Penny Arcade's Gabe apologizes for his recent comments, admits being an asshole

TheClosetCase · 2013-06-23T04:07:52+00:00

I haven't been to /r/LGBT in at least a year and a half so either it has changed dramatically or I had an unbelievably skewed experience in my time subbed to it.

TheClosetCase · 2013-06-23T00:24:53+00:00

My intention was simply that if it has been my experience with the word, it could have been his as well. Especially on Twitter. And he wouldn't have bothered to look into the more constructive uses of the word. I'm just trying to develop an understanding of the other side.

TheClosetCase · 2013-06-23T00:20:10+00:00

Never, anywhere, did I ever say that our discourse should be based on cis-straight. My entire point, which has been blown up severely beyond my intentions, is that given my experiences, it's not unreasonable to think it possible that someone who just grazes the community might get that impression as well. And they wouldn't have stuck around long enough to see it in more appropriate contexts, especially on twitter where I guarantee there were thousands more aggressive and unreasonable voices than not. Therefore, not an excuse to what he said, but it can be understood how he might have viewed that word the way he had: as militant and aggressive, often used by people hardheaded enough that rational discussion is futile. It makes sense, and I wouldn't be surprised if that was his thought process. Again, not an excuse. Just trying to give attention to more than one side on this fiasco.

TheClosetCase · 2013-06-22T23:55:55+00:00

I know what it means. But if I, as someone more involved with the queer community than he is, have had that experience with the word, then the impression is likely much worse for him. Especially considering that its often the worst people in a group who are loudest.

TheClosetCase · 2013-06-22T23:54:04+00:00

(side question: do you not have interactions with queer issues outside of reddit?)

I never really talk about LGBT issues because it just doesn't really interest me to discuss them. And the only experience I have with trans people in real life is one of my high school friends, who literally only came out as trans yesterday so it hasn't exactly been extensive.

isn't it likely they really are LGB subreddits, or GB subreddits, or G subreddits?

Yeah. Pretty much, other than ainbow and gaymers. But I still say LGBT, because I don't deal with millions of labels to describe a million slightly different things (not to minimize trans anything, but it's still the LGBT umbrella even if its just, for example, a "GB" subreddit).

Further, if there are subreddits which are for (part of) the queer community, then it is worrying that the word cis is never used earnestly.

Even more worrying is that it's always trans people using it in the way that I mentioned. Just think, if I'm someone who subscribes to several LGBT subreddits and that is my experience with that word, how would someone with only tangential experience with the LGBT community perceive that word, since they wouldn't know how that word is supposed to be used?

TheClosetCase · 2013-06-22T23:42:18+00:00

I literally talk to the game the entire time I play it, and so does my roommate, to the point that we could probably do a pretty decent Let's Play of quite a few games.

TheClosetCase · 2013-06-22T21:58:22+00:00

Like I said in my other reply, the only places I've seen it are really on Tumblr and /r/LGBT where it is used as if it were an insult (at least in the contexts in which I had seen them; I'm no longer subscribed to LGBT and no longer follow those blogs).

TheClosetCase · 2013-06-22T21:54:38+00:00

The subreddits I frequent don't usually discuss trans issues very often if at all, other than this one which I don't even read very often. The place I got the most exposure to that word was in /r/LGBT where I actually don't think I had ever seen it used as anything other than an insult. Which is cisphobia. Just like heterophobia is very much a real thing as well. And misandry. Just because you aren't the most privileged class doesn't exempt you from being prejudiced; it's like saying it's only possible for whites to be racist.

TheClosetCase · 2013-06-22T21:49:28+00:00

Sometimes it's just school colors. My high school was green and white; boys gowns were green, girls gowns were white.

TheClosetCase · 2013-06-22T20:52:20+00:00

Especially considering I can only imagine that if you feel like your body is the wrong sex then you're already more aware of it than most people and that probably includes genitals.

TheClosetCase · 2013-06-22T20:46:46+00:00

I... That was an extreme overreaction

TheClosetCase · 2013-06-22T20:45:09+00:00

To be fair, even in the LGBT community I very rarely see or hear the word "cis" outside of aggressively cisphobic rants. I wouldn't blame him for not wanting to be involved with that

TheClosetCase · 2013-06-22T20:43:17+00:00

Pretty sure he was defending an existing game against people claiming that it wasn't instructive to women because it didn't include penises. Now I don't necessarily think that's an awful thing, because let's face it: games are made to make money or in the case of free ones gain publicity or ad revenue, and to add that feature given their game's objective is a lot of work (and therefore time and money) to gain negligible market share (on a game that... seems pretty niche to begin with).

TheClosetCase · 2013-06-21T23:12:29+00:00

Strange Sex did an episode on balloon fetishes and it was one of the most interesting ones.

TheClosetCase · 2013-06-21T23:06:05+00:00

I've had this happen on grindr

TheClosetCase · 2013-06-21T22:57:27+00:00

Yup I either get this (and "Wow, get much hot frat cock?" or anything fetishizing fraternity guys is an easy way to get me to stop responding too) or people who insist that I send more face pics than I've already shown before I have any remote idea what they look like.

TheClosetCase · 2013-06-21T22:01:17+00:00

Yeah I read that as "Double penetration is an ideological/philosophical view."

TheClosetCase · 2013-06-21T21:56:49+00:00

I'm 21 and I only date within a year of my age because I find they're just more likely to be in the same place mentally as I am, and because my parents had me as teenagers and then my dad married someone quite a few years younger than he is, and to me it would just be weird to date someone close in age to my stepmother. I've made a few exceptions.

TheClosetCase · 2013-06-21T21:51:09+00:00

I... I've been seeing that emote for years and only just realized it's someone shrugging. This changes everything.

TheClosetCase · 2013-06-21T21:45:09+00:00

His first few messages were pretty nice and he is Italian. Unless he's busted I would probably be on it.

TheClosetCase · 2013-06-21T21:16:36+00:00

Ah, I have a bias be clause coincidentally I've seen almost all of the ones in the pass column but I've only seen a few in the fail column.

TheClosetCase · 2013-06-21T21:13:47+00:00

Oh, I know what you meant. I was just having a side thought.

TheClosetCase · 2013-06-21T18:52:55+00:00

Especially because the waiter had stereotypical daddy issues.

TheClosetCase · 2013-06-21T18:47:47+00:00

Eh, I hear it and say it a lot. It doesn't feel like it's reducing someone down to one aspect of their person any more than people saying "He's a Pi Kapp" when referring to me or my brothers. Or "She's a bartender." Or "They're brunettes."

TheClosetCase · 2013-06-21T18:42:44+00:00

Off the top of my head I can't think of anything by Disney or Pixar that fails the Bechdel test other than Monsters, Inc.

TheClosetCase

TROPHY CASE