whaaaaaat (more survey shenanigans)

[such_heights]

With regards to the survey debacle -- what are we calling it, science!fail? -- I have gone from insulted and despairing and any other emotion waaaay out the other side into total bafflement. I just. What the fuck even is this.

So the latest round in this saga starts like this:

"Why are you focusing on slash in your survey?"

"Well, slash is kind of the female equivalent of the straight male interest in transsexuals. That is, the opposite of what culture would predict. So it probably reflects a more direct subcortical effect. Also, there's already data out there about romance novels we can use, which probably overlaps with relationships in fan fic, but we do have a few questions that aren't specific to slash. Maybe we'll have more in the next round."

*boggle*

Bonus! Wait a minute, isn't it more like straight dudes being into lesbian porn?

"You make an interesting comparison. But my point, of course, is that behavior that is widespread yet seems to be against what would be predicted by cultural values would be more useful for illuminating neural structure.

Romaine, above, evidently a slash fan, points out:

Now while slash isn't under the radar As much as it used to be there are still many valid reasons why it's not in the public like porn. I said this in another place but I will repeat it here: this is not all fun and games. We've lost quite a few authors because of exposure. And some violently so. It's come up in divorce cases and loss of jobs and yes being physically abused.

Lesbian porn does not tend to elicit this reaction."

... what. WHAT. Oh my god.

AND THEN, they make a new post about it in which they change their original use of the word 'transsexual' (which, my god, like this whole conversation/comparison wasn't problematic enough to start off with) to 'shemale'. Seriously. Because that's the term used in the mainstream, heterosexual, cisgendered, male-dominated porn industry.

Fandom goes ballistic in full-on ranting, righteous glory with bonus macros and gifs, and I am left GAPING because I do not even understand how this is happening.

WHAT THE FUCK, PEOPLE.

eta: and the journal's locked! The post I was talking about above is downloadable here for your perusal, I'll screencap it later if no one beats me to it.

Comments

[spacefragments.livejournal.com]

maybe survey!fail? hmm.

'shemale'.

LOLOLOL WTF :| i'm kind of not following this very closely, but holy shit, how come they haven't ran away with their tails between their legs yet?

[such_heights]

Well, with the entries locked maybe that's what they're doing now? *hopes*

[crooked.livejournal.com]

their level of fail is SO GREAT, amy, idek what to do with it :|

and that shemale post (ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME SHEMALE?! AND THEY CITE WIKIPEDIA AS THEIR BIG RESOURCE ON ITS USUAGE. REALLY?) has suddenly been locked. hmm.

eta. EVERY post on the good "doctor"'s lj is now locked. hopefully the first steps in an ABORT MISSION?

[such_heights]

PLEASE MAKE THEM GO AWAY. D:

[lls-mutant.livejournal.com]

Is anyone over there even speaking English? Or are they speaking another language and running it through babblefish for translations? Because it doesn't even make SENSE.

Maybe someone's really doing an experiment on how people respond to stupidity?

[such_heights]

You know, I really hope so.

[shaggydogstail.livejournal.com]

I don't have permission access the new post! Huh, guess they got scared quickly.

SHEMALE? Seriously? Omg, why not start on about ladyboys and be done with it?

Also, have you seen that that Ogas no longer has an links to Boston University and his project is not IRB approved (http://deadlychameleon.livejournal.com/230809.html).

[such_heights]

... the plot thickens! If you would care to read, here's a copy of the post.

[sambethe.livejournal.com]

I'm sure someone else will take up this because this whole thing gives me a headache, but the lack of IRB approval coupled with actually soliticing survey responses may have large implications for him and the university involved should HHS hear about it.

[sambethe.livejournal.com]

Oh, and then read what you linked and it is just that headache inducing. The implications are even worse for Ogas there. Poor BU having to field this.

[villeinage.livejournal.com]

AND--

the SHEMALE post is locked!

Who has screencaps?

[such_heights]

It is here! I will screencap later if no one beats me to it.

[ignipes.livejournal.com]

I am actually hoping for a "LOLZ IT WAS A SOCIAL EXPERIMENT" admission of trolling at this point, because that would be far better than believing that people so offensive and stupid can actually go through life without accidentally stabbing themselves in the face.

[such_heights]

Absolutely, yes, even though that would be totally unethical etc, IT WOULD ALSO BE LESS INSANE.

[cinnamon-sakaki.livejournal.com]

...oh god. I saw glass_icarus's post about this today and didn't think it could get any worse. evidently, it could. What. The. Hell.

[such_heights]

That's what I keep thinking too!

[51stcenturyfox.livejournal.com]

It looks like the whole journal is down. ETA: Locked. I mean locked. :)

It's a book deal. :P

You know, that might actually be a decent book if say, legitimate academics who actually understood fandom wrote it with proper methodology.

But this. No.

[kel-reiley.livejournal.com]

there are several good books about fandom and slash out there - these guys might have, i dunno, READ THOSE first

[such_heights]

I am very glad I am so bad with closing tabs, I shall gather up quotes/screencaps later!

Ugh, it's all so stupid and obviously trying to spin a profit from people's stupidity and pre-conceived notions, and generally made of fail.

[kel-reiley.livejournal.com]

i hadn't seen that last bit, but... o holy wow
i truly hope these 'scientists' are getting themselves an education here

[such_heights]

It's kind of spectacular,

[hanuueshe.livejournal.com]

...I feel like I should be really, really angry, but the fail is so epic, I have to laugh instead.

[such_heights]

That is basically the point I am at myself, yes!

[magic-at-mungos.livejournal.com]

Every time I read more, it just gets worse.

[such_heights]

I know! How is this happening?!

[snorkackcatcher]

I wasn't aware that there was much of a straight male interest in transsexuals. Clearly I am terribly naive. My own hypothesis is that the in-depth knowledge of the output of the porn industry these two appear to have can be traced back to reasons other than the purely scientific, but doubtless data will confirm or refute that. :)

[such_heights]

Lucky is the word I'd use! It's really very skeevy. And heh, yes, it certainly seems to be the fixation.

[munditia.livejournal.com]

I'm glad that I missed the "Shemales" post -- because I may know barely anything about the experiences and lives of transwomen, but even I know that no, you do not use this word. Ever.

Someone should really get word of this debacle out to the greater feminist blogosphere, preferably to big sites like Feministing or Feministe or the F-Word, to highlight the asshattery of Ogi & Sai.

[such_heights]

SERIOUSLY. Wtf. And justifying it through porn is just ... ARGH.

Hoyden About Town picked it up a couple of days ago, I don't know if it's been anywhere else yet - could be tricky now so much has been shut down.

[munditia.livejournal.com]

Well, HaT writer lauredhel is active in fandom as well. The Feminist SF bloggers have picked it up too (yonmei, who used to be on LJ, I think, and is now on Insanejournal?), and geekfeminism.org wrote about it (since damned_colonial posts there a lot or even founded it, I dunno).

The blogs without fandom connections, I'm not sure about. It might as well stay under their radar.

I think fail_machine mentioned in a comment to a post by rm (???) that she's got a screencap archive of various posts up on Mediafire.

http://www.mediafire.com/fail_machine

[sunnyrea.livejournal.com]

dude, I don't even want to read it. Clearly these people have no idea about 1- women, 2- fandom, 3- fanficiton, 4- homosexuality in ANY form, 5- CLEARLY ANYTHING AT ALL!!!

[elf]

This post has been included in a linkspam roundup.