LOL *NSFW* *The new Demote thread*

There's really nothing like that in her videos, which are delivered in a matter-of-fact kind of way. I've seen more confrontational responses from the anti-feminist cranks. I think what she's saying is important, but probably won't change the industry much. Worst case for gamers, you get some games with better writing and women central to the plot. Like in Kill Bill, which you enjoyed?

The best art doesn't just depict life. Sometimes it shows us what could be (SF, anyone?) and sometimes it shows us life from a different perspective. Sometimes it takes apart old notions (think of Braid which picks Mario apart, right down to the "rescue the princess" plot).

Finally, no one deserves to be threatened with death and/or rape for expressing an opinion. It's not their fault that some maniacs flew off the handle. But as you said, these guys give the rest of us a bad name, so don't expect me to stand by when someone (it happened to be you this time) posts something that lives up to the stereotype.

Anyway, on with the LOLs:







Bill Bailey <3

 

Indeed.

 

http://www.drawball.com/lolz/

 

Half right, maybe. Women quite often, if not more often than not, are never satisfied with their image ( usually the better looking ones ), where as men are in no doubt as to how fat or unfit they are.

The kicker is that we just stopped caring a long time ago , where as the women are constantly paranoid thanks to media publications. The other kicker is that the repulsive inbreds you often see around town with their screaming brats and equally scummy partners often think they are something special, given how much make up they plaster on, or don't... *shudders*

The Barbie vs He-man cartoon however is 100% undeniable truth, the other, not so much, or at least it's no where near so simple...

 

Is He-Man a beauty standard for millions of young boys?

Quite strange that you say this when your Barbie vs He-man pic implies the opposite, that stuff like Barbie doesn't influence self-image at all, since He-man doesn't for men.

 

I must say that bs.

 

Women still get sexualised, and hence defined in terms of their physical attractiveness. The only other meaningful attribute that is often ascribed to women is their ability to care, which is an asexual attribute (hence the myth that there are no female child sex abusers), but that is secondary to her sexual attributes. "Yummy" precedes "mummy".

Men have to be strong and powerful. Partly in a sexual sense, but since they are expected to take the dominant role in that, physical attractiveness does not matter as much. Attractiveness is a passive attribute; sexual potency is an active one. Moreover, power can also be attained in non-physical ways.

It's still a man's world.

 

It's an image referencing the 'role models' we had when we were young ( children of the 80s and early 90s ); it is wasn't He-man & Barbie, it would be some other characters with very similar physical attributes- you missed the point of the image entirely, along with the meaning of the words in a broader context.

Wut? I said nor implied any such thing. I clearly stated that women are always under pressure to look good ( from the media & such ), and that the good looking ones are often the least satisfied- the Barbie reference is entirely suitable here, not unsuitable or implying the opposite at all. I then stated that men are not normally vein or delusional about their looks, as the image implied, and that they are simply past caring when they are that... large. Hence why I said the image is only half right at best; us lardos don't think we look like He-man, though we may indeed have felt pressured into thinking we needed to look that way when we were younger.



Anyway:














*insert Maddie joke here*

 

Sorry if I missed the meaning of the image. Not a native speaker, so I don't catch some important nuances every now and then.

Here's how I analysed the image:

Barbie is "according to feminists":
(1) An unrealistic, unhealthy and unfair standard of beauty
(2) leading to a crisis in self-esteem

The right side is He-Man. You could also interpret him as (1) (though you'd be wrong, as I'll show below), so the point the image is trying to make lies in (2), where they are supposed to differ.
The scare quotes around "crisis" and the the fact that He-Man has had no noticeable impact on the self-image of young boys leads me to believe that the maker of the image wants to show that (2) is a myth.

There are a few problems with the comparison. First of all, (1) does not count for both. Barbie and He-Man are role models of an entirely different nature - if you see He-Man as a role model in the first place, which I highly doubt he is for anyone on this planet.
The point, the essense of the He-Man character lies in what he does, how he acts: he's a brave hero who has lots of adventures, fights evil and always wins no matter the odds. (*)
The point of Barbie however is what she looks like: her dress, her hair, her make-up. Because she is so popular, she is a standard of beauty for millions of girls, and you don't have to be a "feminist" to see that (**). Just ask them.
You could replace He-Man with a blue square with a sword and Masters of the Universe would still fundamentally be the same show (though with significantly lower animation costs). You simply can't do the same with Barbie; she is her figure, her clothes, her make-up.
I hope you see the important difference. This is why the cartoon is not accurate at all.

Secondly, if the maker denies that many young girls (or women on the whole) have a crisis in self-esteem, he is simply not paying attention to the world around him. Whether or not Barbie has anything to do with it is not absolutely certain, but judging from the fact that so many young girls look at her as being the perfect image of a woman, it's definitely not all that far-fetched.

You seem to agree that many women obsess about their looks, yet you don't agree that Barbie might have something to do with this. You say that "media publications" do cause it however. Why the latter and not the former? If anything, I think it's far more likely that women are influenced at a young age when they are easily impressionable, and those girls don't read beauty magazines, but often do play with dolls like Barbie.

Or your point was that Barbie is influential, but women should just not care about their looks that much, like most men right now. The problem is that men have never been exposed to so much pressure to look good, their whole life long. As shown by He-Man, men young and old are taught to act, be powerful (not physically per se) and be dominant. Little to no emphasis is placed on their appearance.
Women on the other hand are just pressured to look good and maybe also to be caring, not much more.

If you're implying that women are inherently more obsessed with their looks than men - and I'm not sure you are - I'd like to see some evidence. I think it's far more likely that our current society causes this. An investigation in distant societies, disconnected from ours would be interesting.

(*) This also brings its own share of problems for impressionable young boys, but that's another debate.
(**) I for example don't consider myself to be a feminist FYI.

---

 

One thing I have noticed is that if some goes on a weight loss diet, men are more likely to accept the 'long road ahead' option whereas women almost always go for the 'lose 15 stone in one day drinking only vitamin water' option.

@Pliqu: A very well laid out argument there!

For the academically inclined among us: Does Barbie Make Girls Want to Be Thin? The Effect of Experimental Exposure to Images of Dolls on the Body Image of 5- to 8-Year-Old Girls

And now I apologise for being serious in the demote thread!

 

I chuckled:

 

I can tell; some things we imply without needing to say or be too specific about. Don't worry, I won't judge you ( too much ) for failing to understand my meanings...

Showing someone a few pictures vs living with it being shoved down their throat for 5-10 years are two different things- don't expect the same results; that 'study' is poorly executed at best. Likewise growing up with media pressures ( FYI, 'media' means anything on tv or in print, or the net too for that matter plus toys ) and expectations is not the same as a short sharp exposure- kinda like the whole 'teens react to...' on youtube; it makes for a fun experiment to try on youngsters, but living through something is very different. Thanks for playing though...

In other news:

 

Could you tell me what the point of the image is then, and why it is 100% undeniable truth, as you say? Why was my analysis flawed? I'm genuinely curious.

---

Saw this a few days ago in a Belgian newspaper. Quite an interesting concept.

 

im not sure how i feel about this burger king...

 

How simple, the Kuro XD

I'd try it, at least once. Wouldn't you?

 

Read the words, they are true- maybe not so much in 2014 with a changed/changing culture and attitudes, but at the time they certainly were.

On the side-issue of He-mans actions vs Barbies actions, that's not the point ( of the image ), the image is the point. Both boys and girls grew up with those images being shoved down their throats, but you don't hear men ( masculinists? opposite of feminists? I dunno, whatever ) crying and bemoaning of the impossible expectations placed on us to look like that ( act like that, as I say, is another debate ). Atleast I've never heard such complaints.

That dear boy, is my point, and why your analysis is incorrect, or misplaced/misguided.

One for the Engineers:

 

His first mistake was hiring engineers to solve a problem.

 

Meanwhile back in reality, an automated rejection system is part of any inspection system.