Video Games and Women

“So, you are a gamer AND a woman, wow, that’s rare!” some people might think or even say that, when they meet me and find out that I greatly enjoy playing video games. The truth is that female gamers aren’t nearly as rare as many people might think. In fact we make up nearly half of all gamers and that might not even be all as many women are too afraid to even anonymously admit that they are playing video games. The reason for that is that this hobby has been thought to be greatly dominated by men. This becomes not only plainly obvious when sentences like the one at the beginning are uttered but by the way women are represented in video games.

      For some time now a movement of female gamers, who are demanding for the representation of women in video games to change, has been getting stronger. More and more women admit to enjoy what formerly has been assumed to be a “man thing”. You might now think “No big deal, why shouldn’t women play video games?” and if you do, I congratulate you but not everyone thinks that way. First of all, even some women tend to look at you in a strange way if you start telling them about Mass Effect, Skyrim or any other game you play, because some still see it as something you shouldn’t be doing. Secondly, there are men who feel threatened, who think that women are taking away something that solely belongs to them, that they shouldn't be allowed to play video games and no matter what they shouldn't feel entitled to asking for a change in the way they are portrayed in games. What follows if you still dare to raise your voice is a wave of harassment, threats and bullying.

      To give an example, Anita Sarkeesian uploaded a series on YouTube called “Tropes vs. Women in Video Games”, where she talks about the representation of women in video games. The comments that soon followed were beyond bad. Among people telling her she should “go back to the kitchen and make a sandwich”, she also got threatened, not only with death but with rape too. And sadly there are a lot more women getting comments like that. Women are called names for far less than what she has been talking about and they can reach from “You aren't a real gamer because…” to much, much worse.

      So to not make every man look bad, because that is absolutely not my intention, I have to say, that not everyone is like that, some men are genuinely surprised others are absolutely happy to have found someone else to talk to and play video games with. There are tons of boys and men out there that see no problem in a girl or woman liking what they like and would welcome them in their group of gamers with open arms, not because they are female but because they share a hobby. I think it is important to acknowledge the bad and try to change it, as well as to show that there are already people who do good, who are accepting and don’t care to exclude someone just because of their gender. 

• Some bad examples of women in video games:

1. Princess Peach in Super Mario (always gets kidnapped and needs to be rescued by Mario)
2. Scribblenauts (sister gets encased by stone because of something she and her brother did, her brother needs to save her)
3. The Witcher (women are primarily sex symbols)

• Some good examples:

1. Mass Effect (it doesn't really matter if you are male or female)
2. Skyrim(it doesn't matter if you are male or female)
3. Tomb Raider(2013) 

Even though there are three examples for good and bad, there are sadly much more that could be listed below the “bad examples” than the good. Something else that has to be considered is that most games have a male protagonist, which makes women automatically less valuable than men. Furthermore, regarding the armour, especially in online games like WoW (World of Warcraft), is that women rarely seem to wear actual full body protection. Mostly their armour includes a bra like top and a mini skirt.

More on that and why some women refuse to play females in online games in one of my next entrys.

If you are interested, here is the first part of "Tropes vs. Women in Video Games".

This is mostly my point of view, so if you have questions, disagree or have something else to say about this topic, feel free to comment! 

The Border between Canada and The United States

Today I want to say a few words about a video I saw just yesterday. It’s about the border between Canada and the US to be more specific, about the “straight” line in the middle of it. As you might have guessed, that border is not as straight as it seems to be, which does not make it the longest straightforward, deforested line there is. If we go back in time and imagine when those borders were drawn, it is actually very clear why it is more of a zigzag line, as the people back than had no GPS but only a compass to use. To explain why I wrote “deforested”, along the border between Canada and the US is a six meter wide path called the “no touching zone”, kept free from trees.
      I find this especially interesting as I never learned about anything like that in school even though it is fascinating to hear about the pros and cons of straight borders or the problems you come across planning and drawing borders in general. On one side straight ones are easy to draw on paper but on the other side to transfer them onto the land they are meant to be on, can be a real challenge. Not only can towns and cities suddenly be split but what if, like in the case of Canada and the US, an airport needs to expand? Mostly we just learn and talk about the land a border defines but we never talk about the borders and their properties themselves. After learning about the border between Canada and the US my curiosity regarding those boundaries has been aroused and it would be fascinating if there is more interesting information to be learned about the straight borders of the US.

 Here is the video I was talking about, discussing the topic about he border between Canada and the US more thoroughly.

Good morning and Happy Halloween!

As it is October the 31^st I as well plan to use the occasion and talk a bit about Halloween or more precisely about the costumes that will undoubtedly be worn tonight. The reason why I want to talk about this is because I already saw two posts on two different websites, discussing that exact same topic. The first picture I saw was about whether you think your costume is racist or not (link below). First of all, I think it’s very wise to actually think about what you are wearing, as some people tend to forget that their attire might actually offend people. I don’t really want to go into it any further and am just going to list some examples of costumes you might want to rethink.

1.      Is there a swastika anywhere on your costume? Don’t wear it!

2.      Does your costume represent a minority disrespectful or in a shameful way? Don’t wear it!

3.      Did you paint your face in a different colour to represent a person from another culture? Read number two and rethink your choice.

The second article (link below) was of a different nature and asks you to be respectful towards women even if they wear a revealing costume and to not call them names just because they didn’t cover their whole body. On the other side, if a woman decides to cover up completely or wears something “unladylike” that’s okay as well. In fact don’t call anyone names just because you don’t like their costume, be respectful towards women, men, children and every person you meet. And should you see someone wearing a racist or otherwise offending costume, tell them in a friendly way, don’t be mean and again, be respectful you won’t get anywhere if you start a fistfight right there and then. Having said all that I just want to repeat, be respectful and friendly to everyone, we are all humans, so dress up, get out there and have fun!

Links:
Is your Halloween costume racist?

Slut shaming

Let's get this blog started!

My name is Magdalena (surprise), I am 20 years old and about to tell you a bit more about my “Maturareise”, which is the journey I took after I graduated from school.
You might ask yourself now “What is that journey she is talking about?” and I am all too glad to answer that. After I graduated two of my friends and I decided to travel through Europe using the “Interrailticket“, which enables you to go by train wherever you would like to (in Europe). The exceptions are the country you live in and every country in Europe that is not part of that program. We decided to buy the “10 in 22 days”, meaning that we could go by train on ten days and that the ticked was valid for 22 days. 

Our first stop was Berlin, where we stayed at a camp-site, remote from the city center but not too far away from it either. It was a strange experience as everything seemed to remind you about World War II, which is not surprising but non the less a bit grotesque after a while. Besides that there were funny stores like the “Ampelmann Shop”, wholly dedicated to the little man on the street-lights. The reason for that is, that the so called “Ampelmann” looks different in the different parts of Germany. Other things that we visited where the “Alex” (the television tower on the Alexanderplatz), one part of the Wall that still stands and is now painted by different artists, Checkpoint Charlie and much more.

After Berlin we went to Hamburg for one day but we didn't really see much of it as it was just a stopover between Berlin and Copenhagen. Hamburg was one of the two cities we stayed in a Hostel and the funny thing about the one in Hamburg was that is was painted in pink and had the tiniest bathroom I have ever seen. It was less than two meters in length and about a meter in width. You could barely move at all without falling over or out of the shower right into the main room. All in all I think there are some nice places to visit there, even though we didn't really get the chance to do so.
 

Moving on, we finally went to Copenhagen. What I could see from the train window, Denmark is a beautiful country that I would love to revisit to not only see more cities but the nature as well. Copenhagen itself is a very intriguing place, where there seem to be more bikes than cars and where one part of the town decided to live autonomously. Again we stayed on a camp-site where it was very hot during the day but astoundingly cold during the night. But even the hot weather couldn't stop us from searching for the Little Mermaid or looking inside churches and gaping at the amazing fountains they have. We even went into the Tivoli park, which I would compare to the Prater in Vienna. Despite getting lost once I enjoyed our stay in Copenhagen.

From Copenhagen we went to Amsterdam which took us over 12 hours by train, luckily we had a reservation for a compartment with beds. I think the train even skipped some stops because it was running horribly late. Amsterdam was yet again a very interesting experience. The camp-site we built our tent on was the most beautiful I have ever seen and many others seemed to agree as it was stuffed with tents, huts, caravans and cars. Despite being a beautiful city, I would not really like to live in Amsterdam for a longer period of time. First of all, with all those grachten I would get lost all the time and there are far too many tourists and people riding their bicycles in a very dangerous way. A different reason would be that everyone seems to be smoking pot and that all the time. In the morning when I left the tent at eight I would walk at least past one tent that was practically surrounded by smoke. Looking back on it, Amsterdam is a lovely city, with it's grachten and some of the houses leaning forward but still there is something really strange about it too.

Our last, or my last stop, was in Brussels where we stayed at a hostel for the second time and were fortunate enough to find a free tour on the second day. I personally liked Brussels with it's old houses, beer, chocolate and fries, but back to the tour. The tour was amazing! Our guide belonged to a organisation called “Sandeman”, which offers free tours in different locations all over Europe and even the US and the Middle East. I never met anyone more in love with the traditions and the country they live in. Everything seemed to be exciting, every aspect of Belgium, every bar of chocolate, every step of making fries, every event in history and especially the beer. If our guide liked something more than the country itself it was the beer! And I have to say, I understand why, even though I was only able to taste two of the many different sorts they have.

After Brussels it was my time to part away and find a train to take me home again, while my two friends went to visit Bruges for a day. All in all those two weeks were an amazing experience, we did not only see different places but also met new and interesting people and I dare say, discovered some new aspects of ourselves, at least I did. I can only recommend this way of traveling as it is beautiful and exciting at the same time and I think you are able to discover things you normally wouldn't see.