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Destiny

Discuss all things Destiny.
8/2/2015 2:14:52 PM
13

The Dames of Destiny are not sexist.

Skip to the bottom if you want a tl;dr. Also, if your only reply will be something like 'who cares', then might I suggest not replying, since all you will be doing is bumping a thread that you, by your own admission, don't care about. I have seen several posts claiming that the idea of a women only clan in Destiny is sexist or discriminatory. I just wanted to make a thread to counter that point of view, and hopefully do so in a mature and rational way without resorting to some of the vitriol that seems to have been going around. Feel free to post your views, and to disagree or agree with me if you want to. Quite simply, the idea of a women only clan is not sexist because women are in the minority when it comes to online games like Destiny. Yes, the number of female players has been growing steadily with time, and will no doubt continue to do so, but I don't think anyone would disagree that there are currently a lot more male Destiny players than female ones. Gaming in general, and especially competitive/online gaming and shooters (of which Destiny is both) is still seen by many as a stereotypically male passtime. Couple this with the fact that a minority of male players are abusive/sexist/predatory towards women they meet online, and you have an environment that could be seen as intimidating for a woman to try and enter. Dames of Destiny exists to provide a 'safe' area for women who play Destiny. What do I mean by 'safe'? Well, it's place where women can go and play without the fear of being harassed by men. This is NOT saying that all men harass women. The majority do not, and it is quite possible that a female player could almost never come across an abusive player. But there is always the chance, and sadly, it is not a tiny one. So for women who want to avoid that possibility, a women only clan is a good place to go. Allowing men to be members would defeat the purpose because even if 90% of men are completely fine, there will still be assholes, and those assholes would no doubt specifically target such an environment. Also, since everyone online is completely anonymous, a woman has no way of knowing whether or not a guy will be an asshole until he actually starts being an asshole. Ask yourself this. As a man, does not being allowed entry into the Dames of Destiny negatively impact your enjoyment of the game in any way? The answer is obviously that it doesn't. To make that even clearer though, here are the only reasons I can see why a man would wish to join: 1. They want a group of people to play with: That's fine. Go join one of the thousands of other clans that exist. Many are much larger and contain more skilled players than the dames (this is not saying the Dames are bad, but statistically given that they are only one clan of thousands, chances are there are better players elsewhere). Many of these clans will no doubt have members of both genders. 2. They are a friend of one or more of the Dames and want to play with them: That's fine. Just because a person is in the Dames does not mean they cannot play with people who aren't members. The clan does not forbid its users from playing with men, and keep them shut away and segregated on their own. I expect many of the Dames regularly play with guys and maybe even randoms who are not part of the clan. 3. They want to be a part of a clan that is mostly women: Given that gender is irrelevant when it coms to actually playing the game, the only reason a man would want this is because they want to try and score or show off to a bunch of women, or be abusive to them. That's exactly why the Dames exist in the first place, to provide a place where women don't have to worry about that kind of behaviour. So not being allowed entry into the Dames has exactly zero negative repercussions for a man. Yet, for many female players, it provides a genuine service. So why exactly would it not exist? They are not claiming that men are inferior, or all sexist douches. They are not forcibly segregating women, keeping them away from men; it's a completely voluntary choice. It is not sexist, because men do not need that sort of environment in an online video game. We are the majority. When you meet a random online, chances are you expect them to be a man. And although many people trash talking and insult each other, sometimes incredibly viciously, you will never be insulted simply because you are a man. All you have to do is look at these forums to see that it is not the same for women. Find any post made by a woman, and I guarantee you will almost always see people criticising her for using her gender to get attention, or telling her to get back to the kitchen, or any number of other sexist slurs. These people may be a vocal minority, but you can understand why women would want place that is guaranteed to be free from all that. It is not segregation, its support. And it is not discrimination against men, because we have thousands of clans where we are guaranteed not to be abused because of our gender, and women currently only have one. tl;dr: Dames of Destiny is not sexist because it is meant to support women, not exclude men, and men have thousands of other clans to choose from where they can be certain they won't get any sexist comments. The existence of the Dames in no way negatively impacts the enjoyment of the game for men.

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  • Discrimination: treatment or consideration based on the group, class, or category to which that person belongs. Sexist: prejudice or discrimination (see above) based on a persons sex or gender. Dames are DEFINITIVELY SEXIST. By definition. You know, the thing that defines. Now please stop posting about them for attention and go away.

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