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Grue
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15 Sep 2015, 4:24 pm

This is what I call unnecessary.
http://www.themarysue.com/girls-dd-feminism-feminity/

A group of all female gamers playing Dungeons and Dragons? Why? Seems kind of exclusive to me.

I'm all about equal treatment and stuff but limiting your group to only women because apparently, "girls rule!"

The aspie in me is screaming! The feminist in me is asking, "you don't complain when there's a children's only hospital." and the rational side of my mind keeps going back to, "I'm sure St. Jude's isn't going to let an adult bleeding in the street."

We all need friends. It doesn't matter if they have uteruses or testicles. Just enjoy each other's company! Unless we men really do smell that badly.



iliketrees
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15 Sep 2015, 4:43 pm

Seems sort of sexist. If there were men only groups people would go insane about it, but female only ones are apparently alright.



cathylynn
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15 Sep 2015, 4:53 pm

i played d + d and a fellow player refused to shake my hand when i joined because he "didn't believe in female d + d players. this group is likely a reaction.



kraftiekortie
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15 Sep 2015, 5:00 pm

My advice:

Move on to something else. Or to another game of Dungeons and Dragons which does not involve these people.

It's no use beating a dead horse.



glebel
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15 Sep 2015, 5:18 pm

I don't think we should tell anybody who they can or can't associate with. If these girls don't want to play with boys, fine.


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Feyokien
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15 Sep 2015, 8:17 pm

cathylynn wrote:
i played d + d and a fellow player refused to shake my hand when i joined because he "didn't believe in female d + d players. this group is likely a reaction.


Wow seriously, that reminds me of the time I was talking to my older brother about his working out habits and how I didn't want to lift with him since I run and I told him that I sometimes run with our younger sister because she's a runner. He mentioned my sister wanted to lift with him, but that he didn't want to lift with her I asked why and he said that he considered lifting to be a guy thing. I shook my head at him.

Why can't everyone just get over themselves, guys and girls, and just hang out. :x

Oh, womens discussion, oh well, my thoughts are actually a good part of the conversation.



Agemaki
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16 Sep 2015, 5:04 am

I don't know enough about D&D culture to have personal insights on the interactions between genders. It seems like the author of this article felt like most D&D groups (whether intentionally or not) did not leave much room for women and she found that she felt more welcomed in the female group. They seemed to be responding to social pressure that said that D&D was more for men than women and so by forming their own group they were able to create their own D&D culture where there was a place for them. Perhaps I overlooked it, but I didn't get the sense that they would have been opposed to men joining who also felt more at home in that environment.



izzeme
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16 Sep 2015, 6:13 am

I also read this article, the way i took it is that the group just "happened" to be all-girls, not becouse they excluded men, but becouse no men wanted to join them.



Inle
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16 Sep 2015, 6:31 am

If they're excluding men from joining them, I wouldn't be happy. I'm not a fan of gender segregation. If they formed their group because they weren't welcomed as females in other D&D groups, then I can understand it. Although I'd still strongly feel that they should welcome male members who wanted to join them.



GiantHockeyFan
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16 Sep 2015, 12:34 pm

As a male who had all my (few) friends in High School into D&D, this is surprising to say the least. Even as a male dominated activity, it was always played by a group that was very female friendly. I personally prefer to play games with females and always have. The one thing I do not like about one of my hockey groups is how misogynistic they are and openly hostile to women playing with them. I get the whole "escape from wife for a few hours" mentality but it's not like they are married to these female players! Guess that's why I was made fun of in school for being gay even as a straight-as-an-arrow male.

Why can't we all just get along?



Edenthiel
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17 Sep 2015, 1:57 am

Is this like trying to move gamergate to the tabletop? Yes, male D&D players have a bit of an earned reputation for being really, really sexist. Not all, but certainly enough to make an impression on many girls & young women that they aren't really welcome in the hobby. It's actually a sad part of geek/tech culture going back to days of the PDP crowd (who tended to be Tolkien fans). And when that happens, people feel the need for safe spaces where they won't be subjected to such treatment. If you think it should stop, fight it at the cause, not the symptom.


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Fnord
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17 Sep 2015, 6:16 am

What happens between two (or more) women in the privacy of someone's home is no one else's business.

If this had been at GenCon, you can bet that there would be howls of protest and an "invitation" by the management for either the women to not be so exclusionary, or to leave the con.



Purrbaby
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18 Sep 2015, 4:10 pm

I don't have a problem with it. It's like the women's only gyms, there are certain circumstances in which some women just feel more comfortable without men around. I personally like the attentions of men and feel uncomfortable in a group of women only, but I get how it might be different for other people. And it's not like there are no other D&D groups the men could join. If they were excluded from ALL D&D groups, then I'd thinks it's unjust.