4 Reasons I'm Not A Perfect Feminist

I usually like bigging myself up as this immaculate default setting of what a feminist is or what a feminist should be like. Truth is, I'm probably one of the worst feminists out there, which is fine since I didn't really become a feminist until 2 summers ago. I mostly examine my behaviour to make sure I'm really aiming for an egalitarian society where women won't continue to get the short end of the stick, but there are aspects that might contradict my goal but I've never remedied since they likely have little effect on my quest as a whole. I'm gonna list off 4 reasons that don't make me perfect. Who knows, maybe some of these apply to you.

1. I Like Women More Than Men

Ok, to be clear, I don't hate men. Some of my closest friends are men, I love my husband dearly and I don't know what I'd do without him, I don't think killing all men will solve all the world's problems (no matter how fun that sounds >:D). Sure, man-hating and the revocation of men's rights (not the MRM, I mean the actual rights men have) go against the idea of feminism, but plenty of feminists you've met probably do have an inherent personal bias towards women, and I'm one of them. It's not really anti-feminist to admit that really, especially since many anti-fems flat out admit that they like men more than women yet receive little to no criticism for it. But I generally feel safer around women, I trust them more, I do think we do things better than dudes, but that doesn't mean I won't stand up to injustices committed by women. Nonetheless, sisters gotta stick together dontcha know? Plus women do have more of a reason to not like men than men do for not liking women. Sorry fellas :( you're cool too though.

2. I'm Not Very Independent

Everyone knows that feminists are busy bodies who can handle anything that gets thrown their way right? Not true. I've done pretty well for myself. I have a well paying job, I'm a homeowner, I'm married to the love of my life, I miss no meals, and I'm pretty active. That said, I can also be pretty lazy. My husband prefers to cater to me on behalf of how hard I work during the week (and just because he loves me that much) and I kinda enjoy that more than I should. Don't worry, his favours don't go unnoticed and I let him know how grateful I am, but it feels a lot better to have someone make your food and keep your drinks ready for you when you want to unwind as opposed to having to do it all by myself and inconveniencing myself further. This isn't to say I don't do my share of housework. In addition to paying for pretty much all of our bills and such, I do a hefty amount of cleaning. My husband's presence cuts my workload almost in half. I'm not even factoring my Asperger's here either.

3. I Gender Things Too Much

Look, gender neutrality benefits the oppressor and no one else. So saying things like nail polish and dresses know no gender is dumb. I do refer to things like light beers and colourful juices as "girly drinks" because I don't care if they are. I want society to accept things that are considered feminine, not pretend they don't exist. Now this I actually think I should do something about, but as it stands, I won't be afraid to gender something if I think it's appropriate.

4. I Like Violent Video Games

Anita Sarkeesian's gonna kill me for this XD. You wouldn't know it, but I actually am a fan of games that are violent or have sexual themes. Hell my favourite game is The Witcher 3 despite my awareness of the sexist elements in it, such as Geralt being a womaniser. Thing is, violent video games are kind of an outlet for our frustrations, and plus killing monsters is a hell of a lot of fun. The way I see it, if no one's getting hurt, then have all the enjoyment you can from a game, even if the game in question is Grand Theft Auto. 

And those are the big reasons that don't make me a perfect feminist. And that's fine. Feminism isn't about perfection, it's about acceptance of women being humans deserving of basic rights. If any of these apply to you, then don't feel embarrassed or anything. Don't let anyone tell you you're less of a feminist or that you're the real oppressor because you're not this pristine complacent freedom fighter. As long as you're still fighting for the good of women's lives then you're as feminist as you need to be. 

Ghost Recon Wildlands review (spoiler free)

Ghost Recon Wildlands is exactly the game that Ubisoft needed to redeem itself with after the gutting disappointment known as Watch Dogs 2. I mean that entirely. I'm not gonna lie, when it came down to either this or Horizon Zero Dawn (which I might get at some point in the foreseeable future), I decided to pick this up first. Mostly because I wanted it to be Ubisoft's redemption from Watch Dogs 2. Needless to say, they succeeded. 

To start, I'm gonna go over the basics. Ghost Recon Wildlands is a tactical team based third-person shooter set in an open world environment. Now I know what some of you might be saying to yourselves right now, "oh it's The Division all over again". I promise you, it's not. Sure, there are some apparent similarities, but given how they were presumably being developed/planned at the same time and were created by the same company, it's bound to happen. Ghost Recon Wildlands is now a contemporary shooter instead of the more sci-fi futuristic shooters that the Ghost Recon series has been going in. And I think going back in time a bit was a pretty good idea here as it serves for a breathe of fresh air and diversity in the current market that is kinda saturated with sci-fi shooters at the moment. 

Before the game begins, you are taken to character creation. While I still yearn for the day a shooting game will allow me to give my character long hair (especially judging how long my hair has grown out lately), I love the customisation options Wildlands leaves me with here. My character actually does look very similar to me if I was a narc XD. You're allowed up to teams of four to embark on missions, but it is still possible to play alone (just expect lots of frustration). You're given different options for entering missions, such as driving there or parachuting from a whirlybird (which is my personal favourite). I would say you can also walk there, but I know you won't, hehe. 

The missions revolve around stopping a Bolivian drug cartel called Santa Blanca. They're a bit generic if I could be honest, and are outfitted just as you'd expect them to be. They are however very fun to fight. Upon completing missions, you can spend points and cash earned on weapons and armour. Similar to The Division, the enemies will have armour ratings and damage counters when you attack them, and can be fought at complete random whilst traversing the overworld. Speaking of that, the overworld in this game is immense. If I were you, I'd seriously spend my first moments of free time during the game just admiring the atmosphere this game gives you. The graphics are phenomenal like you'd expect from Ubisoft (excluding Watch Dogs 2). Not only is the world beautiful, but it's actually designed like a wilderness, with salt flats, woodlands, and canyons. There's no limit to the things you can do. While the missions can get repetitive, they're a hell of a lot of fun and they never feel like a waste of time. 

Now let's talk about the combat. Wildlands does not utilise a duck and cover technique (PRAISE FUCKING JESUS) and that makes sense since there's not many places to take cover behind whilst in the wilderness, ya know unless you just so happen to be stranded in the Forest of Bulletproof Materials. In that respect, Wildlands encourages you to be more risky and upfront with your playing style, a more fight or flight approach instead of just getting behind a dumpster and mashing R2 at an enemy you're barely fixated on. The controls are also very quick to get used to and easy to remember, so you won't have to worry about fidgeting when you start out like you would with any other game.

If I had to give some criticism to this game, it'd be the vehicle controls. Driving in this game isn't very fun, unfortunately. I don't mean just the terrain, I mean with maneuvering. You may find yourself nearly breaking your fingers just trying to do something as simple as shoot down a machine gun nest. It's kinda a problem when driving and spraying isn't even an option in a game where that'd be massive amounts of awesomeness. The helicopter controls? They've got sins to answer for too. Oh what's that? You want to land properly? Why, that's such a ridiculous request. Next you'll be telling me that you wanna be rushing behind road guard after road guard whilst popping in and out of combat to avoid dying in 3 hits. And we'd never do that at all (ok, I think that's enough shitting on Watch Dogs 2 for one blog post wouldn't you say?). The game, expectedly enough, had a plethora of glitches and bugs upon release day and the moments thereafter, but they were soon patched up for the most part and it runs fairly decently now. 

I have to be honest, this was the first Ghost Recon game I played since Future Soldier, and I'm glad I jumped back to the series with this installment. I bought it thinking it'd be just The Division with Ghost Recon spray painted on it and ended up realising it's more an indirect sequel to The Division more than anything else. The graphics, the gameplay, and the story all come together to make a B+ game. Seriously, pick this up first chance you get. You'll enjoy it, I guarantee you.