A young Dutch designer has managed to land gushing feature stories by international media on her new gender-neutral deck of playing cards, but the latest achievement in political correctness was met with yawns and mockery.
Stories by Reuters, the UK Daily Mail and other outlets detailed how Indy Mellink, a 23-year-old forensic psychology graduate, became troubled by the fact that the face cards in a standard deck give more value to a king than a queen.
“Even subtle inequalities like this do play a big role,” she said.
In response, she designed a gender-neutral deck with the king, queen and jack replaced by gold, silver and bronze cards. Mellink has reportedly sold about 1,500 decks of the new GSB (gold, silver, bronze) cards.
The idea evoked mostly mockery on social media, including being memed for progressive conformity as “stunning and brave.”
I have been saying for years that playing cards normalise transphobia and patriarchal oppression.
— Titania McGrath (@TitaniaMcGrath) January 19, 2021
Next we need to resolve the inherent white supremacy of Trivial Pursuit.https://t.co/nAt0VDBSWt
Self-described “radical intersectionalist poet” Titania McGrath – a parody Twitter persona – welcomed the new cards as a solution for how standard decks “normalize transphobia and patriarchal oppression.” She added: “Next we need to resolve the inherent white supremacy in Trivial Pursuit.”
Oh FFS. https://t.co/LKtdMOqFYG
— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) January 19, 2021
The notion of cards being sexist was puzzling for some – after all, the most valuable card, an ace, is non-binary – while others, such as ITV host Piers Morgan, appeared to be ticked off.
New Video! Please Share
— TheQuartering (@TheQuartering) January 19, 2021
Finally! The Media Is Praising This Brand New "Invention" Of "Gender Neutral" Playing Cards!
Is Anyone Buying Them? LOL Of Course Not But There Is 100 Articles Praising This Woman's "Invention"
Check This Out
Watch & Sharehttps://t.co/cml81UhMZh pic.twitter.com/yfTJcoQn4G
Over the years, Media outlets have gained a level of trust and accountability. Unfortunately, we have seen time after time that this image has been abused and they have become partisan outlets for political and strategical gains. I believe that the first job of a journalist is to deliver the news impartially and outlets have to distinguish between news broadcasting and opinion delivery.
