Delicious LiveJournal Links for 12-8-2008

[andrewducker]

• Race in D&D
  Some extremely good points about the implicit racism of the background.
  (tags: race gaming dnd)
• Aussie convicted over Simpsons sex pics
  Over cartoon characters having sex. Anyone else find this ridiculous?
  (tags: simpsons sex law obscenity)
• George Bush moves into racist neighbourhood. Residents worried he'll lower the tone...
  Until 2000, the neighborhood association's covenant said only white people were allowed to live there, though an exception was made for servants.
  
  Enacted in 1956, part of the original document reads: "Said property shall be used and occupied by white persons except those shall not prevent occupancy by domestic servants of different race or nationality in the employ of a tenant."
  (tags: racism USA)
• Common chemicals are having a feminising effect on all vertebrate animals - including humans...
  (tags: gender sex environment)
• The Mouse and The Rectangle
  Taking Pavlovian conditioning to the next level
  (tags: psychology brains)
• Men lack confidence in boardroom and bedroom | World news | The Observer
  The majority of almost 2,000 men aged 16 to 65 questioned by OnePoll, an independent market research company, admitted struggling to feel confident about their place in society. About half confessed to feeling most insecure when at work, while another 40 per cent also felt inadequate during nights out with friends.
  
  All those questioned by the survey, commissioned by Braun, admitted to feeling increasingly emasculated by women and said their feelings of inadequacy soar when women are present.
  
  Most intimately, one in four men revealed they are racked by feelings of inadequacy during sex, saying that film and television programmes like Sex and the City had made them anxious about not having enough stamina and imagination in the bedroom.
  (tags: anxiety society men uk)

Comments

[bracknellexile.livejournal.com]

This is why I don't watch Sex and the City :)

[ophelia-complex.livejournal.com]

Last point on list: The problem is the way men view the world. This leads the feelings of inadequacy mentioned and in some societies leads to women being seriously oppressed so that men just feel better about themselves. When men stop equating being in control/being powerful almost exclusively with feeling good then life will be a lot better for more than just themselves.

[ophelia-complex.livejournal.com]

and another thing, it's a great thing that there are TV progs where women talk openly about their sexuality. We (women) have had to put up the usual drivel of subordinate woman-with-big-breats-in-meaningless-role characterisation of women that flows forth from hollywood because that's what men seem to like.


(I'm not having one of my 'I like men' days)

[andrewducker]

I totally agree. And being 4 episodes from the end of Sex and the City it's great seeing women talk about real things. True, mostly relationship based, but it's a lot more realistic than most views of female sexuality.

[erindubitably.livejournal.com]

Common chemicals are having a feminising effect on all vertebrate animals - including humans...

Further backing up my theory that women are going to take over the world...

[miss-s-b.livejournal.com]

I agree with this comment liek whoa.

Also, the D&D article is a big long list of why I have no interest in D&D.

[erindubitably.livejournal.com]

Me being Morag.

[d-c-m.livejournal.com]

Men lack confidence in boardroom and bedroom | World news | The Observer
This is sad. Guys, start feeling good about yourselves!! You don't need women to make you feel good about being a man. You need to feel good about being a man on your own terms.

*big hug*

[heron61.livejournal.com]

All those questioned by the survey, commissioned by Braun, admitted to feeling increasingly emasculated by women and said their feelings of inadequacy soar when women are present.

From this, I'm left with either assuming that most men are rather pathetic misogynists or that the survey asked a great many leading questions so that they could obtain precisely this answer. I'd prefer the second to be true.

As for racism in D&D, it totally missed mentioning the late 80s D&D material where the art depicted drow as actual African people who just happen to have white hair, rather than as blue black elves (here's a particularly good example).

That said, this issue became significantly less problematic from D&D 3 onward. Compared to previous editions, 3, 3.5, & 4 (which can't really be judged all that harshly wrt illustrations, since there aren't that many books out yet) IIRC, there are entire nations of people of color in Eberron.