3 ms·

Why can't we get any sensible articles about this problem? Do they just not get any attention on aggregation sites? Call this "victim blaming" if you want, but

by byerley 12y ago

Why can't we get any sensible articles about this problem? Do they just not get any attention on aggregation sites? Call this "victim blaming" if you want, but I'm going to critique the article because it's bad. I'm not commenting on any of the surrounding events because, honestly, claiming you've been harassed in the past doesn't excuse bad journalism - She starts the article by alienating her intended audience: Leading with a "triggering content" warning and the worst example she had may be eye-catching, but causes both men and women who might be sympathetic but ignorant to immediately write it off as extremist hysteria. I had a lot of trouble pushing myself to read the rest of the article. Her evidence is severely lacking: Again, case studies are good for sensationalist articles, but they don't hold up to any amount of skeptical scrutiny. She presents 4 brief accounts and two of them are relatively anonymous. You can collect four respectable people who believe just about anything if you try. She uses sweeping generalizations: All men feel this way, all women feel that way, all women are censored, ect. Even more insulting to an intelligent reader is that she backs up her assertions with hack psychology. She refutes statistical trends with anecdotes: "The Myth: The game industry is a field men are drawn to more than women." I'm sorry, but the male predisposition towards video games and game development is just a statistical fact. Yes, there are exceptions. Yes, it's less true now than it once was due to advances in technology. Don't lie to your reader and tell them it's a myth, rather, explain why it doesn't excuse the behavior. I think this is a problem in some places. I want women to feel comfortable in game development and journalism. I want women to feel more comfortable in a lot of industries. This article is the wrong way to spread awareness.

Zikes 12y ago
I'm starting to think it's being done on purpose. 1. Write a rant about how women are harassed. 2. Fill it with offensive, sexist remarks and anecdotal evidence. 3. When people get rightly offended and disagree, use their reaction as further evidence to "prove" your point.
Fomite 12y ago
I was the exact opposite of "alienated" by the trigger warning. It's a useful tool for people who have to wade through this every day to know if this is going to be viscerally upsetting, or just musings on a theme without the clear content. Also, you want her to show examples, but if she leads with a strong one, she's writing "extremist hysteria"?
- byerley 12y ago
  > I was the exact opposite of "alienated" by the trigger warning. I don't doubt that it's a useful warning for some people, but that lingo in particular is generally used by people already sensitive to gender issues. It's also commonly used by extremists so outsiders will have trouble telling the difference immediately. A more traditional content warning would presumably have sufficed. > Also, you want her to show examples, but if she leads with a strong one, she's writing "extremist hysteria"? No, I don't want examples. I want trends and statistics. At the very least the article needs a proper introduction.
  - Fomite 12y ago
    Will you be funding the study to collect those trends and statistics?
    - byerley 12y ago
      I'm pretty sure I already am (indirectly obviously since I'm a poor scientist). I pay taxes, the government funds universities and research. As far as I know, there's no significant gender gap in psychology/sociology/ect. that would cause discrimination against such studies. I don't pretend to be versed in either field, but I see plenty of related results on google scholar in reputable journals.
gclaramunt 12y ago
Even if they're just outliers, they deserve the right to let their situation be known. You're pretty close to "you didn't communicate according to my standards, so I'm going to ignore you". How do you know your complaints about style aren't an excuse to avoid confronting the problem? Not saying you are, but for my part, even if they do it imperfectly, I will listen, I don't want my kids to grow up in world where this kind of things gets ignored
- byerley 12y ago
  > How do you know your complaints about style aren't an excuse to avoid confronting the problem? Because I would have the same complaints regardless of the subject. Not all opinions deserve equal consideration and you have a burden of proof when trying to convince your reader of something. If anything, I gave this article more attention than I normally would have because I sincerely want properly condensed information about the topic and I haven't found it. > I don't want my kids to grow up in world where this kind of things gets ignored I want my children to understand perspective. You can't grieve for every individual injustice in the world, you can only strive to make it better overall.
  - gclaramunt 12y ago
    > I want my children to understand perspective. You can't grieve for every individual injustice in the world, you can only strive to make it better overall. Totally agree. I found the article helpful overall, I understand it must have been difficult to write it, so I'm giving it more leeway

by byerley 12y ago

Zikes 12y ago

I'm starting to think it's being done on purpose. 1. Write a rant about how women are harassed. 2. Fill it with offensive, sexist remarks and anecdotal evidence. 3. When people get rightly offended and disagree, use their reaction as further evidence to "prove" your point.

Fomite 12y ago

I was the exact opposite of "alienated" by the trigger warning. It's a useful tool for people who have to wade through this every day to know if this is going to be viscerally upsetting, or just musings on a theme without the clear content. Also, you want her to show examples, but if she leads with a strong one, she's writing "extremist hysteria"?

byerley 12y ago
> I was the exact opposite of "alienated" by the trigger warning. I don't doubt that it's a useful warning for some people, but that lingo in particular is generally used by people already sensitive to gender issues. It's also commonly used by extremists so outsiders will have trouble telling the difference immediately. A more traditional content warning would presumably have sufficed. > Also, you want her to show examples, but if she leads with a strong one, she's writing "extremist hysteria"? No, I don't want examples. I want trends and statistics. At the very least the article needs a proper introduction.
- Fomite 12y ago
  Will you be funding the study to collect those trends and statistics?
  - byerley 12y ago
    I'm pretty sure I already am (indirectly obviously since I'm a poor scientist). I pay taxes, the government funds universities and research. As far as I know, there's no significant gender gap in psychology/sociology/ect. that would cause discrimination against such studies. I don't pretend to be versed in either field, but I see plenty of related results on google scholar in reputable journals.

gclaramunt 12y ago

Even if they're just outliers, they deserve the right to let their situation be known. You're pretty close to "you didn't communicate according to my standards, so I'm going to ignore you". How do you know your complaints about style aren't an excuse to avoid confronting the problem? Not saying you are, but for my part, even if they do it imperfectly, I will listen, I don't want my kids to grow up in world where this kind of things gets ignored

byerley 12y ago
> How do you know your complaints about style aren't an excuse to avoid confronting the problem? Because I would have the same complaints regardless of the subject. Not all opinions deserve equal consideration and you have a burden of proof when trying to convince your reader of something. If anything, I gave this article more attention than I normally would have because I sincerely want properly condensed information about the topic and I haven't found it. > I don't want my kids to grow up in world where this kind of things gets ignored I want my children to understand perspective. You can't grieve for every individual injustice in the world, you can only strive to make it better overall.
- gclaramunt 12y ago
  > I want my children to understand perspective. You can't grieve for every individual injustice in the world, you can only strive to make it better overall. Totally agree. I found the article helpful overall, I understand it must have been difficult to write it, so I'm giving it more leeway