Women, Cheese, & Whine

Well, I read a post on Schnozz's blog today on video games, and the fact that there aren't enough targeted to women. It got me thinking, it got me aggravated, and even though the majority of my fanbase is female..

Caution! Upcoming rant on: Feminism

I grew up in a woman's world. I was in enriched classes with five other guys and a seemingly endless army of girls. Before I knew what feminism was, and before I knew what the entire concept of a "man's world" was, I thought it seemed very one-sided. The women were going to rule the world, thought little Jam, and us men are at a disadvantage. Boy, was I wrong. Girl, was I? Throughout this rant, I'm going to bring up several points on feminism that I've collaborated over my twenty-one years as a masculist (there's not even a word for it, which I'll get to later).

First off, here are some things that I have been told by feminists in order to assault and convince me:

A teacher once told me that although there are plenty of male-only golf clubs around the world, there are zero female-only ones. Although I disbelieved this fact and would have loved to question her on her references for such a presumptuous statement, the real questions should be "do I care?", "how does this relate to feminism?", and "why do you care?". There are male-only golf clubs because men are definitely the dominant driving force in the sport, and men enjoy hanging around with other men, playing golf, smoking cigars, and whatever other stereotypical guy-things do at those clubs. Men enjoy these, men have opened these clubs for each other. The reason that there are no female-only golf clubs, if that ridiculous fact is true, is that no woman has ever opened one. How on earth does that prove a point about feminism? That proves that no woman has ever had the funding or motivation to open one. That's it.

Women have/need qualifiers, such as "chick-lit", "chick flick", and "strong female lead", whereas men do not have such qualifiers. I had never thought about this before because, wow, that's ridiculous. Men have the same qualifiers (strong male lead, guy movie, etc.), but the difference is that men do not care. I think the point that feminists miss is that women have qualifiers because they choose to acknowledge the fact that they exist.

For example, "chick-lit", a relatively unused term in my everyday life, nonetheless a specifically sexist term, refers to literature or reading material that only women read. The problem I have with this and many other terms is that feminists believe the term was brought out in a bad light, when really, it wasn't. There are certain books that women are definitely the prime readers of, such as romance novels, and yeah, I would refer to that as "chick-lit" if I said dumb things like that. Is it a man's fault that women read these books? Not one bit. Is it a man's fault that the term exists? Who cares. The term is taken in a bad light because feminists, for whatever reason, dislike being centred out.. or something. "Why is there no male equivalent for men's books?", you may ask. The answer is simply because there are no men's books besides filthy magazines! Therefore, the qualifier "chick-lit" is just to say that men don't read that type of book on a normal day, but women do. Don't use it if it bothers you, because you using it when it does bother you bothers me.

Video games are targeting men. There should be more games for women. No offense to Schnozz, because I do enjoy her blog, but I completely disagree with this point. I am a guy. I love the Sims and I could kick almost anyone's butt at DDR, but these are supposedly, beyond my knowledge, women's games, or games that women should play. Why? Why can't women play the zombie games? Why can't women play the raping games and the army games? Women don't like those games, but then again, neither do I. I love RPG's (Role Playing Games), puzzle games, and I loved the old systems. The problem I had with Schnozz's rant on games directed at women is that video game companies know that their target audience is boys and men, mostly teenagers to men in their 30's. It's a fact. They make the games that these men would like to play. Since these men love explosions and Die-Hard-like scenarios, the companies make games that appeal to these men because they know they will sell. If "women", or people who want a different genre of game to become more popular and variant, they need to buy the ones that are currently out there at present, like DDR, Karaoke Revolution, etc. It's not a gender-based problem, it's a genre-based problem.

If any of you have noticed, any time a point is made of male dominance, male oppression, male-ANYTHING, it is in a negative light. According to many women, because they have it so hard, being a man is not okay. They have to go through so much, whereas us men get to deal with no social or physical problems whatsoever. I'm sorry, ladies. I do understand that women have their monthly fun, that they have to buy extra clothing to cover their chestyness, that they "have" to buy make-up and all the rest, and have to deal with body image. What I also understand is that men also have to deal with body and social image, to, in my opinion, a much higher degree. I understand that men's clothing costs double or triple that of women's (if the man dresses in something other than Hanes), and that men have their own problems and stresses. For women to take their problems out on men is the same as women taking their problems out on cats, cars, or walls. Telling men that they should feel bad because they're having difficulty dealing with their problems is ridiculous because there is no way a man can relate unless they have lived Transamerica.

I'm sick of every time I'm proud of being male, eight women attack me with their problems, their "oppression", their disgust for my pride. I am proud to be male, to have made it through my struggles, and it will be my mission, as it should be all other men's missions, to stay proud of being a man and to create terms which are not all negative when referring to us. Women should not get the cushion of infalibility when it comes to their gender because if I don't get it, no one should get it.

As much as I would love to relax and accept the squishy, comfortable feminist point of view, that women are still oppressed in Canada and all of western society, I just can't sit back while these ridiculous points are made and created daily so that women can put down men over and over. I am a man and I'm not taking it anymore. If you can conceive that taking such a stand will offend women, then you should conceive that there is a social problem, and that such a stand is necessary.

--Jam

PS EDIT: I write my blog using my opinions and while I definitely have a bias, I try my hardest to remain logical and rational in everything I write on Jam's Blog, and this post is no exception. I believe what I wrote in this post, and have received many agreements on my opinions, by men and women alike.

I apologize for using another blogger's opinions in this rant, but I believe the points made needed questionning. While Schnozz's post got me thinking of feminism, it in no way contradicts everything I say, and I referenced it only where necessary. I apologize to her for any distress caused, but I refuse to not debate the points made in her post in the fashion I saw them. Although all her points were not directly feminist, some were, therefore I chose to write about them.

If you dislike my opinions, if you think me to be irrational, please don't read my blog.