Okay just one more long, confusing post and then I’m done I promise. This topic is really interesting to me because I was raised in a very strict culture and in my childhood I wasn't allowed to play with videogames. My parents thought it wasn't for girls and couldn't understand why I wanted to play. They would get mad even if I asked for a toy car and would only buy me a pink one. I was punished every time I was caught playing with my brother's nintendo system, especially when he cried like a baby if I beat him lol.
I think you are right and it is the case that masculinity is defined as heterosexual male exclusive. I don’t see it that way either and realize I’m in a minority. I think there is so much more that comes into play in how gender is perceived. What we learned from the livestream during the menswear kit launch is that they do actually want to push our boundaries on this, just not too far that we are uncomfortable. But why? What do they gain from this? I don’t want my boundaries pushed by a videogame company. I don’t play the game to stress my mind so it expands, I play it to soothe my mind. I read books and listen to podcasts to expand my mind on issues. And children and teens for the most part have been proven to be too immature to handle too much push on their boundaries and instead learn to disrespect and ridicule what they couldn’t handle learning about and bullying increases.
It seems for most people, men look masculine in a kilt, but not in other skirts, but why? Some men look very masculine to me in any kind of skirt. So I think maybe we are taught that a kilt is okay and normal for a man, but another skirt in a different cut is not. One of my favorite actors Lee Pace wore a skirt to an event recently and it did not change my perception of him as being very masculine and handsome in a masculine way. My brother saw him as Thranduil in LoTR in the elaborate robes and crowns and thought he looked very feminine and gay, but I didn't see that. He actually looked more masculine, heterosexual and powerful in a masculine way to me. So I know I am in a minority there.
Maybe age can also play a part too. I didn't want to buy the menswear kit, even though I may have wanted it for some of my male Sims. I didn't think any of my elderly male Sims would ever choose to wear a miniskirt sweater combo in pink and purple, but that might be something they randomly chose, and so I would then have to constantly change the outfit. To me it would look very silly for an old man to wear that, but some elderly men who wear pink mini skirts and cute sweaters might take offense to that I don't know.
I also don’t think they really represent my femininity that well either. In the wedding pack, they’ve given me a tiara so small it looks like a child’s headband from the dollar store on a short pixie hair cut and I’ve had long, fine hair to my waist all my life. They’ve given me flat shoes instead of stiletto or high heels that I commonly wore. They’ve excluded a classic wedding veil and given me one popularly worn by modern feminists to reject the other veils on moral grounds. How am I included in this pack if the veil and heels and flower crowns and tiaras are part of the expression of femininity for a bride for me? Just because there are more dresses than male suits? That was not the only thing I needed and I’m sure they knew that. Although I don’t only play the game for gender representation, not at all in fact, I play for the game play, building, and storytelling.
I also agree that construction and agriculture etc., should have some full-time careers. I also worked in residential construction as an office manager for many years and no one would hire female construction workers. Yet they are very financially profitable for a company, because women who live alone and especially elderly women are always asking for them. They have more trust and comfort in other women, letting them in their home while they are at work or at home alone. There are few complaints with the quality from the customers who wanted them. This is considered a masculine job because women are excluded from it, not because they can’t do it. And the belief that they can’t do the same work as well as male construction workers is very, very strong in this industry. Men who own companies and want to hire women for the stable market of elderly women and at home mothers during construction hours who are constantly looking for women workers, won’t hire them, because the men in the industry don’t want to work with them. They will claim it is about workmanship, but customers will be overjoyed and it’s obvious to management that it's about gender culture and different humor and different socialization patterns and the fear of losing that male social bonding on construction sites, or their job, if they make some stupid joke about their wife and the female construction worker complains.
I don't think removing gender is a solution. Gender is a very important part of identity including my own. I don't want genderless Sims. I think the best approach is with more customization options in CAS, settings or gameplay. I don’t really care how other people want to play. I just want the freedom to play my own way and not be judged constantly by others if it’s politically or morally correct. I invite the company to sell me a game, not judge me on how I play it. I can play with both masculine or feminine males, different cultures, if they have interesting personalities and are cute, because these are dolls to me, not real people. I’m worried one day my Sims are going to suddenly all have disabilities, stretch marks, limb deformities, fatal diseases, etc.
With new packs, they give such limited new items and then we feel pitted against each other and they don't communicate well, so people start looking for hidden agendas. They give some things for free and others not, and don't explain why, so it can feel unfair. I personally think that what they are doing is looking at diversity inclusion as a whole across the entire series and I think this is a wrong approach. Everyone who buys a new game or expansion pack is paying equally the same price and wants the same things, such as new clothes, new hair, new objects, with new packs. It seems what they are doing is saying, you already have something similar, I gave it to you 5 packs ago, now we are giving something new to someone else. So when they neglect a large group of core players, by not giving them new things or what they are asking for, it creates hostility and backlash towards the minority, and making this more heated is that the minority often then tells everyone that they didn’t like the inclusion anyway. The pride clothes looked like clown costumes, the African hair was not the right style, they don’t want other people playing with their culture, the content was nice, but it should have been free, etc.
It shouldn’t be so hard to figure out what type of items you have to give to your core group of players to keep them happy, and some additional items to make other people feel included and happy, that’s just basic market research. So I suspect they are very ambitious in other areas besides trying to make their customers happy, such as the improvement of humanity through entertainment media.
Okay I’ll stop now. I AM SO SORRY. I should just go start a blog and write to myself so I won’t be tempted to write something so long here again.
