As I've learned recently, it's not even just an Internet thing. It's a cultural issue that spans so many platforms of interaction that short of going to another country to verify, I'd have to say it's a global issue. Maybe... maybe the United States is "worse." Maybe. Men and boys alike seem to fall trap to their inability to control their mouths, especially when in a group mentality.
You're probably right. While anonymity plus an audience (the internet) generally makes these things significantly worse, their roots are almost certainly in the real world. I know I grew up dealing with some pretty extreme misogyny around me. From gendered bullying to more physical bullying. I do think that the transition from real life --> the internet --> back to real life can exacerbate things though, which I think is worthy of consideration when it comes to the Smash Community in particular. A lot of our community identity comes from what happens outside tournaments, and I think maybe we can influence the attitude at tournaments by moderating ourselves online.
I've done a little bit of research on gender equality abroad. The united states is... okay. When it comes to gender equality and LGBT rights there are much better countries and there are much worse countries. I want to say we're a 6 out of 10? Something like that. Certainly we have things to be thankful for, but other countries have proven we can do better. Off the top of my head, the netherlands strikes me as an example of a country with a much better track record on gender equality. Not to say that they don't have their own problems, but in that specific area they seem to have us beat.
It's a fine line to walk. Do you shower everyone with nothing but respect and courteousness? Do you wear a sign around your neck that says "yeah hit on me" or "don't hit on me?" ... Tricky. Reading signals has gotten harder because people have gotten less apt at one-on-one communication.
I think the simplest I could put the way I deal with that question is that I err on the side of caution. You could call it being professional, or giving people the benefit of the doubt. To re-use some examples I used in my previous post--Personally, I've been on the receiving end of so many gendered slurs that I just... can't talk to other women like that. Even if I loathe them as people, it just makes me hate myself for resorting to that. So I just find other ways to communicate my frustration or discomfort with them if they're being ...terrible. Or I just leave them alone!
As for flirting and hitting on, yeah, that can be a little tricky sometimes. I think there are two golden rules to follow on that topic.
1) Be respectful when telling someone or hinting to someone that something about them is attractive.
If you hit on someone but you do it in a manner that's pretty tame and respectful and it turns out they don't like that type of attention, it's not a very big deal. You can back off and the damage done will be minimal. It's okay to make small mistakes like that. Most girls aren't looking for a reason to be upset. Personally, I enjoy this type of flirting. It helps me relax because it tells me the other person is being thoughtful and in a way, reassures me I can trust them.
When I'm talking to other girls, I don't feel scared about complimenting their clothes or their hair or hell, dorking it up about how hilarious Princess Peach is because I know that at worst, they'll think I'm a little weird (or gay) neither of which is even innacruate, let alone a big deal. But because I follow Rule 2, it's unlikely to escalate to something that hurts anyone.
2) Don't be aggressive.
Simply put, be willing to let the flirting / hitting on go if the person you're talking to is avoiding the topic or communicates they don't like it. A lot of people would call this 'taking a hint', but honestly, you don't need to be able to recognize a hint. If the person you're talking to isn't engaging the flirting, just find something else to talk about! If you're not actually sure they were uncomfortable, you can try again later!
You can also ask. Don't ask before you've even tried because that's off-putting and don't ask right after you finish flirting with someone because if they are in fact uncomfortable that could easily come off as confrontational and escalate. But if you ask the next day if a girl was comfortable with something you said yesterday, I don't think most girls are going to take offense to that provided of course that it isn't asked in a confrontational manner.
This was an interesting read as well. I think the key term is Fanservice. Just thinking of what that word means it kind of demonstrates both the issue and the status quo. Fans, -males-, are served. I remember going ape over FFX-2 cause it was just screen after screen, sound byte after sound byte of sexy-time bs instead of, I dunno, a GAME. I wasn't disappointed. But I was also older, way past adolescence, and so it to me was just silly. But thinking back, had I had that game when I was 13? Ha!
It so happens that Samus is one of my wife's favorite video game icons, because she's "hot" (yes, my wife is into women too), but because she kicks "so much ***." Her all time favorite is Jill Valentine, for similar reasons. So to gamers, men and women alike, these two qualities seem to be important. Attractive, and Powerful. Eh, my favorite character is probably Alucard, cause reasons. But peach, well I like peach cause she's cute. Especially during that winking taunt she does, un-huh! and stuff... yeah.
There's a pretty big spectrum on what people like. Some people are really just looking for an avatar to play a game with. How well the character is written doesn't matter so much to them, and y'know--that's a valid way to enjoy games. Gordon Freeman is the prototypical example of a character that really isn't written particularly well on his own (or at all), but is well loved based on how the world around him defines him. I feel like that's been preached to heaven and back though. On the contrary, I often have to deal with a lot of backlash when I preach the virtues of good storytelling and how important that is for me to enjoy a video game. And that's unfortunate, because it does greatly impact my enjoyment of characters like say Samus and there's a very vocal part of the metroid fanbase that really doesn't want to see her get turned into a more human character. But uh--I suppose you can't please everyone.
Boy am I excited for the new Adventure mode in Ultimate. I'll probably enjoy the game a lot more than Smash 4 based on that alone.
Now, back to fanservice though. You pointed out something I was tempted to say in my last post and left out. A big part of the reason fanservice is often considered a problem is simply that it has a sort of bad reputation for "accidentally" ostracizing one gender in the process of appealing to the other. Compare to say, Sailor Moon. Sailor Moon is a well known anime with fanservice in it. Namely, the transformation sequences and those incredibly cute outfits the Sailor Scouts wear. But what makes that different from say, Zero Suit Samus, is that those outfits resonated with women--not just men. The "not technically naked" bodysuit look is never going to come into fashion for women, but it's entirely possible to please both crowds!
And when you do that, fanservice really isn't a problem! I think Smash effectively does that simply by having so many character choices. Thankfully, I think game companies have become more aware of this these days, and since appealing to everyone is more profitable than appealing to one gender (If not somewhat harder depending on the developers) I think we're seeing a more inclusive gaming environment in general.
Smash certainly has a decent amount of girls on its roster these days~!
