TIGCast

Zangief scared my child.

That’s quite the facial expression, Anime Man.

When it’s not showing the Tigsource logo it allows you to see all your favourite indie devs drink beer.

I’m sorry but since when did the word r**e become acceptable / funny? (the description of this image.) Have you ever spoken to anyone who’s suffered it? I very much doubt they’d want reminding of it. The lightness with which people throw this word around these days stuns me. It’s just not funny, and this is one meme that needs to be stopped in its tracks. Sorry Derek, nothing personal!

@tigregular> The word “murder” is regularly used in a similarly casual (and similarly non-literal) manner in a far wider variety of contexts.

Not that I’m trying to make light of your complaint. The underlying issue is that words are often used in a heavily overloaded manner. Whilst some people – such as yourself – feel that a word with bad associations should never be used with any other meaning, that view is not universal. As such, employing a “frown power” approach to eliminating the usage of the word is not appropriate. It gives the impression that you are trying to force your viewpoint on others.

There is a debate to be had, certainly, but it’s a debate which is offtopic here. (Feel free to message me in the forums – I’m happy to discuss further.)

Thanks Derek, that is much appreciated!

When anyone says “I’m sorry but” you know you’re in for a treat.

I’m sorry but I’m not a fan of censuring expression to appease the terminally over-sensitive. Understand that a picture of Zangief captioned with the words “YOU GONNA GET RAPED” doesn’t literally mean a big hairy man is going to sodomize you without your consent. The fictional threat of getting raped by Zangief is funny. At least, I find it funny. Then again, I found the Singing in the Rain scene of A Clockwork Orange to be very darkly funny.

You’re free to disagree, but it’s not right for you to demand we all limit our humor and speech to the lowest common denominator – so as not to offend anyone.

But I wanna argue

Well, I don’t mean to go all ‘gender crusader’ here, and I’m certain everyone in the discussion has the best of intentions, but I’d like to raise a few points people here might not have considered. Apologies if this sounds condescending, but I don’t really have any idea what parts of this you may or may not be familiar with already.

It is true that words have ‘overloaded’ meanings, but keep in mind that you have no control over how your remarks are interpreted in a public space. And this *is* a public space, despite appearances: possibly the most public of all spaces, considering access is not limited even by geographical location.

So there are two real problems, as I see it, with the sort of interpretation a reader might put on a joke like that.

First of all, keep in mind that, unlike murder, rape has a persistent tradition of victim-blaming and is tied to a system of gender oppression stretching back for thousands of years. There are many people who feel that getting a woman drunk and taking advantage of her (which is rape, if you were wondering) is just fine.

When they read comments making light of such incidents, it doesn’t matter if you think it is funny because of some veiled cultural irony: they think it is funny because they believe women are weak and deserve to be treated like objects. Statistically, if you post something like that on the internet or make a comment like that in a bar surrounded by people, there is at least one person there who believes women deserve to be treated like garbage and they think you agree with them.

This is something most people aren’t aware of: I don’t think anyone here wants to be a rapist-ally.

Secondly there are the actual victims, who are exposed to hurtful comments making light of their afflictions. Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with making even really insensitive jokes at the right time, in the right context with people who understand the subtext, but how would you feel as a woman, particularly as a victim of rape, if you were constantly bombarded with jokes belittling your problems just because ‘rape’ has become a surrogate word for ‘losing at video games?’

People wonder why there are fewer women involved in technology. I will tell you: it’s because to an outsider the internet looks like a hellhole of misogyny. Even to an insider, people tend to forget themselves. If people ‘joked’ to your face constantly that you were stupid and worthless, and deserved to be brutalized, you would probably find it significantly less funny after a while.

Look, I know there was no ill will with the original image text, and obviously there is no harm intended when most people make misogynistic comments on the internet, but you have to consider that this is a public space, despite appearances to the contrary, and decide how to set your tone accordingly.

I’m not trying to accuse anyone here of being a bad person: I am trying to explain that my complaint with those sorts of comments in general is not simply a knee-jerk reaction to seeing a bad word, but a reasoned argument as to why we should make a concerted effort to be a bit more accommodating, and maybe watch our language a bit. Once again, this is not a demand. It is a request.

Triple post? (sorry).

My original comment was flagged, so it will hopefully show up later.

The use of the words ‘rape & retard’ have somehow become acceptible on the net and I find that sad… How long till we’re supposed to ‘lighten up and start enjoying racist slurs’ etc? It’s a slippery slope…

Zangief is going to hug you SO HARD. Every morning. And night.

@Chris Whitman:
I mostly agree, and I personally only joke about such things with my friends and family. But you lost me here:
“There are many people who feel that getting a woman drunk and taking advantage of her (which is rape, if you were wondering) is just fine.”
No, it’s still only rape insofar as the man makes sexual advances without consent; just because the woman is in more of a position to give consent without real thought, and has sex with men she otherwise wouldn’t, doesn’t mean rape occurred, because it was her decision to debilitate her thought process. “Getting a woman drunk” can only happen with force-feeding. I know that alcohol *is* very often involved in actual rape, but that’s because (for example) the woman is less able to physically resist, the man is more likely to get away with the act afterwards, and of course, the man is probably also drunk thus more likely to attempt rape in the first place.

You also lost me here:
“People wonder why there are fewer women involved in technology. I will tell you: it’s because to an outsider the internet looks like a hellhole of misogyny.”
Undoubtedly a significant factor, but you make out as if it’s the sole reason. Actually, socially-imposed lack of expertise and interest is likely the primary cause. I’ve been on the Internet for quite some time and there is *not* enough sexism to possibly account for the vast gender difference (consider also that women could just carve out more of their own sites, game servers, etc. if that was the reason). Blame the culture of the real world, not the culture of the Internet.

@Flamebait: I guess I should clarify — I’m not talking about situations where people get a bit too drunk and ‘things happen,’ I’m talking about the case where someone pressures a woman into getting falling-over drunk specifically for the purpose of taking advantage of her inebriated state. That is no different from drugging someone for the same purpose. In fact, except for the fact that alcohol is regulated under the category of ‘food or drinks’ thanks to revenue taxation, it is literally drugging someone for that purpose. That is definitely rape by almost anyone’s definition.

Regarding your second point, I’ll admit that was hyperbole. Like you said, though, it is still a significant factor. I know a lot of girls who play video games, but very few of them spend any real amount of time communicating with their peers over the internet. Keep in mind that a lot of sexism isn’t even noticeable to men unless they are really looking for it (i.e., the phenomenon of the male gaze goes unnoticed by most men), so it’s easy to miss. I’m not suggesting you’re oblivious, but as privileged people we often don’t perceive sexism to be as threatening, and therefore are less likely to notice it.

Obviously a society that steers women towards obsessing over shoes instead of technology plays a significant factor, but I’ve heard a lot from women who participate in the blogodrome (or whatever they’re calling it now) that it is often very tough to be ‘a woman on the internet,’ and I also don’t think that should be diminished.

@Chris Whitman:
Funny to see the correction before the text in need of correction.

I think the moderation is due to your use of the word “r**e”, and it’s frankly ridiculous. Atrocities must be freely discussed. It’s like blocking out “genocide”.

Clearly, at least within the context of TIGSource comments section, “r**e” is usually used properly as an actual point of discussion (see also: The Path comments). Why do the moderators shoulder such pointless work? Is there a mass of immature comments we’re not seeing?