What's with the sexism and homophobia lately?

[dsheinem]

Ok, venting time.

I've noticed that over the past few weeks there has been a fair amount of sexist and homophobic comments on the board. Much, but not all of it, comes from a few of the newer members. I'm all for free speech and don't want to edit/delete these posts, but I feel like if I say anything specifically to one of the members then I'd comes across as an over-zealous mod or my comments as representative of the staff (neither of which would necessarily be so). Nonetheless, people should be censured by the community (not censored by mods) for this behaviour.

So, I guess what I'm asking is for people to call this shit out when they see it. There's no need to demean women or refer to something as "gay" or "faggy," and this place has always been much better than that. I like the forums because of the respectful tone and maturity most members demonstrate. That said, it would be nice to have a little more gender diversity (there's that horrible word!) on the board, and I don't see this recent trend helping...

[MentalMan]

Personally I dont think there is any need to bring up the book of morale, these are just words.

And like many words, they are part of slang, an expression that mostly dosnt even mean what it did a couple of years ago.

A good example is the word "queer." Click me!

Back when H.P Lovecraft was throwing around the word queer, it was only ment in the sense of "strange" or, "odd".

And if we cant throw around words like we want to on a nice forum like this one, not full of anal redundant moral apostels, then where can we? There is no such thing as free speech, but there is a thing as ignorance. Sadly both seem to go hand in hand which makes it feel like a paradoxon.

I understand that everyone should keep up a sense of class. But theres once in a while a moment in everyones life that deserves the use of a more harsh comment. After all, calling a videogame character a gay faggot dosnt hurt any real person. And I dont remember anyone here, calling another member such nasty things.

[fuctfuct]

I tend to use words like "fag", "geh" and the like in my everyday life. I try not to on the Internets cuz people like to act super sensitive and faggy (because its easier then in real life)

I don't consider myself homophobic in the least.. In fact quite the opposite lul

I know big, tough, strong, drinkin, smoking, super "manly" guys that are %100 gay and say things like "that's so gay" and "what a fagot"

I love this clip .. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-otAJrtY-w

[Merz]

Update the forum rules and make an announcement. If people are still being jerks set an example.

[d123456]

dsheinem, you are right. I am too guilty of this. When I hate something I will refer to it as gay, and in the process hurt them. Very couragious to point it out. Pointing stuff like this out will never make you win any popularity contest. (do these actually exist?)

Offcourse when somebody refers to something as being gay it does not mean he hates gay people, but it still hurts them. Ehh, I posted the Call of Duty pic, twice actually. That was more funny than it sexist. It was a great find.
OK, no more gay and women bashing for me and all you other hetero bastards from now on!

[puke_face]

I like the forums because of the respectful tone and maturity most members demonstrate.

Something I've always liked about the forums as well. The feeling you can talk about damn near anything and not be made fun of, or called a n00b or a fanboy is a great feeling.

[Xonticus]

dsheinem, I know what you mean. I've been on here, what almost a year now? And I remember when I first came here, I was lured in by the community's sense of companionship and general respect towards one another.

I think the sentiment towards this subject, based on other message boards, is that those words are said quite loosely in general since people get away with calling each other "douchebag fags" and calling each other out.

Personally, I kind of like the general respect on this forum, and would like to extend that respect towards the newcomers. I think they need to know that coming out and saying " LOL what a faggot" is generally not tolerable.

TBH, I haven't spent as much time lurking on here much lately, and haven't seen as much as you portray, but then again, you are a moderator and oversee a lot on a daily basis Again, I'm right there with you and I agree that it needs to at least be toned down a bit so we don't end up eventually walkin the slippery path of /b/. ( I don't think it will get that bad, but you know what I mean.)

[thecommontask]

In general I feel hopeless about language as a means of communication. I just don't think it works, but oh well it's what we use. So, that being said...

Only so much can be done to please everyone in regards to this topic. There is obvious history and connotation associated to specific words from time to time and that is always changing. The problem here is part ignorance, part immaturity, part carelessness. A person that uses these words being deemed inappropriate isn't interested in being censored and doesn't have the ability to understand how or why they can't say certain things. They just don't care or see the point. And they don't have to. It's unfortunate for those that try to avoid such harmful or demeaning language but it's a part of life and it will always be around. They might be intending harm or they might not, it could be innocent altogether but who's to know, and who's to tell them otherwise and teach them a lesson. Is that necessary? I'm not so sure...

I've been substitute teaching lately and I've had a lot of experiences where kids are saying horrible things and don't know yet what it's all about. There's a chance they will never have to face diversity in such a way that they see how these words can impact others in a negative way, and so grow up as an adult using such language with wild abandon. Again it falls to the individual whether or not they chose to be a person with empathy for the dangers cause by language to others or to say fuck it and say what they will. I can understand both... but it's hard to really say one is better than the other. What you could debate is whether or not language has an effect on cultural understanding and diversity in a negative or positive way.

In conclusion I agree with dsheinem in that this forum does seem to rise above certain negative language in order to deal with the topics at hand. I think by using careful language and creating uplifting, investigatory dialogue we are creating a more intelligent and informed gaming community. Agreed?

[noiseredux]

Personally I dont think there is any need to bring up the book of morale, these are just words.

okay, but you have 13 posts, and you're being asked my a moderator with nearly 2000 posts not to use them. So...

[Luke]

Ugh.

Dsheinem didn't start this thread to start a semantics debate. I'm positive we have a "why is cursing bad" thread already. I could be wrong, but I think what he is saying is, cut out the lame sexist jokes, stop referring to every other thing as "gay" and "faggy", and overall, just try to show some class.

Now I curse from time to time on the forum, but it's the repetition of some words that some users constantly use that just gets annoying. You never know who may be viewing the forum, so just use a little respect. When I'm out with buddies, we drink and curse left and right. When we're in the company of women, we cut out the cursing, as we know some women find it offensive. Do we think cursing is wrong? No. But we try to show some respect and class. I think that is what he's trying to get across.