Gamerisms

Nerds and Male Privilege Part 2

In a continuation of Kotaku’s discussions on male privilege in gaming/comics/geek culture, the writer takes the time to dissect and deconstruct many of the common excuses that men make for not considering the role that sexism plays in geek culture, in what he calls, “The 3 Ds of Arguing.”

Dismissal entails denying that the issue exists at all in the first place, evidence be damned. This often involves long and tortured explanations about how something really isn’t sexist at all and is perfectly rational and egalitarian. Occasionally it involves explaining to someone how they’re completely misinterpreting things, they’re oversensitive or overemotional.

No, you’re sexist! You’re trying to oppress men!

Deflection is all about verbal judo and flipping the accusations around on the accuser. In terms of arguing male privilege this usually appears as variations of “No, women have all the power, they’re more manipulative than men” or “You’re discriminating against us!”

Derailing is the most common version of these arguments and serves to change the subject of the conversation, usually by the people in question. Suddenly, instead of discussing geek culture’s implied accepted roles for women, we’re discussing the hierarchy of oppression or why we’re talking about this instead of, say, female circumcision (which is, like, way worse). Or dealing with assertions that, by extension, anyone who agreed with the article wants to ban all “sexy” characters from video games forever.

Note how the 3 Ds are actually very applicable in many conversations about how male privilege functions in different cultures and sub-cultures.

Although on Kotaku, it can be a face-palming experience to read the comments section, this time around, there is definitely more support for what the writer is articulating, even despite the usual privilege-deniers. The more that influential sites like Kotaku talk about these issues, the more that people can feel comfortable with talking about their own experiences without fear of being immediately shut down by the very culture these articles are trying to get us to look at and dismantle.