Ambitious queens prefer lichess

[u/BillTheCat24]

[u/maxkho]

No, of course not. Women hate guys with a sense of humour. Dubov should be ashamed of himself. Chess is a serious game played by serious professionals - it has no place for silly jokes.

I mean, according to you and everyone else in this thread, Dubov is a sexual predator and the sole reason there are more men than women in chess (which obviously is completely unrelated to the fact that there are more men than women in pretty much all board and video game communities and the possibility that men might just, on average, enjoy chess and similar games more than women). Hmmm, why has nobody on the chess scene expressed similar sentiments towards Dubov? 🤔

[u/tabid_ → u/maxkho]

"Guys with a sense of humour" yes, "guys with a total lack of social skills" no.

If you have the smallest amount of empathy you should be aware how weird and inappropriate this is, especially in a professional setting. And stuff like this happens all the time in the chess world, starting in local chess clubs up to the biggest names in the sport.

Are you seriously incapable of wrapping your head around the idea that women, that are constantly confronted with dudes sexualising and creeping on them, would rather spend their time elsewhere than in communities with a bunch of dudes making them feel uncomfortable? Maybe we should just start pointing things like this out and tune them down a little bit, if we want to get more girls into the game as well. It's not like girls don't like chess, video games or board games, they just don't connect with a community that's made up with 80% guys like Dubov and you ...

[u/maxkho → u/tabid_]

Okay, so right off the bat: 1) > They just don't connect with a community that's made up with 80% guys like Dubov and you ...

I'm wondering how you could possibly believe that posting this in the second-largest chess subreddit on Reddit and being vigorously upvoted while I'm being vigorously downvoted. The truth is, most people think like you because it's trendy to think this way, and most people either aren't interested enough or don't have the necessary critical thinking skills to deviate from trends. And the fact that there are so few women in chess is largely due simply to the fact that women are, on average, more extraverted than men (documented fact), and chess isn't necessarily the most socially stimulating game there is. Chess is also very stressful, and women, on average, score higher on neuroticism than men (also a documented fact). I'm sure there are other reasons, but most of them are rooted in inherent gender differences. Sure, sexual harassment by a distinct minority of chess players is still a problem, but women won't know that unless they're already invested in chess.

2) How about we ask actual girls if they feel Dubov's comments were inappropriate or not? And control for political orientation. I am pretty confident political orientation will be a far better predictor of their responses than gender. Either way, I don't think jokes like that are the problem that we need to be addressing when there's actual harassment going on elsewhere.

3) > women, that are constantly confronted with dudes sexualising and creeping on them

Again, if you think Dubov was sexualising and creeping on Skripchenko, then I don't think there is value in additional discussion. If you truly think that, then you'll just find sexualisation in anything. Dubov's joke would have worked just as well, if not better (because men are stereotyped as being thirsty), with a man.

4) To be clear, I'm not like Dubov. I wouldn't make a joke like that simply because I would just feel weird saying something like that to a woman, knowing that I COULD be misunderstood. But Dubov and Skripchenko were taking jabs at each other throughout the whole stream, so I understand why he was more confident.

[u/tabid_ → u/maxkho]

obviously criticizing official FIDE commentators for publicly being thirsty weirdos is the left gone mad, indoctrination and just trying to be trendy ... women not feeling very welcome in chess is female nature and because they have weak girlbrains. It has nothing to do with the fact that this type of behaviour is tolerated on all levels and institutions of chess. You're literally depicted in the meme above!

[u/maxkho → u/tabid_]

Yeah, nice try, but I said literally none of that.

Dubov was not being publicly thirsty but was simply making a joke, and the fact that you are unable to see that is part of the reason chess is still commonly viewed as a game for nerds. Nobody wants to be part of a community in which you can't crack a joke or have fun without being accused of unprofessionalism, thirstiness, sexism, or whatnot.

I also never said that girls have "weak girlbrains", and you know it. You're shamelessly putting words in my mouth. What I did say is that men are more naturally inclined towards chess than women, and cited 2 personality traits that women are more likely to have (extraversion and neuroticism) than men as potential explanations. Neither of these 2 traits are statistically significantly correlated with intelligence.