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  • Lerios [hy/hym]
    ·
    4 years ago

    Fuck whether or not its funny (which personally i think it is, but whatever), it makes the site a better place for women and lgbt people by getting rid of posting that can be incredibly uncomfortable and/or objectifying to a large part of our user base. Theres a reason you don't see women in online communities as often as men, and its because a lot of online spaces are incredibly hostile to them, and horny posting is a part of it. We're not looking to alienate comrades or perpetuate misogyny.

    The volcel police are a great way to deal with that while also being a good meme :sankara-salute:

    • Liberalism [he/him,they/them]
      ·
      edit-2
      4 years ago

      This doesn't really make sense to me? Like if someone is being creepy or objectifying people can just say "hey this is creepy or objectifying" (edit: which I understand often doesn't work, what I meant to say is I don't think the volcel police would work anywhere this would fail) and the fact that the Volcel Police also respond to perfectly acceptable forms of horniness makes it unlikely to cause someone to rethink their posting.

      It actually feels like this is one of the (less major) problems with the way the internet responds to creepy behavior, writing off actions that genuinely cross a line as "horny" strikes me as a "boys will be boys" type of thing

      • crime [she/her, any]
        ·
        4 years ago

        if someone is being creepy or objectifying people can just say “hey this is creepy or objectifying”

        I can count on one hand the number of times this has worked outside of communities that were explicitly queer, explicitly for women, or had volcel police.

        I can't even count the number of times doing this has gotten me harassed.

        • Liberalism [he/him,they/them]
          ·
          4 years ago

          Yeah sorry, I'm well aware that “hey this is creepy or objectifying” often does nothing to stop anyone from being creepy or objectifying, I didn't mean to suggest that the problem can just be solved by calling people out. I just fail to see what kind of person wouldn't be deterred by having their creep behavior bluntly pointed out to them but would be deterred by what is essentially a meme that doesn't even necessarily judge them negatively

          • crime [she/her, any]
            ·
            4 years ago

            Delivery makes a huge difference in whether or not someone accepts that they were in the wrong — if you call someone out in a way that doesn't necessarily position yourself against them or indicate that you think their behavior makes them a bad person, they're more likely to receive it well enough to listen and understand why they got sent to the horny gulag.

            It sort of gives people a way of internally saving face a bit so they can correct in the future without having as strong of an emotional reaction as they would if you were to tell them they're being a creep or something. By having a social framework where having the volcel police called on you is relatively common and normal, it doesn't cause people to double down on the inappropriate hornyposting when they get called out. And if they do, having a preestablished set of socially-acceptable ways to tell people their behavior is unwanted makes it easier for more people to join in as well and increase social pressure to stop being a creep.