This is where real feminism is required. Instead we have SJWs and entitled 20 something's here in the free world complaining about games and proper gender names smh.
Just because something worse is happening somewhere else doesn't mean you shouldn't try to improve your own situation. Not being discriminated or sexually harassed while gaming is important for some and being called the right pronoun is important for others.
louvren I'm not sure why you got downvoted but I totally agree. There's many places that need help in improving feminism. Being married at age 14 is horrible but being called slut while you walk down the street is a big issue as well. The argument that it "could always be worse" is like saying you can be happy because someone else is happier.
Plus: why not both? Just because others don't have as much as you doesn't mean you can't improve your own situation as well as theirs. It's not like we have to choose which to support. We can speak against child brides /and/ getting harassed. I just think that the people who speak against harassment speak more because no one getting on FS is like "oh, no, we should totally allow child brides everywhere". There's not a whole lot teenagers and 20 somthings who have no way of actually stopping rape or kidnapping can do about this, but raising awareness about gaming might actually make the people online (... the people who use those terms) realize that they should stop.
Alright, alright, girls, being called names while gaming certainly isn't nice, but you must admit that things like that can wait. Instead we should focus on things like these. Don't get me wrong, I've had my fair share of being treated like an inferior being. In my country, women get paid like 20-30% less than men with the same level of education (and I'm not exaggerating, there's been a study on that, it's the statistics). But these extreme cases require our attention more than game characters dressed too sexily. Being called slut is literally NOTHING compared to those cases. It's not a big issue. You know what a big issue is? Being executed for being raped. Because that's what happens in those countries. How about we focus our attention where it's needed?
I agree with guest and missraven. We should try to improve our own situation, but think of others as well.
I agree that we should do something about it, but unfortunately, I don't know what that something is, and I don't have the resources (or commitment, or intelligence, or spunk or whatever it is that would allow me to do it) to figure it out (honestly, I hardly have the whatever it is to figure out how to get financial aid for college, I'm terrible and extremely anxious). Like I said before, I think that there is something that can be done (and you feel like you're doing more for this, because idk, I kind of have this false assumption that if I've heard about something enough, most other people know about it too, and this is one of those things) for the little stuff, but I don't really know how much good posting about this on the internet will actually do. Buuut, if you have an idea for how we could help, please share!
Ewqua, I don't think things need to wait, it has been going on for too long already. Why can't we focus on multiple things? Just because I care about the homeless people in my city doesn't mean I don't give a crap about the people dying from malaria. Being shamed for you sexual activity IS a big deal and so is being married at 11. They all effect people's life negatively in one way or another and neither should be accepted in society. Stop diminishing problems.
If we really focused on both, there would be feminists going to these countries and doing something about the situation. But we've got too lazy to actually go somewhere and do something, so instead we rant about problems that are tiny compared to Third World's problems and then excuse ourselves by saying that it's super important too, just because it concerns us. Stop making a big deal out of being called slut once. I've been through some misogynistic shit as well, and I still think my situation is a luxury life compared to Third World's girls.
Do you go to those countries to do something, Ewqua? It's not all laziness. I'm 19, trying to get into college, working at a restaurant where they're legally allowed to pay me less than minimum wage because of tips, and paying for my cat's diabetes treatment. I don't have the time /or/ the money to go somewhere to do something even /if/ I spent all my savings. So don't act all high and mighty.
Secondly, being called a slut isn't the main issue in first world countries either. The issue here is being called a slut for being raped, when the rapist is told "oh, she's just a whore, clearly she wanted it and is just claiming you raped her so she can pretend she's not a slut". And before you're all "that doesn't happen" it did, to my best friend, who was /fifteen/ when she had this guy's kid.
I highly doubt I'd be able to go to any of these countries now, considering I'm only 17 and still studying, but since I plan to travel a lot once I finish my studies and get a job, I'll try to make a difference, although you're right that it's definitely not easy. I'm sorry for your friend, but the truth is, there is also a lot of cases in which the girl called rape because she got drunk and regretted sleeping with someone, which I'm sure isn't your best friend's case, but it happens and we can't ignore that either.
And don't you think I'm one of the people who go "that doesn't happen", oh no. Let's just say that a similar thing happened to me as what happened to your friend, except I didn't have a kid because I was too young to have a kid. Heck, I was too young to understand what was going on, which is probably the reason I haven't gone insane yet! The memories are very, very faint, but seriously, don't think I'm one of those who just rant because they don't know what it's like.
Unless the someone she slept with was equally drunk, it's still rape. Sleeping with someone who isn't able to make decisions properly is still rape (like with kids?)
And I'm sorry for what happened to you, *hugs* You just never know, and you'd be surprised how many people say that.
True, true. *hugs back* it's said that about 1/5 women experience something like this at least once in their lifetime, so you never know where it comes from when someone opens up.
Yeah, it's sad, but it's the truth. Even I couldn't talk about this if it could be tracked back to me. It's still a nickname and I'm basically anonymous, so I can open up more.
I agree with guest and missraven. We should try to improve our own situation, but think of others as well.
Secondly, being called a slut isn't the main issue in first world countries either. The issue here is being called a slut for being raped, when the rapist is told "oh, she's just a whore, clearly she wanted it and is just claiming you raped her so she can pretend she's not a slut". And before you're all "that doesn't happen" it did, to my best friend, who was /fifteen/ when she had this guy's kid.
And don't you think I'm one of the people who go "that doesn't happen", oh no. Let's just say that a similar thing happened to me as what happened to your friend, except I didn't have a kid because I was too young to have a kid. Heck, I was too young to understand what was going on, which is probably the reason I haven't gone insane yet! The memories are very, very faint, but seriously, don't think I'm one of those who just rant because they don't know what it's like.
And I'm sorry for what happened to you, *hugs* You just never know, and you'd be surprised how many people say that.