We've Come a Long Way, Maybe? - Comments

@ Mystik Spiral
That is awful :( did she report it? Though I have a feeling Microsoft would not take any complaints about this type of thing seriously...

@ Aprille Legacy
Exactly, I don't understand why some guys think girls are like that. A lot of male dominated games like Call of Duty, Halo and Battlefield is where a lot of girls are harassed and verbally abused, my girlfriend likes playing these games, but she gets me to talk on the microphone seeing as last time she tried standing up for herself she was reduced to tears.

@ Mystik Spiral
Well said, and I can personally verify that us geek girls do not only play video games to get into guys' pants. Unfortunately, I've run into some players on Star Wars; The Old Republic who seem to think that is quite true, and trust me, it does not make for a fun game time experience :/
Fantastic article, very well written and compelling.

There seems to be a lot more of people with sexist views nowadays than say 5 years ago. The geek culture right now is being scrutinized for being sexist because of the whole "fake geek girl" situation, and as a guy and as a self proclaimed geek I found this deeply disturbing. The whole geek culture is supposed to be about making people inclusive, but some dudes with massive ego's just think that girls are only interested in geek/pop culture and games just to get in their pants.

A lot of romance movies, and romantic novels (even some on mibba) are pretty sexist as well. The usual plot for these romance stories includes an awkward girl who has to change her appearance and her personality to suit the guy. Or all she can think about is when she's going to kiss her boyfriend and blah blah blah. I can assure you that my girlfriend doesn't think about me THAT MUCH. Hahaha. But seriously, I think Ryan Gosling pointed out something quite valid about the view of women right now, especially in films. I think it goes..

"Peoples opinions of violence and sexuality is totally different, and there are a lot of double-standards, for instance one can have a movie where a woman is beaten and sexually abused and no one seems to complain. But give a woman pleasure and then its considered pornography."

Here in Australia I don't think sexism is as prevalent as it is in some other countries (right now our issue is dealing with racism). In fact a lot of people in Australia thought it was a joke a first when that Todd Akin fellow talked about "legitimate rape." But realising it wasn't a joke that Todd Akin is an idiot and shouldn't breed.

On a final note, this article is a great way to force people to have a conversation about sexism that really needs to be talked about again. I think a lot of people are complacent about it.

They called this year's election in America the "war on women." A majority of the female population voted for Obama because many Republican politicians came out and spewed ignorant comments about rape and birth control. According to Rush Limbaugh, who attacked a woman named Sandra Fluke because she stood up in favor of insurance plans being required to cover birth control, women on the pill are nothing but sluts and shouldn't burden the country with paying for their slutty ways. Another politician, Todd Akin, said that there's such a thing as "legitimate rape," where if the rape is "legitimate," the woman's body can "shut the whole thing down" and prevent herself from getting pregnant. And these are the men running our country.

Anyway, sorry. This stuff gets my blood boiling. I really enjoyed this article, and (assuming since you referenced Canada, you're from there) I guess I never really thought that Canada would have these same issues as the U.S. It is sad how sexualized women have become, and how sexualized abusing them has become. Like you said, I'm sure a lot of it comes from deep religious roots (along with other cultural sources) and it just angers me to no end.

My mom used to have a bumper sticker on her car that said: "Feminism: The radical idea that women are people." It's disheartening that sometimes it feels like women are never going to be seen as equals.

But thank you for this article. It was very well written and insightful. Well done.