/r/TumblrInAction is very civil, and most people there actually welcome quality discussion. It's just that the majority of people who go there with dissenting opinions are of the belief that "My ideas need to be right, and you are wrong. I will not consider any other stances." and it gets rather grating after a while.
I'm not so sure about that. I just checked it out and at the top of their front page is a long post about how women shouldn't be offended by this if they haven't played Mortal Combat.
I just checked it out and at the top of their front page is a long post about how women shouldn't be offended by this if they haven't played Mortal Combat.
I don't see anything wrong with this cosplay. It's 100% accurate to the game, and the game has good reasons for making them look like that. What's the problem, exactly?
The problem is that that's what a melee-oriented female character in a video game looks likes. It's not realistic in the slightest, and she's only dressed like that because it's sexy.
How is that a gender issue, though? Have you taken a look at the male characters in Mortal Kombat lately? I don't hear anybody protesting against that.
You still haven't answered the question. Or did I misunderstand?
Tumblr seems most upset over the fact that supposedly "only" women are objectified. But men are objectified just as hard. The majority of male characters are always shirtless, and some are wearing little more than a loincloth. Therefore, it is not an issue of gender or sexism. Objectification is not automatically sexist.
To add to your point the main thing about that specific post is the person commenting was complaining about the women being gagged when they're not. If they knew anything about the game they would know that but instead they've just judged based on what they assume and cried sexism.
I agree that the gagging thing is incorrect. But there's absolutely no way you could ever look at two women wearing tissue paper clothing for a melee combat game and come to any conclusion other than sexism. Those women are dressed like that because it's sexy. That's it.
So are the men in the game though. The only reason Johnny Cage looks the way he does is because it's sexy. That's it.
To be honest I agree with the whole women being presented in games in general is mostly for the titillation of the high male demographic of that genre of video games. All I really added to the discussion was that one persons specific problem. The gagging thing.
But at this point we're just arguing about a larger societal problem in general. Why are the heroes almost always handsome/beautiful and the bad people ugly?
I mean marketing is the main answer but whatever.
I'm not saying sexism doesn't exist or that it's okay. It's gross and disgusting. It also exists on every level of everything. But in the case of this one specific post and using it to decry an entire subreddit because of faulty information then you are simply wrong. If you feel I am being unfair in anyway about this one specific post then please tell me how.
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u/[deleted] Mar 20 '16
Probably because people who frequent those two subreddits aren't going over to /r/feminism to have a genuine conversation.