Can female geeks have big biceps?

This is probably a somewhat extreme opinion on my part, but I think it is impossible to calmly talk about sport on social networks. At best, you are the author of a selfie coming out of your gym, your face well turned towards the light to reflect your sweaty forehead, and you will create complexes with your friends who have passed their evening on their couch. At worst, you’re the person on said couch. It is not necessarily malicious on the part of the sportsman or sportswoman, nor ridiculous to live badly with such content. Social networks encourage comparison with others, and want us to forget that it’s all just a show, like a nice cup of coffee with 10,000 likes, whose taste was ultimately disgusting.

Alas! Your loved ones aren’t the only ones flaunting their glorious efforts. In recent years, many YouTube or Twitch stars have started working out, as this interesting column by author Vincent Manilève tells us, published by Stop on Images. We learn that personalities like Squeezie now display chiseled physique. “A few years ago, no one would have imagined a YouTuber specializing in video games, an environment with well-established stereotypes, appearing with such a sharp body », explains the article. ” We are witnessing, in a way, a new form of geek revenge. »

This sentence caught my attention. Not because I think it is false: I imagine that there are indeed « geek who imagine that giving up a cliché (the man geniusl” who is uncomfortable in society and in his body) for another (the man “ virile with big pecs) is revenge. Moreover, French YouTubers are not the only ones to embark on this path. More generally, in the digital industry, we are witnessing a return of the hype of the ” bro culture and a celebration of hyper-masculinity. Mark Zuckerberg is passionate about martial arts and criticizes television as a medium ” of beta“; Jeff Bezos’ muscular biceps have been the subject of articles for years; Elon Musk embraces his fascination with war and flamethrowers.

Women don’t have the right to be ugly

We can already wonder what revenge we are talking about exactly. Mark Zuckerberg doesn’t need to master the roundhouse kick of jujitsu to be, objectively, a very powerful man. In the same way, the youtubeurs quoted in the article ofUPS were all already very popular online before their physical transformation. I do not deny the interest of sport for health (including mental health, no offense to Tibo InShape). However, it seems to me that we are missing a piece of the puzzle.

If you have a very muscular brain (ha-ha), you will notice that this famous revenge of the geeks is sorely lacking in women. Already, because the digital field is still very much associated with people. But also because women who manage to exist in so-called geek circles don’t have the right to be ugly. To exist on social networks, to be spotted by recommendation algorithms and to avoid (some) attacks on their physique, they must already more or less correspond to the beauty criteria in force in society. Often white, always fine. In a way, there is no revenge to take. When you’re a woman, you only have the right to one shot to be successful. In 2020, the video game The Last Of Us IIhad also been the subject of absurd and violent criticism, accusing one of its characters of having… muscles (some insults were clearly transphobic, like what transphobia and sexism always go hand in hand!) .

Last year, I compared online diet content to fake news, which specifically targeted young girls. Perhaps the same can be said for content that encourages young men to pack on massive amounts of muscle. While this kind of discourse was rather confined to creators specializing in sports a few years ago, it has now spread everywhere online, driven by recommendation algorithms that place us ever more in the narrow boxes of our supposed identity, without being able to control it. Geeks don’t take revenge. They just fit into the rank of genre clichés.

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The press review of the week

Go fishing

This week, Slate looked at the strange phenomenon of ” arab fishing “: personalities, often from reality TV, who claim to have Arab origins in a more or less subtle way. At the heart of this system, colonialist fantasies and self-marketing typical of social networks. It can be read here.

under attack

In the United States, doctors offering specific care to trans patients face relentless harassment from far-right communities. They use social networks to spread lies about their activities, dig up personal information and threaten their relatives and the hospitals in which they work. The phenomenon is such that three medical associations have officially requested assistance from the American government to investigate these hateful campaigns, with very concrete consequences. It is to read (in English) on NBCnews.

Without moderation

Content moderation is a very sensitive subject in the United States, for many reasons: a very particular conception of freedom of expression, politicians convinced that they are censored, and because the country hosts the majority of companies that develop the major social networks used all over the world. In other words, even if this debate takes place far from us, it concerns us in part. This article from washington post retraces the tumultuous and very political history of moderation in the United States. I found it fascinating, and I advise you to take the time to read it here.

Fantastic

What is fantasy for in our contemporary world? And above all, who is it for? From these two simple questions, the author and journalist Gita Jackson writes an essay that I will describe, for want of finding a more appropriate word, incredible, touching on the inequalities of our society, on the capitalist logics of cultural industry, and which describes Jeff Bezos as both a monster and a hero. It is to be read (in English) at Vice.

Something to read/watch/listen to/play

I feel like I often start my culture tips by telling you that I’ve been tired lately. Surprise: I’ve been tired lately! So I welcomed the release ofOoblets, a video game whose adorable screenshots have been floating around my newsfeeds for a long time, with much joy. I like simulation games, I like to pretend that I have a green thumb, I like to play video games warm under my blanket, while the rain beats against my windows. So I played a lot Ooblets the last days.

Like other titles of the same genre (Animal Crossing, Stardew Valley), Ooblets simulates a paradise life in the countryside. In the small town of Badgetown, residents live with Ooblets. These little creatures compete (quietly), like Pokémon battles, in dance tournaments. Every day, you will have to accomplish your daily tasks (fixing your house, taking care of your garden, helping your neighbors) as well as helping your Ooblets find partners to challenge. Like all simulation games, Ooblets sometimes feels a bit like a shopping list to be completed regularly. But honestly, faced with its cute graphics, its very funny dialogues, and especially the little movements of my Ooblet’s legs when he dances, I forgive him everything. Looking forward to the next rainy day!

Ooblets (in English), available on PC, Xbox and Nintendo Switch

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