You've heard opponents complain about "the humorless feminist" before? Well although I hate playing into stereotypes, this one actually isn't totally untrue. Many feminists publicly display no sense of humor, or for that matter any real personality in general. Up until the last summer, and more especially the last four months, I myself largely sought to avoid displaying much personality here on PF. Ever think there might be a reason? Well there is one. I think I'll let a prominent feminist of today (whom you may have noticed I respect a lot) explain why she's opted to refrain from showing her human side to the public in recent years:
Yeah that's right: political correctness isn't just something that affects the political right and men and so forth. Quite to the contrary, it's if anything applied in more extreme forms to feminists. I mean for example remember last year when the merits of the term "$#@!" (the B word for those with the filter turned on) were discussed here and how the overwhelming majority opposed banning that word on PF, and then shortly thereafter a mass movement calling for the prohibition of the terms "sexist" and "racist" emerged and was actually taken seriously...ironically, by all the same people who previously complained about the "the word police" and how repressive that approach to forum moderation is? Yeah. I think that illustrated a certain truth: that many people are hyper-sensitive about gender and other discrimination issues. Lots and lots of people feel that even discussing things like gender discrimination amounts to a personal challenge to their masculinity or to their right to be a happy housewife (as applicable) and as such respond to even the most mundane discussions thereof quite disproportionately and in very personal ways that many feminists would rather avoid dealing with. Such avoidance, such mandatory self-censorship, however, takes an emotional toll, just as discrimination itself does.
Compiled on top of this are social stigmas against women telling jokes and being humorous: the whole "women aren't funny" cultural belief that's easily observed in the ratio of male-to-female professional comedians, for example. (
Survey illustrating this point.) Most all of the prominent ones are men, regardless of the target audience. When polled on the subject, the vast majority of people of both sexes value "a sense of humor" in the opposite sex. However, breaking down the details reveals that for women to "have a sense of humor" is believed to mean mean something very different than it does for men to "have a sense of humor". For a man to "have a sense of humor" means for him to be good at telling jokes (active role), where for a woman to "have a sense of humor" means for her to laugh at those jokes (passive role). Furthermore, if you as a woman do break this taboo by telling a joke, it had better be a self-depreciating one if you hope for it to be well-received.
Now I don't claim this point as a license to demand that others find my idea of humor (which is often combative rather than self-depreciating, as I'm sure you've noticed) funny and "lol" all my jokes or what have you. I'm just pointing out that gender roles exist even vis-a-vis simple things like humor, that women are graded more harshly than men, and that feminists are graded more harshly than average women. Feminist DO have a sense of humor just like you do! Many just find it impractical to display it because of the inevitable, repressive backlash, which tends to be way more extreme and ridiculously nitpicky than anything "the word police" have likely visited upon you. It would be nice to be allowed a sense of humor.
The Gender, Sexuality, and Race Room
Originally Posted by IMPress Polly
You've heard opponents complain about "the humorless feminist" before? Well although I hate playing into stereotypes, this one actually isn't totally untrue. Many feminists publicly display no sense of humor, or for that matter any real personality in general. Up until the last summer, and more especially the last four months, I myself largely sought to avoid displaying much personality here on PF. Ever think there might be a reason? Well there is one. I think I'll let a prominent feminist of today (whom you may have noticed I respect a lot) explain why she's opted to refrain from showing her human side to the public in recent years:
Reply With Quote
One can do much better than DW4 really, even within the Dragon Quest franchise. For example, Dragon Quest 9: Sentinels of the Starry Skies has a much better and less predictable storyline than the fourth game in the series (and it also affords you the same type of gender choice) and also includes a range of social play options to boot. That's my favorite game in the series and the one I'd most recommend.
