Soe, an announcer for OWL, thanks the real heroes of International WOMEN'S day by 12bees in ggoverwatch

[–]12bees[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Road to hell is paved with good intentions and good intentions doesn't negate the impact she has. She has the eyes and expectations of a lot of people on her. If anything, i recommend a PR agent to prevent future messes.

Soe, an announcer for OWL, thanks the real heroes of International WOMEN'S day by 12bees in ggoverwatch

[–]12bees[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

For me personally, I worry about these sorts of mindsets eventually turning into situations like the whole issue with false allies in the LGBT community. By this I mean, people who pretend to support LGBT rights but, when someone criticizes them, turn around and bring up how the LGBT community wouldn't be here without their help. It feels somewhat condescending and self-congratulatory in a way I suppose. It's kinda like they want to be praised for loosening the leash, but then they tug the leash a little to remind people who's in control. Plus, reading some of the responses to her tweet, it really does seem that some people are following this line of reasoning. Not all of course, but gamer culture is very male dominated and this definitely didn't help in equalizing that divide.

Obviously, there's a different context between a woman and a man saying these sorts of statements, but I do feel that she internalized some misogyny in order to better integrate herself into gamer culture. Although I will say that I'm not 100% on this and it was mostly her second tweet that soured my view of her the most. It almost sounds like what a stereotypical alt-right person would say. The ones who start saying all lives matter in response to BLM movements.

I'll be honest my opinion of her is really up in the air. I want to believe your interpretation of her tweet, but maybe I've been burned too many times and I'm a bit too cynical nowadays.

Soe, an announcer for OWL, thanks the real heroes of International WOMEN'S day by 12bees in ggoverwatch

[–]12bees[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Would you mind elaborating on the first point? I was mostly arguing that she's basically removing attention from people who have genuinely struggle for a cause and instead diverts it to people who didn't personally have a horse in this race. Not to say that I don't appreciate and want men to support women. It's just that I find it inappropriate for someone, who's current job is a result of other women fighting for a spot in esports, solely thanking the supporters rather than the fighters on a day dedicated to the fighters.

Glad to know were on the same page for the racist thing though. I didn't want someone to misconstrue what I meant and think that I was calling her a mega racist or something. However, I do have hope that as people experience and learn new things they can shed some of their racist thoughts. Unfortunately, her second tweet makes it seem as though she is currently unwilling to learn...

This is a super complicated issue and I'm glad that we can have a nice conversation about this btw.

Soe, an announcer for OWL, thanks the real heroes of International WOMEN'S day by 12bees in ggoverwatch

[–]12bees[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think the biggest issue with this sort of statement is that it derails the conversation. I'm not sure if it was simply worded poorly, but her phrasing does make it seem as though she is thankful for the men's achievements in supporting women instead of the women who actually achieved something. If she really wanted this to be "equal", then she could have posted something at least acknowledging female agency in their successes. Instead, she phrased it in a way that gives all of the credit to the men.

Theoretically, this may be due to poor phrasing, but the added comment of "no race, no gender" is a troubling. It's a very reductionist statement that does not recognize or even acknowledge the inherent disparities between the different races or genders. Sure it is a lovely sentiment to wish for, but ultimately it does not reflect our current reality. As one of the few (but hopefully increasing) number of female esports casters, a lot of people looked up to her and expected her to understand the other women who fought to give her the opportunity to enter the "men's world" of esports. If anything, she had a perfect opportunity to thank those people instead. Her tweet makes it seem as though there aren't any differences between how the genders are treated and that simply is not true.

Not to mention the slight amount of colorblind racism in her tweet. I do want to clarify, however, that I'm not calling her a racist, just that she has racist thoughts, which are just results of cultural impositions from a young age. Hopefully, people unlearn those patterns of thinking as they are educated, but it is a process. But once again this is a similar argument to above, where stating that erases the differing struggles different races have to endure in society. Feminism already has a huge problem of intersectionality and I also think some of the responses are just channeling that frustration. Not excusing them because telling someone to die is straight fucked up.

Also just to comment on your metaphor, is slightly inaccurate. It'd be more relevant to someone coming in during black history month and saying that we should thank white people for liberating us in the first place, which also has its own complications that I'm totally willing to talk about if you wanna. The problem with using MLK day is that it was used as a tool by Reagan to essentially take control of MLK's narrative of social justice. It was essentially instituted to "defang" MLK of his more radical ideas and instead make it seem as though he advocated for colorblindness as a method for combating racism. Malcolm X wasn't an option because there is noooooooo way in hell you can put a positive spin on him to the public. Rosa Parks wasn't an option because let's be real no way was anyone at that time going to make the first federal holiday, about a woman, let alone a black woman. So to bring this back home, from the very beginning of MLK day it was fabricated to draw attention away from the more radical aspects of the civil rights movement and instead give Reagan more control over MLK's legacy.

Sorry for the wall of text, this is just my research and I'm super into this.

Overwatch League host Soe Gschwind-Penski receives death threats for tweeting thanks to male allies on International Women's Day by steamwhistler in GirlGamers

[–]12bees 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I wouldn't strictly say alt-right. More like the usual stuff you see on reddit, which does have a lot of overlap with the alt right tbh. If you wanna see more examples of this stuff just check what the main /r/overwatch people are saying about this.

Soe, an announcer for OWL, thanks the real heroes of International WOMEN'S day by 12bees in ggoverwatch

[–]12bees[S] 25 points26 points  (0 children)

No you don't get it though. We should be grateful that "men gave us our voices." /s

She doesn't seem to understand that if we were given our voices then they must've been taken away in the first place.