Before he decided to attach himself to the #GamerGate “movement,” Breitbart writer and all-around douchebag Milo Yiannopoulos took a certain pleasure in baiting gamer “nerds,” a demographic he once described as a bunch of “pungent beta-male bollock-scratchers and twelve-year olds.”
He’s not the only self-appointed #GamerGate savior who doesn’t seem to have much respect for the group he’s ostensibly championing. Over on Reaxxion — the atrociously written pro-GamerGate game site run by pickup guru and non-gamer Roosh — one writer implores fellow gamers to quite literally put down their controllers and pick up weights.
In 5 Reasons Why Gamers Should Life Weights, Alexander Anderson urges gamer nerds to become gamer jocks, and not just because regular exercise is good for your health. In Anderson’s mind, weightlifting nerds can also challenge the stereotype of gamers as “socially awkward, passive, uncool, and physically unappealing” nerds by not, you know, embodying the stereotypes so completely themselves.
Go to a gaming gathering event and pay attention to the other people around you. Look at how they dress and how they communicate with each other. Pay attention to their body language, tone of voice, mannerism, and what they talk about. Then go to a sporting event and repeat the process. Which group of people would an average person prefer to be around?
HINT: You’re supposed to pick the sports fans.
The solution? Lifting, bro!
If all gamers start lifting weights, it will help combat the public perception of gamers as unsociable cave dwellers.
And even if Anderson can’t convince every World of Warcrafter to hit the gym, at least those who do lift will have “an edge over other gamers.”
Humans subconsciously prefer the company of those who are bigger, stronger, and smarter than the rest. You will stand out among your gamer friends if you are the only one in the room with muscles. Your social standing will increase, your health will improve and you will gain more confidence from regularly exercising.
Huh. I thought GamerGaters wanted gaming to be a “safe space” for nerds, not another arena in which jocks get to lord it over them.
Wow, this con is just like the organized religion con, convince people there’s something … idk … wrong with them, then sell them relief (an escape, a cure, an emotional valve). And when they come to you for that relief, reinforce all the messages about how there’s … just … something not quite right about them.
It’s the root of every racket whether it’s the hair salon, the clothing store, car dealers, culty religions (#notallreligions–but the ones that make the cult/leader pastor have power over the sheeple are all like this), the PUA thing. Hell, even heroin, although it fucks you up without any words. The rest require visual or verbal messages.
These sorts of verbal attacks have long been part of nerd subculture–as well as fitness bro subculture*–and it takes the right kind of devious mind to draw them together.
*-besides selling pseudoscience they’re also selling bogus supplements and overpriced protein powders–yum!
Not to mention “smarter than the rest” isn’t something traditionally associated in our society at least with “bigger, stronger.”
But in context “smarter” means “applies hacks to gain an advantage” and nobody ever likes that guy either.
Don’t want to get all Judith Butler here, but doesn’t the big muscle attraction tend to be male on male? Personally I tend to prefer shorter yoga/gymnast type guys ….
Glen H – it’s not what I think of as a general thing with women, but that’s just anecdata from me. I find big muscles on men actively repellent, so I’m more than a little biased. 😉
I’m quite OK about men who look “strong”, but I think Clive James summed up the muscle bound look quite well. A “condom full of walnuts” is pretty accurate and about as attractive.
One of Clive James’s many wonderful lines. 😀
Plus, it is not a look that ages well. Have you seen what Ahhhnold looks like shirtless these days?
I’m quite happy with something between “toned” and “comfortable”. Massive shoulders and pectorals on a bloke just put me off.
Try following that advice as a big strong black guy.
If I look at people I’m attracted to, both men and women, I have to say that I don’t have a stand-out preference of body type. Maybe I’m not super into very thin looking people? There’s not really any defining feature that is essential to me being attracted to someone. And I think, if we’re all totally honest with ourselves, that’s pretty normal regardless of our sexuality (all though you can well be attracted to just one gender, but people who are that gender will still come in all the shapes.)
Also, vaiyt – damn good point
“Don’t want to get all Judith Butler here, but doesn’t the big muscle attraction tend to be male on male?”
I’m a woman who likes large, bodybuilder-type men, and I’ve known quite a few other women who feel the same way. I’ve noticed that people actively discourage it; if I point out a guy I like, people will go on at lengths about how gross they think muscles are and how weird I am for liking them, and how only gay guys like big muscles, and how all bodybuilders are gay and/or have little dicks, etc. Once another woman told me muscles were bad because the guy could beat and rape you (as if slimmer men couldn’t). Obviously most women aren’t into that type of guy but I wish those of us who are wouldn’t be made to feel embarrassed by it.
“Plus, it is not a look that ages well. Have you seen what Ahhhnold looks like shirtless these days?”
Because he stopped maintaining it. Guys his age who still work out look just fine.
Reblogged this on Confusing Medical Science Since 1971.
Back in my dating days, my preferred type was shorter than me, and wiry/slender rather than built. Then I fell in love with my 6’2″ husband and his yard wide shoulders, and all my friends were surprised and amused.
I still sometimes suspect he used his witch-powers on me, but if he did they certainly worked. Next spring will be twenty years together.
I dislike the bodybuilder type intensely, but I would never hassle anyone else for liking it.
But really, whilst I have a type I like to look at, when it comes to relationships..I fall for a guy’s personality..their body-type is irrelevant, cos by the time I’ve fallen for them it is just..them.
Good point, Sassafras. I apologise for effectively dissing your preferences.
This is so not true for me. There are very definite must haves and do not wants for me, in both men and women.
It’s all aesthetic and hypothetical for me anyway, since I have no wish to act on it. With the heavily-muscled or bodybuilder type, it’s not just finding them unattractive in a sexual sense, it’s finding them threatening, regardless of what the man’s personality might be like. Same with very tall men; I just don’t like being loomed over. Mr K is only three inches taller than me and that’s plenty tall enough, even with someone I trust utterly.
Also, does anyone ever apply this thinking to men, that obviously there’s nothing appearance or body related that’s really essential in order for them to be attracted to someone (or put off), with the strong implication that they’re shallow if there is?
(To be clear, I’m not suggesting that we extend that particular piece of judgy societal nonsense to men, I’m suggesting that we stop imposing it on women.)
Even when we do talk about it vis-a-vis men, it’s more a case of eye-rolling that MRAs and their ilk think women they’re not attracted to have no business existing. Nobody would think twice about it if they just said “I’m attracted to X type”, at least if they could do it without turning it into some creepy fetish.
As I said, whilst in purely aesthetic terms there are body types I prefer, if I fall for a guy, his body type isirrelevant cos..it is him.
And the thing is, that should be fine. Why is it awful that people aren’t necessarily attracted to everyone whose personality they like? There is a word for people whose personalities we love to bits but who we aren’t attracted to – we generally call those people “friends”.
“Good point, Sassafras. I apologise for effectively dissing your preferences.”
Thank you, I appreciate that. 🙂
TMI possibly
The last time I spent ‘quality time’ with an ex, I thanked him for making me feel beautiful. He replied that for that time I had seen myself as he did. Beautiful.
The nicest thing anyone has told me
I could well go that way if falling for a guy was a possibility for me, but it isn’t; I did my falling-for 33 years ago, and it was his looks that got me before I knew anything about him.
gilshalos, that’s lovely! Possibly also TMI: Mr K is like that with me, and it’s thanks to him I don’t see myself as unattractive, which I always had before.
Sorry, didn’t mean to trash what anyone finds attractive in others, I should have phrased it better.
Perhaps I should have said the stereotype of the posturing, bulk at any price, bodybuilder that seems to be advocated by these guys, appears to be more about impressing other guys than attracting women.
Does that make some sort of sense?
Glen H, yes, it does to me.