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Andrew Brooks @taxbod- 12h I'd wear what I damn well pleased. #ShirtGate わ £710 ★13 If I had a doctorate from Imperial, and had just landed a space thingy on a comet © Twitter

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Taken from "this article.":http://www.cracked.com/blog/6-ways-critics-political-correctness-have-it-backwards/
The video-game industry has a dress code Article say bullshirt for lack of memory and willing ignorance Article say bullshirt for lack of driven by a lack of diversity Holly Nielsen And do not forget double standards I wasn't expecting a young, vibrant creative world to have a uniform. But there is an insidious pressure to fit in, and it involves plaid and denim ost professions have a uniform of some kind, whether it's the suit and tie of corporate culture, or the brand-asserting mono-wear of the world'smajor retail outlets. Sometimes, however, dress codes can be much more insidious. In the world ofvideo games, a young creative industry that seek assert its rebelliousness and vibrancy, we are required to conform through essity or tradition. But one thing I discovered very quickly when I started working here is that there is a uniform: it's just that this one is the result, not of workplace CD rules, but of a lack of diversity, And it can. be just as excluding It was the night of my very first launch party. I'd just finished my internship at a vide s Iy channel and I was goin g through the familiar routine of ch oosing an outfit In other wordsI was trying on everything in my own wardrobe as well as the wardrobes of all my flatmate special occasion: a patterned mid-length dress with black panels down the side. I sent a photo of it to the colleague who'd invited me, but her replied surprised me: "It's lovely but a bit too dressy for tonightI wore it an When we arrived at the event, Irealised straight away that she was right.Iwas greeted with a sea of plaid and denim, amid which you could sormetimes pick out the odd T-shirt, usually bearing a video game or movie reference so obscure only the wearer and four of their friends would ever understand it. There were barely any wormen there, and most of those were publishers or in marketing, rather than developers. I felt like a lone speck of femininity in a musty fog of identikit men. ntually decided on something I'd been saving for a The white guy in checked shirt, jeans and trainers.Possibly with a beard. It's the joke we often make about the industry, but there is plenty of truth in the stereotype. This tweet from developer 2K Games (although clearly a joke) pretty much sums things up Just another day at the 2K offices... pic.twitter.com/PZs1VRsli Go to any games event, whether its a major premiere or an indie expo, and the room will be filled with people in this ensemble. It's not that men shouldnt dressa lumberjacks, everyone deserves the freedom to wear what they want, but the unremitting casualness of the games industry has almost become a stifling uniform in itself. Most of the time, you'll only ever see anything smarter at a formal event, like the Bafta awards - and even then, we're talking hired Moss Bros suits or emergency polyester purchases from the nearest budget clothing outlet. In thisindustry, "smart" means wearing your box-fresh Adidas Sambas rather than those battered Converse with the sole flapping off. I'm fond of dresses, but whenever I dared wear one to the office I would be met with a chorus of "what's the occasion?" Follow Maybe hypocrite feminist @ should clean our her own closet before slut ered the games industry as a 19-year-old woman, facing a professional shaming a man's choice of attire environment dominated by men. In its 2014 workplace study, the International Game Developer Association found that the number of women in the industry has doubl in the past five years, but it still stands at just 22%. And at industry events it can feel like a lotless. I was acutely aware of standing out, the clothes I liked to wear didn't fit in with the consensus of casual boyishness. Consequently, I found myself consciously wearing more androgynous outfits, my dresses and skirts were pushed to the back of the wardrobe, and I started choosing plainer clothes that I wouldn't have reall considered before. Goodbye beloved floral A-line dress, hello plain black T-shirt esa particularly self conscious of As a woman who often appears in front of cameraI was choosing anything that could be considered "sexy".I was once told by a seasoned industry professional that they wer stream video together as they didn't want to look like they were "selling sex" Somehow, internet c that my body wasn't something that belonged to me, butto those who looked at me The way to combat that was to tone down the way I dressed. To be taken seriously asa video games journalist, I had to avoid looking "sexy" or "girly e relucta et myself and a female collea ommenters started to have an influence-they made me think It's taken me over a year, along with meeting and befriending other inspirational women in the industry, to realise that changing my style so that I can fit in is wIong. A uniform implies control and regim where those constraints should not apply. Indeed, we are lucky to be part of a culture that is still forming its own identity - that can be a wonderful thing. We joke about the stereotypical games industr y look, but we need to be aware that it is the product of a lack of diver sity, both in terms of gender and ethnicity - as such it can seem just as exclusionary as the tailored suit and tie of the professional world Of course, m not saying that the whole industry nee more welcoming toward different concepts of style and identity. Creativity begins with how we feel and how we see and present ourselves as people. This industry isn't ust dressingidentically, it draws its inspiration from the same music, movies and books. Tis homogeneity leads to staid ideas. entation, and this is a young and creative industry, a makeover, butit has to be now happily wear my floral A-line dress to video game events, and yes, I do stand out, but that's fine. In an industry that lacks it, difference is a good thing to have
I KNOW, DUDE. THEY CALLED MY SHIRT A R--- JOKE.
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Uploaded Nov 15, 2014 at 03:01PM EST

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