Halo 4 devs speak out against sexism

All you gamers out there will be interested in this article.  This article talks about how the way female characters are created (e.g., consistently dressed in revealing clothing & very sexualized) promotes a sexist gaming culture.  Emboldened after reading Lean In, one executive spoke out against this and resigned from a high-profile position in protest.

In better news, Halo 4 developers have stated they will start banning players who make “gender-specific slanderous comments” and are working to promote a less sexist online player’s community (which is important from a moral grounds and business perspective too if they want to expand their customer base).

Thank You, Sheryl Sandberg

Interesting blog from a stay-at-home Mom in response to Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In.  She speaks powerfully of the joys of mothering, its importance in her life, and her conflicted feelings about leaving her career behind for a while.  While I can’t say that I agree that, as she states, “socializaton and forced gender roles have nothing” (emphasis mine) to do with the joy she experiencing in her children, this doesn’t take away from the depth or the authenticity of the feelings.  Just because we’re socialized in a particular way doesn’t make our joys and sorrows associated with that socialization less authentic.

I think this also points to the need to value choices to parent, work, or a combination of these equally, regardless of the sex of the parent.  All three roles are vitally important personally and at a societal level.

The True Cost of Leaning In

Click here for an article that breaks down how much money a couple would need in order to afford for a woman to “lean in” to her career.  The author blithely concludes that if a couple is careful enough, they can save this money in advance, without appearing to recognize that her and her partner’s higher paying jobs allow them the opportunities to save that others don’t have, or that not everyone who wants to move ahead in their careers is interesting in having their children in daycare while they work long hours either.