Let's talk about some paradoxes for a moment- or more appropriately let's talk about some inequities. As a society we have seen a large number of disenfranchised beings. Women, homosexuals, lesbians, 'witches', people of any ethnic origin not white Angelo Saxon, anyone who was different in any way has been abused, not just personally by individuals but by society as a whole. Being paid less for doing the same work, not being able to use the same restrooms, being forced to the back of the bus, not being allowed to vote- or buy property or- well you get the picture.
It is a shameful fact that the history of the United States of America, and many other countries, is riddled with these incidence of prejudice and hate. Now why, you ask, would I possibly put something like this on the forums of an online roleplaying game? Because although this is a roleplaying game and yes, everyone does have a different place where they draw the line between IC / OOC, there is still some personal responsibility that should be present.
Calling a woman a whore, or a cunt in shouts and or tells? Not cool. Especially if the character is not one that is a whore. We all know what the definition of a whore is. Someone who sells themselves for money- traditionally a person who sold their own body (i.e. sexual favors for money)- alternatively someone who is indiscriminate in their choice of lovers. The sticky part of this is that the double standard still exists. If a man is promiscuous he's a 'pimp' and he brags about his conquests and is patted on the back and praised- if a woman does the same she is labeled a slut and a whore and looked down upon.
When those words are applied to women in the context of “You annoy me and piss me off so I am going to call you a whore even though your character doesn't mudsex” it rings of the shameful misogyny that tarnished so much of our collective history no matter where our ancestors hail from. It is abusive and hurtful and goes over the top. If a female character in this game pisses you off call them a bitch, call them a pain in the ass, but if the character -IS NOT- a whore don't for pities sake call them a whore.
Comments
Just a thought.
I always say that making the game fun (for you or others) is way more important than staying in character. I've asked people to back off before, and if someone asked me to back off, I would.
Maybe you guys (Arbre and Dain and the other awesome folks like you) have me spoiled and my expectations are too high, who knows? I just felt like something needed to be said to make us all -think- about where we draw the line and where others draw the line and respecting each other. Not that I'm lilly white in that category myself. There are a handful of people that I have said some horrible things to and about out of sheer frustration. But not month after month after month, repeatedly. Loosing your temper sometimes happens, but when you allow it to continue to the extent I'm talking about maybe some therapy would be a good idea.
If I myself were as violent as Illidan is for example, or enjoyed causing people harm over the most petty of incidents, I'd have been in prison a long time ago.
The thing is, there are plenty of players in Aetolia that just don't care if they insult someone or put someone down. I have tried to solve issues with some people both icly and oocly. The responses icly has been "I don't want to talk to you, leave me alone or die." The responses oocly has been "I don't want to talk to you, leave me alone or I will issue for harassment." (and then ignoring me). I have been called every name in the book by these people, I have felt extremely harassed by them and I have issued about it, but nothing ever comes from it. It's come to the point that I DO believe the admins don't care, because these are well-known players/chars that they are either buddies with or they fear. Simple as that.
I do agree that you have to put up with some insults icly, but never oocly. We are all people here and as a community, we need to respect one another. We don't have to like eachother, just accept and respect as far as possible. Sure, there will always be some people that we won't respect either, but at least make sure you have a reason for it and not just "you are weak and annoying". Seriously, this gaming community scares me to no end when comparing to others and I often find myself lacking hope of seeing mutual respect between players.
Let me also be clear that I am not talking about a one off, someone lost their temper and started ranting ICly / or OOCly or both. What I am talking about is a situation where if the person shows their face in any kind of a PK situation they get ranted at. Repeatedly.
It is also pretty clear when someone is letting things stay ICly and when someone is only claiming "Oh it's just IC! It's just a game! Don't be so sensitive." If it IS just a game, and it IS just IC then it should not ever reach the stage of griefing. Don't hide behind the IC / OOC line when it is clearly being crossed.
Agreed, completely agree. In this situation though for the insults to be equitable we would have to go back and rewrite history to never have women be subjugated. It would be the same if the insults were being directed at a homosexual, a person of colour, or any of the other groups that have had it rough over the years. Let's say we have someone jewish playing (Hi Kiyo!) and another player starts repeatedly making off color remarks about Nazi ovens. That is NOT OKAY.
So if you have a beef with a female character don't let your insults stray into that black area that no one should tread. Call her a Bi***, call her an a**h**e but don't tailor your insults to attack her gender. That is what is so unacceptable.
In that paradigm what is the difference between calling a black person a Bas**rd versus calling them the N word?
I am talking about a character that has never exhibited behaviour that is 'whorish' by the traditional definition of the word. Calling her a whore rather than any of the myriad other words we have at our disposal is attacking her GENDER not her behaviour. Beyond that utilizing that word in that manner is taking advantage of the years of female enslavement in a patriarchal society and attacking WOMEN. Just like using the N word is taking advantage of the connotations that word has been imbued with over the decades of slavery that black Americans suffered.
There is a difference between insulting someone based on their behaviour versus what they are. i.e Black, female, jewish, homosexual, lesbian ect. Because of the anthropological and societal stigmas that are still placed on women calling a woman a whore is a double standard in and of itself. Our reaction to that as a society is negative when it is applied to a woman. Call a man a whore and you get smirks and back slaps "You get 'em boy!". It does not mean the same thing. Nor in this case is it insulting the character's behaviour. it is insulting the characters gender and the players gender.
That is the difference between calling a woman a whore versus calling her a Bi**h.