Two random links

[sqbr]

Of Gamers, Gates, and Disco Demolition: The Roots of Reactionary Rage Felt a little overly optimistic but that's a nice change in these dark times, and was an interesting read.

This really irritated me. Ursula K. Le Guin on Being a Man, a snarky essay riffing on the ~hilarious~ idea that she is a "poor imitation or substitute man" with no mention of the fact that, you know, she could actually identify as male if she wanted. This is a thing afab people do sometimes, and they are not "poor imitations" of men. I mean I haven't read the full essay being quoted, maybe she really does identify as male to some extent, and the article is glossing over that. But either way, it annoyed me as presented, and Le Guin should know better. She could very easily have made the same point without erasing trans people.

Strips and Pieces, a really good comic (with transcript!) about men's resentment of sex workers.

Comments

[yalovetz]

I think the Ursula LeGuin piece is trying to make the point that our default view of the world is "man". So she, and anyone else who isn't a man, are subtly forced into man-shaped boxes because our generic idea of what a person is assumes that they're a man.

I don't feel like the piece erases trans people. Many trans people are also not men and would have experienced the same issues that LeGuin has in relation to the gender default.

[whatistigerbalm]

Agreed.

[sqbr]

HMMMM. Two votes no and no votes yes. edges in the general direction of suggesting I may have been possibly wrong without saying so explicitely

[sqbr]

I realise that was what she was mainly going for but it still rubbed me the wrong way. But I may have been coming at it from the wrong angle.