Halo, Halo, Is Anyone There?

Someone on NPR said, “If you want to know where your husband or boyfriend is, look in the room where the Xbox is.” That in turn led to some irate female listeners writing in to complain that many women played the game too, and what the journalist should have said on the air was, “If you want to know where you wife or girlfriend is, look in the room where the Xbox is. A woman’s place is not in the kitchen anymore.”

For anyone still confused, video game Halo 2 launched a few days ago and initial estimates peg the first-day sales at US$100 million. One hundred million dollars. That’s a lot of people – men, women, children, poodles – giving up $49.99 for a chance to blow up bad guys and save the world.

But I digress.

Back to NPR. I chuckled when I heard the listeners’ reactions. And then I felt guilty. Does that mean I’m not feminist enough? Or (gasp) not feminist at all? Should I take offence at every slight against women? What constitutes a slight anyway? I met some women who took offence at the phrase “you guys” when used on a group of women or of mixed gender. However, that’s a long way from calling someone a “b***h”, for example. What about that line from NPR? Was the journalist – who happened to be male – making a blithe remark? Was that the same as using “he” instead of the pesky and grammatically ugly “he/she” for a pronoun? Who makes the call to say it’s insensitive? Just women? Men?

I’d like to think I’m a modern, forward-thinking, well-adjusted woman who happens to swear some. Should I be outraged every time I hear someone call a bunch of women “you guys”? Do I pick my battles? Part of me thinks the Xbox remark was simply the reporter’s attempt to be witty; part of me feels if one doesn’t step up to correct these asides, they pile up and perpetuate stereotypes.

Is it a feminist reaction to correct the journalist? Perhaps it’s a matter of respect and courtesy. What about not using the gender loaded “he” or “she” to make any statements? Stick to “they”. Or perhaps political correctness is passe.

The same women who told me they found fault with “you guys” simply gave the example that it would be equally unacceptable to call a group of men, “you girls”. You know, I never really thought about that.