Have you ever wondered how the playing cards were created? And what do the king, queen, and jack’ cards represent? Or even why the king holds the top value over other cards, even the queen and jack? shouldn’t that be defined as sexism and patriarchal oppression'?
Well, a 23-year-old Duch cards fan, called Indy Mellink, who is a forensic psychology graduate, has decided to put an end to the centuries-old tradition of sexual inequality based on gender, according to her interview with Reuters.
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
Why should the King be above all the cards? Why should men be favoured over women or even their children? Indy asked herself before coming up with her idea of creating a gender-neutral card deck symbolised by Gold, Silver and Bronze.
Feminists and activists praised Mellink’s idea as a great step to halt gender-based discrimination, transphobia and patriarchal oppression starting from games availabe in every country and played by everyone even kids.
Gender-neutral card deck: Kings being worth more than queens in playing cards reinforces gender inequality. Indy Mellink created a deck in which the King, Queen and Jack cards are replaced with Gold, Silver and Bronze.https://t.co/3UkjGoFoer
— Amy Diehl, Ph.D. (@amydiehl) January 19, 2021
The ace resembles an arrow and is therefore inciting violence.
— Titania McGrath (@TitaniaMcGrath) January 19, 2021
Other users have taken the chance to complain about other games that might also contain sexist ideas and meanings, such as the Cluedo and Chess games.
Have you noticed how Cluedo is completely lacking in diversity? It's set in a large country house owned by a wealthy representative of the patriarchy. The game should be banned.
— Mark Sparrow (@Markgsparrow) January 19, 2021
Can't wait to see how they change the chess board to combat transphobia and patriarchal oppression. No more kings & queens? Knights could be any gender. Bishops? If not papists. ?
— Richard Goatcher (@richardgoatcher) January 19, 2021
However, some users made fun of this idea justifying their claims by saying it is only for fun and doesn’t represent anything and that feminists and activists are taking the meaning of equality far beyond where it should be; adding that there are other more important problems they should be dealing with.
Disgraceful. What if the king is identifying as non-binary on a given day!?! Can’t we respect that! Also, these ‘capitalist cards’ imply more ‘value’ is better. I feel this reinforces the thinking that the more you have, the better you are. Hang your head in shame #indymellink
— Caino (@andrew_caine) January 20, 2021
Gender equality going too far now!
— Gin (@Gin76666043) January 20, 2021
According to sources, playing cards were created in ancient China as early as the 9th Century during the Tang Dynasty era but reached the EU in the late 14th Century, probably from Mamluk Egypt. While the joker card was invented c. 1860 as a third trump, the imperial or best bower, which ranked higher than the other two bowers.
The first known book on the "leaf" game was called the Yezi Gexi and is allegedly written by a Tang woman. It received commentary by writers of subsequent dynasties.
