Ruberg on Xbox Live

Bonnie Ruberg from GameGal spoke rather eloquently on the "special" treatment women sometimes receive in online lobbies when voice chat is enabled. Once her secret is out, she finds she's either mollycoddled or abused until she's fed up and leaves for another game, where no one knows the terrible truth about her pelvic region. I've seen the article spread around a few other blogs, many of them run by guys, all swearing up and down how annoying and terrible it is that girls are treated like outsiders when they clearly need to be welcomed into the fold, which is true. But there's also the darker, but incredibly natural, side of anyone's psyche that shouldn't be ignored. Part of being a human means you want to be included, but you also want to exclude. While it's crappy, it's not the first time a massive majority doesn't know how to react when a minority - a minority many of the kids on Xbox Live haven't had much contact with - walks into their living room, and starts doing things that break stereotypes. Like cursing. Or winning. Check out her article here.