What is the benefit to any thread in the OT forum? What is the benefit to an OT forum in a hockey site?
Let's have a look at the rundown of the main page, and the "toes it steps on" if you want to look at it in that light.
YLYL/Sexism threads - sexism/misogyn
Pizza - promotion of unhealthy eating styles/fat-ablism
GMG - Is there any -ism that this thread hasn't covered in it's lifetime of petty annoyances?
Transporting a car - mocking poverty (Oh look, I can afford to have a car brought in from across the country...)
Funny/Cool pic - Again, is there an 'ism this thread hasn't hit in it's lifetime? And we find it all funny...
Cop Body Cam - Promotion of bowing down to The Man
ISIS - Not touching this one
Vaccines - scientific ignorance
Large White Event - Mocking poverty/glorifying excess
Bible Belt - Sexism
Police/Riots - Racism/anti-authority among a great many other things
War Machine - Sexism, brutality
Bouncers - brutality
Jihad - mocking a sacred duty of muslims for a fitness club
What is the point to any/all of these? Why do we have an OT forum in the first place. This is a hockey forum. We should just be talking about hockey right?
To answer your question...I feel the benefit to an OT forum and the things we discuss, which range wide and far from hockey is just that...DISCUSSION, which promotes awareness, which leads to change.
Just reading through this thread, I am MORE aware of how the ladies who post here feel. I never would have been without this thread. In the YLYL thread, a lot of the '2/10, would not bang' behaviour is not tolerated. It is TEACHING folks what kind of behaviour is acceptable/expected, instead of just expecting them to divine it.
I have found, as a middle aged white male, that there is a lot of stuff I just don't see, with the world filtered as it is through my experiences. One of the main reasons I frequent the OT forums instead of the FOI ones is that the sheer amount of info I see around here is fantastic, and generally presented in a pretty civil manner. I have learned stuff I would have never known, discovered things I'd never have otherwise. I have thoughts and opinions on things that I never would have before, due to what I've seen here and how it's presented.
So what is the benefit? It's part of a teaching, growing, civil community as I see it. Where you can bring something up, and not get slapped down by the mods for it. Where something can be brought forward to the board in general and discussed.
It gives a chance for discussion and change throughout a broad spectrum of topics, none of which have any relevance or need to be on a hockey forum in the first place, but set about making us better as a whole because they are here, and can be discussed.
To the YLYL thread specifically? I'm wondering how many people have seen it, have seen the reaction to negative commentary, and reconsidered how they think about women. It is a good example of Eastern Girls wish for folks to 'appreciate the picture', as posts like "wouldn't bang, would wreck her, etc" are brought down and not tolerated very quickly. Guys go in and post, and realize that they can't get away with that sort of commentary in that thread. It may make them realize that kind of commentary isn't acceptable in the first place.
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