Nick Offerman Reads Tweets From Young Female Celebrities, Vol. 8
Gendering binary lessons
“This is humorous because we have rules about how you’re allowed to behave and will make fun of you if you break them.”
I don’t think that that is why its funny. I think it has a lot more to do with the fact that the guy just stops and recites these random ass tweets, almost like he is some sort of human twitter client. I mean, just imagine a construction site where every 30 seconds someone has to stop what they are doing to recite a random tweet.
No. Let me tell you as a comedian, there is a specific reason they chose a guy with a beard to read tweets from “young female celebrities”. The individual tweets themselves are selected for specific reasons, too. This is about a contrast between gender stereotypes that is played for laughs.
1. Guys are considered Serious, the ones who do the Real Work, while young girls are considered frivolous and shallow (“…stare at pictures of yogurt.” Yogurt, BTW, is also inexplicably gendered in the media).
2. Guys are considered tough, girls are considered weak. (“I feel vulnerable after a nap.”) The beard is actually crucial on this one, because it’s used as a symbol of ruggedness.
3. In the same vein, guys are supposed to like “tough” things, girls are supposed to like fluffy things. (“Nothing better than puppy cuddles”)
4. Guys are expected to have deep voices. When they do anything in a way that “sounds like a girl” it’s considered funny and emasculating, because femininity is coded as inferior. (“when I sneeze I sound like Snow White”)
Etc. Etc. Etc.
This sketch would not have been approved for airing if he just read random tweets. Guaranteed. The gag here is the intentional contrast between Burly Dudes and Petite Young Women. The contrast of archetypes is the point of the sketch, it’s the very root of the gag.
Comedy can be used to call into question the things we take for granted. It brings down people’s defenses and can get them to see another point of view. It can be used other ways as well. This sketch is a great example of how comedy can be used to point out ridiculous dichotomies of social order—in order to reinforce them instead of question them.
Pitfalls of the Industry
Life is like a hurricane. Here in. Game dev. Sexists, neckbeards, threats of rape. It’s some. Bullshit.
Might deny privilege, assault some women! DOUCHEBROS, WOO-OO!
Every day they’re out there whining. DOUCHEBROS, WOO-OO!
Adria Richards, PyCon, and How We All Lost | Amanda Blum
Notice how almost all the comments, even those in favor of Adria Richards, many of them (as the one I am quoting here), from White women defending Richards are all about disciplining the uppity Black woman.
They don’t like her tone. Her vocal antics are improper. She didn’t deserve to be fired but… It always boils down to it: the misbehaved Black woman should have known better. Even ostensibly feminist blogs are giving space to such opinions.
This is what happens when WoC do not play by the rules of patriarchal White Supremacy: the racist version of “slut had it coming”. If only she had not been so outspoken, if only she didn’t expose stuff she doesn’t like… if only she had been docile.
Anyone trying to unpack this disaster from the perspective of sexism in the tech industry, I’m afraid they are missing the point entirely; as usual, it is about the racist sexism in the tech (and non tech) world. Adria Richards is now its latest victim.
(via redlightpolitics)
This whole situation begs the question: Why don’t white women speak out about sexism in tech more?
Whatever happened to “Well-behaved women seldom make history”?
This is the problem with equality via assimilation. Those directly below the top tier become the most aggressive, fighting for validation from the top (men).
Are fellow white women angry because it’s now apparent how much they put up with for the sake of appeasement? Are they afraid of being next in line? I understand keeping quiet for the sake of self-preservation, and I know how women in tech have to choose our battles. I’ve been there, and it’s one of many reasons I switched to self-employment. But whatever’s going on, it does not justify this kind of attack.
When women do speak out, they need our support. Especially black women. Tech isn’t just filled with racism, it is specifically filled with anti-black racism.
The funniest thing in the world is straight guys who hit on random women they don’t know but have this indignant fear that a gay man is going to hit on them
Like, they’re aware of how uncomfortable unwanted advances from strangers are, but are somehow too stupid to see the irony that they do to women what they’re afraid gay men will do to them
bunch of A+ dudes
This cognitive dissonance brought to you by Women Are Asking For It brand sexism. Get yours today, whether you want to or not.
Are feminists winning the culture war?
“The successes that dominate the mainstream narrative on feminism largely center on the most privileged of American women, even when the consequences affect the most marginalized. And while symbolic successes are important, it’s more crucial that feminist actions make a difference in real women’s lives.”
“On election day, the backlash against GOP extremism along with smart organizing by feminists culminated not only in women being the majority of the electorate but also in an 18 percent gender gap—the largest in reported history.”
Except white women still overwhelmingly voted for Romney alongside white men. The “gender gap” was more accurately a race gap. So why is the narrative being pushed that women as a whole beat out those terrible white men? This was a victory of minorities over whites. From the link:
While the overall gender gap played a significant role in ensuring Obama’s reelection, it didn’t have very much to do with white women, who remain one of the bulwarks of the Republican Party.
That image that’s been going around showing how the election would have turned out if only white men had voted? It would have looked the same if it included white women. Check the exit polls. The majority of white women and men voted for Romney, the majority of PoC regardless of gender voted for Obama. Stop stealing the credit, white feminism.
High power poses are typically gendered male, and low power poses are gendered female. They of course have no innate connection to gender. However, by gendering body language along lines that affect confidence and stress levels, the power differential between men and women is enforced behaviorally and therefore also chemically. Thankfully, there are really simple ways to put a dent in that bias.
Male privilege is a myth, you guys.
Or maybe it isn’t. Read page 4 of this nao.
Nonstandard Sex Organs
Trans people have nonstandard sex organs, according to ISO 9000. Please fill out the following paperwork in order to attain standard sex organs from our sex organ factory, along with the mandatory fee of $20,000 (minimum). Until you obtain ISO-compliant sex organs, you are not permitted to date or have sex without feeling terribly ashamed of yourself, as per ISO Guidelines §504.8b, “Standardized Sex Organs are Superior”.
Cis people, you may also have nonstandard sex organs. See your plastic surgeon for more details.
+10 points to anyone who has noticed that the majority of “you must disclose” arguments boil down to “I’m a man steeped in male entitlement”
The rest boil down to “I’m a cis woman steeped in bad gender studies classes”.
Ami on Twitter (illustrated)
Ami Angelwings (ami_angelwings) is making a repeat appearance here, so that I can document her hilarious smackdowns of sexist hashtags on Twitter.
Today’s sexist hashtag is #WhyDoFemales, and here are Ami’s responses to tweets using it.
