Please Change "Spouse Activities" Category Name
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Posted by lona

This will be my first time attending GenCon with my husband and friends, and when I saw this category name in the event filter, I was first intrigued. However, when I looked what events were in there, this category is basically "wife activities". This is really demeaning. 

You can still have activities that are targeted towards women, but to have a category that is labeled this way is insulting towards women. Some events in there sound really fun, but this label makes it sound like women are put here while their husbands do other things.

I feel like the intentions behind having this category were genuine and that they were attempting to provide activities for non-gamers, but calling them spouse activities does not reflect the openness that I would expect from GenCon. These events could be fun for anyone who needs a break from gaming during the con, not just someone's spouse (husband or wife).

Posted by jrdaviscubed

"Intro to Sword/Stick/Knife/Blindfolded Fighting" are all spouse activities, as well as various brewery/winery tours. I personally don't find any of the activities to be implicitly female oriented, and most of them look like couples' activities. Hell, my buddy and I are considering the sword fighting class, and I've been mulling over if I want to wake up and do yoga one of the days that's happening. 

In short, I think being offended by the name of the category is a bit of a stretch.

Posted by dranthor

spouses is generic for either men or women who are married. I'd not get so caught up in the name. It fits. the only other optio I see would be "events for those who want to do other than game which is way too long

Posted by eingellis

"Non-Gaming Events"
"Auxiliary Events"
"The Not-Game Events"

There are a million options. If it offends sone people just change it. If you don't care what it's called why protest it being changed?

Posted by bugwar dranthor

dranthor wrote:
spouses is generic for either men or women who are married. I'd not get so caught up in the name. It fits. the only other optio I see would be "events for those who want to do other than game which is way too long
As far as I can tell, it doesn't really matter what you call it, someone will be offended.
And let you and the world KNOW IT!
So just keep it as it is.

Posted by lona

Regardless of whether it offends any of the other people who posted here, it made me feel bad. It made other people I know feel bad. I feel like it doesn't accurately represent what is in this category. It's not just for spouses. It sends the wrong message.

Posted by cmegus lona

lonamoore wrote:
Regardless of whether it offends any of the other people who posted here, it made me feel bad. It made other people I know feel bad. I feel like it doesn't accurately represent what is in this category. It's not just for spouses. It sends the wrong message.

While I can see and concede your point, I will just say that I am solidly sure the people who run GenCon were NOT trying to send a message. They were trying to add a category name that was easy to find and search.

But again, first world issues are hard to fight against...

G
 

Posted by raidkillsbugsded

Fun fact: the symbol in the event catalog ten years ago for ‘spa’ events was a ball and chain...

Posted by traveller


  • Arts and Crafts
  • Exercise
  • Intro to weapon combat
  • Walking Tours
  • Pub Crawl
  • Dance Lessons

None of these events scream "this is a wifes' activity"  They are predominately events with a strong gaming related tie (though not all) that are not gaming events.

SPA (spouse partner activties) is an easy to assign label (for event grouping) and beats "Spouse, partner, significant other, companion, we haven't had the talk so I dont know what to call us, I'm only here because I didn't want to stay home alone, etc events"

Simply put, there is no one term that will encompass all those who travel to gencon with someone to support them but not necessarily participate in gaming events. 

Posted by scianciarulo

It really is retrograde

Posted by cmegus scianciarulo

scianciarulo wrote:
It really is retrograde

So is playing board games at 50... but people still do it. :)

G

​​​​​​​

Posted by selene314 traveller

traveller wrote:

  • Arts and Crafts
  • Exercise
  • Intro to weapon combat
  • Walking Tours
  • Pub Crawl
  • Dance Lessons

None of these events scream "this is a wifes' activity"  They are predominately events with a strong gaming related tie (though not all) that are not gaming events.


THIS.

The word "spouse" is not gendered. The events in the SPA category are not gendered. If you are reading them as "insulting towards women", then YOU are the one (a) classifying them as women's activities, and (b) finding something insulting about them. 

The SPA category was indeed meant to give non-gamer spouses (of either gender) something tangentially related to do while their gamer spouse is immersed in a 12-hour D&D marathon or whatever. My cynical interpretation is that Gen Con wanted to capture the additional badge/ticket revenue from people who would not otherwise have attended. Yes, gamers can join in as a break from gaming, but that wasn't the original purpose of the category.

Posted by buffythecatslayer

There are a million options. If it offends sone people just change it. If you don't care what it's called why protest it being changed?

Yes, because every time someone (in this case, a single person) gets offended by something, we should drop everything and cater to that person's whims.

Posted by lehane buffythecatslayer

buffythecatslayer wrote:
There are a million options. If it offends sone people just change it. If you don't care what it's called why protest it being changed?

Yes, because every time someone (in this case, a single person) gets offended by something, we should drop everything and cater to that person's whims.

What about the people that will be offended by changing the name?

Posted by raidkillsbugsded

This is the type of well-reasoned, rational argument thread that’s generally been missing so far this year...

That being said, it can be called the “Pursuing Other Options” category, although I really can’t imagine how that might be turned into an acronym...

Posted by claramarie88

My issue with the name of this category was just understanding what it entailed/implied. I had to spend some extra time figuring out if those were events that you needed a spouse/partner/friend/etc. to attend, or if could I go to them alone. Especially since the 'Isle of Misfit Events' category already seems to capture the miscellaneous events, I'm still not sure what the distinction is between those events and the 'Spouse Activities'.

Posted by bugwar lehane

lehane wrote:

What about the people that will be offended by changing the name?

They obviously don't count.

Posted by eingellis lehane

lehane wrote:
buffythecatslayer wrote:
There are a million options. If it offends sone people just change it. If you don't care what it's called why protest it being changed?

Yes, because every time someone (in this case, a single person) gets offended by something, we should drop everything and cater to that person's whims.
What about the people that will be offended by changing the name?

If you find someone that's offended by "Non-Gaming Events" let me know. 

Posted by faxboy66 jrdaviscubed

jrdaviscubed wrote:
"Intro to Sword/Stick/Knife/Blindfolded Fighting" are all spouse activities, as well as various brewery/winery tours. I personally don't find any of the activities to be implicitly female oriented, and most of them look like couples' activities. Hell, my buddy and I are considering the sword fighting class, and I've been mulling over if I want to wake up and do yoga one of the days that's happening. 
In short, I think being offended by the name of the category is a bit of a stretch.
I don't have a spouse, but I did a stretch class Saturday morning anyway, and it was great!  In years past I did an intro to fencing class.  I recommend choosing at least one event that requires physical activity.

Posted by lehane eingellis

eingellis wrote:
lehane wrote:
buffythecatslayer wrote:
There are a million options. If it offends sone people just change it. If you don't care what it's called why protest it being changed?

Yes, because every time someone (in this case, a single person) gets offended by something, we should drop everything and cater to that person's whims.

What about the people that will be offended by changing the name?

If you find someone that's offended by "Non-Gaming Events" let me know. 
I wasn’t referring to people offended by a potiential proposed new name, I was referring to people offended by changing the name. 

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