[MUD-Dev] The Price of Being Male

[Paul Schwanz]

Marian Griffith wrote:
> In <URL:/archives/meow?group+local.muddev> on Mon 30 Jun, Mark 'Kamikaze' Hughes
> wrote:
>> Castronova, Edward <ecastronova at Exchange.FULLERTON.EDU> spake:

>>> I suppose everyone thinks its normal and OK that being a man in
>>> a woman-suit is something that the average man is uncomfortable
>>> with. I kind of think that's a problem.

>> I don't see how that's a problem.  I'm honestly a little
>> disturbed that you can characterize it as a problem.

> It is a problem in as much as that it leaves open the possibility
> that men (in general) see being a women as inferior.

There are *many* possibilities that are left open.  I'm not sure I
understand how any of these open possibilities equate to a
problem. Equating open possibilities with problems would seem to be
Chicken Little's fallacy to me.

>> Most men don't want to appear female, simply because that's not
>> what they are or care to be viewed as.  And that really is normal
>> and OK; not everyone is an androgynous bisexual transvestite.

> At the risk of sounding obsessive feminist here, you are making a
> number of assumptions and make conclusions based partly on biased
> thinking.

> Most men do not want to appear female you say, and I have no doubt
> that is true, but how much has that to do with their self image,
> and how much with a cultural bias that it is ultimately shamefull
> for a man to appear feminine? In other words, do men (in general)
> chose male avatars because they want to, or because they fear that
> female avatar will make other people (men!) think they are girlish
> or even worse, gay. Note that there is a reverse bias in women but
> that is not nearly as strong.

I want to play a male because I *am* male.  I wear male clothing
because I *am* male.  It is really as simple as that.  I see nothing
in the data presented that would indicate conclusively that the same
is not the case for the vast majority of those who purchased male
avatars.

In saying this, I don't deny that there are men out there who
struggle with issues of sexuality or that there is gender
discrimination.  These things are problems and not merely open
possibilities.

--Phin
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