On Feminism and Poker

There are, without a doubt, a great deal of chauvinistic pigs in this world. After all, if at least a third of the world's population subscribes to a dogma that states that all sin stems from women, this sort of situation is bound to take place.

Even in the year 2009, there are countless ways that women around the world are oppressed (salary imbalances, domesticity, FGM, control over their own bodies, etc.), and chances are, you and your evil penis are contributing to them.

Before you, my lone reader, begin to exclaim, "But 0 and 1, I don't oppress women, I'm not living in the 1950s anymore," let me tell you how very wrong you are.

Walk into almost any poker room and you will very often find that there is an incredible lack of estrogen in the room.

Even though there are now a rising minority of professional women's poker players today, it is very rare to see women wagering money on poker games. There are of course some obvious reasons for this:

1. The false stigma that poker = masculine.

In popular culture, casual poker games are almost always equated with having the guys over to watch the game, or going fishing with the guys, or whatever other cliche scenario you'd prefer.

Poker is supposedly a masculine game, the same way that most sports were supposedly "made for men to play."

However, while the WNBA's level of play certainly couldn't be considered to be at the same level of the NBA, there is no reason that women cannot thoroughly demolish someone's chipstack at the poker table.

It is the stigma that asserts that poker makes an individual masculine that wrongly keeps a good deal of women out of the game.

2. Who controls the money?

Up until 1882, when women married they essentially gave all of the property, money, and rights to their husbands. Even after the Married Women's Property Law was passed, men still found ways to work around the system and make claims to their wives' worth. While this would seem to be a long time ago, the idea of the husband being "the man of the house", and therefore in control of the money, still prevails today in many households. As a result of this, many men, who may in fact be quite a great bit dumber than their wives, get the distinct satisfaction of blowing their families' money on their own.

3. Who make up the majority of poker players now?

Let's be honest, the majority of poker players out there now aren't likely to be feminists. Doyle Brunson, one of the most revered professional poker players in the world, held the position that women didn't belong playing high stakes poker because "he was brought up to respect women." While he may have changed his views, many poker players today aren't exactly enlightened. The fact of the matter is that any form of gambling is going to have some similarity to the boozy backrooms and casinos that ultimately profit from it, and those are not only not the safest places to be a woman, but they're also primarily male-dominated.

In any case, there's no reason why women can't play poker and make money off of it, just as well, if not better, than men.

On the other hand, I say we end this little observational piece in true egalitarian fashion and just conclude that men and women both have the capacity to make equal poor and stupid decisions. After all, Paris Hilton has to date someone.

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Anyways...

I'm going to play a couple of freerolls tonight. I'll post results when I inevitably lose.

Current Bankroll: $0.00