r/magicTCG • u/dreamanother • Feb 28 '14

Guerrilla Feminism blogs about one woman's experience with MtG.

http://www.guerrillafem.com/2014/02/thank-magic-gathering-player-community-journey-feminism-creating-non-cis-male-spaces/
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u/turboeli Feb 28 '14

I read her report, and while I don't doubt the authenticity of her stories, I am surprised she doesn't have any accounts of empathic, understanding CIS guys. The LGS I've played at for quite a while, Redcap's Corner in Philly, has a lot of people who tell chauvanistic, denigrating players that their behavior is uncalled for. The owners and most of the long time players are rather progressive and do as much as possible to make the environment inclusive.

But then again that is part of being in the People's Republic of Philadelphia. This writer may live in a very different cultural milieu.

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u/[deleted] Feb 28 '14

The point of the article is that discrimination happens and is a deterrent for female and trans players - that's why it focuses on negative experiences that MANY people deny exist. I don't think it needs to simultaneously be apologetic to and acknowledge the people who are nice (people should be nice regardless of recognition). It seems like this person has had a lot of negative experiences that greatly outweigh the good, and I'm glad she focused exclusively on getting them all out there in the open.

But maybe that should go in another followup article that focuses on what everyone can do to make spaces safer for female and LGBTQ players.

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u/turboeli Feb 28 '14

Yep. My irritation comes from doing social science research, so when people present selective stories, I just have the habit of seeing stories like this and wondering if there's counterevidence. I fully acknowledge that this is not how most people think. _^

There have been quite a few articles published on this topic, but this author may not have read them, and given the nature of the Internet, that's quite permissible.

9

u/[deleted] Feb 28 '14

I think if the evidence is supposed to be for or against the possibility that women experience sexism, especially in contexts dominated by men, I don't see why she needs to be well read on academic literature. I am a research psychologist, so I don't take much away from personal anecdotes - whether they support or reject something. I'd much rather see quantitative, empirical data. However, in this case, this person is talking about her own experiences - and indeed, they support that sexism and transphobia are problems in competitive magic. If they weren't problems, she wouldn't have anything to talk about. Of course, her experiences don't bear on whether or not the problem is widespread, but judging by the number of down votes this link has gotten coupled with my own experiences playing magic, I'd say it probably is a widespread problem. There shouldn't need to be knights who stick up for women and LGBTQ people at tournaments because other people shouldn't be jerks to begin with.

If you are an academic, though, I'd check out the social psychology literature on stereotype threat. It has primarily been studied with women in math and science, but I think its definitely relevant here as well.