So.. Scantily Clad Women at the IGDA Party Made The Industry Freak Out.. Sexism Again?

[Marucha]

allblue said:

WereKitten said:
No, here the shots where called by (and the money handed from) the sponsor. And the message was: "for this company, the way to have a better work party of game developers is to have attractive girls in skimpy outfits that dance on stage at a command". That's not really expressing much, but certainly carries implicit disdain for the women among those developers. Women who, as by those links, already have to put up with enough attitude in the workplace and are scared to talk about it because the whole environment is hostile.

Freedom of speech and expression - in this case of the most crass, commercial type - does not make you any less responsible for what you choose to communicate.

I fully acknowledge what you meant, what I'm trying to debate is whether the protest might have been, as you've described, "punching at the ghosts"? Sure there are issues for females working in the industry, and from what i've gathered they are issues of respect. However, isn't it sort of pointless doing what they did? What message were they trying to get across by protesting? Weren't they implying that an average male in the industry isn't sensible enough to differentiate between a paid dancer and a fellow female worker? 

To that point, I would actually like to stress that respect and equality are earned, not given by someone after persistent pastering. If you want respect, earn it, take the fight to the person who is disrespecting YOU, directly. I for one fail to see a true equality in a world where the equality comes from gender based positive discrimination in the fear of being accused of sexism because it would essentially defeat the purpose it. If you are getting harassed at work, surely then the problem lies with that person who is harassing you, not some paid dancers with debatably "scantily clad" attire at a public event. Like I've said in my post before, no adult of working age would have such an infantile outlook towards an opposite sex that they would see those dancers on stage, turn to their female co worker and expect them to strip, get on stage and start dancing. 

The problem with equality is that it is almost akin to fear-mongering, you are constantly have to be mindful about an opposite sex even though you have no intention of being sexist remotely in anyway whatsoever. If you want someone to treat you as an equal, then earn the right to be treated as an equal. Earn the respect, be a leader, a NATURAL leader, don't play the gender card. If you are naturally as capable as your opposite sex, then it wouldn't be such a hard fought battle. A wealthy successful man isn't likely to call a random homeless on the street his equal any time of the day unless the said homeless proves himself. 

allblue, it sounds like you haven't had to cope with that type of bullying or discrimation to that level. Which is fine, it is how you get your perspective. However, what you say to do as a coping mechanism to gain equality by those methods of 'earning respect' would only work in an ideal setting, but it doesn't always work in the real world... unfortunately.