Is She or Isn't She?

Is Major Motoko Kusanagi a progressive female protagonist or a femme fatale designed for male titillation?

There are three Majors: one in the manga, one in the two movies, and one in an anime series. Each are separate of each other. I'm focusing on, for the purpose of this blog entry, the Major Kusanagi of the anime series Ghost in the Shell: Stand Along Complex (along with the second season GitS: SAC 2nd Gig.) Warning: I'll be discussing some details of a few episodes, so some spoilers are ahead.

When I initially began watching this show, I was pretty damn excited. The Major is a kick ass character: she's smart, strong, leads a group of men and is vocal against sexism. She never needs to be saved, in fact she's the one usually "saving the day." I've never seen her fawn over, or kiss a man--in fact the most pseudo-romantic scenes that have been portrayed with her have involved women. (It's generally accepted that she's bi.)

But then there's the matter of her clothing: thigh high boots, a pink leotard that cuts up above the hips and dips deeply into her cleavage. Her breasts, are they C or D? I'm not sure, but you can't help but notice them. In general her body is perfect. A drawn fashion model.

However, it's more complicated than that. Her body is completely prosthetic. If we are to take the episode 11 "The Grass Labyrinth -- AFFECTION" as her origin, we know that when she was young she was in a plane accident and the only way that she would live is if she underwent cyberization. This makes her whole body "fake." What does gender mean when you don't have a body? There are references to her gender through out the series. An important one was when Batou asked the Major why she chose a female body over a male body--a question she doesn't necessarily answer. Instead she mind-hacked him into punching himself in the face. What I can gather from this is that the Major is expressing that she doesn't need a pumped-up male body, that her own "female model" is just fine, and that the topic really isn't up for discussion. It's obvious that the Major takes pride in her body; it's the ultimate weapon that provides her income, it allows her to be mobile, and it lets her experience the five senses. Does she dress the way she does as a way to promote that her body because she takes great pride in it? Does she dress that way in order to feel feminine because her body is made out of machinery?

These were questions that I could ponder over without ever questioning that to me, the Major was a feminist hero. Yet, when I watched 2nd gig last Saturday, episode 17 "Mother and Child -- RED DATA," I became unsettled. Could I really claim her as my hero? Was she only created for the sake of fan service?

The premise of this episode is that the Major comes across a teenage boy while digging up information on a suspect. She then takes the boy under her wing because he's in trouble with the yakuza. This includes her renting out a hotel room for night. In this scene we watch the Major walk around topless with a red towel hanging around her neck. This shows no nipple but plenty of side-boob. She talks to the boy in this manner, and gets in bed with him like this.

We've seen the Major is various states of undress before but I always chalked it up to a) her loving her body or b) her not feeling as though she's really naked because her body is artificial. The images from this scene, and her teasing answer of "Do you want to find out?" to the boy's question of whether or not cyberized bodies could have sex made everything seem a bit much. The mocking answer to the boy fit in with her character, but all the boob shots seemed to be completely gratuitous.

I've decided for myself that the character of the Major suffers from being written by too many male writers that want to please their predominantly male audience. (Look, Kusanagi kicks ass, just look at how she handles those guns, and she's really hot too!) I think in regards to the Major, we can have interesting discussions on gender and artificial bodies and the concept of nakedness, but we become limited with the proliferation of fan service--which focuses only on one kind of expression that exists to serve male heterosexuality.

It's good that it's not easy to discuss the character of the Major. It means that she's a complicated character, and that some time and energy has gone into writing her. I'm just disappointed that she's being used to promote the mainstream ideal of what feminity is. I know I wouldn't be typing this up if she was a male character (the issue of fan service wouldn't be happening)--but if she was a male character, I know I wouldn't be interested. I want to claim the Major as a representation of a progressive female protagonist, but do the sexualized representations of her negate the positive aspects of her character?

Attention Women Poets

In my free time I'm one of the poetry editors for the literary zine Inkstains. We're based in Chicago but seek submissions from everyone, anywhere. One of the primary concerns of the zine is to publish those who have a hard time finding an audience (re: writers who are queer, are of color, are of the lower class, are women, or those who resist the gender paradigm.) I'm mentioning this here and now specifically because we haven't received many submissions for our future issues from women poets. For issue 4.5, due online this Spring, all poems so far are from men and for our issue 5 (which will hopefully be in print if we receive the grant we applied for) due out for Winter, we only have one woman poet.

Please if you have any work, or know any woman poets (we also publish prose), head over to our website, browse around and submit--we want to publish you!

Recap

This is the last night of my break. What did I do? (Excluding work, homework and not posting here.)

1) Played King's Quest 1 (still playing King's Quest 2). I downloaded these two games from the great people over at AGD Interactive. What's disappointing however, is that they haven't worked on King's Quest 4--the first game I ever played that had a female protangonist.

2) Downloaded Dofus. My first MMORPG ever and it's bascially free. (You get access to the entire game by paying a monthly rate, but the free part is so large that I'll be busy for awhile.) Flash based, simple, a lot like Final Fantasy Tactics. If you play this be warned: starting out as a Feca's Shield is somewhat frustrating.







3) I knitted. Started on a pair of legwarmers for my bro's girlfriend. Made a hat. Currently finishing a scarf. I did this while watching CJ play RE4, which I think might be scarier than Silent Hill 3.

4) I took my cat to the vet, which turned out to be pretty expensive. Good thing I love her so much.
5) I took a personal oath to participate in Nubian's Blog Against Heteronormativity Day, which is scheduled for April 22. I have a few ideas knocking around my head that should bring me far away from my belly button full of videogames, cats, and knitting. Also, I need to say, her blog kicks my ass daily. If you don't read it, you need to.

Shojo Power

This exhibition has recently come to my school. It's not up completely, so I can't yet comment extensively about it, but so far it's awesome. Original CLAMP artwork. Watch me swoon.

From the website: Shojo Manga! Girl Power! is an internationally touring exhibition. The show includes more than 200 artworks from 23 artists who have contributed to the development of modern Shojo Manga (girl comics) in Japan since World War II. The medium reflects the evolution of the social roles of Japanese girls and women during this period. The exhibition also documents how the visual composition of manga mirrors the developments in Japanese aesthetics.

NAEA Convention Reception, March 24, 5—8 pm

College-Wide Reception, March 28, 5—7 pm

Both receptions feature lectures by Curator Masami Toku and a Shojo Manga artist at 5:30 pm.

This makes me happy, especially since I've been hearing a lot of snooty commentary recently about anime and manga: that it's a sexist, perverted artform. That aspect does, of course, exist in the artforms, but that's like saying all American film is porn, or that all American TV is reality TV. Not the best comparison, but you know what I mean. Sometimes I just can't shake the feeling that people write manga and anime off quickly because it's foreign, an Eastern artform. The best parts of manga and anime is when it challenges societal conventions, such as playing with gender or promoting pacifism.

What I'll Be Doing Over Break

It's next week. Yes I'll be a slave to homework. But I'll also be playing. A lot. Especially here:

The Museum of Science and Industry presents Game On 2.0. Explore the technology, culture and future of video games through more than 100 playable games! Find out how games are made, discover games from around the world, even put yourself inside a game!




You're mine, Bust a Move 4--all mine.

Horribly Sick--of Sexism

Today is Blog Against Sexism Day. Make sure you click over to the blogs on my sidebar, many of them have participated with excellent posts.

I however did not--I have the stomach flu something awful and it has not given me any respite.

The worst part, well one of the worst parts,(and completely unrelated to the importance of this blog-o-event) is that it started the day when we finished Shadow of the Colossus. A game I was truly entertained by ended in disaster. Stomach flu and that melancholy ending...all I can say is that when I hear about it or look at the poster I have hanging up, I feel a horrible pain in my stomach.

My advice: don't play that game when you're depressed or sick and fight sexism.

Finally--It has been realized.

We finally bought a copy of RE4 to play. Player's Choice = cheap. But I'm sad because Spike TV's videogame award insignia is also printed on the cover. Why couldn't it have been a sticker that I could have deftly peeled off? Who's brilliant idea was it to put the name of something crappy onto something that is good? Mutants and good graphics are synonymous with James Bond movies and cars? I don't think so.

Typos Incarnate

I just realized today that I was using the wrong "mold" in my profile. It should have been mould. I also have been turning in essays with lots of mistakes, such as misspelling Harryette Mullen and The Color Purple.

The blood--it is rushing to my face.








Here's some pictures of my cats to make me feel better.

Heterosexim 101--A questionnaire

I received this handout today from my Gender & Culture class and thought that I'd share.

1. What do you think caused your heterosexuality?

2.When and how did you first decide you were a heterosexual?

3. Is it possible that your heterosexuality is just a phase you may grow out of?

4. Is it possible that your heterosexuality stems from a neurotic fear of others of the same sex?

5. If you have never slept with a person of the same sex, is it possible that all you need is a good gay lover?

6. Do your parents know that you are straight? Do your friends/co-workers know? How did they react?

7. Why do you insist on flaunting your heterosexuality? Can't you just be who you are and keep it quiet?

8. Why do heterosexuals place so much emphasis on sex?

9. Why do heterosexuals feel compelled to seduce others into their lifestyle?

10. A disproportionate majority of child molesters are heterosexual. Do you consider it safe to expose children to heterosexual teachers?

11. Just what do men and women DO in bed together? How can they truly know how to please each other, being so anatomically different?

12. Despite all the societal support marriage receives, the divorce rate is spiraling. Why are there so few stable relationships among heterosexuals?

13. Statistics show that lesbians have the lowest incidence of sexually transmitted diseases. Is it really safe for a woman to maintain a heterosexual lifestyle and run the risk of disease and unwanted pregnancy?

14. How can you become a whole person if you limit yourself to compulsive, exclusive heterosexuality?

15. Considering the menace of overpopulation, how could the human race survive if everyone were heterosexual?

16. Could you trust a heterosexual therapist to be objective? Don't you feel s/he might be inclined to influence you in the direction of her/his own leanings?

17. There seem to be very few happy heterosexuals. Techniques have been developed that might enable you to change if you really want to. Have you considered trying aversion therapy?

18. Would you want your child to be heterosexual, knowing the problems that s/he would face?

Made in China

Left: Michael Wolf, The Real Toy Story, 2004, Mixed Media installation (detail)

Last week, my Modern Asian History class went to "Made in China," an instillation at the Museum of Contemporary Photography. My teacher's intent was to give the class some visuals of China today and an idea of the consequences of Western imperialism. The whole exhibition is filled with great stuff, but I worried about the neutrality of it. It provides examples of clean, productive factories, the dorms in which workers tend to live alongside of images of poorer working conditions, i.e. sweatshop labor. China wasn't necessarily put in a bad light; in fact, I was impressed that the photography managed to put a human face on an issue that is percieved as threatening by some in the United States. What I was concerned about was the fact that the companies, or the United States itself, was not put under any scrutiny. It was all "Look what these American companies have done for the poor people of China!" when we were presented with positive images or "The Chinese government is absolutely horrible" when presented with the negative. (Don't get me wrong, though, the Chinese government does practice some absolutely terrible things--but this is not the fault of the general population of China.) The piece I thought that tried to rectify this gap was The Real Toy Story--it's a piece that could be easily misconstrued because it features photographs of people working in less than desirable conditions, and once again the blame could just be placed on the leadership of China. However, surrounding the photographs are pieces of Happy Meal items and other cheap toys--toys encompassing pop culture for American kids. I was struck by the Batman and Doug figurines, two cartoons that I watched religiously when I was around ten. I also noticed the personified chicken mcnuggets that I used to play with in the bathtub when I was even younger. There were also Barbies; one had a black eye. (Drawn on by it's previous owner?) This specifically makes you aware that we are on a two-way street with China. Our consumption, yes, gives money, yet puts these people in a situation with few viable options. Capitalism in its truest, most disgusting form.

I left the exhibition upset. I know that I don't have any solutions, so I feel powerless. But I do know this: the United States is far from innocent, and in the words of Cat and Girl: "Capitalists do it ruthlessly."

Biggest. Onigiri. Ever.

I think one of these could actually feed a family of four.

via Kotaku

Gender Norm Violation

1) I chose for my gender norm violation to have a goatee. I had a hard time figuring out what to do for the presentation, but knew that I wanted it to be something that was specifically appearance-based. I have always been aware that as a woman a lot of things are based on how I look, such as what kind of person I am. I have a friend who took a class in theatre make-up, and he offered to give me a goatee, since facial hair on a woman is something that is definitely not seen every day, yet we are all familiar with the carnival stereotype of “the bearded lady.”
2) I believe that facial hair is seen as a sort of rite-of-passage for men. Boys in high school who can grow thick facial hair are seen as more mature or manly. Old men with facial hair are sometimes thought of as having wisdom, and we have the old Bible story of Samson and Delilah, with Samson losing his power because Delilah cut off his hair. Women have narrower faces without facial hair, thus they take up less space. And as I’ve I mentioned before, there’s a lot of pressure on women to be pretty or feminine-- often to the point where it’s distracting. It can take up a lot of a woman’s time. I think it can be argued that this keeps women regulated to a certain place that isn’t as strongly related to power or even wisdom in our society. Furthermore, since we see men and women as very different, we expect certain physical aspects not to be same and facial hair is definitely one of these. A woman who has facial hair is seen as weird or as a sideshow freak. She may also be seen as butch—not as a true woman in a sense of the word.
3) I hypothesized that when I went out with facial hair that a few people would stare at me, that others would look away, and that some people might laugh, albeit nervously.
4) I chose to do my norm violations a) during the day on Michigan Avenue, where a lot of tourists would be b) during the day at a Bank, which would be an office-type setting c) At night at K-Mart, in my neighborhood which is more or less made up of people from the lower middle class and below and d) at night at a Whole Foods in Lincoln Park with mostly middle and upper middle class people.
5) At each place I tried to conduct myself like I normally do. On Michigan Avenue I walked around while window shopping, at the bank I had a check cashed and at K-Mart and Whole Foods I made some purchases.
6) The whole time when I wore the goatee I felt uncomfortable. I noticed that I looked down at my feet a lot when I was wearing it, and that I didn’t want to look people in the eye. I felt ultra-sensitive in that I feared that people were judging me. I felt relieved when I could finally take it off. I know that I felt this way because I’ve internalized the norm that women who have facial hair should get rid of it. I felt that with facial hair, I didn’t look attractive or like a normal person, instead I felt like I was actually breaking a rule.
7) Most people did a double take when they saw me. At first I don’t think they quite believed that they saw a woman with facial hair. Some people grimaced, while others, maybe because I was with my friend who is male, looked at us with visible disgust (because we might have looked like a same sex couple). No one said anything outright to me, however. It felt, however, that there was a purple gorilla in the room and everyone was doing their best to ignore it.
8) What this exercise taught me is that gender norms are deeply ingrained. I didn’t think I would personally have such a hard time walking around with facial hair for a school project, but it really did bother me. It gives me admiration for those women who do choose to have facial hair, but I don’t blame other women for wanting to be rid of theirs. I think we like to think of appearance as something that is trivial, but I don’t think it is. Appearance goes hand in hand with gender expectations, which dictates that men and women to look differently. This expected differentiation is a result of patriarchy, but I believe that it also furthers this system because it helps us believe that men and women are inherently different. This in the end can therefore make it more difficult for us to achieve a more egalitarian system.

A little History

A component of my Poetics class is learning how to write historical poems. This poem is a result of one of our exercises, which was to write about a place in Chicago, from the perspective of the past. Here's my result, a little rough since its only a 2nd Draft. Please not that the formatting is off because Blogger isn't Microsoft Word. The italicized quote is left justified, while the stanzas are supposed to be right justified, though formatted to look like a newspaper column.

The Murder of Charles Sing, 1913

“Unsuspecting white girls like Alice quite often were lured into Chinese men’s parlors, stores, and chop suey

Alice Davis Sing, of 3460 Archer Avenue,

grew up a Christian missionary. Her husband,

Charles Sing, had wooed her in Kansas City’s Chinatown

over plates of Foo Young Dove and rice. He’s the one,

she told her father, she liked the best. Really, loved:

“From the first time I saw him, I loved him.

There was something about him that fascinated me.

He was quiet, lithe, and graceful. He was mysterious,

and I guess that is what attracted me. He never laughed out

loud no matter how happy he was. He chuckled.”

by their pleadings and outward gentleness, then, captivated by the apparent luxury of their lives and apartments

And they married. She converted to Buddhism,

little statues. Fingers that ruffled the edges of pork

and leek dumplings. Spoke Pidgin English fluently.

Charles would pitch forth money for style: red

lace-trimmed cheongsam dresses, blue silk nightgown.

they visit them again and again

It didn’t last long, not after he wasn’t

going to take her to China. When she found that out,

she slipped the knife into him. The blood ran out from

his chest and dried: red and sticky. Barbecued duck,

hung whole in the grocery store front window.

until their ruin is accomplished.”

Grief, when the Chicago police came, sobbing

and dark mussed hair. Wisps that stuck to her

bloated cheeks. They determined murder, though without

sufficient evidence: Regular quarrels, a nation-wide

smuggling ring, a love quadrangle with Alice

and Charles, her sister Emma and Charles Norn.

Pleasure

I came across these bento images when I was searching the San-X site. I'm not sure what the stencils are for in the bottom picture. Maybe to make designs in rice? (I'm taking a little break from reading Percy Bysshe Shelley's "A Defence of Poety." Which makes me feel like I'm dumb, but that's another story.) I wish I could make food like this. Hell, I wish I could eat food like this.

Best American Poetry

Last year I co-edited the 18th issue of the Columbia Poetry Review, a literary magazine which publishes the poetry of students at Columbia, alongside the poetry of well-known poets. In many ways edited the issue was incredible: we decided to have a theme issue in which we celebrated the work of women poets (because much to our own dismay, we felt that female poets are not being published as much as male poets.) It was also terrible in the ways that we were disorganized--there were some typos in the issue, and our database was wiped out by a virus. All in all, we published it, and I wiped my hands of it.

Until today. I found out from one of my teachers that one of the poems that we published, written by Denise Duhamel (one of my all-time favorite poets) was chosen for Best American Poetry 2006--not only that, but Billy Collins is the guest editor(!). I've never been the largest fan of Billy Collins--I like poets that are more experimental--so I'm surprised. The poem that made it in, a villanelle, almost didn't make the cut (for many different reasons.) I'll be finding out from my teacher if any other poems from the issue will be published.

This means that CPR, though it does pretty well for itself, will get noticed. I feel good, specifically, that our women's issue will get more attention.

Get on the Bandwagon

As I mentioned a couple of days ago, there is controversy stewing over Blizzard banning a GLBT friendly group. I'm glad that this has become an issue, that people are weighing opinions and are discussing identity politics, but the more I read, the more I feel that a lot of people have a hard time realizing heterosexual privilege.

Full disclosure: I do not play World of Warcraft. Therefore, I don't know the game, the atmosphere of the game, the politics of the game. I read and hear about it, but know nothing first hand, which is why I initially didn't want to post about this. However, I am familiar with how people generally act on gaming message boards and chat rooms. I know the language and assumptions that are thrown around, and know specifically that "yr so gay," "fag," and worse, are run-of-the-mill insults. Frankly, I don't think we'll magically see a change of heart any time soon.

Therefore, many people complain that a GLBT-friendly guild is openly declaring that other guilds, or generally that the world of WoW, is less than GLBT-friendly--or worse, homophobic. Well yes, GLBT-friendly guilds act as a "safe" place: a buffer zone from idiotic comments and harassment. It's also a place for community. It feels good to be around people who have the same interests as you, who have gone through similar life experiences. There's an instant bond. Frankly, Blizzard might be right that a GLBT group might incite unwanted harassment, but it's a hell of a lot easier to deal with harassment, which will occur anyway, when you're with a group of friends. Strength in numbers and all that.

There's another argument being tossed around that says that people need to leave their real-life identities behind when they play videogames. When you're privileged--say, you're white, straight, male--it's easy to leave behind your identities simply because you are society's norm. If you don't belong to the white/male/heterosexual group you are constantly being reminded that you're deficient, less-than, weak or dumb. You're not the default. I constantly think about how I'm a woman. It never leaves my head. However, if you've ever heard about how someone who's skin color isn't white is constantly reminded how they aren't white, you might catch my drift. If you're white, is race or the color of your skin something that you're always thinking about?

I can honestly say that I don't, and that's a privilege of mine. The same goes for sexuality. You can't just check it at the door, and in WoW, even though it might be beyond the scope of the actual game, people pick each other up, characters get married or "have" sex. Therefore, sexuality is an issue.

It's too bad that the members of the Stonewall Champions feel that they have to sue Blizzard over this issue, and I'm bracing myself for the inevitable backlash from people who aren't sympathetic towards GLBT rights. In short, because of our culture's history, it looks bad. However, I applaud them for sticking their necks out. Social disobedience gets attention, and if anything, suing Blizzard keeps this issue from being ignored--it's going to keep GLBT rights in the spotlight a little longer. Hopefully what this does is to keep people thinking about it--after all that's one of the few ways towards progress.

***
Also, in regards to those who think that GUN isn't racist: it's a game that glorifies killing Native Americans. Yes, free speech is sacred, but don't defend a crappy game that recycles the American naivete that Native Americans deserved to get slaughtered.

Girls Cry

The pressure is in my temples, in the back of my eyes. My ears are clogged, the right ear more so than the left. The copy machine is chucking out paper and the telephone is ringing the adjunct faculty room. My nose tingling, I sneeze. Smooshing the back of my left hand against my nose, I flick open the flap of my Mario messenger bag with my right hand and pull out the last kleenex from it's Cinnamoroll holder and mop the mess off my face. I find another unused spot on the tissue, and blow the rest out of my nose.

"Oh, don't cry. Life can't be that horrible."

I look up into the grinning face of a Faculty Member who had just Bestowed His Great Wisdom upon my unsuspecting ears and squint my eyes. He laughs. Behind the protective shroud of my damp kleenex I mumble "I'm not crying. I just have a cold."

***
Dumb anecdote. And why am I wasting my time dramatizing it? Because it's not the first time in the past two days working-with-a-cold that a male faculty member has come up to me when I've been blowing my nose to ask me if I've been crying. Or he's benevolently telling me not to cry.

Weirder for weird, I work in a bizarro world where in the past I've had to file a complaint of sexual harassment against a male faculty member. Not to say that he was the only person making rude comments to me in the office--he was just the worst. Now a year later, a coworker of mine is going through the same thing with the same faculty member. Except she's not stopping with the formal letter of complaint like I did, she's going to go the top, she's going to wade through the whole mess of papers, investigations and interviews. She is demanding results. I admire her: I wasn't able to go through the whole process because I didn't feel strong enough. I was paranoid that I was being to sensitive, that I couldn't "take a joke." Even though I felt horrible, I also felt as though I had provoked him. I didn't feel as though it was in my right to be one of "those" women, an Anita Hill. It's a pain in the ass to file a complaint of sexual harassment, and its even worse to have to work with the person while the investigation goes on. More salt on the wound that after you go as far as you can, nothing changes, and you still are the recipient of his poor jokes--not to mention dealing with other male faculty members he think they're so damn cute.

I'm sick of it. I'm sick that my supervisor has to regularly email memos out to the faculty to remind them to respect the staff. I'm sick that the faculty members in turn complain to said staff about the memos, all because they fail to realize what they're saying or doing. I'm sick that my co-worker had to go through the same thing that I did because I didn't far enough with my complaint. I am also sick of the fact that when my male co-worker blows his nose, no one ever assumes that he's been crying.

How to make a difference knowing that this can and probably will happen with other jobs? Do I say nothing, "Shut Up, Dumbass?," "You're sexist"? The thing is, how do you get through someone's thick skull that they're being inappropriate when we live in a society that is sexist, where it's okay to demean women and get away with it?

Turning a Corner

Sometime in between the last time I wrote on the internet and now I started a new semester of school. In this time period, Alito has been confirmed, Bush gave another State of the Union Address, Blizzard won't allow a guild to recruit members in thier World of Warcraft game because it's GLBT friendly, and my brains have been frying over reading Plato or Aristotle. Again. I was also asked to do a reading for Columbia and I will be paid. Score.

I've added some new blogs to my sidebar, mainly in the comics section. And my teacher for my Poetics class is truly awesome. You can find his blog here.

If you live in Chicago you should go to this:

Chicago Premiere of "Turning a Corner"

"Turning a Corner" is an hour-long film that tells the stories of peopleinvolved in the sex-trade in Chicago and their efforts to raise publicawareness and promote needed reforms. This groundbreaking film, produced byBeyondmedia Education with over a dozen members of the ProstitutionAlternatives Round Table (PART) tells their stories of survival and triumphover homelessness, violence and discrimination, and gives rare insights intoChicago's sex-trade industry.

Monday February 6, 20065:30PM - 8:00PM

Free Movie and $7 Parking

NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
Thorne Auditorium
375 E. Chicago Ave.
5:30pm - 6:15pm Reception & Art Show
6:15pm - 7:30pm Film Screening
7:30pm - 8:00pm Panel Discussion

A Carnival Full of Feminists

Be still my heart, head over to Feministe , who is hosting the Carnival of the Feminists #7 for some great posts on pop culture and feminism. Make sure you check out the blogs featuring sexism in comic books, manga, videogames and how the N won't play the Degrassi episode that deals with abortion.

Pants and Pantyhose

Astarte over at Utopian Hell brings up an interesting point about women and video games:

Women are currently stuck in the realm of “women’s issues” because of this
mentality to pick at only the things in a game that affect women. There is a
belief (and one with good reason) that if a woman is going to look at video
games, all she’s going to complain about are “women’s issues”. That is, how
women look within the confines of the game.

If we want to be taken seriously, if we want some sort of “culture of equality”, we have to step back and take a much less myopic view of the gaming industry. What’s more, we have to make a much more positive view of the industry, and I don’t mean turning a blind eye to the obvious sexism. I mean focusing on things that we like about games.

All around me, game developers are floundering and asking time and again, “what do women want”?! It’s no wonder that they’re doing this because all they are
getting back is what women don’t want. What women want isn’t, surprisingly, much
different than what the rest of the currently-non-gaming populous wants. The
problem is that we’re not talking about what we want. We’re talking about the
things we don’t want.

I don’t want to hear some far-flung idealistic image of the future where all women are regarded in one way or another. I want comments about current games that you’re currently playing and what you like and dislike about them. I want real solutions, not empty navel-gazing.

Her points really hit home for me first of all because 1) I am definately interested in women's issues in games because I feel that they aren't addressed as well as they could be; along with race and sexuality 2) I take part in significant amounts of ranting and naval gazing--therefore I forget to write about or mention fully the things that I really do enjoy about games (see below post). What I want is this: (and in my own time I can write as such BUT) I would love for some major media outlet, whether it be a popular website, magazine, radio show, tv (i.e. G4 or MTV, but I know, wishful thinking) that included with a regular review segment that addresses how the game accounts for gender, race, and other issues such as class and sexuality. It could be a show that specializes in this, it could be it's quirk or kick. It's good to write about such things on blogs and zines, but how to get something like this incorporated on a larger scale so that people who don't actively seek out this kind of critique come across it? So far, I feel that the blog Old Grandma Hardcore has been the most successful at this (though they aren't necessarily in your face). Until then, if more voices in the mainstream aren't heard, games will be hard-pressed to change.