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The thing that's really mind-boggling to me about all these 'makeover' games and whatever is, like... are there really people who apply copious amounts of blue/pink/purple/whatever eyeshadow? I almost understand it in the mislabelled scene-as-gently caress games but why do all of these makeover games feature eyeshadow colours and styles that I've never seen people wear outside of the most glamorous of glam rock groups? On a related note, is it bad that I thought these games telling young girls that they have to spend hundreds of dollars on cosmetic products in order to be accepted members of society would at least give makeup options that you'd see in the real world? I feel like that says something about my cultural expectations.
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Feb 20, 2014 20:44
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Mastigophoran posted:I... don't want to be a sourpuss or anything, but I'm genuinely surprised at how much praise this is getting. I mean, yes, it was absolutely fun in a bullshitting-over-bad-video-games kind of way, and a good thread, but the sheer terribleness of the messages we send to our children? I guess maybe it just feels like none of this ought to be news to anyone, considering that this is by no means the bottom of that barrel. Perhaps it's that the idea of having kids and what I would hope to teach them and shield them from is a thing I've been thinking about a lot recently, but, people only just learning about this now is actually a little terrifying, but maybe we're just at different positions in our lives. I don't think it's so much a matter of people not being familiar with gender stereotypes and objectification and such. I think what gets the most "what the gently caress, I can't believe that" response is how deep patriarchy runs, how much it affects every aspect of how we think and what we expect. You're probably right that this shouldn't be news to anyone but even as someone who reads feminist discussions and literature when I'm not being the embodiment of privilege (which is 90% of the time  ), I get pretty astounded by the messages we aim not just at women as a whole, but at children, out of some hosed-up expectation that they should conform to how we view the world. This is true even when the message isn't sexist or related to gender at all, but these examples are more noticeable in large part because they're happening constantly. I guess the point I'm trying to make is that the fact that these messages exist isn't what's so deeply disturbing, at least not in and of itself, but the context in which they exist, and the fact that to some extent we expect women to conform to them, and to this end we force these messages on them at unbelievably early ages, ages where they will have a profound and potentially irreparably damaging effect on their entire lives. Even when you're aware of these messages and try to teach your kids that this isn't the way things have to be, they're so inundated with ideals, beliefs and values every second of their waking life, ideals they're expected to conform to - or worse, expected to make others conform to - there's just no conceivable way to shield them from the brunt of the impact.
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Apr 20, 2014 14:21
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