Hey Everyone! The new issue of Shebytches is alive. Please swing on over to www.shebytches.com to check it out. Below is what is hot off the presses!
GUEST WRITER
Oneal Walters - Poetry - Picture of Love, Untitled, Can’t Find Love In Arguing (The Age Begins)
WHAT'S NEW
Carolina's - Bytch Two Journeys - I am about to start two very different journeys; one involves a possible move and the other a four-legged ten-year-old fur ball. Both are going to be tough and likely expensive, but one won't stop the other from happening or vice versa.
Cindyloohoo So long fat girl! - After a lifetime of being overweight (and many years of being "morbidly obese"), I decided last year to get rid of this massive chip on my shoulder (and off my ass) and have gastric bypass surgery. Nine months later and I feel great.
Nancy Drew - "On Living Bravely" - I was at Moonbean Café the other day with a friend whose life is going really well. She just moved out of her parent’s house after living with them for three years while in school for naturopathic medicine. It was a grueling three years.
Heather Wood - I've read this story before - Much as I like to claim that I am only 29, I was actually born in the "Swinging Sixties"—that progressive era when it was perfectly acceptable to fire a woman just for being pregnant.
Pixie Says - Stand Up for Judy Blume -- and, while I have your attention, ask the Japanese government to ban video-game rape simulators - When I was 13, I was hauled up before the headmistress at my school because some of my friends' parents had found them reading my copy of Judy Blume's legendary novel Forever (with the *important* pages dog-eared, of course).
Romy Shiller - People seem to abhor ‘difference’ - I was so mad when Adam Lambert didn’t win American Idol (2009). It is just a TV show but it says a hell of a lot. He wears nail polish, eyeliner, some people say he is gay and he is called by the show a “glam rocker.”
Monday, May 25, 2009
Saturday, May 09, 2009
Video Games, Fantasy and a Call to Feminist Programmers
So my previous post about the Equality Now campaign to ban rape-simulator video games in Japan provoked some discussion on Facebook. One of my friends countered that fantasy is a space that should not be policed: as a feminist, I agree with him, which got me thinking that...
1) the problem is not the rape fantasy per se (OK, it is a problem for me as a rape survivor but whatev), but that it's not really a fantasy, is it? It's a reality: men can and do rape women (and men) every day, all around the world, and it's (almost) socially and legally acceptable. Whether as a weapon of war, or a tool of social control, rape - including child rape - is not some unexplored fantasy but an expression of patriarchy
2) the other problem, then, is that the video game perpetuates the normativisation of rape. Of course, there's no direct connection between playing a game/watching a film and enacting what you've done/seen therein, but all cultural texts do contribute to shaping our understanding of cultural norms.
My friend agreed these points, but argued that censorship wasn't the way to go. I agree, of course: mass sterilisation and/or castration, followed by forcible re-education, would be far preferable.
Kidding! But can you imagine if there were a video game that allowed - nay, encouraged - women to do so? Say, based on the film Baise-Moi, or on Angela Carter's novel The Passion of New Eve. How much fun would that be! How many copies would they sell! Or even a game based on freakin' Thelma and Louise - with the opportunity to rewrite the ending, naturally.
Because that, I guess, is the alternative to censorship, to do what Carter did so brilliantly and re-write, re-vision, re-make in the image of your own fantasy. So this is a call to feminist programmers and hackers out there: given that it was possible to create a patch that stripped Lara Croft and one that simulated hardcore sex in GTF, how about a patch that re-writes RapeLay so that when the male POV character chases one of the sisters, the other (or the mother) stabs him or, in a more realistic and actually more satisfying conclusion, calls the cops and gets him arrested (preferably followed by the player's console getting locked for a day in real life). "Success", ie: winning the game, could be patched as NOT raping the children.
And for those who think this would never fly in the big-bucks gaming world, take heart from this article, headlined: "The naked truth: sex doesn't sell games."
1) the problem is not the rape fantasy per se (OK, it is a problem for me as a rape survivor but whatev), but that it's not really a fantasy, is it? It's a reality: men can and do rape women (and men) every day, all around the world, and it's (almost) socially and legally acceptable. Whether as a weapon of war, or a tool of social control, rape - including child rape - is not some unexplored fantasy but an expression of patriarchy
2) the other problem, then, is that the video game perpetuates the normativisation of rape. Of course, there's no direct connection between playing a game/watching a film and enacting what you've done/seen therein, but all cultural texts do contribute to shaping our understanding of cultural norms.
My friend agreed these points, but argued that censorship wasn't the way to go. I agree, of course: mass sterilisation and/or castration, followed by forcible re-education, would be far preferable.
Kidding! But can you imagine if there were a video game that allowed - nay, encouraged - women to do so? Say, based on the film Baise-Moi, or on Angela Carter's novel The Passion of New Eve. How much fun would that be! How many copies would they sell! Or even a game based on freakin' Thelma and Louise - with the opportunity to rewrite the ending, naturally.
Because that, I guess, is the alternative to censorship, to do what Carter did so brilliantly and re-write, re-vision, re-make in the image of your own fantasy. So this is a call to feminist programmers and hackers out there: given that it was possible to create a patch that stripped Lara Croft and one that simulated hardcore sex in GTF, how about a patch that re-writes RapeLay so that when the male POV character chases one of the sisters, the other (or the mother) stabs him or, in a more realistic and actually more satisfying conclusion, calls the cops and gets him arrested (preferably followed by the player's console getting locked for a day in real life). "Success", ie: winning the game, could be patched as NOT raping the children.
And for those who think this would never fly in the big-bucks gaming world, take heart from this article, headlined: "The naked truth: sex doesn't sell games."
Thursday, May 07, 2009
Stand Up for Judy Blume -- and, while I have your attention, ask the Japanese government to ban video-game rape simulators
When I was 13, I was hauled up before the headmistress at my school because some of my friends' parents had found them reading my copy of Judy Blume's legendary novel Forever (with the *important* pages dog-eared, of course). My mum was called in as well. Events didn't quite transpire as I suspected, however: both my mum and the headmistress, a free-thinking radical and one of my all-time heroes, defended my right to read whatever I wanted, spoke in favour of Blume's socio-sexual education (and support for contraception) and were generally right-on. They did advise me, however, to tell my friends not to get caught.
So Judy B. and freedom of expression, especially around sex and sexuality, have always seemed like natural allies to me. What better way to celebrate the first Mother's Day of the Obama era (that is, under a president who supports women's freedom to choose and the right to sexual health education for all, as witness his appointment of Kathleen Sebelius as Health and Human Services secretary) than with an email shout-out from La Blume via Planned Parenthood, asking supporters to:
As well as a wave of warm, inspired donations to an organisation that is often the ONLY provider of contraception, advice and abortion in certain states in the US, as well as a tireless provider of women's sexual health around the world, the message was followed by a meanspirited backlash totally out of step with this political and social moment. Only desperation could prompt hate mail to a beloved children's author! But PP is taking the threat to freedom of expression seriously, and asking all its allies and supporters (and everyone who thrilled to Are You There God, It's Me, Margaret) to do the same.
You can send Blume a note of support, which is worth it for the thrill of writing to Judy!!! Blume!!!, and show her the support that she showed to all of us as children and adolescents. As PP write:
Please share this with all your friends, family, colleagues, acquaintances, lovers, random people at the grocery store... We need to support our people!
And in more news from the scary side, a fabulous video game called RapeLay. Some strong-stomached activist at Women's Action has documented the game so you don't have to, and also offers details of Japanese law concerning the depiction of sexual violence -- and the need for those laws to change. Campaign action details and model letters are available at the bottom of the article. Equality Now, like Planned Parenthood, are doing difficult work speaking truth to power -- please support them however you can (EN and Joss Whedon have a mutual lovefest going on, if that inspires you to join up!)
So Judy B. and freedom of expression, especially around sex and sexuality, have always seemed like natural allies to me. What better way to celebrate the first Mother's Day of the Obama era (that is, under a president who supports women's freedom to choose and the right to sexual health education for all, as witness his appointment of Kathleen Sebelius as Health and Human Services secretary) than with an email shout-out from La Blume via Planned Parenthood, asking supporters to:
...Say thanks. Say thanks this Mother's Day with a gift that honors her courage by making a donation to Planned Parenthood in her name.The message was full of support for mothering as the hard work it is -- and as a decision not to be undertaken lightly.
As well as a wave of warm, inspired donations to an organisation that is often the ONLY provider of contraception, advice and abortion in certain states in the US, as well as a tireless provider of women's sexual health around the world, the message was followed by a meanspirited backlash totally out of step with this political and social moment. Only desperation could prompt hate mail to a beloved children's author! But PP is taking the threat to freedom of expression seriously, and asking all its allies and supporters (and everyone who thrilled to Are You There God, It's Me, Margaret) to do the same.
You can send Blume a note of support, which is worth it for the thrill of writing to Judy!!! Blume!!!, and show her the support that she showed to all of us as children and adolescents. As PP write:
Judy Blume has done so much for so many of us. The wisdom, compassion, and understanding that shine through her writing have helped countless young people grow up and grow strong.
That's why we were so shocked at the response to her latest act of compassion. When Judy honored Planned Parenthood by writing a special Mother's Day message on our behalf, the reaction from anti-choice extremists was swift and vicious. They flooded her office with harassing phone calls and hate mail, including death threats.
Nobody, absolutely nobody, should be forced to endure these kinds of attacks. Help us make sure that Judy knows that there are millions of us who support her and admire her courage. Fill out the form below to send your note of support to Judy Blume.
Please share this with all your friends, family, colleagues, acquaintances, lovers, random people at the grocery store... We need to support our people!
And in more news from the scary side, a fabulous video game called RapeLay. Some strong-stomached activist at Women's Action has documented the game so you don't have to, and also offers details of Japanese law concerning the depiction of sexual violence -- and the need for those laws to change. Campaign action details and model letters are available at the bottom of the article. Equality Now, like Planned Parenthood, are doing difficult work speaking truth to power -- please support them however you can (EN and Joss Whedon have a mutual lovefest going on, if that inspires you to join up!)
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