Have we become "too sensitive?"

[Levusti]

It's hard to go on the internet much anymore without seeing TV show XYZ or video game ABC or book 123 being criticized for not having "strong female characters" or "non-stereotyped gay characters" or "whitewashing the cast" or for otherwise being too insensitive to the diverse audience it may have.

Do you think this has gone overboard?

Personally, I feel we get a little too sensitive about these topics. I'm gay, a person of color and I am feminist, but I don't feel the need to have a prominent gay, colored, or female character in every game, show or book. Just cause we don't have it doesn't mean we're not diverse. I feel at times there is too much attention brought to gay, colored, or female lead characters. I also feel that sometimes we unnecessarily victimize ourselves over gays, people of color, or females being "stuck to the side roles in media."

What do you guise think? Are we too sensitive? Or are we not sensitive enough?

 

[GhostJoker]

Society has become too damn sensitive. Frankly, I don't give a damn about anything. I'm the furthest from sensitive one can be.

 

[LunaValentine]

Too damn sensitive. Can't do anything without the world saying "You're doing it wrong! You didn't write it how I want it to be. This doesn't interest me and doesn't make me feel special so you're just being mean!"

 

[SacredWarrior]

TOO FUCKING SENSITIVE!! I swear I just wanna slap some people in the fucking face when they act that way -_-

 

[Windsong]

Yes, to the point people seek out reasons to be upset and/or offended.

 

[Space Cowboy]

I think the people crying about things being too sensitive are the ones that're too sensitive. They're butthurt over their little world being challenged and the status quo being shaken up.

Cry more, noob.

 

[Artorias]

Shit like this?

Peter Pans shadow cosplay and Peter Pan. Somehow turned racist.

Spoiler

 

[Gwazi Magnum]

People totally let themselves become too offended.

May it be about issues like LGBT, Feminism, Race, Religion, or more casual things such as Dark Humor, An Internet Meme, anything really.
You name anything, and someone is going to get offended about it somehow.

And the issue is, this shit feeds on mob mentality.
Even if being offended by it is completely stupid and childish, if enough people band together and call it offensive, authority figures, media etc will begin to act like it actually is offensive and has some form on logic in it, when it doesn't.

 

[Ashi]

Finally! Some common sense!

 

[Saito Hajime]

I agree that there's a lot of complaining over things that don't seem like issues to me, but then there's things where movies and games get rejected on the premise of their lead (Like so) and other instances of bizarre, race based marketing (Case in point). Stuff like this is probably what prompts people to be more concerned that there really is a racist/sexist culture out there, possibly encouraging them to look closer at other things too.

I think it's fair to be concerned, but it's equally fair to look at everything objectively.

 

[Persephone]

People that are too sensitive are pants-on-head retarded.
People that complain way too much about other people being too sensitive are pants-on-head retarded.
TLDR
Everyone is retarded, regardless of their thoughts and opinions.
Nuff said.

 

[Space Cowboy]

I agree that there's a lot of complaining over things that don't seem like issues to me, but then there's things where movies and games get rejected on the premise of their lead (Like so) and other instances of bizarre, race based marketing (Case in point). Stuff like this is probably what prompts people to be more concerned that there really is a racist/sexist culture out there, possibly encouraging them to look closer at other things too.

I think it's fair to be concerned, but it's equally fair to look at everything objectively.

You.

I like you.

 

[Kagayours]

I would say yes, way too sensitive.

I mean, it's great that we're in a world where people are mindful and open to a lot of things that we weren't before -- the world is less sexist, less homophobic, less transphobic, etc. However, there's creating a world where this sort of tolerance is the norm (which is lovely), and then there's creating a world where, for example, it's fucking impossible to have female characters of any kind because they will always be considered "not strong female characters" -- because if they have any flaws whatsoever then some feminist will complain, and if they have no flaws at all, then, well... Oh, and let's not forget the fact that any expression of religion in a secular context is apparently completely forbidden, as no one's even allowed to say "Merry Christmas" without offending someone who isn't Christian. Ugh.

I mean, don't get me wrong -- it's great that society has certain sensitivities that really didn't exist even a mere handful of decades ago. It's led to a lot of respect for minorities and other such groups that really is an improvement on society. However, it's very easy to take that sensitivity way too far and freak out about some "offensive" comment that doesn't even offend you personally -- you just assume it would offend members of some other group that you aren't even a part of, and it turns out that hardly anyone in said group even cares in the first place.

So yeah. Fine line, really. There are a lot of good things that have come from this increased level of sensitivity. Unfortunately, it can easily go too far, and it seems difficult to dial it back without undoing a good deal of progress.

 

[Artorias]

Tumblr is just a good source of people overreacting.

 

[Azarthes]

I think the people crying about things being too sensitive are the ones that're too sensitive. They're butthurt over their little world being challenged and the status quo being shaken up.

Cry more, noob.

I agree with this statement.
Ya'll are just buttmad that shits going down hard

 

[Dervish]

It's hard to go on the internet much anymore without seeing TV show XYZ or video game ABC or book 123 being criticized for not having "strong female characters" or "non-stereotyped gay characters" or "whitewashing the cast" or for otherwise being too insensitive to the diverse audience it may have.

Do you think this has gone overboard?

Personally, I feel we get a little too sensitive about these topics. I'm gay, a person of color and I am feminist, but I don't feel the need to have a prominent gay, colored, or female character in every game, show or book. Just cause we don't have it doesn't mean we're not diverse. I feel at times there is too much attention brought to gay, colored, or female lead characters. I also feel that sometimes we unnecessarily victimize ourselves over gays, people of color, or females being "stuck to the side roles in media."

What do you guise think? Are we too sensitive? Or are we not sensitive enough?

We collectively as a society are so soft and coddled that we're looking for reasons to be miserable instead of enjoying the pretty damn comfortable existence most of us enjoy. While there's definitely some huge social issues that need to be worked through, I think some people are definitely getting pretty extremist about things that are already starting to go the way they want it to, for example, acknowledgement and acceptance of LGBT people and racial equity. Don't get me wrong, they're fights we still need to and must keep fighting, but some people are going crazy far.

Things like people all of a sudden screaming about having triggers for everything is something that's still relatively new and is very annoying. I think in some cases people go out of their way to look for a fight or argument with people to assert their dominance or authority or whatever the fuck they think they're doing. I'm also totally on board with supporting LGBT causes and speak for acceptance and against intolerance, but it seems like in the past two years there's now six billion kinds of genders and people get very upset if you don't understand or even want to accept that you sexually identify as a tyrannosaurs rex and need to wear a suit to get off while you're only attracted to people wearing mailman outfits who drive Volkswagen Rabbits. Cisgender is a word that needs to be taken out to pasture and shot; the word you're looking for is straight. People are suddenly complaining about how overly sexualized comic book female characters are when it's always been that way and it's the exact same thing for the male characters. Instead of expressing interest and supporting games with strong female characters, people tend to think that yelling at the games industry to accommodate their needs is the way to go while accusing most of the games being released of being intolerant or sexist.

Man, there's a billion other things that are just getting over the top. Even if for the most part people have very valid arguments (sexism in the gaming industry is a big one, for instance, or how the films rating board is entirely made up of old white men who don't even watch half the movies they're rating), but instead of being approachable and articulate about what's wrong, they seem to just basically want the entire goddamn deli platter to throw at you and the actually valid complaints and concerns are lost in a lot of angry screaming white noise. The internet's great for giving everyone a platform to speak, unfortunately, it also gave that same platform for all the super vocal and overly emotional assholes who don't want anyone who has a different opinion than them to have one.

 

[Brovo]

Do you think this has gone overboard?

Allow me to join the choir.

EDIT

Sheesh. That brick-wall'd out further than expected. My apologies.

 

[Kagayours]

Cisgender is a word that needs to be taken out to pasture and shot; the word you're looking for is straight.

Uhhh.

To be fair, "cisgender" doesn't mean "straight". I mean, I could get behind this statement if it was just an overly fancy word for straight, but it's not. Cis means that the gender you identify as matches your biological sex. So, to simplify things a bit, it would just mean "non-trans", if anything. Sooo... it really can't mean "straight" when it's totally possible to be both cis and gay, or any other sexuality.

I mean, I get what you're saying about the whole 600 genders thing. I don't know how far I'd go to defend every last piece of terminology floating around Tumblr, but uh, "cisgender" seems like a perfectly acceptable word to have around. Maybe not as an insult towards "privileged" groups (ie: "cisgender scum"), but just as a label to understand people's gender identities a bit better... yeah, that makes sense to me.

 

[Artorias]

Uhhh.

To be fair, "cisgender" doesn't mean "straight". I mean, I could get behind this statement if it was just an overly fancy word for straight, but it's not. Cis means that the gender you identify as matches your biological sex. So, to simplify things a bit, it would just mean "non-trans", if anything. Sooo... it really can't mean "straight" when it's totally possible to be both cis and gay, or any other sexuality.

I mean, I get what you're saying about the whole 600 genders thing. I don't know how far I'd go to defend every last piece of terminology floating around Tumblr, but uh, "cisgender" seems like a perfectly acceptable word to have around. Maybe not as an insult towards "privileged" groups (ie: "cisgender scum"), but just as a label to understand people's gender identities a bit better... yeah, that makes sense to me.

You mean. Something like this?

 

[Dervish]

Uhhh.

To be fair, "cisgendered" doesn't mean "straight". I mean, I could get behind this statement if it was just an overly fancy word for straight, but it's not. Cis means that the gender you identify as matches your biological sex. So, to simplify things a bit, it would just mean "non-trans", if anything. Sooo... it really can't mean "straight" when it's totally possible to be both cis and gay, or any other sexuality.

I mean, I get what you're saying about the whole 600 genders thing. I don't know how far I'd go to defend every last piece of terminology floating around Tumblr, but uh, "cisgendered" seems like a perfectly acceptable word to have around. Maybe not as an insult towards "privileged" groups (ie: "cisgendered scum"), but just as a label to understand people's gender identities a bit better... yeah, that makes sense to me.

Fair enough, I've always heard it as your biological gender and sex are the same and your sexuality is heterosexual.

But yeah, it really doesn't help the only times I ever hear it being used is as an insult. It's kind of like how "breeder" is a derogatory term for a straight person.