Hi all,
In the last few hours I waded into an argument about the role of women in films. This was on another thread, the one about the Rogue One trailer.
I personally regret that the thread about something cool turned into an argument about something not cool.
However, I don't particularly regret saying the things I said, and I'd like to explain why here, without further derailing that thread.
I am someone who considers the representation of women in the media to be an important topic. Important enough to at least have an opinion on. It is my firm belief that women should be equally represented to men in films and other media. It's my belief that, the more equally women are represented, the closer we get to true equality in the world at large. It's my opinion that, when someone believes women should not be represented equally, they are expressing a point of view which is harmful to women.
For me, expressions similar to "women shouldn't be action heroes," "women should be mothers and homekeepers," and "not another female lead character" are as offensive as expressions such as "black people shouldn't be politicians," "black people should be servants and criminals," and "not another black lead character".
I'm guessing that if those last three expressions were shared here, on this forum, there'd be a great deal more uproar against them - indeed I imagine they'd be deleted almost immediately.
You may not agree that those concepts, sexism and racism, are equivalent. The reason that I believe they are is because in both cases, you're defining a person's potential and their role in society based on the manner of their birth. Indeed, any attempt to rationalise a view that women and men are not equal is the same as attempts to rationalise the view that white people and black people are not equal. "Women are just naturally better at raising children" is about as acceptable as "Black people are just naturally better at running".
With topics such as politics, religion, ethics, I generally try to stay irreverent, or not get involved at all. I genuinely have no interest in attempting to impose my opinions on other people.
But the topics of equality, sexism and racism aren't the same. It is not the case that they are open-ended problems with a spectrum of possible answers - we either treat everybody equally, regardless of their gender, race, or sexuality, or we do not. This is not a political question about whether it is right to publicly provide healthcare or build a wall on the Mexican border or for a Prime Minister to have off-shore tax-exampt funds. Equality has a definite answer which has already been decided - that all citizens of a country share the same rights, regardless of the manner of their birth.
"It's just my opinion" is no more a defense for sexist comments than it is for racist comments, and for the same reasons. When you say something that discriminates against people of a certain race, you're excluding people of that race, whether you intended to or otherwise. If you crack a joke here about how black people aren't as good at something as white people, then a black person reading that is going to feel much less welcome to participate in this community. And the same goes for similar comments about women.
Y'know, if you are of the opinion that women should have different rights to men, if you are of the opinion that black people should have different rights to white people, I actually don't really care, you're allowed to have that opinion. But that doesn't mean it's okay to express that opinion in a public place, because that opinion could be considered hurtful and indeed harmful.
Women already have a horrible time in the tabletop gaming community - and whilst I'm sure none of the people reading this have ever done any of the horrible things described in that blog, that doesn't mean that your words and actions cannot still be harmful to people who every day struggle to be treated equally when doing something they enjoy.
There will be women who are fans of Star Wars and have been all their lives, and who will be incredibly excited to see a film like 'Rogue One' in which a woman is not only one of the main cast members, but is actually the lead character. And those same women might see some of those comments complaining about that fact and decide that this community isn't one where they'e going to feel particularly welcome.
And for that reason, I do feel a need to contest any point made which seeks to exclude women from this hobby - directly or indirectly. If a comment is made that could come across as being disparaging of women, I will state my objection to that comment as strongly as I would to a similar comment made about an ethnicity.
Some of you may disagree with how I have stated those objections - maybe that I have expressed them in too emotional or irrational a manner. And to that, I can only answer that this isn't a rational or logical issue. The argument for civil rights is not one based on rationality (though there may be rational arguments that support it). The argument that people are born equal is a conviction that we hold as strongly as our conviction in democracy. When someone uses a racial slur, the response should not be one of rational objection but of moral outrage - and for me, the same is true of sexist slurs.
So whilst I appreciate that I have derailed a thread that should have been about the new 'Rogue One' trailer, I did it because the sentiments expressed were, I believe, completely unacceptable in a public forum, and I feel morally responsible to state my objections to those sentiments, and to challenge them as directly as I am able, just as much as I would object to racist comments. And I will continue to do so - because I hold that it is the right thing to do.
Thank you for sticking with me this long. In recompense, have some Puppy Tax: