Strange Tomato (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
strangetomato) wrote2009-05-14 10:52 am
strangetomato) wrote2009-05-14 10:52 am
Entry tags:
A whole lot of isms, but mostly heterosexism.
Given that this Sunday, May 17, is the International Day Against Homophobia, it's interesting that I was recently called out for being heterosexist. To my face, by a lesbian. I was pretty embarrassed. (Not that it would be any better to have this pointed out in another way, but I felt pretty careless.)
I had designed a quick little poster for a community Seniors Appreciation Day event, and all of the clip art used on it (yeah, go ahead and laugh at the clip art, but my job isn't as a designer - there's no time or money to make it nicer) featured elderly male/female couples.
In my defense, I was lucky to find anything that showed seniors being happy and doing anything besides sitting on a couch at home (no joke - many of them actually featured graveyards). We wanted dancing and eating and having fun AND elderly people, and I barely found that. There's literally nothing that tackles ageism AND heterosexism. It seems like you can only tackle one of these issues at a time (though there was a little racial diversity in there, I'll give them that much).
It's amazing how easy it is to be heterosexist. Unlike homophobia, you do it by default, by doing nothing. I like to think I'm pretty good about this stuff, because I actually think about it most of the time and even point it out to other people when they say something that assumes the world to be straight (you get mixed results when you suggest that someone's baby might actually grow up to be gay, let me warn you, true though it may be). So if I can do it by accident, then you can too. If you're constantly vigilant about it, then I salute you, but it can be tough to get it right all the time.
To relate this back to sims, it's got me to thinking about portrayals of LGBT characters in sim stories, just like any other media. I've read some interesting articles and posts on this topic recently (relating to different fandoms, but same difference), and it really is worth considering. I try to write about characters first and foremost, and so they have flaws and make bad decisions and all that, but I do try to be conscious of the messages my stories are sending, whether intended or not.
As for homophobia, I did make a very conscious decision to include that in my sim world, as much as I love the idea of a world without it. My sim world simulates the world I live in, and that includes most of its problems too. Also, there's no way to examine something if you ignore its existence, and I'm very interested in exploring gender/sexuality in my characters. It's something of a theme in my story, I suppose, if you want to put that much weight on it (which is probably a bit of a stretch).
So how do you feel about this as a creator or reader of sim stories? Feel free to discuss it in the comments, if you like.
Also, go ahead and critique the way I do things in relation to this topic, if you want to, so I can further consider and examine them. I know I could always fall back on "it's just a sim story," but I don't actually believe that excuses me in any way. I'm putting content out into the world, so I'm engaging in the way things are portrayed, even though it's a small and very specialized audience.
I had designed a quick little poster for a community Seniors Appreciation Day event, and all of the clip art used on it (yeah, go ahead and laugh at the clip art, but my job isn't as a designer - there's no time or money to make it nicer) featured elderly male/female couples.
In my defense, I was lucky to find anything that showed seniors being happy and doing anything besides sitting on a couch at home (no joke - many of them actually featured graveyards). We wanted dancing and eating and having fun AND elderly people, and I barely found that. There's literally nothing that tackles ageism AND heterosexism. It seems like you can only tackle one of these issues at a time (though there was a little racial diversity in there, I'll give them that much).
It's amazing how easy it is to be heterosexist. Unlike homophobia, you do it by default, by doing nothing. I like to think I'm pretty good about this stuff, because I actually think about it most of the time and even point it out to other people when they say something that assumes the world to be straight (you get mixed results when you suggest that someone's baby might actually grow up to be gay, let me warn you, true though it may be). So if I can do it by accident, then you can too. If you're constantly vigilant about it, then I salute you, but it can be tough to get it right all the time.
To relate this back to sims, it's got me to thinking about portrayals of LGBT characters in sim stories, just like any other media. I've read some interesting articles and posts on this topic recently (relating to different fandoms, but same difference), and it really is worth considering. I try to write about characters first and foremost, and so they have flaws and make bad decisions and all that, but I do try to be conscious of the messages my stories are sending, whether intended or not.
As for homophobia, I did make a very conscious decision to include that in my sim world, as much as I love the idea of a world without it. My sim world simulates the world I live in, and that includes most of its problems too. Also, there's no way to examine something if you ignore its existence, and I'm very interested in exploring gender/sexuality in my characters. It's something of a theme in my story, I suppose, if you want to put that much weight on it (which is probably a bit of a stretch).
So how do you feel about this as a creator or reader of sim stories? Feel free to discuss it in the comments, if you like.
Also, go ahead and critique the way I do things in relation to this topic, if you want to, so I can further consider and examine them. I know I could always fall back on "it's just a sim story," but I don't actually believe that excuses me in any way. I'm putting content out into the world, so I'm engaging in the way things are portrayed, even though it's a small and very specialized audience.
no subject
Oh goodie, I hope I can express my opinion without making things confusing. It is hard for me to make an argument regarding this topic in particular, more so if I have to do it in English.
Frankly, that woman is waaaay to sensitive. In your place, I wouldn't take her words to heart, because seriously, the fact that she's "offended" because you didn't include gay couples in a poster for a Senior event reeks of politically correct nonsense. Or, as I like to think, trying too hard to see the "glass half empty".
Did you include a mexican elder in your poster? Or an elder with special educational needs? If you didn't, and following that woman's mentality, I shall be offended too and consider you a "Canadianist" and a "Not-Special-Needs-Ist" because your poster does not represent my country and the people I work for.
Really, people can get offended by anything if they try too hard to see the wrongs on ANYTHING around them.
I understand that the LGBT community has fought for a long time to enjoy the same rights and privileges of those of us who are heterosexual. Heck, I used to make fun at the DSM-III, (Manual of Mental Disorders) because it included homosexuality as a mental disease (not anymore). I'm glad for the battles they have won in the recent years and they deserve to be heard and included by the governments and society in general.
I'm all for the inclusion of the minorities, like people with special educational needs. That's my job, after all, so I know how hard it is to make people accept those who are different. You have to break huge barriers of ignorance and fear to motivate the society in general to understand and accept them.
But that doesn't mean all the minorities HAVE to be included everywhere, even if the situation or circumstances do not require that. For example, your poster was focused on the elder community in general. Period. You were not considering the race, beliefs, sexual orientation, political views, special needs, etc. of ALL the elder people in the world. I'm afraid your poster would be HUGE if you had to include all those groups of people.
TL;DR: It is good to be aware that there are people who are different from the rest of us. It is great to promote the acceptance of minorities. But there's also a fine line between acceptance and open-mind, and just plain stupid PC. In this case, I think this woman crossed that line and her comment was out of context.
More tl:dr
In my case, I admit I don't write homosexual characters. I'm aware of that and I know that will make me seem like a heterosexist, but there's a reason for that. i was born in a very chauvinist country and I grew up in a very traditional family with strong beliefs against homosexuality. You don't want to listen to the discussions I have with my paternal family when we touch that topic O_o.
I like to think that, despite my deeply traditional personality and education, I'm also an open minded person. It hasn't been easy to learn and understand the existence of gay people. That, I have to admit. When I first learned about it when I was 14, I was very confused.
I also don't know many gay people, and most of them are online friends. So, I haven't had direct experiences with their community. It doesn't help that in Mexico, it's very rare to see a gay couple being openly affective in public.
Hence, I don't write about gay characters frequently, because I don't want to stereotype or disrespect them. I'm afraid that my ignorance in the matter would make me write something unrealistic that could upset them. The same applies for any other minority I don't know much about.
I actually want to include a sim with special educational needs or disabilities for a long time, but I'm hesitant too, even if I DO know about the topic. Words are powerful weapons, and I don't want to hurt or offend someone if I'm not careless. What I'm doing with Johnny is a very tentative trial, and I'm afraid of screwing things up.
But be sure that when I finally develop a character from a minority, I'll try to make them as complete as possible. Their special situation will just be one of the many traits that will make them unique.
no subject
What annoys me more is when disabled people are so rarely depicted in the media, it's either 1. they're in a wheelchair or 2. they're complete idiots. Not a good sampling of actual disabled people. The girl I work with - you wouldn't really be able to tell she has a disability until you interacted with her a bit, or she said something like, "I live in a group home" or "this is my (developmental therapy) tech."
Disabled does not equal wheelchair or complete retard. Same applies for sexuality: majority of a population is heterosexual does not equal heterosexism. Like it's been discussed already, people can find something offensive in just about anything.