| WereKitten said: Have you actually read the thread? Or even just my post? I don't find offensive any attire in the right context. I've been in churches and mosques were even shorts are frowned upon, I've been to clubs and concerts were clothing and dancing might be considered extreme. I've even been to nudist beaches a few times, with friends of both sexes. I don't consider what the dancers did offensive. They are working girls, and I don't know them of their personal situation to give tranchant judgments about how happy they are with this gig. I consider what the sponsor did offensive and inappropriate. Once again: at GDC there were panels about the difficulties of women workers in the game industry. Follow the links from the news pieces about the IGDA story and you'll find the cases of stunted careers, demeaning jobs, sexual harassment both explicit and low-intensity that women working in the field have to put up with every day. Because it's a boys club. Every year many woman attendants to game events anonymously protest against the "tradition" of booth babes, because they feel their career would be jeopardized or at least they might be socially impaired on the workplace if they did so openly. Because it's a boys club. IGDA's Executive Director Kate Edwards herself about gender issues in the industry on this very Monday. And Brenda Romero spoke at GDC about how the use of purely physical female image at game shows creates a barrier that makes most women uncomfortable, and that makes them feel extraneous. Because it's a boys club. And then workers of both sexes are invited to meet and socialize at a IGDA party, and the sponsor can't come up with anything better than having an exhibition of (female) club dancers. How skimpy their outfit was is partially a matter of personal taste. What is objectively undeniable is that they were there to provide sexy eye candy for the boys. Once again: a boys club. The female attendants disturbed by a one-way sexually charged atmosphere can walk in and socialize, because they must, because even a party or social meeting is a part of the job. They just have to put up again and smile. |
Well, I was basing this on the original article and reactions rather than your post, so I'm not sure to what extent you agree to that.
Firstly, let's focus on the event itself. I'm glad you agree that what the dancers did was not offensive, but surely you have to understand that the dancers themselves did not think it was offensive or demeaning, because if they did, they would not have done it. And to quote Ms Choudhary, a woman herself:
YetiZen did not hire dancers,” wrote Choudary. “We hired avid gamers, who happened to be models, to discuss gaming with the invited guests. The YetiZen team — myself, my co-founder, and our resident artist — were invited by the rappers, along with our gamer-models, to dance for a few minutes on stage.”
So clearly she isn't offended by it either, because she organised it. It's not like they were stripping or pole dancing, they were just dancing.
As for the difficulty of working in the game industry as a woman: I don't deny that, I'm sure it's true. But there are women - Amy Hennig, to name just one - who stick with it anyway, and manage to succeed in it, and don't complain about people dancing at a gaming event. Perhaps more could be done to make the industry seem more attractive to women (stopping short of affirmative action), but that has nothing at all to do with the events of the IGDA party.
I'm with you on booth babes, again, to some degree. I don't think there's anything wrong with having someone dressed as a character from a game, but to have blatant eye candy at what is supposed to be a trade show is wrong.
But to some extent it is always going to be masculinised, like the fashion industry is feminised. Perhaps that's a bad thing, but it's an inevitable thing.
(Former) Lead Moderator and (Eternal) VGC Detective 
