Everyday Homophobia

Acquaintance: *chuckling* Do you know what’s funny? I just told my [adult] son that me and his Dad were thinking about buying a Subaru. And he said that we can’t because it’s a homo car. *continues chuckling, waits for me to join in*

Me: *quietly* That’s horrible.

Acquaintance: *backpeddling* No…I mean, I never knew that people thought that Subaru was…that people thought about Subaru cars that way.

Me: *sigh* It’s not funny. Calling something “homo” isn’t funny.

Acquaintance: Oh, he’s not…he has gay friends and he’s very nice to them. He’s nice to everyone… And the couple down the street, they’re gay and THEY have a Subaru!

Me: *brain splattering against the inside of my skull* Subaru has been a proud supporter of gay-friendly efforts for a long time, so yes some people in the gay community support Subaru by buying their cars. But so do a lot of other people. And if your son wants to be nice to his gay friends he should probably stop using the word “homo”.

The conversation veered quickly and awkwardly into safer areas, but damned if I heard anything else she had to say.

On a positive note, standing up to everyday homophobia gets a little easier every time.

Everyday Homophobia
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Not Okay – Sexism in Nerd Culture

I found this video via Skepchick. I watched it last night before I went to bed and had an odd Street Fighter/Cyberpunk-themed dream. Oh, internet and subconcious, you mischievous duo, you!

So, MovieBob does a weekly five minuteish video blog for Escapist Magazine. He recently did one called “Not Okay”, which takes on sexism in nerd/geek culture, and he cites specifically a recent example of sexism in gaming culture. I couldn’t figure out how to embed the video, but clicking on the image will take you to the Escapist Magazine website where the video can be viewed. Go watch it, then come back!

The specific subject that MovieBob talks about is an incident involving a man named Aris Bakhtanians, who was confronted for publicly verbally sexually harassing a female player who he was coaching in a video game reality show. In brief, Aris defended his actions by saying that sexual harassment is part of the fighting game community, and that if you remove sexual harassment, it is no longer the fighting game community.

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Not Okay – Sexism in Nerd Culture