Make your own (game, magazine, event) is used as a Silencing technique and a Responsibility dodge when complaints are made about sexism in media, entertainment, environment, etc.
Closely related to the "You don't have to read it" argument, "Make your own" frames women's exposure to sexist material as a matter of Choice and more importantly, puts blame on women for not creating media, entertainment, events, etc. that would conform to their needs and wishes.
Furthermore, this rhetoric implies the following points:
- existing media, entertainment, events, etc. are "Not for women"
- anyone making complaints or pointing out shortcomings should be prepared to produce a superior product, or else should shut up
- the issue with sexism in media etc. is that there are no games feminists approve of (there are; the issue is that sexism is the standard)
- the issue with the industries and sexism is that women are not doing their part
- that a balance between sexist and "feminist-approved" media is a satisfactory situation
- that the existence of non-sexist media makes sexist media ok
- that the emergence of individual "feminist-approved" media fixes the sexism issue.
Pointing out flaws behind this argument is likely to bring up more or less veiled appeals to the Slippery Slope fallacy, such as in:
- "You already have [a few female protagonists], how many more do you need?"
External links
- Bikini Armor Battle Damage post on "Hey I want to genuinely ask why don't you make your own story/game with the design of how you want females to be represented?''
Community content is available under CC-BY-SA unless otherwise noted.
