Booth Babes and PAX

[korinna]

As some may already know, PAX (a gaming convention) has a ban on booth babes. Recently, the men running it held a survey asking if they should consider repealing the ban. The majority of responses indicated people either liked or loved that booth babes were not part of the PAX experience; another 20% reported that they were indifferent to the ban.

Comments

[riotlounge]

They might have put it up to the vote just due to pressure from business clients, IDK. I am really supportive of not having booth babes at PAX or anywhere else. They do nothing but reinforce a lot of sexism and gender-typing of conventions.

[aphephobia]

I'm supportive of them not having booth babes at the convention

[korinna]

Gamers also range in ages and sexual preferences, so the idea that we're all heterosexual men and it's some kind of boys' club is not only exclusionary, but kind of revolting: it's designed to let gaming women know their place, and to encourage younger gamers to see this as the way things are.

I agree. That's one of my main issues with pandering to male heterosexual desire when it comes to gaming - it's incredibly exclusionary. And a lot of the stuff I've seen decrying the absence of booth babes does not consider the fact that the gaming community is not composed exclusively of heterosexual men (that furthermore expect "t&a"). Despite the ever increasing number of women who attend all sorts of conventions, including things like PAX, there's still this persistence that booth babes are necessary. And it probably has something to do with tradition, not really seeing women as equals in the gaming community, and an inability to see how the widespread objectification of the female sex makes events seem unwelcoming. And as you mentioned,

[lisaquestions]

I hate "sex sells" as an argument. When guys say that, they're conflating "sex" with "women."

[korinna]

Yeah, exactly. The fact that "sex sells" is used so flippantly, and without any consideration of whose "sex" is being sold, only reinforces the idea that women are the sex class.

[lisaquestions]

And that the only perspective that matters is the male perspective.

[seluecus]

And a very specific, narrow and exclusionary version of the male perspective. Not sharing which (according to the horrible comments on Kotaku) apparently makes you non-heterosexual/non-male. Gah!

As you mentioned, "sex sells" is a horrible argument. And besides being both obnoxious and sexist, there's a fair amount of evidence that it's just wrong in a lot of cases where it's applied/claimed.

[sols_light]

As a male, I find the idea of a booth babe appalling. Beyond the needless objectification of which there is already far too much in the gaming industry, it tells me your game is probably a terrible waste of my time because you feel the need to resort to cheap tricks to sell it

[alethea79]

"...it tells me your game is probably a terrible waste of my time because you feel the need to resort to cheap tricks to sell it."Seriously, this

[korinna]

Yeah, that's a very disgusting site (I'm glad there's no comments section, though). Maybe it's because I was already forewarned about the revealing outfits, but I couldn't stop looking at their ridiculous shoes.

[etoilepb]

I've never been to PAX Prime, but at PAX East it was pretty obvious which booths had hired staffers for the sex appeal and which booths hired staffers to know what they were talking about and engage attendees

[onetruebelmont]

Well, the theme of Pax East, if there was one, was "Don't be a dick." From what I saw, it seemed to work.

There's a concept! Everybody respect everybody else and have fun! :o