My PAX East shirt arrived yesterday.
This shirt is sold by the Fawcett Society UK, "the UK’s leading charity for women’s equality and rights – at home, at work and in public life." My purchase was inspired by John Scalzi, who tore apart what it means to look like a feminist.
While I’m excited to wear this shirt to PAX East, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t concerned: this is, after all, the same community that cheered for the return of the Dickwolves shirt. If I were a woman, I might not feel safe attending PAX, especially in this shirt. But as a straight white cisgender male, I’m hopeful that I’ll get high-fives from the right people and silence from the wrong ones — a win-win.
I could be wrong; I’ve been denigrated at PAX East for something as innocuous as using a Mac. It never ceases to amaze me how people who are often considered outsiders will nonetheless go to lengths to make others feel the same way.
If you too want to wear your heart on your sleeve but don’t feel this is the right shirt for you, Fangamer.net invites you to join gaming’s feminist illuminati. My thanks to Pam for pointing me to this shirt.
@gamebits I have this one from @DMGToronto , I think it was a limited run pic.twitter.com/YL7n7g5Yjb
— Captain Pam Solo (@Jasyla_) January 21, 2015
Frankly, my favorite of the feminist shirts is sold by LookHuman, but I imagine its effect would be lost when worn by a self-identified male:
Unicorn CC BY-SA 2.0 by Monica