Quote:
Originally Posted by Antithesis
My understanding of the point being raised by some of the female members of our site isn't that they feel forced to view the thread, or that they feel men should be unable to post pictures attractive women and discuss them here on Calgarypuck. They (and others) are taking the view that the some of types of pictures that are being posted in that thread and elsewhere on the site are problematic for a couple of reasons:
1. A number of the pictures are solely focused on, or solely feature specific parts of a woman's body rather than featuring the woman. This dehumanizes the women in the photos, regardless of their culpability in the photos being taken, and also dehumanizes all women.
2. That allowing the thread to continue as it is implicitly suggests that the community as a whole condones and accepts this view. The women sharing their thoughts on this matter have clearly indicated that CP feels less welcoming and inclusive as a result.
3. Finally, that this sexism and gender stereotyping is an issue that is not limited to the YLYL thread and is not something that can easily be avoided by female posters, unless they choose to stop visiting this site.
A further problem relating to this is that we have no idea how many female posters have either stopped posting here or never bothered to begin doing so because of the culture that has been discussed in this thread. I don't think that fingers are pointed at anyone specifically, or that the majority group of male posters is being demonized, but rather, that some of our posters are sharing ideas that would make them feel more welcome.
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I've been following this thread for the last few days and I fully understand what the women are saying. Sexist comments and gestures make them feel uncomfortable and rightly so. Girlysports even openly admitted bringing up the YLYL thread was a mistake. Because her issues lie more within the entire CP community and are not honed in specifically to that thread. And there is most certainly more that can be done in regards to helping make the female membership more comfortable here within the community.
YLYL is an easy target and eliminating it would be an easy fix reaction to a deeper issue of misinformed young men (okay, maybe old men too) across the entire landscape. Instead of finding a "fall guy" to address the issue, maybe take a long road approach and educate and inform when an instance presents itself and correct it real time. Because in my mind, eliminating that thread really doesn't serve any purpose other than finding something to drop an axe on to make it appear something is being done to appease certain people. And that is a weak, even lazy approach to try and fix a deeper issue.
There are far more responsible adults who enjoy that thread than there are immature ones and quite simply should not have to pay for the latter's indescretions. And again, the responsible adults police that thread and monitor it with pride. can it be policed more to keep out the bum slapping .GIF's ? probably. Should it be policed more? who knows. All I know is, this debate goes much deeper than the execution of a thread. In which some are pointing a finger at as the problem because its too easy to do so.