SJW: Most Abused Term Ever?

[IMPress Polly]

So I saw this posted about Cosmic Star Heroine (the new classic RPG-inspired game on Steam and PlayStation 4 I've been playing) recently:

CSH 29.jpg

Yep, it's an adventure game. With a female lead. Who wears pants and everything. Heaven forbid.

Branding such a title "an SJW game" to me is kind of like saying that Sarah Palin, Michelle Bachmann, and Carly Fiorina were feminists because they ran for public office while female. I mean maybe relative to those few people who still believe that women are emotionally unqualified to hold public office perhaps they were, but by no higher standard could you brand them as feminists. Same basic principle applies here. When I think of "SJW games", I think of titles like Gone Home, the Portal games, Diaries of a Spaceport Janitor, Never Alone, and Night in the Woods (all outstanding games IMO, btw!): games that thematically revolve around issues like gender oppression, same-sex relationships, economic exploitation, that sort of thing, not just any game that happens to have a female lead. The latter might have passed for political and specifically left wing 20 or 30 years ago, but today it is no longer truly a novelty just for a game to have a female hero. The feminist and "social justice" monikers typically imply something more specific than that these days in my mind, and I suspect in most people's as well. You see what I'm saying?

This (the above) really seems to be the typical use of the "SJW" label. When the typical use is an abuse, I think that says something about those who throw it around. And it has become perhaps the most common 'insult' that gamers use against other gamers, developers, publishers, writers, etc. in recent years. In this context, can we not say that it is the most abused term in circulation in the gaming community writ large?

[Chris]

SJ is a game played by phony warriors.

[Standing Wolf]

SJ is a game played by phony warriors.

Critics of Social Justice frequently have as little understanding of how societies work as they have any interest in justice for anyone but themselves.

[Mister D]

First, let me make it clear hat I really don't care about video games.

Anyway, every time I have asked for specificity regarding the term "feminist" I get a lot of self-righteous indignation but no answer. Have you ladies finally decided upon a definition that makes it quite clear that the term does not apply to the likes of "Sarah Palin, Michelle Bachmann, and Carly Fiorina"?

[Mister D]

Critics of Social Justice frequently have as little understanding of how societies work as they have any interest in justice for anyone but themselves.

What does "social justice" mean to you? Trying to decide if I am a critic or not.

[Safety]

It's definitely an abused term on tPF.

[FindersKeepers]

It's definitely an abused term on tPF.

Not by me. I never use it.

I prefer to say "purveyors of social engineering."

Or, "snowflakes." I'm kind of fond of that one.

[Standing Wolf]

What does "social justice" mean to you? Trying to decide if I am a critic or not.

Well, although like any term it can be misused, I don't consider it to be an insult. I understand Polly's point - a thing isn't necessarily indicative of "social justice" or "feminism" because a woman is involved where someone may have expected to see a man...or, for that matter, because a racial minority is involved where someone might have expected to see a White person.

Context is vital, but generally speaking I think of a legitimate "Social Justice" cause as being one wherein an attempt is being made to convince the general population - the Society - that a particular attitude is either beneficial or destructive - conducive to fairness, or bad for everyone.

[Safety]

Well, although like any term it can be misused, I don't consider it to be an insult. I understand Polly's point - a thing isn't necessarily indicative of "social justice" or "feminism" because a woman is involved where someone may have expected to see a man...or, for that matter, because a racial minority is involved where someone might have expected to see a White person.

Context is vital, but generally speaking I think of a legitimate "Social Justice" cause as being one wherein an attempt is being made to convince the general population - the Society - that a particular attitude is either beneficial or destructive - conducive to fairness, or bad for everyone.

Well, in one point, it is used as a pejorative to try and marginalize someone. When I first arrived here, I was constantly called a SJW, until it was known that I was black, then the term was never used towards me again. Funny that, huh?

So, in my experience, people have evolved with their use of terms for things they can't outright say in public. I see SJW as the newest form of a term...

[AeonPax]

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I prefer linear RPG games that allow me to operate in the nude....or close to it.