On a fairly regular basis I go to pub quizes held by Geeks Who Drink in Denver. It is a fun way to get out of the house and have a beer or two. Every week a bar will hold an eight round quiz with two audio rounds, one visual and other randomly themed rounds. The themes attempt to be clever and relevant; however, as a feminist I have been offended more than once.
Most recently, I was irritated by the round titled "Thats what she said." I was excited to have a female dominated round, which you find few and far between in these weekly quiz games but was left disappointed. I should have known that the sexual connotation to "Thats what she said" would play as a recurring motif in the questions. If the quote was not of a sexual nature, the woman who said it most definately was, with the notable exception of Eleanor Roosevelt's quote on women being like tea bags. The definition of woman was a narrow one, limited to sexualized public figures like Pamela Anderson, Dolly Parton and Madonna. Hillary Clinton was quoted with regards to the Clinton sex scandal. Hilary Clinton has said far more important things than in regards to Bill and the whole blow job thing. I mean she just ran for President, aren't some of those quotes more relevant anyway? While some might say I am taking this too seriously, I have to argue that there have been many rounds focused on men's quotes and most of them have nothing to do with sex.
Furthermore, I have noticed that there are few all-women teams that place during pub quiz. They post pictures of winning teams on the blog and there are several all-male teams that win and a few mixed gender teams. Perhaps that is because there are fewer women playing quiz games than men. Or maybe it is because the questions have a gender bias. Or maybe even it is that being geeky is embraced by more men than women. This is not to simplify the situation and say Geeks Who Drink only caters to men, because they don't. Many of the best quiz masters (the people who lead the pub quiz) are women and there are a lot of women who play. I would just like to see more women involved in writing pub quiz rounds that feature women's voices and salute the cool things women do. I am planning on writing a Feminist round in response. Hopefully I won't get told that my round is too obscure...
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As a woman who works and plays in the geek community, and I'm perpetually frustrated by the invisibility of women there. I think that the crux of the problem is not that we're absent--for example, at the comics publisher where I work, about half of the editorial department is female--but rather that in public representations of geek culture, we're either exoticized or rendered invisible. Both niche geek media and mainstream media presents geekery--comics, gaming, science, computers, etc.--as a boys' club and perpetuates that image by staying actively hostile to women, writing off or even celebrating institutionalized misogyny and sexism as harmless tradition.
One of the things that's led to some change in comics and gaming has been the formation of explicitly female and/or feminist vocal blocs within those communities. It's harder to ignore women's voices when it becomes clearer that they represent a significant demographic.
A lot of the time, too, I think people assume that the sexism in geek culture is there to stay because people don't speak out against it. When people finally started talking about female and feminist representation in comics and video games, a huge number of women and men came out of the woodwork and joined in--and a lot of them turned out to be in positions of relative power in those industries. Having someone else call out the bullshit makes it easier for the silenced segments of a crowd to speak up.
Sorry. That was ramblier than I intended--hope there's still something useful...
RevivingEmma: john from Geeks Who Drink here.
I hear your criticism. It's actually something I take into account as most of our writers are male. I agree we're a bit too penile. Guilty as charged. But it's not by design. The round which you're beefing was written by a woman, not that that matters so much.
I would respectfully say that on that particular round - "That's What She Said" - I think you're overplaying your hand just a tad. The Pamela Anderson quote was related to her animal rights activism. How many Hillary Clinton quotes can you rattle off that aren't problematic and that a random bar crowd would have a reasonable chance of knowing?
Additionally, if I tossed out a round filled with quotations from the likes of, say, Barbara Ehrenreich, Betty Friedan, bell hooks, Susan Sontag, etc... I'd be met with blank stares and blank answer sheets. But I'm not sure that's what you're suggesting here.
Consider this an open invite to write for us. I'm always looking for strong quiz writers and we definitely could use more women on staff. It pays. Not a lot, but it's fun work.
If you're interested holler at me: john @ geekswhodrink.com
RevivingEmma: John from Geeks Who Drink here.
I hear your criticism. It's actually something I take into account as most of our writers are male. I agree that we're a bit too penile. Guilty as charged. But it's not by design. The round which you're beefing was written by a woman, not that that matters so much.
However, I would respectfully say that on that particular round - "That's What She Said" - I think you're overplaying your hand just a tad. The Pamela Anderson quote was related to her animal rights activism. There was a Marilyn Monroe quote that was sharp and one from Mother Theresa as well.
How many Hillary Clinton quotes can you rattle off that aren't problematic and that a random bar crowd would have a reasonable chance of knowing?
Additionally, if I tossed out a round filled with quotations from the likes of, say, Barbara Ehrenreich, Betty Friedan, bell hooks, Susan Sontag, etc... I'd be met with blank stares and blank answer sheets. But I'm not sure that's what you're suggesting here.
Consider this an open invite to write for us. I'm always looking for strong quiz writers and we definitely could use more women on staff. It pays. Not a lot, but it's fun work.
If you're interested holler at me: john @ geekswhodrink.com