign up for the privilige of having members of the opposite sex fall all over th…

Where do I sign up for the privilige of having members of the opposite sex fall all over themselves doing things for me in order to get my attention? If you're an attractive man, then you can get gay men (esp. older gay men, especially older, ugly, gay men), to do this. If you want people falling all over you, and doing things, there are ways to do that.

Well, you see I specified "opposite sex".

Re: Nerds and Male Privilege

#206
post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> they are murdered by random people far less often than men, representing only 21% of victims. Murder is an incredibly rare occurrence in most countries and social environments. On the other hand, women are a huge majority among rape victims, and this is not exceptional: 5 to 10% of all women are sexually abused at some point (depends upon the country, again). > Perhaps the focus of all these stupid gender articles…

> On the other hand, women are a huge majority among rape victims No one is even going to listen to a man complaining he has been raped, so I very highly doubt the validity of those numbers.

Men are a significant minority of rape victims (5 to 10%). However more than 99% of perpetrators are males.

Re: Nerds and Male Privilege

#207
post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> they are murdered by random people far less often than men, representing only 21% of victims. Murder is an incredibly rare occurrence in most countries and social environments. On the other hand, women are a huge majority among rape victims, and this is not exceptional: 5 to 10% of all women are sexually abused at some point (depends upon the country, again). > Perhaps the focus of all these stupid gender articles…

Murder is an incredibly rare occurrence in most countries and social environments. On the other hand, women are a huge majority among rape victims, and this is not exceptional: 5 to 10% of all women are sexually abused at some point (depends upon the country, again). Rape makes up only 6% of violent crimes, and men are much more commonly the victim of violent crimes than women. In fact, excluding rape, as the severit…

> Rape makes up only 6% of violent crimes, and men are much more commonly the victim of violent crimes than women.

Most victims of violent crimes are known offenders or their relatives. An overwhelming majority of offenders are male (see the proportion of male vs female in jail).

> Nice ad hominem.

It's ad personam if you want. You go straight to the usual tactic of pretending that it's the victim fault. Take some time to imagine yourself in the situations represented before being a judgemental jerk.

See this post for a good explanation: http://hugoboy.typepad.com/hugo_schwyzer/2004/09/guilty_unti...

Re: Nerds and Male Privilege

#209
post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am very aware. This is exactly why I picked pants for my example.

I don't understand how men wearing dresses works as a comparison to women wearing pants, as there hasn't been an equivalent attempt by men to adopt dresses as everyday attire.

Regardless of the history behind the current situation, the fact remains that women are more free to wear "male" clothing than men are to wear "female" clothing.

Re: Nerds and Male Privilege

#210

One thing to note is that it only takes one obnoxious person to ruin it for all the other well-informed and well-behaved people in any given room/server, because good behavior, by definition, does not draw attention to itself.

We don't know he was even an obnoxious person (see also, the Actor-Observer bias http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Actor%E2%80%93observer_bias ), we only have her boyfriend's third party account of the interaction. Other options: - What she said was stupid and noobish, and he replied bluntly - rudely but not sexistly. - What happened was misinterpreted as sexist because the interpreter is her boyfriend and jumps to her de…

I think your comment is much stronger if you take out the last one.
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