[MUD-Dev] The Price of Being Male

[Marian Griffith]

On Tue 01 Jul, Sasha Hart wrote:
> [Marian Griffith]

>> The various alternative explanations of course should be examined
>> to see if, and by how much, they contribute to the price
>> difference but the opportunity to study valuation of male and
>> female labour in a situation that is free of factual differences
>> in ability is quite important.

> But that's not what this is.

But that is exactly what it is ;)

>   - This is not a lower price for a product sold by a female
>   seller.  Nor a lower price for the time spent by a female
>   seller.

Nobody ever said it was.

>   Rather, it is a lower price for a commodity labeled 'female,'

Exactly. Hence the parallel that was drawn with the observed fact
that work done by women is valued less by companies than the same
work done by men. The author of the article pointed out that here
the common explanations for that discrepancy did not apply, and thus
concluded that the difference in selling price for female a- vatars
was an indication by how much society undervalued female labour.

>   much as the same might also be labeled 'elf cleric.' Suppose
>   that elf clerics sell for less than any-race barbarians, even
>   though they turn out to be exactly the same for all purposes but
>   graphics and labels (and whatever exact differences these create
>   in how other players treat the player using the barbarian/elf
>   cleric). Should we also suppose that this gives us the
>   opportunity to study devaluation of clerics' labor, or even the
>   broader category of discrimination against elf clerics? Yet I
>   don't see the distinction being drawn anywhere. It is in the
>   interest of the thesis for this distinction to remain as obscure
>   as possible.

If you can find that 1) there is no difference between the abili-
ties of elf clerics as opposed to the clerics of other races and 2)
there is indeed a price difference then, yes, you have an argument
that undermines the conclusion as it was picked up by the media.
You also would have proof that, in the game context, elf clerics
were discriminated against.

The term 'discriminated' should be taken in its original meaning: A
distinction is made between two individuals or groups of indi-
viduals that is not based on any significant difference in abili- ty
between them as relevant for the subject of distinction.

It is not discriminatory to say that women, in general, are less
capable fire(wo)men because they lack the upper body strength. It
would be discriminatory to extend this to an individual woman. as
she may be strong enough for the job.  Or she might have a funct-
ion that does not rely on upper body strength.  For the same reason
would it be discriminatory to say that women can not drive cars
because they are emotional. First of all there is little evidence
that this has any significant bearing on the act of driving a car,
and second because it is undecided if it is actually true that women
are more emotional.

A lot of talk about discrimination is really about stereotyping, and
only when it is followed up by either exclusion or enforce- ment can
we talk about 'real' discrimination.  Note however that the
stereotypes themselves can still be wrong, and thus in need of being
challenged and overturned.  A lot of these stereoptypes which feed
discrimination, are tightly linked to language and the usage of
specific words, which explains why there often is a lot of pressure
to either avoid certain words or to create dif- ferent labels which
are hopefully free of stereotyped meanings.  In game contexts 'the
female sorceres' and the 'male barbarian' are such
stereoptypes. Not, I might add, so much in muds, but in single
player roleplaying games it is a frequent occurence.

> I'm well convinced (by looking at GSS data) that - at least in the
> US - the wage gap exists, is quite large, and is something which
> should be fixed. Yet I don't buy this stuff for a moment - so how
> is it going to be of any help convincing the reactionaries, or
> driving the point home generally? I would even say that the
> comparison gives a misrepresentation of the seriousness and
> robustness of the real wage gap.

The author of the original article believes he has found a situ-
ation in which this effect could be demonstrated where the usual
arguments in favour of that difference (e.g. real difference in
skill, difference in seniority) do not apply.  In a game setting
female avatars should be exactly equally capable as male ones, and
seniority is not an issue either (nor is the possibility of
maternity leave).  Because of the relatively large difference
observed and the fact that it appears (or seems to appear) in a
situation that is free of gender distinction (if not necessarily
bias) this is an im- portant observation. Not for the muds
themselves, but from a so- ciological point of view, and one which,
if upheld under further research, could eventually affect politics.

In the mean time, several additional potential explanations for the
observed price differences have been proposed and these must be
examined carefully before jumping to any conclusions.


Marian
--
Yes - at last - You. I Choose you. Out of all the world,
out of all the seeking, I have found you, young sister of
my heart! You are mine and I am yours - and never again
will there be loneliness ...

Rolan Choosing Talia,
Arrows of the Queen, by Mercedes Lackey
_______________________________________________
MUD-Dev mailing list
MUD-Dev at kanga.nu
https://www.kanga.nu/lists/listinfo/mud-dev