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transsexual reviewer


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username
Title: owner of a lonely heart
Joined: Jul 06 2007
Location: phoenix, az usa
PostPosted: May 20 2011 01:46 am Reply with quote Back to top

is this really an issue?
http://t.co/00eaK8E
Quote:
Quote:
"I have no problem with the reviewer personally, but I dont want to see what is obviously a man, trying to look like a woman, its just too weird and I find it offensive, I dont want to be bombarded with gay/lesbian/transgender stuff on a gaming website, just have a regular guy or woman reviewing the games." – airwalker2000 in Gamespot comments

Carolyn Petit, one of Gamespot's game reviewers, is transsexual. She's just posted (what I believe to be) her first video review on the site. And she's catching a lot of nasty commentary.

Whether or not you believe in a greater gaming community, being a gamer means laboring under a presumption of immaturity from those that don't play games. And while much of that prejudice is unfair, it's too often right on the mark, like when gamers ignore that a very nice video review of L.A. Noire was made by a real human—and not, as some have attempted to terrorize in the comments, a person who should be ashamed of themselves or the choices they've made.

Or as Carolyn Petit says in her own blog, in the wake of the negative comments:
Quote:
Denying my true self was like carrying a stone in my soul everywhere. There was a hole inside me, like the one you feel when you really miss somebody, but the person I missed was me. … To help ease the pain, I lost myself in books, in music, in movies, and in games. … I don't need games to teach me that lesson anymore. I've applied it in enough real-world situations that I now have the confidence in who I am to no longer be shaken by the sometimes hateful words of others.

Carolyn doesn't need our support (or the support of the dozens of positive commenters on her L.A. Noire review), but she's got it. And big compliments to GameSpot for giving everyone an equal opportunity.

personally, i dont think this should matter. if the review is well done & relevant, then whoever gives the review is unnecessary. for all i care, it can be a talking marmoset.

maybe thats just me. maybe im just old & dont care anymore. or maybe im out of touch with reality and this really is an issue.

thoughts?

EDIT: lol i thought this comment was funny:
BUNGL3 Thu 19 May 2011 9:24 PM
No need to pity this guy. He wants to be on camera, so he's getting what he wants. He looks about as feminine as the Bear Jew though.


Klimbatize wrote:
I'll eat a turkey sandwich while blowing my load

 
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Kojjiro!
Joined: Feb 16 2008
PostPosted: May 20 2011 01:51 am Reply with quote Back to top

these people are fucking ignorant.


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Vaenamoenen
Joined: Mar 18 2010
Location: Tuonela
PostPosted: May 20 2011 02:44 am Reply with quote Back to top

username wrote:
personally, i dont think this should matter.

Me neither. I'd probably forget about it after watching her reviews for a while.

People in the comments say that she's distracting you from the actual content of the review. Boohoo. If the reviewer were the most beatiful woman you've ever seen, she would distract the hell out of you, and nobody wouldn't complain.
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Blackout
Title: Captain Oblivious
Joined: Sep 01 2007
Location: That Rainy State
PostPosted: May 20 2011 03:03 am Reply with quote Back to top

Damn that chick is fugly.



 
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Syd Lexia
Site Admin
Title: Pop Culture Junkie
Joined: Jul 30 2005
Location: Wakefield, MA
PostPosted: May 20 2011 05:10 am Reply with quote Back to top

I think the real issue is that people don't like excessively ugly people, transsexual or not. If it was Ru Paul doing the review, there wouldn't be an issue.
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JoshWoodzy
Joined: May 22 2008
Location: Goshen, VA
PostPosted: May 20 2011 09:50 am Reply with quote Back to top

Yeah, it has nothing to do with her sexuality to me. She looks like a butt.


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i'll_bite_your_ear
Title: Distillatoria
Joined: Jun 09 2010
Location: van down by the river
PostPosted: May 20 2011 09:57 am Reply with quote Back to top

People = Stupid. -moans-


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aika
Title: Narcissist
Joined: Apr 25 2008
Location: On the table.
PostPosted: May 20 2011 10:50 am Reply with quote Back to top

I think Syd hit the nail on the head. If this chick looked very feminine and had awesome fake tits then no one would be bitching, though I'm sure there'd be a lot of "ahhh trap!" comments.

Also agree with Vaenamoenen up there. As long as the reviews were good, who was delivering the information would become less and less important to me.

It's sad that there are so many people who still get bent out of shape over these things.


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Optimist With Doubts
Title: Titlating
Joined: Dec 17 2007
PostPosted: May 20 2011 02:44 pm Reply with quote Back to top

People are weird about looks. That comic review series Atop the fourth wall had the creators girlfriend on and people went crazy. Not so much for what she did but how she looked. Despicable.


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username
Title: owner of a lonely heart
Joined: Jul 06 2007
Location: phoenix, az usa
PostPosted: May 20 2011 05:12 pm Reply with quote Back to top

hey, sex sells. and this is the opposite of that.

unless you like girls that have an adam's apple


Klimbatize wrote:
I'll eat a turkey sandwich while blowing my load

 
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Greg the White
Joined: Apr 09 2008
Location: Pennsylvania
PostPosted: May 20 2011 05:22 pm Reply with quote Back to top

It's not looks. Have you seen some of the ugly-ass chud dudes in video reviews? I honestly don't get why we have to see their faces. I honestly get the that the people saying they're offended by being "bombarded" are the same types who tell everyone to "loosen up" when others get offended.


So here's to you Mrs. Robinson. People love you more- oh, nevermind.
 
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JoshWoodzy
Joined: May 22 2008
Location: Goshen, VA
PostPosted: May 20 2011 05:29 pm Reply with quote Back to top

I think there is a big difference between throwing up nasty comments on her videos (which I'm sure no one here would do anyways) and being called a dick because I don't feel comfortable staring at an unattractive transexual.


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Syd Lexia
Site Admin
Title: Pop Culture Junkie
Joined: Jul 30 2005
Location: Wakefield, MA
PostPosted: May 20 2011 07:01 pm Reply with quote Back to top

I for one, am consistent. I don't want to see some damn neckbeard in a video and won't watch a neckbeard in a video. Similarly, if you have an annoying voice, don't narrate videos.
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Drew Linky
Wizard
Joined: Jun 12 2009
PostPosted: May 21 2011 01:10 am Reply with quote Back to top

I couldn't care less. Besides, reviews are kind of a kiss curse. They're nice if you need an overview of the basic gameplay functionality, but you're getting ruined for you by having a first impression decided for you. There are a few games I would have enjoyed a lot more if I had decided for myself whether I liked them or not, as opposed to thinking "THIS GAME WILL BE EPIC ACCORDING TO -insert review here-" or "This game is going to suck, -insert review here- said so." I never listen to reviews for that reason (same goes for movie reviews too).


https://discord.gg/homestuck is where you can find me literally 99% of the time. Stop on by if you feel like it, we're a nice crowd.
 
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Blackout
Title: Captain Oblivious
Joined: Sep 01 2007
Location: That Rainy State
PostPosted: May 21 2011 03:48 am Reply with quote Back to top

This has to be some sort of attention seeking behavior on the interviewers part, "she" has to be aware that the illusion is far from complete, and still chose to get out there in the public eye. If I strip naked duct tape a dildo to my forehead and run around screaming that I'm a fucking unicorn at the local Old Country Buffet I can't get offended when people call bullshit and don't play pretend along with me, or at least surreptitiously give me the fish eye out of some overblown sense of being polite.

Also I'm sick of everyone's frantic race to jump on the politically correct bandwagon, when a dude pays Dr. Nick to slice their wiener in half shove it up inside their pelvic cavity and fashion some lips out of the scrotum it still a fucking dude, just a disfigured one. I'd still be friends with a transsexual and try my best not to judge them about it, your choice is your choice after all, but just because you want to live in a fantasy doesn't mean I should have to, you're still a dude buddy.



 
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aika
Title: Narcissist
Joined: Apr 25 2008
Location: On the table.
PostPosted: May 21 2011 11:57 am Reply with quote Back to top

What you've said has some merit, and you're right, no one is going to look at that person and think that is a woman, but saying you're a woman and saying you're a unicorn are very different. One actually exists, after all.

It's not about wanting to live in a "fantasy world," however. It's a ton of complex things and a lot of it is gender identity. You have two ways of identifying as male and female: physically/biologically, and mentally. Think how frustrating and depressing it must be to have those two not line up; to be biologically male but mentally and emotionally female. It causes a great deal of stress, anxiety, and so on. The same problem can rise in intersex children; ie kids born with partial or complete sets of both sex organs... hermaphrodites. Doctors are keen these days to "fix" the kids to one gender by basically guessing what they should be. Usually they make them female, because that's gonna be easier to accomplish surgically than male. When that kid grows up, it's a crapshoot to see which gender they'll /feel/ like, and they can end up in the same situation.

Technically, Gender Identity Disorder is a DSM-IV diagnosis, making this a mental disorder, albeit different than schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. Do you think you have the right to point and laugh at a mentally retarded person in a wheelchair, or an individual suffering from schizophrenia? How about someone with severe depression, who is living in a "fantasy world" where everything sucks and they want to die? We don't. At least, we try not to. We suck it up and interact with them as best we can, with the decency and dignity that every other person in the world deserves.

I understand your view, but I think you're being a little unfair.


天上天下唯我独尊
 
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JoshWoodzy
Joined: May 22 2008
Location: Goshen, VA
PostPosted: May 21 2011 12:13 pm Reply with quote Back to top

aika wrote:
Do you think you have the right to point and laugh at a mentally retarded person in a wheelchair, or an individual suffering from schizophrenia? How about someone with severe depression, who is living in a "fantasy world" where everything sucks and they want to die?

I don't think he was saying he desires to point and laugh at transexuals either, so that's being a little unfair.


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aika
Title: Narcissist
Joined: Apr 25 2008
Location: On the table.
PostPosted: May 21 2011 12:20 pm Reply with quote Back to top

joshwoodzy wrote:
aika wrote:
Do you think you have the right to point and laugh at a mentally retarded person in a wheelchair, or an individual suffering from schizophrenia? How about someone with severe depression, who is living in a "fantasy world" where everything sucks and they want to die?

I don't think he was saying he desires to point and laugh at transexuals either, so that's being a little unfair.

Okay, true enough. Let's take what he did say.

Quote:
If I strip naked duct tape a dildo to my forehead and run around screaming that I'm a fucking unicorn at the local Old Country Buffet I can't get offended when people call bullshit and don't play pretend along with me

I dunno if you've ever dealt with mentally disabled people, but we pretend with them all the time. You pretend that they aren't drooling on themselves or crying in public or doing any other manner of things considered outside the social norm. Quite frankly, I think not commenting on someone's choice in clothing is down near the bottom of difficult things to ignore.


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MellowMeek
Joined: Feb 16 2010
Location: Texas
PostPosted: May 21 2011 03:17 pm Reply with quote Back to top

Didn't she do a Dead Space 2 review as well?

http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/action/dead-space-2/video/6286889/dead-space-2-video-review?hd=1

Yep. Like it's been said, regardless of her transgender status, her voice is really annoying and I can't stand to listen to it.


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Blackout
Title: Captain Oblivious
Joined: Sep 01 2007
Location: That Rainy State
PostPosted: May 21 2011 04:54 pm Reply with quote Back to top

aika wrote:
joshwoodzy wrote:
aika wrote:
Do you think you have the right to point and laugh at a mentally retarded person in a wheelchair, or an individual suffering from schizophrenia? How about someone with severe depression, who is living in a "fantasy world" where everything sucks and they want to die?

I don't think he was saying he desires to point and laugh at transexuals either, so that's being a little unfair.

Okay, true enough. Let's take what he did say.

Quote:
If I strip naked duct tape a dildo to my forehead and run around screaming that I'm a fucking unicorn at the local Old Country Buffet I can't get offended when people call bullshit and don't play pretend along with me

I dunno if you've ever dealt with mentally disabled people, but we pretend with them all the time. You pretend that they aren't drooling on themselves or crying in public or doing any other manner of things considered outside the social norm. Quite frankly, I think not commenting on someone's choice in clothing is down near the bottom of difficult things to ignore.

Hey I'm not going to pretend my example wasn't totally over the top and obnoxious. Laughing



 
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Syd Lexia
Site Admin
Title: Pop Culture Junkie
Joined: Jul 30 2005
Location: Wakefield, MA
PostPosted: May 21 2011 08:13 pm Reply with quote Back to top

If Gamespot hired a mentally retarded person to do game reviews, I seriously doubt that the audience would be especially courteous or accomdating either.

Unless the reviews were masterfully packaged by a skilled production team.

Then, mentally retarded reviews could be awesome.

"Yay! I'm playing Zelda! Yay!"
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JoshWoodzy
Joined: May 22 2008
Location: Goshen, VA
PostPosted: May 21 2011 08:30 pm Reply with quote Back to top

LOL.


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Blackout
Title: Captain Oblivious
Joined: Sep 01 2007
Location: That Rainy State
PostPosted: May 22 2011 04:27 am Reply with quote Back to top

I have worked with mentally disabled people, and I'm not sure what you mean by the whole we pretend with them every day thing. If someone is drooling all over the place you let em know, hey looks like you spilled a little bit there, and if they're the independent type you let em handle their business themselves; if they need help you lend a hand.

What you're talking about sounds like ignoring them while they shit themselves in the corner. not saying that's what you would do by any means, just how I'm reading it, please correct me if I've misread that... I'm also not sure what mentally disabled people have to do with this, the reviewer seems cognizant and functional enough to me, even functional enough to hold down a job that puts one in the center of the spotlight, at least some of the time.

I agree that gender confusion is a serious mental issue to deal with but it doesn't feel like a disability to me, maybe more of a hardship/hurdle. I'm no expert here so if I'm wrong big surprise!

In short I don't see a reason to butter things up, what's so wrong with the truth?

Also if Carolyn has a mental disorder was surgery really the right answer? Certainly resorting to body modification (be it extreme or benign) cannot be a healthy way to deal with mental issues, can it?

My bipolar father blew his brains out because his entire support network turned a blind fucking eye to his issues and played pretend and insisted things were all right no matter how bizarre he acted or how much he fucked up, and weren't even surprised when they found out he redecorated the bathroom, which tells me a lot about playing along.

I'm a fan of calling things how they are and not blowing smoke up people's asses. Not saying that serious mental issues are not serious, but sugar coating everything cannot be the answer, at least in my honest opinion.

*edit* I'm not trying to shoot you down or anything, I would like to have an open minded serious conversation / debate about this subject, I look forward to your response. Confused



 
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Drew Linky
Wizard
Joined: Jun 12 2009
PostPosted: May 22 2011 09:44 pm Reply with quote Back to top

Blackout wrote:
In short I don't see a reason to butter things up, what's so wrong with the truth.

Eh, I agree with this. Censorship is never a very good answer, it makes the truth harder to face the longer you prolong telling it. So many times I've been told something because my parents or whoever it was believed it would be an easier thing for me to believe, but knowing they were lying later kind of hurts., even if their heart was in the right place.


https://discord.gg/homestuck is where you can find me literally 99% of the time. Stop on by if you feel like it, we're a nice crowd.
 
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Char Aznable
Title: Char Classic™
Joined: Jul 24 2006
Location: Robot Boombox HQ
PostPosted: May 23 2011 04:44 am Reply with quote Back to top

At first I was thinking "who gives a shit" until I heard it was a video review. I don't give a shit about her gender status, but if she isn't good behind a camera, then she isn't good behind a camera. Hell, even though I've done streams, I'd never expose you guys to my horrific visage.


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