I think my favorite presentation was Rebecca’s Online Dating for Eastern Asians. It was really interesting to see these tropes manifested in real cases. I mean I am biologically asian, but I identify as American based off the culture that I grew up in and seeing these sad and petty racist notions of how asians should act and allow those to be excuses for how they act is demeaning. I didn’t know how aggressive and widespread the treatment of these stereotypes existed. Such as the person claiming they could get away with inappropriate behavior because they felt “immersed in the culture” when visiting some asian country I don’t remember.
Online dating is new form that has recently surfaced as social media continued to grow and it doesn’t surprise me that there are asian dating sites since there are plenty of dating sites. Not to mention there are more specific weird dating sites out there; Farmers, catlovers, etc. So asian dating sites are more common, but I guess it surprises me that those that participate as a customer on the site don’t expect this treatment. I’m not saying there isn’t any excuse for the behavior, but I wouldn’t be blind about the stereotypes out there of those that lurk on the internet. People that are even a little internet savvy know through mouth or whispers that there are certain parts of the internet they don’t explore because the shocking, horrifying, and sometimes gross parts of society are celebrated and shared. But in contrast, that’s the dangers of giving an anonymous identity. They create a new face that can either parallel or differ from their offline image.
People complain and are surprised about the weird people that lurk on Tindr that make corny or tasteless techniques to further an intimate relationship, but some people are more conscious of these dangers and still participate in the applications service for, what some people look for, self esteem booster.
Victoria’s presentation was relevant to what we are studying since it’s women and video games. The video she presented was actually a clip and a source I am using in our presentation. Anita is well known for her critiques in the video game industry concerning women. I was a little confused on the focus of the presentation since women and video games has some prominent debates, but very wide variety of topics to choose from. For ours, we are critiquing on how sexism affects the players, the creators, and the industry in specifically three games; Dragon Age, World of Warcraft, and League of Legends. Sex sells as a general standpoint and draws the audience and it is not short for the industry of MOBA’s. In League of Legends being a “Free-to-Play” model makes its money in micro-transactions. I was surprised by the women in the video game industry make careers in the graphic design focus, which ironically enough my current job and a potential career I am hoping for is working in the video game industry with those skills they are apparently needed for women in the industry. Makes me feel a little bit better : )
susancinderella 
Apr 17, 2015 @ 07:43:50
I think you make a really good point here. While cybertyping is by no means good, we also shouldn’t think in binary and think the situation is always black & white/aggressor & victim (sometimes it is of course, but not all the time). I can see how someone first going onto one of these sites may be surprised to a certain extent, but you’re right when you say that they have to know what they may be getting themselves into. However, I think this viewpoint only applies to certain sites that are really obvious. Because it has to be taken into consideration that it is also happening on more general dating sites as well. Even some of the examples shown on the presentation were on Craigslist or Facebook. Putting too much blame on the women in this situation kind of makes me think about victim-blaming/rape culture. Honestly, if there was more of a focus in our society on preventing these attitudes from being formed in the first place, there would be no need to even say victims are ‘asking for it’….or in this case ‘know what they’re getting themselves into.’