onanism
Latest
Playing Dirty: Playing with ourselves
Every other week, Bonnie Ruberg contributes Playing Dirty, a column on sex and gender in video games:"God knows what he does with himself, all alone. He's weird. I mean, he won't hang out with other kids. Probably plays video games." Trapped in a barber's seat with my hair half cut, I'm listening to a forty-something hair stylist describe her new stepson. Maybe he sounds familiar: nice but shy, a little overweight, smart, into fantasy ("that dragon stuff"). Her son rides dirt bikes and has tons of friends. What the heck's wrong with this kid? Note how the speculation about video games gets spat out with extra scorn. The most antisocial behavior this woman can think up for a twelve-year-old boy? The thing he does by himself, in his room, when nobody's around? Games. After all, it's his aptitude for flying solo that really bugs her. He's content to be by himself. Apparently there's something about that that's unnatural, even dirty.
