Pinball players assumed male?

[Zombie Aladdin]

Something I noticed when reading or hearing descriptions of pinball machines, including Pinball News, TV Tropes, the four or so podcasts I've listened to, and The Pinball Arcade, is that whenever referring to the player by a pronoun, it's almost always either "he" or "him," and never "he or she" or "him or her."

Why is that? Are female pinball players so uncommon that they tend to be forgotten about? I've been thinking about it ever since that all-female tournament in Las Vegas last month and how one even needs to exist in the first place, but it really came to my attention when it turns out I'm the only TV Tropes editor for the pinball pages to use both-gender pronoun phrases rather than assuming the player is male.

 

[DrainoBraino]

I believe there is only one female pinball player. Ever see the movie Highlander? It's like that.

 

[Zombie Aladdin]

So it's like the Internet in the early 2000s?

 

[DrainoBraino]

So it's like the Internet in the early 2000s?

hmm....more like a BBS from 1991

 

[Sean DonCarlos]

I believe there is only one female pinball player. Ever see the movie Highlander? It's like that.

There are at least seven, because the league I was in last autumn had that many.

 

[DrainoBraino]

there are at least seven, because the league i was in last autumn had that many.

there can be only one!

 

[netizen]

Part of it is the nature of how we use English and the way he or him has become the standard "neuter" form when you don't know another persons gender. Much like referring to a group of people as "you guy's".

There is a wealth of somewhat angry and disjointed writing about this in the other corners of the interwebs.

 

[Timelord]

Part of it is the nature of how we use English and the way he or him has become the standard "neuter" form when you don't know another persons gender. Much like referring to a group of people as "you guy's".

There is a wealth of somewhat angry and disjointed writing about this in the other corners of the interwebs.

This ^^^^

BTW my wife plays a **LOT** of pinball. And is a member of TPAF, though she rarely posts.

Timelord ...

 

[Jeff Strong]

I wouldn't be into pinball if it wasn't for my mom (well, I guess none of us would, technically speaking lol), but she played a ton of pinball back in the 60’s and 70’s when arcades were basically 100% pinball machines, so she passed that love down to me.

 

[neglectoid]

in the late 80's I use to watch this lady beat down a lot of machines, she was phenomenal. then a few years later in the early 90's I had moved to Denver for a couple of years, and I saw her walk into the arcade that I was working in and I freaked out. I ran up to her and said 'you're from the springs! (Colorado springs)" she look at me puzzled and asked me how I knew that. I told her. 'you're the pinball goddess I use to watch you play all the time.' she smiled.

I let her play pin free all that day. that was the last time I had seen her. I hope she is still batting those balls around.

 

[Bowflex]

My girlfriend enjoys it. She demands some tokens and has at it. She likes to watch as well which is cool. It's not like she goes off and does crap on her phone while she tolerates my playtime. My mom liked pinball as well. She used to do really awesome on the space cadet game from windows and she likes phof on the wii.

 

[Buzz1126]

Sadly, I tried to get The Wife into playin' the silver ball, but she developed an affection for a video game, "Death Race 2000". The object of the game was to run over as many people as possible, and leave little crosses on the screen. I married her anyway.

 

[Shaneus]

Sadly, I tried to get The Wife into playin' the silver ball, but she developed an affection for a video game, "Death Race 2000". The object of the game was to run over as many people as possible, and leave little crosses on the screen. I married her anyway.

Just make sure you're well and truly *in* the car when she's driving a real one

 

[Espy]

The last tournament I was at was 10 male players to 3 female players... all partners of male players, tellingly. An non-participating onlooking wife or two as well.

 

[Kolchak357]

I don't think my wife would ever play pinball by herself. But if I bump into a machine she is always up for a two player game. She will even go to pin/game shows with me. Although she doesn't play often, she is a pretty good player. First game ever on Guns n Roses she racked up 800 mil at Pinfest.

 

[Richard B]

The expo I went to had a lot of women playing pinball - probably around 40%, and there were many who also participated in the PAPA qualifications, though few to none got anywhere. There was one cute little girl looked about 8 or 9, who needed a stool to stand on to play. I smiled, thinking that was so adorable, until she mopped the floor with me at Congo! Last year there was another little girl, about 5 or 6, who played Rocky. All she did was continuously pound on the flippers, and her final score was about 4X higher than mine! The up and coming generation is one to watch! The barcade near my house also attracts quite a few females.

 

[Zombie Aladdin]

Wow, with all the accounts people have written here about female players, I really am puzzled as to why a pinball player would be assumed to be male. Of course, we do have another explanation here, which I guess I'll inquire about...

Part of it is the nature of how we use English and the way he or him has become the standard "neuter" form when you don't know another persons gender. Much like referring to a group of people as "you guy's".

There is a wealth of somewhat angry and disjointed writing about this in the other corners of the interwebs.

I'm actually quite accustomed to "he or she" and "him or her." Informally, I see and hear "they" and "them" if someone wants to make a gender-neutral first person pronoun. I always had the impression that "he" and "him" as a gender-neutral first person pronoun was an archaic thing that died out sometime in the 1960s during the Civil Rights Movement.

When I was in Santa Cruz, I would often also hear "she or he" and "her or him." This wasn't limited to just feminists, but it sees to be part of the "herstory" (history that takes into account significant women) movement that was growing momentum when I was there.

 

[shutyertrap]

I'll put it to you this way...

My wife is a big time scrapbooker. When she goes onto her forums, watches YouTube videos, and product demos on TV, they always address the audience as if it is female. They are perfectly aware there are male scrapbookers, as some even do the product demos, but the majority are female. So everything tends to be "her" and "she". There's no need to make it politically correct and all inclusive.

Yes, there are female pinball players. They are in my league, I interviewed Molly, who runs her own arcade, and a few have stepped into this very forum. I doubt any one of them feels offended or left out because of the definite article that is being thrown around is of the male persuasion.

For the record, I will now use 'dude' in the podcast to cover all genders, unless I am absolutely referring to a female, in which case I shall use the word 'chica'.

 

[Jeff Strong]

This reminds me: when Funhouse was first released, someone either on this forum or facebook thought Rudy was saying "Hey b*tch" instead of "Hey Biff".

 

[Zombie Aladdin]

I'll put it to you this way...

My wife is a big time scrapbooker. When she goes onto her forums, watches YouTube videos, and product demos on TV, they always address the audience as if it is female. They are perfectly aware there are male scrapbookers, as some even do the product demos, but the majority are female. So everything tends to be "her" and "she". There's no need to make it politically correct and all inclusive.

Hmm. That's interesting. I knew there have been a substantial amount of female pinball players, but I thought that usage of "he" or "him" to refer to a player was done at the exclusion of female players, albeit not intentionally. I was not familiar with this pronoun usage until now, actually. I've always heard "he or she," "him or her," "they," and "them." The only exceptions are references to things that concern only one gender and cases where it was done purposely to make those of a particular gender feel unwelcome.

I noticed, on that hour-long Lord of the Rings topic not far from this one, the commentary refers to the player as "they" and "them." So I suppose it all comes down to the person writing/talking.