Coincidence... or no?r0sew00dAugust 30 2011, 00:21:43 UTC
Wow, that's really weird. I just read about the dickwolves debacle, and learned the term "rape culture," linking through a newly discovered feminist/gamer's website. And only learned about privilege as a concept a couple months ago. (Specifically with regards to race. Never too late, eh!)
One minor quibble with your post: "it's a facet of my privilege that I don't have to contend with triggers and flashbacks." I don't think that lack of these things has much to do with privilege specifically. Plenty of white males who went to Viet Nam have/had PTSD, for example. And not all people who have been victims of violence trigger, either.
Some do, of course, and therein lies the problem of the "dickwolves" strip and its creators' response to the backlash that came from it.
My understanding of the PA guys' intent in the original strip is to play off of people's emotional investment in games, that lingering guilt that can hit you if "people" are involved in a quest like that. Part of humor's effect comes from exaggeration, right? So they exaggerated what could happen in some fictional game world if you didn't dot the last "i" in a quest.
However, once they knew the effect the comic had on victims of rape, they should have reconsidered, or apologized for, its presentation. Not made "dickwolves" shirts and otherwise whipped its primarily privileged audience into a froth of hate.
I have, particularly under "duress," used the terms you mention while playing games, and my reading over the last day or two has given me food for thought. Why on EARTH should I appropriate the language of the angry, thoughtless, and hateful (and male, sure) when something in a GAME doesn't go my way? It isn't right to act thoughtlessly from having never been a victim of sexual assault.
For the constantly self-questioning, tomorrow is always a better day. ;)
Re: Coincidence... or no?sabrecatAugust 30 2011, 00:40:13 UTC
Cool, glad to see you appreciated this post. It's overall had a very positive reception. Of course, thus far I've been put to the test on it only once ("tentacle rape" jokes, in this case), and my response was feeble at best. Tomorrow's a better day indeed. :P
As for privilege, I interpret the term broadly. Yes, many white males suffer from PTSD... and I'm lucky not to be one of them. A thing doesn't have to be among the top five sources of inequality to count as an advantage in life that I didn't work for.
One minor quibble with your post: "it's a facet of my privilege that I don't have to contend with triggers and flashbacks." I don't think that lack of these things has much to do with privilege specifically. Plenty of white males who went to Viet Nam have/had PTSD, for example. And not all people who have been victims of violence trigger, either.
Some do, of course, and therein lies the problem of the "dickwolves" strip and its creators' response to the backlash that came from it.
My understanding of the PA guys' intent in the original strip is to play off of people's emotional investment in games, that lingering guilt that can hit you if "people" are involved in a quest like that. Part of humor's effect comes from exaggeration, right? So they exaggerated what could happen in some fictional game world if you didn't dot the last "i" in a quest.
However, once they knew the effect the comic had on victims of rape, they should have reconsidered, or apologized for, its presentation. Not made "dickwolves" shirts and otherwise whipped its primarily privileged audience into a froth of hate.
I have, particularly under "duress," used the terms you mention while playing games, and my reading over the last day or two has given me food for thought. Why on EARTH should I appropriate the language of the angry, thoughtless, and hateful (and male, sure) when something in a GAME doesn't go my way? It isn't right to act thoughtlessly from having never been a victim of sexual assault.
For the constantly self-questioning, tomorrow is always a better day. ;)
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As for privilege, I interpret the term broadly. Yes, many white males suffer from PTSD... and I'm lucky not to be one of them. A thing doesn't have to be among the top five sources of inequality to count as an advantage in life that I didn't work for.
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