Bigmouth Strikes Again: Carrie Marshall's blog

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Author: Carrie

  • It’s not video games. It’s Nazis

    In the aftermath of the latest US gun massacres, there have been lots of attempts to pin the blame on things. Despite at least one shooter leaving yet another manifesto that says “I did it because I’m a huge Nazi”, US Republicans and right-wing types generally have been quick to apportion the blame for gun massacres to pretty much anything else. Some Republicans claim it’s because of the gays, others because of the trans folks, and quite a few have pointed the finger at video games.

    Here’s an interesting graph.

    Clearly if video games caused gun deaths, you’d expect to see many more shootings in China and South Korea, where video games are even more popular than in the US. And you can’t say “ah, but they don’t play violent games like US gamers do”, because we do in the UK and we don’t have regular school shootings either.

    Access to guns is a huge part of it, but let’s not turn away from video game just yet. Here’s author Christopher Keelty on Twitter.

    Video games do not make murderers. If they did, China (which has almost as many gamers as the US has humans) would have constant domestic attacks.

    HOWEVER.

    Gaming-related media in America is filled with Nazi trolls working hard to recruit children.

    If you’re not of a generation that plays games, this may well be news to you. However, it’s been well known in tech and tech journalism for years.

    Sites like 4chan and 8chan [the site connected to the last five gun massacres] were built on gaming, by gamers for gamers. Reddit and YouTube have MASSIVE gaming communities. All are infested with white supremacist terrorists, working to get your kids killing for them.

    It’s often not the content itself that’s dangerous, it’s the comments. Virtually any Google search for ANY game will turn up at least one page with Nazi talking points in the comments. Try it and see.

    He’s right. People all over the world play video games, but people all over the world don’t have the same incredibly toxic online media that the US does.

    Games don’t cause murders and people who play video games aren’t Nazis. But gamers in the US in particular have proven to be a very fertile recruiting ground for some of the worst people in the world.

  • Stay in your lane

    In a study that’s caused much appalled amusement, researchers at Penn State have discovered that men avoid things such as using reusable shopping bags for fear others will perceive them as gay.

    It’s interesting but not surprising that the policing of this stuff is done by both men and women.

    In a series of studies, the researchers evaluated specific pro-environmental behaviors that previous research suggested were seen as either “feminine” or “masculine” and examined whether they affected how people were perceived.

    They found that men and women were more likely to question a man’s sexual orientation if he engaged in “feminine” pro-environmental behaviors, such as using reusable shopping bags. They were also more likely to question a woman’s sexual orientation if she engaged in “masculine” pro-environmental behaviors, such as caulking windows.

    A man with a Bag For Life is gay; a woman doing minor DIY is a lesbian.

    The researchers found that participants whose behaviors conformed to their gender were seen as more heterosexual than those whose behaviors did not conform to their gender, which may suggest participants were using traditional gender roles as clues to sexual identity.

    There’s a whole knot to unravel here, but ultimately it’s about the way we – often unconsciously – reinforce stereotypes. A man who does the recycling isn’t manly; a woman who can fix something isn’t womanly. Clearly, that means they’re gay.

    These beliefs are so facile there’s no point digging into them here. But the wider point is that these beliefs aren’t just perpetuated. They’re policed.

    It’s not just the policing by others that happens, although God knows that happens. We police ourselves too. We internalise the rules and actively try to ensure we don’t break them for fear of the consequences. Sometimes we pass on those rules to our siblings or our children, sometimes as advice and sometimes as mockery.

    Every day in myriad ways we’re told to stay in our lanes.

  • When stereotypes equal safety

    One of the many things that annoys me about anti-trans activists is that on one hand they accuse trans people of perpetuating gender stereotypes, and on the other they viciously mock trans women who don’t conform to stereotypical ideas of female beauty. As the wonderfully named Tranna Wintour writes in The Walrus, it’s very difficult not to conform when non-conformance is policed, sometimes violently.

    My being seen as the woman I am is almost entirely dependent on my ability to perform femininity as its been established in our culture—namely, to be beautiful. Here is how I feel most of us have been taught to process gender: if a person looks female, she’s a woman; if a person looks male, he’s a man. Those of us who don’t always look perfectly female or perfectly male are subject to being misgendered and misunderstood; we are often the subject of ridicule, judgement, and scrutiny.

    I’m not beautiful, but nevertheless my ability to go through the world as me is largely dependent on how I present: the blurrier the line between male and female the more unwanted attention I attract. To be blunt, in many contexts it’s better to be perceived as an ugly woman than a trans one.

    Transness, in its ambiguity and nonconformity, is seen as a particularly strong threat. Transness says, “Wait, I don’t have to be a woman or a man in the way the culture has taught me to be.” Transness says, “I can be my own person. I don’t have to conform.” But, in response to that defiance, the culture says, “If you transgress against the binary, we will make life hard for you. You will be ridiculed. You will be misgendered. Your safety will be at risk.”

  • The kindness of women and the sadness of men

    Emily Todd VanDerWerff is a critic at large for Vox, and she’s reviewed an interesting video by PhilosophyTube that addresses the issue of men’s mental health.

    I thought this bit of her review was particularly interesting.

    Thorn suggests that one project worth undertaking, should you have a platform like his to do it, is to increase the number of emotional colors that men feel free to paint with, so they’re not forced to work with such a limited palette. By making a video like this one, he says, other men might be able to recognize themselves in his story and find sustenance and help with the process of navigating their own emotions.

    (A personal sidebar: This is deeply true. Since coming out as a trans woman, I’ve found a staggering number of emotional support systems open to women compared to those for men, because women in our culture are expected to be emotional, whereas men are expected to be buttoned-down. If I’m having a hard day or quietly crying at a restaurant, I almost always receive a quick, “Are you okay?” from other women who might be around. This never happened to me when I lived my life as a man…

    That’s been my experience too. The conversations I have with women are very different from the conversations I used to have, and still have, with men. It’s not just evident in conversations with close friends; it’s there with people I didn’t know an hour previously too. It’s hard to put into words, but I think the difference is what’s meant by the question “how are you?” from someone you know outside of a professional context.

    Having played for both teams, I think there is a difference in the way men and women ask it and answer it. The women I know ask it with meaning and answer honestly. Whereas the men ask it and really hope they don’t get an honest answer – which is handy, because the man being asked has no intention of providing one. He’s fine. He’s always fine.

    I think things are getting better – for example the stigma around talking about mental illness seems to be fading – but I think among men of my age and older there’s still that boys-don’t-cry, stiff-upper-lip thing going on. Which is perhaps partly why my friends and I have lost two men to suicide in the last three months: while women are more likely to suffer from mental health problems, men are more likely to kill themselves. In 2017 in the UK, 5,821 people killed themselves. 4,382 of them were men.

    This is what we mean when we talk about tackling toxic masculinity. It’s not about tackling all masculinity, changing what it means to be a man or diminishing men in any way. It’s about increasing the number of emotional colours that men feel free to paint with.

  • Music brings us together

    Last night I played a couple of songs at an open mic night. I’ve been doing that a lot lately, and one of the songs I play is a very sad but also hopeful song called A Moment of Clarity. The song’s sung to somebody at their lowest ebb and it seems to connect with people; every time I play it at least one person will come up to me afterwards and talk about how it resonated with them. I’ve been told some very personal, painful things by complete strangers, sometimes with tears in their eyes. Music does that to people. Other people’s songs do the same to me.

    I’m sometimes asked why I still make music, why I spend my time on something with no financial reward. That’s why. To be able to write songs is an incredible gift, and to see those songs connect with people on such a deep emotional level is an extraordinary privilege.

  • “Anger is a second emotion”

    There’s a fascinating piece in the Huffington Post about a programme in Californian prisons that aims to cut the reoffending rate. Its focus? Toxic masculinity.

    The former inmate is a facilitator of a prison rehabilitation program that teaches men about gender roles and how ingrained ideas of masculinity have contributed to their violent crimes. GRIP, or Guiding Rage into Power, started at San Quentin State Prison in 2013 and has expanded to five state prisons across California.

    The programme works on a simple assumption: criminal behaviour, especially violent behaviour, is often the result of trauma.

    This bit really jumped out at me.

    “Anger is a second emotion. Fear, shame or sadness are underneath it. Violence is learned. No one is born armed and dangerous. We can unlearn it.”

    Does the programme work? One-third of the programme’s graduates have been out on parole and only one inmate has returned. California’s usual rate of recidivism is 65%.

     

  • We want to hear from women in music in Scotland

    (L-R: Me, Elena Piras, Rosie Bans)

    The reason my wee face is there alongside the superbly talented musicians Elena Piras and Rosie Bans is because we’re the Advocacy and Activism working group of Scottish Women Inventing Music, SWiM for short. If you’re a woman in music, we’d love to have you on board.

    The organisation is all about putting women centre stage in every aspect of the Scottish music business. That doesn’t just mean musicians, and it doesn’t just mean rock and pop music. It’s managers and lighting technicians, engineers and promoters, composers and tutors and venue owners and DJs and anyone else connected with the music industry at any level. We’re committed to equality for all women, and we want our membership to reflect the diversity of the musical community in Scotland.

    SWiM is partly a networking opportunity – I’ve met some very inspiring women through being a member, and I’ve been to some incredible gigs I wouldn’t have known about otherwise – and mainly about effecting change through education, events, lobbying and working in conjunction with like-minded people. I’m really pleased to be part of it and I think that SWiM can help make a real difference.

    If you’re connected in any way with music in Scotland, we’d love to hear from you.

    You can find out more at the SWiM website.

  • Relatable

  • Help is here

    For the second time in just a few months, my friends and I are mourning another life lost to suicide.

    Too many people are struggling with mental health and suicidal thoughts. If you’re one of them, please speak to somebody. The world is a better place with you in it, and can be a better place for you.

    Put these numbers in your phone if you think you might need them.

    0800 58 58 58 – The Campaign Against Living Miserably; online chat is available on the website.

    116 123 – Samaritans. If you prefer you can email jo@samaritans.org.

    0808 802 8008 – Music Minds Matter, for musicians and people in the music business. Also MMM@helpmusicians.org.uk

     

  • “Gender critical” philosophy doesn’t make sense

    The culture wars over trans people have made their way to the philosophers’ community, with some high-profile anti-trans people wrapping their views in philosophical arguments. Unfortunately, Luke Roelofs writes, those arguments don’t make sense.

    This is a long read, but it’s interesting if you’d like to understand why issues such as policing bathrooms are so complex and potentially bad for all women.

    Here’s a quick extract.

    So in practice, ‘gender-critical’ doctrines just provide rationales for policing gender nonconformity. And the big lie at the heart of it, that people are seeking transition to better fit gender stereotypes, justifies this by painting the nonconforming people being policed as the real gender police.

    Just like with bathrooms, the whole GC discourse about gender roles ultimately functions to obscure the real stakes and the real options. You can police people’s gender expression, or you can dismantle the prison of gender, but you can’t do both. GCRF [Gender Critical Radical Feminism] is a feminist fig leaf waved in front of social conservatism.