The World is a Very Strange Place
Jun. 1st, 2007 07:33 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
daidoji_giseiBecause there is a possibility of confusion on this point, I'm going to begin by saying that I like my rpg group. The guys I play with are generally good-natured, they are good players, and they are very patient with my slowness in picking up mechanics in a new game. (I'm perfectly capable of learning mechanics, but I tend to find it the dullest part of a system, so it takes me awhile.) Their sense of humor is sometimes a little too earthy for my taste (and more on this later), but I can't really claim that they shock my delicate sensibilities.
That out of the way, last night we were playing a Serenity game. Our ship was transporting a group of NPC passengers from one world to the next, and the NPC who had been serving as their spokesman (who was as annoying as all get out) insisted on having all the crew gather for a meeting with him. Our pilot refused, on the grounds that he needed to fly the ship. My character was suspicious of the NPCs' motives, so I told the GM that I was going to go stand watch with the pilot. Meanwhile, I scribbled a note--"Tell them that I have my period and have cramps"--and gave it to the guy playing the ship's mechanic (who was going) to excuse my absence. He read the note and said, "Eeww. I'm not saying that." What? "Look, you can use a euphemism if you want," I said. He put the note down and the game continued on.
When we had finished the scenario, the guy playing the mechanic picked up the note and handed it to the GM saying, "Look what she wanted me to say". The GM read it and said, "Ick," or something along those lines.
To put this in context, this is a group of men who cannot go a gaming session without making a sodomy joke being squicked out by the concept of menstrual cramps. I laughed then, because I thought it was funny--I still think it's funny--but the more I think of it the weirder the incident gets. It's just...weird.
That out of the way, last night we were playing a Serenity game. Our ship was transporting a group of NPC passengers from one world to the next, and the NPC who had been serving as their spokesman (who was as annoying as all get out) insisted on having all the crew gather for a meeting with him. Our pilot refused, on the grounds that he needed to fly the ship. My character was suspicious of the NPCs' motives, so I told the GM that I was going to go stand watch with the pilot. Meanwhile, I scribbled a note--"Tell them that I have my period and have cramps"--and gave it to the guy playing the ship's mechanic (who was going) to excuse my absence. He read the note and said, "Eeww. I'm not saying that." What? "Look, you can use a euphemism if you want," I said. He put the note down and the game continued on.
When we had finished the scenario, the guy playing the mechanic picked up the note and handed it to the GM saying, "Look what she wanted me to say". The GM read it and said, "Ick," or something along those lines.
To put this in context, this is a group of men who cannot go a gaming session without making a sodomy joke being squicked out by the concept of menstrual cramps. I laughed then, because I thought it was funny--I still think it's funny--but the more I think of it the weirder the incident gets. It's just...weird.
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Jesse Says...
Date: 2007-06-01 03:33 pm (UTC)Okay, I totally get your point. I think it is how our male psyches work. Sodomy jokes are okay. Graphic depictions of sexual activity... fine. Menstruation? For some reason that makes the average guy cringe. Probably, as one comedian put it, "If I started bleeding from my privates for days on end, I wouldn't be so casual about it. I'd be running and screaming to the emergency room."
I don't understand it, and I have a Psychology degree (which makes me qualified for factory work). All I know is that life is hard for women. Aside from the monthly visit from Aunt Flo, there is the still ignored glass ceiling, a strong sense of a patriarchal society, and the fact that they are constantly hit upon by any guy that feels like it.
All I can say for white males is that we have to make sure never to say anything, derogatory or otherwise, about women, minorities, politics, abortion, and other social issues... unless we are in private company. (Carlos Mencia is right!) So maybe that is why our group is so "earthy" at times.
So I am with you. It is an odd yet somewhat funny hypocrisy. Jim Morrison was right... people are strange.
Jesse Also Says...
Date: 2007-06-01 03:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-06-01 07:04 pm (UTC)Sorry for the sodomy? lol
no subject
Date: 2007-06-02 02:44 am (UTC)OTOH, guys freak about that sort of thing because they cannot relate to it at all. There is no analogy to guy anatomy as there is for that particular girl part. =(