Carolyn Petit, one of Gamespot‘s game reviewers, is transsexual. She’s just posted (what I believe to be) her first video review on the site. And she’s catching a lot of nasty commentary.
Whether or not you believe in a greater gaming community or not, currently being a gamer means laboring under a presumption of immaturity from those that don’t play games. And while much of that prejudice is unfair, it’s too often right on the mark, like when gamers ignore that a very nice video review of L.A. Noire was made by a real human—and not, as some have attempted to terrorize in the comments, a person who should be ashamed of themselves or the choices they’ve made.
Or as Carolyn Petit says in her own blog, in the wake of the negative comments:
Denying my true self was like carrying a stone in my soul everywhere. There was a hole inside me, like the one you feel when you really miss somebody, but the person I missed was me. … To help ease the pain, I lost myself in books, in music, in movies, and in games. … I don’t need games to teach me that lesson anymore. I’ve applied it in enough real-world situations that I now have the confidence in who I am to no longer be shaken by the sometimes hateful words of others.
Carolyn doesn’t need our support (or the support of the dozens of positive commenters on her L.A. Noire review), but she’s got it. And big compliments to GameSpot for giving everyone an equal opportunity.
The Insufferable Señor Steengo
Friday, May 20, 2011 at 9:19 AMThese guys need to grow the fuck up. What are they going to do, not play Bard’s Tale because Rebecca Heineman used to be a dude? I CAN’T COPE WITH TRANSGENDERED PEOPLE IN MY VIDYA
ripperhugme
Friday, May 20, 2011 at 9:47 AMThey probably have no idea what Bard’s Tale is.
These are the sort of blokes that have developed their social expectations of women from porn-stars.
They can’t comprehend transgender in the same way WASP conservatives can’t comprehend anything with an alternate view.
Ben
Friday, May 20, 2011 at 9:52 AMWow this just goes to prove how sheltered and closed minded some gamers can be. Big deal she’s transexual. So what? She’s still a human and deserves our respect and applause because she’s embraced who she is rather than try to hide it from society.
TheJagji
Friday, May 20, 2011 at 9:57 AMAgrees 100%. The comment about normal girl or guy from the Game spot quot is a bit dumb. THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS NORMAL. lol
Travis
Friday, May 20, 2011 at 9:55 AMI watch video reviews to see video of the game. I don’t care who is presenting it male/female/transgender I didn’t come to look at the host anyway. Why does it even matter who reviews a game so long as it is was done well.
Jimu Kong Country
Friday, May 20, 2011 at 10:02 AMJeez!
boogoose
Friday, May 20, 2011 at 10:04 AMI thought it was a good review, though I’m still unsure if it s a game to buy or rent. I think the complaints might come down to a numbers game. If a few thousand people watch the review and only 1% of those gamers are immature 16 year olds with sexual fantasies they need to compensate for, then that is still alot of people to complain.
AnonymousPessimist
Friday, May 20, 2011 at 10:08 AMGood on her.
Gamers need to grow the fck up.
ThrashTitan
Friday, May 20, 2011 at 10:57 AMExcuse me. Gamers as a collective do not need to grow up. We have proven our maturity by allowing the medium to evolve. A select few need to grow up.
RaygunBrown
Friday, May 20, 2011 at 11:05 AMNah, he’s right. Gamers do need to grow up. Games too.
Ad
Friday, May 20, 2011 at 2:47 PMYou are giving gamers far too much credit, sir.
Cody
Friday, May 20, 2011 at 10:23 AMI can’t make a decision.
It makes me feel uncomfortable so I understand the OP’s viewpoint. On the other hand, it’s a few minutes of game review that will be forgotten in a few minutes time, so it’s no big deal.
Plus, just by watching it we help build a more tolerant society. That’s probably worth a little discomfort.
Cody
Friday, May 20, 2011 at 11:43 AMHmmm, I just watched her Dead Space 2 review on YouTube.
If nobody told you, you wouldn’t know. So, no big deal!
Cody
Friday, May 20, 2011 at 1:43 PMGoddammit Cody.
I’m Cody too. We need the FB integration back!
I know who I am!
You’ll never be me!
TheJagji
Friday, May 20, 2011 at 2:07 PMI would rather FB stay OUT of stuff. FB dose not, and should not be everyware. Yeah, its a geat toll to talk to people, but so was MySpace, and look at it now.
Also, it means less privacy, not more. FB everywhere leads to everywhere knowing who you are. I would rather not have the hole world asking me to buy there stuff.
Aaron
Friday, May 20, 2011 at 10:27 AMI always despise how people with an agenda of simple hatred play the, ‘I feel insulted and offended’, card, as if they have poor, fragile, tender sensibilities that we should pander too by obscuring the existence of anything that offends them.
Personally I’m offended by the fact horrid tiny minded intolerant people are allowed to walk around breathing the same air as me, but you don’t see me tieing laundry bags over their heads while indignantly commenting how offended I am… yet.
losturtle
Friday, May 20, 2011 at 10:36 AMPersonally, I don’t think anything. Why should a “regular guy or girl” (oh god that statement just STINKS of ignorance) be a job requirement? She did a good review, that’s all that should matter.
Strange
Friday, May 20, 2011 at 10:41 AMI don’t care who she is or used to be, I’m just mad that her hair is prettier than mine.
RaygunBrown
Friday, May 20, 2011 at 10:43 AM“I have no problem with the reviewer personally…”
Yes you do, you moron.
Andrew Burdusel
Friday, May 20, 2011 at 11:09 AM“I’m offended by the fact horrid tiny minded intolerant people are allowed to walk around breathing the same air as me”
Perhaps you should stop breathing?
Honestly, who cares. So the guy made a tranny joke. Don’t get your panties in a bunch, or boxer shorts, whatever the hell you wear.
sharmona
Friday, May 20, 2011 at 11:29 AMI don’t see a tranny joke
Aaron
Friday, May 20, 2011 at 11:32 AMActually I’m going commando today, laundry reasons as opposed to fetishistic ones. But thanks for asking.
And it wasn’t just a ‘tranny joke’, I can handle jokes of the worst order you can imagine, as long as the goal is humour. That commenters goal was hate, hate I don’t like.
I’m deeply, deeply intolerant of intolerance.
Andrew Burdusel
Friday, May 20, 2011 at 11:45 AMNo, it’s even worse. He has an opinion that isn’t yours.
I don’t get why everyone is so politically correct today. I’m not gonna lose sleep over every comment on the Internet.
Aidan
Friday, May 20, 2011 at 12:15 PM“I’m not gonna lose sleep over every comment on the Internet.”
No, because nobody makes jokes about relatively wealthy white straight males. Try reading 800 or so personal attacks on your right to exist then tell me you aren’t offended.
Andrew Burdusel
Friday, May 20, 2011 at 12:29 PMWell at least we both agree I’m not offended.
I’m glad we are finally seeing eye to eye one the issue.
sharmona
Friday, May 20, 2011 at 12:17 PMBurdusel hates gays, transgenders and blind people.
Andrew Burdusel
Friday, May 20, 2011 at 12:24 PMShut up Kosta! I’m gonna tell you you!
Aaron
Friday, May 20, 2011 at 4:43 PMIt’s politcal correctness to tell a bully to STFU and GTFO?
I think you missed the life skills class on that subject.
Andrew Burdusel
Friday, May 20, 2011 at 4:56 PMCorrection: I missed all classes on every subject.
SupremeBeans
Friday, May 20, 2011 at 11:22 AMIf you are offended by someone’s gender, you are probably a massive tool
Aaron
Friday, May 20, 2011 at 11:34 AMYou could probably drop the probably.
solypsis
Friday, May 20, 2011 at 5:21 PMi think you’re probably right.
ndroste
Friday, May 20, 2011 at 11:22 AMFuck the internet gives me the shits.
John
Friday, May 20, 2011 at 11:54 AMI’m sorry, but while I am completely fine with both homosexual men and women, transsexual people are not okay by me.
Why? Because they mutilate their bodies, have “parts” removed and added just so they can pretend to be a gender they are not.. Castrate themselves both physically and on a chemical level with testosterone/estrogen drugs.
It’s wrong in my eyes.. Will I go out of my way to insult them or make them feel bad because of this? No, but I have the right to dislike them for it just as much as they have a right to believe and do whatever they want.
Chris Prior
Friday, May 20, 2011 at 12:50 PMBy posting a comment about how “they mutilate their bodies”, instead of just ignoring the whole thing, you are doing exactly the thing you claim you wouldn’t: go out of your way to insult them.
If you’ve no issue with homosexuality, you should probably try to understand that being born inside a body that doesn’t correspond with what gender a person feels is just as real as being attracted to the same gender. It is a medically recognised condition that is just as real as homosexuality, or for that matter heterosexuality or being and feeling the same gender.
How would you feel if you woke up every day in a body that wasn’t yours?
Blayde
Friday, May 20, 2011 at 2:24 PMBut without people like John to politely indicate his opinion, you would never know there was an opposing opinion, and that everybody in the world loves and supports transexuals.
Also, I couldn’t care less. Live and let live.
Alinos
Friday, May 20, 2011 at 2:22 PMWhat do you do when your not happy with the fact that you’ve put on weight you excercise
When your unhappy with the sex you were born as exercise ain’t going to cut it.
I find it funny people complain about mutilation when they change sex yet all plastic surgery is doing the same thing
But because the persons reasons are different one is bad and the other no one cares about
solypsis
Friday, May 20, 2011 at 5:34 PMMaybe you could consider it from a different point of view. If someone is so unhappy about their physical gender, that they have gone through the hoops of getting the required counselling, the long expensive and probably painful process of drugs and surgery, the time needed off work, the questioning from colleagues family and friends, the possible descrimination and harrassment, etc… don’t you think its a decision that was probably deeply considered, and one they truly felt they needed to make? She has my total support.
GWells
Saturday, May 21, 2011 at 12:42 PM“so they can pretend to be a gender they are not.. ”
So in other words, what you have between your legs decides how you must feel as a person, ever since the age of 4-7 years old? So in your opinion the brain should be “fixed” to accommodate the body and not the other way around? Give me one good reason…
If you think that we can “reprogram” a person’s mind to turn from a woman into a man, then you’re seriously crazy.
Let’s face it, this is not about the transsexual, this is all about YOU. You don’t want what is right for the other person, you want what is right for YOU.
AussieSniper
Friday, May 20, 2011 at 12:01 PMI won’t be watching his reviews, but I won’t be leaving any nasty comments either.
Why should we respect “Carolyn Petit’s” choices of lifestyle, but not respect the choices of the audience whether to watch his vids or not?
As for the nasty comments, is everybody here new to the internet? Everybody who puts their face on the net gets mean comments, whether they deserve them or not. Being transexual just gives the trolls and haters one more obvious weapon to use.
Chris Prior
Friday, May 20, 2011 at 12:54 PMIt’s no more a lifestyle choice than any given person being born male or female. It’s entirely biological, and there’s nothing transgender people can do about how they’re born.
Also, yes, the internet is full of arseholes. That doesn’t mean those arseholes should just be ignored. Arseholes anywhere, regardless of how ‘normal’ their behaviour is, deserve to be called out.
Villainsoft
Friday, May 20, 2011 at 12:24 PMAs per the notion that “normal” doesnt exist, you are living in a dream world. Of course there is a normal, and it is sits within one standard-deviation of the mean for a behaviour existing within any group of individuals.
Persons whose behaviours sit in the higher standard deviations of a sample set are the outliers and are technically not “normal”.
That is mathematics and sociology. Neither of which bend to suite peoples own opinions.
Chris Prior
Friday, May 20, 2011 at 1:01 PMThere is certainly normal from a statistical stand-point. There are also, of course, social norms.
What’s more relevant though is that what is normal doesn’t necessarily mean what is right, and not being normal does not inherently mean wrong.
If it did, DAMN THOSE HORRIBLE DEPRAVED MENSAE
Villainsoft
Friday, May 20, 2011 at 2:33 PMyou are certainly correct. the “rightness” of something does not correlate to the number of people who believe or practice it.
Of course, its also possible that everyone is wrong.
solypsis
Friday, May 20, 2011 at 5:55 PMLooking back over many decades, there is now a huge ammount of well researched qualitative and quantitative studies into what is “normal” in human sex and sexuality.
There is a wide spectrum of “normal”.
Just because a group of people are less numerous does not mean they are in any way less valid.
Charles
Friday, May 20, 2011 at 12:28 PMFunny how the other day was an awareness day to stop homophobia and transphobia, then today we have something like this happen, which just points out the issue even more.
Atleast they aren’t doing the “lets hire a hot girl” trend to attract viewers, which I find probably more offensive than this, not to mention what it does for females. They should be applauded for giving this person a go and not discriminating.
Manne
Friday, May 20, 2011 at 12:57 PMI believe she did the Dead Space 2 Review aswell.
As for all this Transgender crap going on, it’s pathetic.
A: Did she review the game?
B: was it a good review?
Then what the Fudge are you complaining about?
N0NEoftheAB0VE
Friday, May 20, 2011 at 12:59 PMThe first time Carolyn came to my attention was her review of Dead Space 2 (look it up on YouTube) the amount of juvenile hate coming through the comments was palpable.
The irony was though, it was actually the most informative review of the game I had seen, the only one that bothered to explain the multiplayer aspect of the game and generally speaking this Carolyn seems to know her sh!t – a lot more than other reviewers I’ve seen.
Tali
Friday, May 20, 2011 at 1:10 PMGames… I only want to think of games.
Mr Waffle
Friday, May 20, 2011 at 1:11 PMI watched that review to see what the fuss was about.
After watching it, I immediately went and ordered LA Noire. I’d say she did a fine job!
Cody
Friday, May 20, 2011 at 1:39 PMBig kudos to her for getting up there and doing her job catering to a demographic that probably has a vast number of immature homophobic trolls who would kick up a stink for sure.
Keep it up, I don’t care who’s doing the reviews as long as they’re clued in and offer constructive viewpoints.
El Phantasmogoro
Friday, May 20, 2011 at 2:04 PMA person is doing a job they are good at. This is all that matters. Anyone who makes any other distinction is probably a bigot.
If not trangendered people, then ban homosexual people. If we are going for them, might as well ban people who aren’t Caucasian. Oh and women. Oh and short guys.
If it is ok to discriminate against one person, it’s ok to discriminate against all.
Good for her in being successful in her chosen career. High five for getting such a sweet job.