James Desborough, Gamers, and Rape

[roseembolism]

Warning: this post contains a lot of triggering concepts, such as rape.

RPG writer James Desborough has caused a controversy that brings up issues of sexism, gaming culture, and censorship. Desborough, author of works such as The Slayers Guide to Female Gamers (review here), Nymphology (review here), and The-Quintessential-Temptress, posted a blog

Comments

[anonymous]

It's hard not to be disappointed that the problems with sexism in gaming are worse than one suspects. And make no mistake, this whole fiasco has just highlighted for me that things are worse than I suspected, and have a long way to go.

-Claire

[heron61]

More importantly both Desborough's work and the ongoing rape threats against Malyn Cooper points out that the problem with sexism in rpgs is even worse than it commonly is thought to be.At least in terms of the threats, from what I've seen with the sort of treatment women in forums ranging from various spects of geek culture to politics face when they make remotely controversial public on-line posts, it sadly and horrifyingly looks like the rpg community is no better and no worse than most of the rest of the internet

[roseembolism]

I'm amazed that the rpg.net mods didn't close the whole thread down. On the other hand, there's people making "Banned from rpg.net t-shirts.

I do like to hope some progress has been made when all is said and done, that more creators will actually think about what they're doing. But this, and from recent threads on depictions of women in rpgs, there's a large contingent of hard-core sexists who will violently resist any suggestion of change.

[heron61]

But this, and from recent threads on depictions of women in rpgs, there's a large contingent of hard-core sexists who will violently resist any suggestion of change.

Very true, but I think it's well worth keeping in mind that this isn't restricted to gamers or even geeks, it's our whole damn culture (at least in the US, I haven't lived long enough outside of it to say anything useful about the rest of the planet).

[mindstalk]

Desborough may be an ass, but the Nymphology passage does point to what D&D magic would be used for, as would be more obvious if settings weren't so sterilized and the printed summoning spells so short in duration.

[roseembolism]

It's the sort of thing teenage males would come up with before their moral circuitry is quite developed.

It wouldn't be so bad, if the Nymphology passages actually emphasized the horror and evil of those actions, instead of taking a "wink wink nudge nudge" attitude.

[fintach]

What an ugly development. So, before reading your post, I read the original (and his two follow-ups), and the reviews of his books. I did not read the discussion board conversations because, honestly, I've read enough of that crap over the years that I don't feel the need to read more