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Home Love to hate it updates

Tetris is keeping women in the kitchen (update)

9:19 PM on 04.04.2007, Faith 87 comments

Tetris is keeping women in the kitchen (update) photo
     Love to hate it

Doctor Freud would love feminists because they seem to be as obsessed with penises as he was. Mighty Ponygirl over at Feminist Gamers recently wrote a piece about how Tetris is a sexist game. I wasn't sure if she was kidding when she wrote this piece but she wrote twice in the comments that she wasn't, so this must be a serious article.

Mighty Ponygirl claims that Tetris embodies everything to do with man's eternal struggle to capture women's ability to produce life. The theme of building up the pieces represents man's need to create and to have that creation adored and become immortal in the eyes of history, thus making woman's ability to produce life seem less impressive.

[Update: The Tetris post was confirmed as a joke for April Fool's Day by Mighty Ponygirl. I figured it might be but sarcasm is hard to read in text. I apologize for my rant but it is still a good topic to discuss whether video games could have hidden messages behind them. Oddworld games have a environmental message in them, so why can't other games have meanings behind them too?] 

The architectural motif: the constant building theme of Tetris, celebrates the male desire to subvert a woman’s natural life-producing abilities. Architecture is clearly an attempt by men to artificially emulate the life-giving power of the woman’s womb. Once a man has been able to create something that lasts, that gives comfort and shelter, it can be elevated to an art form — and the most mystical, beautiful accomplishment the female species has provided throughout history can be lessened and scorned.

Mighty Ponygirl also points out that the plunging of the straight piece into the slot and the blocks disappearing afterwards is metaphor for male domination over women.

But the most telling part of the game is the fact that most highly-sought after piece in the game is the “long piece.” Could anything be more phallo-centric than the plunging of the long piece into a deep cleft of the field below? After which, the rows blink and disappear — the message? Once the vaginal area has been penetrated, it is conquered, it is unnecessary — and the player who did the penetrating scores “points” and moves on to the the next field.

Look, the towers are shaped like penises!

Now you can babble on all you want to me about hidden meanings and other psycho-babble ideas inside Tetris but as far as I'm concerned Tetris just a basic puzzle game which was created by a bunch of guys living in Russia during the Communist era. They weren't trying to make any male dominating, women hating messages within their game. They just made it for their friends to play and enjoy.

What do you think? Is Tetris a metaphor for male domination over woman or is it just a simple puzzle game? 

You can read Mighty Ponygirl's entire article here and please don't post an nasty messages on her blog. You can post them here for us to read instead.


Next page: More Girls of Gaming stories




Matthew Mac's Avatar
Matthew Mac at 04/04/2007 21:26
I want a fucking edit button.
Necros's Avatar
Necros at 04/04/2007 21:26
...you're kidding me. Games journalism and analysis can't have dropped this low.
Lodin's Avatar
Lodin at 04/04/2007 21:27
The hell? All Alexey Pajitnov ever wanted was to create a simple mathematical puzzle that challenged players to go on solving it for as long as possible. Where the hell does womens rights come into that?
Go after the idiots who turned it into Sextris at some point instead you dumb broad!
Faith's Avatar
Faith at 04/04/2007 21:28
I liked that game, Sextris. That's kinky.
To1kien's Avatar
To1kien at 04/04/2007 21:29
I guess Astroids is another male chauvinism game. Since you know, the ship looks like a V, which stands for Vagina, and it is getting pummeled by the large rocks which could either be the fists of abusive men, or balls of men that try to destroy the "purity" of the vagina ship
bleep's Avatar
bleep at 04/04/2007 21:30
can anyone provide a link to Sextris?
jimstyle's Avatar
jimstyle at 04/04/2007 21:34
While I appreciate the fact that someone is trying to look deeper into video games, giving them the same weight that we give to literature by opening criticism of the art, I think that this is quite a stretch.

Instead, let's argue the socialist model present in Pac-Man: Pac-Man, of course, represents the bourgeois. He's colored gold like money, and he is the few among the many. He goes around collecting his gold coins, and when he receives an especially large piece of money he gains the ability to destroy the proletarian society. EVIL EVIL EVIL.

Somehow, I don't think there's an underlying message to the Tetris goodness. Word.
Necros's Avatar
Necros at 04/04/2007 21:37
Argh, just looked at the date at the top of the article. It's an April Fool's Day post. Just when I thought that day was over. I got fooled again over at Game|Life today since they linked an article about a school banning Pokemon because it supported evolution.

WHY WON'T THAT DAY DIE?!?
bigfatton's Avatar
bigfatton at 04/04/2007 21:37
Pong is an analog to the male-o-centric maleocracy. Bouncing a ball back and forth with paddles means that women are baby-making, roast-cooking, man-pleasing tools.
Faith's Avatar
Faith at 04/04/2007 21:44
I'm pretty sure this wasn't a joke. She states twice that it wasn't a joke, despite the date of the post.

If it was a joke article, I apologise for my rant.
Ashdate's Avatar
Ashdate at 04/04/2007 21:44
Not to take away from the April Fool's joke, but I think the writer would enjoy Tetris 2 a lot more, given that there ARE V shaped pieces in that one.

- Eddie
comradetrotskii's Avatar
comradetrotskii at 04/04/2007 21:48
If this is an April Fools joke then Kudos. If not it doesn't actually dignify a response.
ghnvt's Avatar
ghnvt at 04/04/2007 21:52
I hope it is a joke. This was created during the Communist reign, so who knows.
Ignus's Avatar
Ignus at 04/04/2007 21:59
Its god damn blocks.
Thats it.
Necros's Avatar
Necros at 04/04/2007 21:59
@ Faith

I did notice two statements in the comments, which I took seriously at first, but then I took in these two statements from her:

"Everyone knows Feminists don’t have a sense of humor."

"I’m sure your mum, her mum, sisters, wives, etc would all agree that Tetris was singlehandedly the most misogynistic game to ever port to consoles."

Maybe I'm off tonight, but I'm detect hints of sarcasm from the author.
Ignus's Avatar
Ignus at 04/04/2007 22:02
Also, her tone is rather sarcastic in the comments about it being a serious article.
So I'd assume it was a joke, lets bash her nonetheless.
tcgiant's Avatar
tcgiant at 04/04/2007 22:03
That is the ugliest website ever. EVER.

If feminists make websites with music-blaring flash frontpages, then I hate feminists whole-heartedly.
MyStupidDream's Avatar
MyStupidDream at 04/04/2007 22:20
Joke or not, that's funny stuff. If it's a joke, she still had to think waaaay too hard about her blog, and it wouldn't surprise me if she believed it after she was finished. Those silly feminists.
scottus's Avatar
scottus at 04/04/2007 22:22
@tcgiant -
amen. how about a warning before we click on a link only to be greeted by obnoxiously loud barely-better-than-a-midi music?
JJ Rage's Avatar
JJ Rage at 04/04/2007 22:27
Fucking feminists.
Cory_t_'s Avatar
Cory_t_ at 04/04/2007 22:29
/slap this bitch!

That's the kind of woman that, if you ask her to make you a sandwich, not because it's her job to run to the kitchen and whip you up anything you'd like at any time you'd like it, but just because you want a goddamn sandwich and people sometimes like to do nice things for others, you'll end up with a two hour speech on how the vagina could conquer the world if the penis wouldn't keep stabbing it.

Sorry for the run-on sentence. I'm all for equality between the sexes, women should be able to do anything they damn well please, but sometimes i just want a fucking sandwich!

*walks to the kitchen*
bleep's Avatar
bleep at 04/04/2007 22:30
ask and ye shall recieve Nex
Jecrell's Avatar
Jecrell at 04/04/2007 22:31
I agree with her, there are penises, but those penises are there for love, and not for hate and oppression.
Sharpless's Avatar
Sharpless at 04/04/2007 22:38
If this isn't a joke... well, did we need anymore proof that uber-feminists are batshit insane? I think not. But this does the trick. Though, I'm pretty sure that this is a joke.

E.T. was a feminist game, by the way. A shrivelled male creature falling into holes... Think about it, won't you?
l0cke's Avatar
l0cke at 04/04/2007 22:48
OMG, all Nintendo consoles use cartridges...they are all male!

Well except for the Gamecube and the Wii...

Holy shit, it all makes sense now, Nintendo was overrun by gays!
jerrt's Avatar
jerrt at 04/04/2007 22:54
i thought that picture used at the top of this post was hot. but somehow i think it would have been hotter if it had been a ps2 dual shock controller.

and yes it would have been even sexier if there was more skin [and not even necessarily the good parts of the skin, just more skin]

tetris just hated everyone. i think that alone keeps it from being a sexist game.

also sextris was kinky. [;
Teh Ted's Avatar
Teh Ted at 04/04/2007 23:01
I'm tempted to think that this is a joke, but one of my ex-girlfriends got REALLY into feminism after she dated me (go figure) and actually picked up a minor in women's studies in college. One of her position papers was that, no kidding, eating meat was an act of misogyny and indicative of male aggressiveness towards women. The arguments were along the same lines as the Tetris lines above; that we 'sexualize' our food by mainly consuming female animals, that we tend to focus on the breasts and thighs of chickens, and that our preference for milk, eggs, veal, ect., were symptoms of trying to 'destroy' the reproductive power of women.

And she really wasn't joking, my ex. Whether Mighty Ponygirl is or not.

Just remember folks, even if it SOUNDS batshit crazy, there may be someone who actually believes it. Ever hear of Scientology?
Aktrez's Avatar
Aktrez at 04/04/2007 23:08
Everyone needs to step the hell back and stop thinking so hard!!!!!! I'm sick of overanalyzing bastards who think too hard and always look for the negative.

Games = fun. Thank you... bye bye.
Kain's Avatar
Kain at 04/04/2007 23:12
Bitch, you fuckin CCCAAAAZZZYYY! Thats one crazy ass bitch!

Now that i've gotten that out of my system.... Wow... i don't know what to say. She obviously needs to get a life and stop revolving it around what stick goes into what hole. It's called nature. Deal with it.
trydizon's Avatar
trydizon at 04/04/2007 23:12
i thought tetris was a way of representing the conflict between russia and china during the 1890's...

nah.

nex, where can i find me some centaur porn? is it next to the ninja midget porn?
ceark's Avatar
ceark at 04/04/2007 23:21
some one was thinking about tetris way to hard.
Husky Hog's Avatar
Husky Hog at 04/04/2007 23:28
Fucking way to go women... way to keep yourselves down

Sorry but this article is reaching it, find something about equality or something - but god damn...
vgfreak30's Avatar
vgfreak30 at 04/04/2007 23:37
all i have to say is.....STFU NEWB
SuperDave's Avatar
SuperDave at 04/04/2007 23:51
"Tetris is keeping women in the kitchen"

Urge. to. post. Cartman. rising.....

*gives in*

I would never let a woman tell ME what to do... If she tried anything, I'd be like "HEY, get your bitch-ass back in the kitchen! And make me some PIE!!!"
heroclixer87's Avatar
heroclixer87 at 04/04/2007 23:54
Some one's reaching a bit deep, no?
dprime's Avatar
dprime at 04/04/2007 23:55
This is why no one takes feminism seriously.

THERE ARE FUCKING COUNTRIES WHERE YOU ARENT ALLOWED TO SHOW SKIN IN PUBLIC AND YOUR CLIT IS CUT OFF. GO BOTHER THEM.
splotki's Avatar
splotki at 04/04/2007 23:58
isn't the goal of tetris to keep the tetris blocks from rising up to the top? Doesn't this fundementally go against what she's saying? It tetris was about trying to build the biggest fucking tower in the world, then i'd agree.... maybe... wait, no, i still wouldn't agree. If her analogy is correct then the actual goal of tetris is the keep the penis from erecting.
doro's Avatar
doro at 04/05/2007 00:03
LOL. Chicks.
dprime's Avatar
dprime at 04/05/2007 00:03
So SimTower is actually what's sexist.
eggroll's Avatar
eggroll at 04/05/2007 00:06
^ for real? jesus thats fucking terrible
eggroll's Avatar
eggroll at 04/05/2007 00:07
wait, what the hell am i talking about
Dexter345's Avatar
Dexter345 at 04/05/2007 00:13
I've always said that the line piece represents the phallus and plunging it into the gap represented sex... but then I always said it jokingly. She can't be serious, no matter how many times she says.
dprime's Avatar
dprime at 04/05/2007 00:16
So the vagina disappears after you have sex? See this is the interesting sort of thing that makes me wish I werent a virgin!
LordRegulus's Avatar
LordRegulus at 04/05/2007 00:28
Errrr...

This has been said previously, but I feel that I must point out the date on the post. Those two comments about her being serious?

"Everyone knows Feminists don’t have a sense of humor."

I'm with Necros on this one. Sarcasm Detector (TM) is off the chart here. A seemingly well-versed female gamer saying that Tetris is the most misogynistic game ever released on consoles, when Rumble Roses clearly outdoes it in every imaginable way, is just yanking your chain.

Heh heh. "Yank."
Ashen Karshe's Avatar
Ashen Karshe at 04/05/2007 00:43
I guess I'll say it, STFUAJPG!
nerpin's Avatar
nerpin at 04/05/2007 01:01
That girl could use a hot dicking.
Pangloss's Avatar
Pangloss at 04/05/2007 01:05
This article was interesting, until I realized that it was written by a woman. She could have easily spent the time it took to write that making me a sammich.
ExpertPenguin's Avatar
ExpertPenguin at 04/05/2007 01:06
Of all the sexist things in gaming, she chose TETRIS, of all things?...

Guess she's never seen Rumble Roses. Or Stretch Panic. or Tomb Raider. or DOAX...or...
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