I was browsing Tumblr when I came across a few paragraphs written by a cis-male and his opinion on "gamer girls". If you don't know, a "gamer girl" is different from a female gamer in that she believes girl gamers, including herself, are special and unique because they play video games and they often use this fact to try and gain the attention of easily-impressed males. The author said that these girls need to realize that they should just refer to themselves as "gamers", as opposed to "girl gamers", if they don't want to seem like an endangered species. The post was longer but I'll spare you.
I, as a cis-female, agreed with his opinion. These girls need to realize that women make up almost half of all gamers and we're not special snowflakes. We're just gamers! Someone else, though, presumably a female, did not. When a person responded to this girl, defending the original post, she wrote this:
"[NAME], I have one question. Are you a cis male?
If you are, then your opinion on sexism - just like [NAME]’s opinion - is invalid and unwanted. Goodbye."
I completely disagreed with this statement (though I said nothing because I don't want to get involved). I think a man can have an opinion on sexism, just as a woman can. This goes for white people having opinions on racism, just as black people can. Hopefully, the opinions are the same (which is equality for everyone), though this isn't always the case. I understand that a man can't entirely know what it's like to be prejudiced as a woman but does that automatically make his opinion wrong?
TL;DR: Can a man/white person/etc. have an opinion about sexism/racism/etc., even though they can't fully experience what it's like to be on the "other side"?
I, as a cis-female, agreed with his opinion. These girls need to realize that women make up almost half of all gamers and we're not special snowflakes. We're just gamers! Someone else, though, presumably a female, did not. When a person responded to this girl, defending the original post, she wrote this:
"[NAME], I have one question. Are you a cis male?
If you are, then your opinion on sexism - just like [NAME]’s opinion - is invalid and unwanted. Goodbye."
I completely disagreed with this statement (though I said nothing because I don't want to get involved). I think a man can have an opinion on sexism, just as a woman can. This goes for white people having opinions on racism, just as black people can. Hopefully, the opinions are the same (which is equality for everyone), though this isn't always the case. I understand that a man can't entirely know what it's like to be prejudiced as a woman but does that automatically make his opinion wrong?
TL;DR: Can a man/white person/etc. have an opinion about sexism/racism/etc., even though they can't fully experience what it's like to be on the "other side"?
