Man Boobz Contest: Find the Whiniest, Most Entitled Response to Anita Sarkeesian
From “Damsel in Distress: Part 1 – Tropes vs Women in Video Games.”
So Anita Sarkeesian, who apparently didn’t run off with all her Kickstarter money to found a Misandist Gynarchy in the wilds of Canada, has released the first video in her Tropes vs Women in Video Games project. (I’ve embedded it below.)
Naturally, this is causing great consternation in certain corners of the Internet (*cough* Reddit *cough cough* everywhere else that misogynistic nerds congregate *cough*). In the Man Boobz forum, Katz has started a contest to see who can find “the whiniest, brattiest, most entitled response” to Sarkeesian’s video on the Internet. So far Katz and Myoo have found a couple classic comments from irate Sarkeeianaphobes:
[H]ow does one go about stating that genders and gender roles are social constructs? I mean is evolution nothing to her? Does the patriarchy make male peacocks dress provocatively?
Yes. Yes it does.
And:
I’m gradually losing respect for the opposite sex. I’ve unfollowed people on tumblr who talk about how great she is, because it actually causes bile to rise in to my throat.
Yeah, that’s a totally reasonable response to a woman making a video about video games.
So anyway, I’m thinking we should bring the contest over here.
See what you can find! Consider it a sort of scavenger hunt.
Here’s my contribution, from the Men’s Rights subreddit, complaining that Damsels in Distress are the truly privileged ones:
Amazingly, this acutally got called out on r/mr as being pretty damn stupid.
Also, I have another question, to add to the stack of other questions I’ve been asking lately: Just why do you think so many guys get so angry when girls and women invade what they consider a male sphere, like gaming? (Also, why do they consider gaming to belong to boys and men?)
Oh, and here’s the video that’s causing all this hubbub:
Posted on March 9, 2013, in all about the menz, antifeminism, are these guys 12 years old?, david has questions, drama kings, entitled babies, evil women, evo psych fairy tales, harassment, I'm totally being sarcastic, men who should not ever be with women ever, misogyny, oppressed men, reddit, ShitRedditSays and tagged anita sarkeesian, tropes vs women. Bookmark the permalink. 1,073 Comments.
“I’m gradually losing respect for the opposite sex. I’ve unfollowed people on tumblr who talk about how great she is, because it actually causes bile to rise in to my throat.”
Choking on self-imposed forever-alone virginity… Huh. More power to ya.
Source.
From the same source:
Oops, posted too soon. Same guy as just above, a little further down:
What about the menz + a dash of evo psych + hypergamy + “You’re just a raisin, no one will ever love you.”
OT but the blue cat-lady fox (that’s his name, right?) is holding is kind of cute.
…peacocks…peacocks don’t dress.
Lol @ ‘brings bile to my mouth’ dude. Mocking Imitation*: Those evil womenz talking about things that affect them, how it makes me sick to my stomach. siiiccck!!!!!
*I’m weird today don’t ask.
yeah, because everyone knows what it does and is scared shitless, not because you don’t have any power.
@cloudiah
that is… a very whiny dude you found.
and the more I read of cloudiah’s guy the more whiny he seems. It’s like he’s going to become a black whole of whininess when it all collapses underneath him.
/really really bad analogy.
Oh, I dunno, I thought the black hole of whininess was a pretty good image! :D
I am disappointed that dalsgaard didn’t bother noting that it is really hard for us non-archetypal women to find bon bons because the Damsels in Distress have hoarded them all in their Womanhood Palaces.
@ kittehs
haha, thanks :) It was just so true for him though XD
@some gal
now I want a bon bon :( (technically I’ve never had one, but they have chocolate in them, right? As a lady*, I really, really love chocolate)
*tongue in cheek, I know not all women do.
IIRC, there was a “ewww, girl cooties” response from tabletop RPG players in the late ’70s. The difference was most of them were limited to bitching about it in game stores or their buddy’s basement rather than taking to the Internet.
As a GM and test player in those long ago times I met my share of these guys. Hell, I wouldn’t be surprised if I GMed for their fathers. I became infamous at local game stores as one of those women’s libbers after I politely tossed someone out of a game for *refusing to speak to me directly* while playing in a game I was running.
Okay, once I had warned him he was on thin ice and was ignored I did hit his character with a very localized electrical storm. “*ZOT* Annnnd we’re done here. Bye bye.” I waved over one of the players on the wait list and we went on.
Parts of today’s gaming culture are pretty damn toxic and a whole lot worse than in the ’70s and ’80s.
Source.
I was just disappointed that Sarkeesian forgot about Mario RPG, the other Mario game where Princess Toadstool gets an active role (after being a damsel in distress, of course, I mean, everyone else just jumped off of Booster’s Tower but she didn’t do that? And then Booster didn’t even seem to understand the concept of a wedding, let alone marriage, she could have told him that the cake was the end of it and then walked free after eating some delicious cake (“So good it makes me want to cry.”)). She joins your party and makes for 1/3 of the best combat team.
I really want to win!
Next:
I feel a bit mean, because that last dude looks about 13.
Source.
Now it’s time to go out to dinner! Catch you all later.
“Why rewrite video games for women when more MEN play them?”
Yeah, that only really applies to the big-name games. Your, “Medal of Glory Gears of Gods of Grand Theft of Wasted Final Fantasy?” But the thing is, other games exist, and women are the market.
Anyone actually using the word “feminazi”…. I just wanna pad ‘em on the head and say: “that’ll, do sexist pig, that’ll do”.
ok, cloudiah, borrowing your whiny person for the moment, but…
dear whiny person, are youtube comments the best place to hold a discussion? I mean, youtube comments always make me want to bang my head in a wall.
…strange….
okay, was second whiny dude in that recent one saying feminists are like nazis because they hate men or something? It was unclear.
sorry for spamming all the comments on the people you find, cloudiah, I’m just in a really …weird mood today.
/sorry for spamming
At least the people who contributed to this Kickstarter didn’t get bilked like the MRA fools who did. I love it when they’re shown to be the suckers they are–if you sit in a stew of misogyny and whiny entitlement, you’ll clearly believe any fool thing.
Unexamined privilege. Everything’s set up for them by default, they get ascared when that’s proven to be not so true after all.
Have fun at dinner cloudiah!
@cloudiah
This strikes me as saying:
-I wish I could win a million dollars like that guy who won the lottery. He’s pathetic.
-I wish I’d ordered what you ordered for dinner, honey. You’re pathetic.
-I wish I could nap anywhere like my cat. She’s pathetic.
-I wish I could be anyone who isn’t whining about someone pointing out legitimate flaws in a medium I like more than I like other people like most of the rest of the world is. They’re pathetic.
Thanks for making a thread for this, since a lot of our current commenters don’t have forum accounts. And I’m expecting some good stuff from you guys, because I know full well that my contribution was weak sauce.
The great thing about contests like this is it turns your reaction to obnoxious comments from “argh, another asshole” to “ooh, another entry!”
The last person makes no sense at all. First of all, the “pedestal effect” isn’t nearly as pervasive and significant as people think, and second, the same reasoning could be applied to slaves. In other words, ze could just as easily say that slaves are privileged because they have “caretakers.” And then there’s the fact that it’s merely a form of so-called “benevolent” sexism.
Has the ‘amazing’ atheist already been mentioned:
If not I volunteer him as an entry.
Not as whiny as some of the others but …I was desperate to sumbit something, but didn’t actually want to come across more assholes, so I just put up the ones I’ve already found….
/lazy.
link: http://feministdisney.tumblr.com/post/44870900296/theyearsiwasashipwreck-casketscratcher
I at least understand the people going “This is a MAN’s space and we like it the way it is!” The way things are pander to their interests and they don’t want that to go away, it’s selfish but I get it.
What baffles me is the people who deny the sexism even exists. I mean, how far gone do you have to be to seriously argue that princess Peach isn’t a typical example of a damsel in distress?
@ Marie: that would be Krystal that Fox is holding, and she’s also a fox. (She would be a vixen, if I were to be more technical.)
Similarly OT: when I saw that picture leading off the article I had an internal “glee!” moment. I know that the game where Krystal makes her first appearance (Star Fox Adventures) is slightly deficient in the female agency department, though. The game was not originally a Star Fox title but was developed by Rare with the intent of being a game on its own. Krystal would have been one of the two playable characters and would have been a cat instead of a fox, but some developmental difficulties were encountered, similarities between that title and Star Fox were noted, and Rare and Nintendo re-tuned the game to be a part of the Star Fox franchise.
Krystal does make appearances in the next two Star Fox games as a romantic interest of and romantically interested in Fox, but she the only female character to appear in Star Fox Assault (the immediate sequel), though she also has a part in Star Fox Command (Assault’s sequel). Star Fox Command is different in that there are multiple endings where Krystal either joins Fox’s rivals/nemeses, reunites with him, or turns bitter and goes solo as a bounty hunter who is totally unrecognizable to Fox.
I apologize for the major derail and the ensuing wall of text, but I am an avid fan of the Star Fox series (Nintendo, why u no make another Star Fox game?!), and Star Fox Adventures holds a very special place in my heart because it helped kick off my interest in creative writing (but not as fan fiction; I dabbled in fanfic later, but I still entertain fantasies of Star Fox sequels adapted from the ideas bouncing around in my head).
He does understand that the fact we’re reading these words so readily means that PEOPLE ARE ABLE TO HAVE A DISCOURSE ABOUT THIS MATERIAL.
And also, so what? Fuck you.
“You are putting forth a particular ideological stance. Your unwillingness to allow that stance to be challenged undermines the legitimacy of your claims because it sends the signal to everyone who lands on your page that your ideas cannot hold up under scrutiny. ”
With this utterance he has just challenged her… so he’s just eaten his own words. And the only signal she’s sending is that she’s probably sick of “get raped” getting posted.
Some Gal, I totally misread that as “Womanhood Places” and thought “Ewww, I don’t want to store bonbons there.”
From one guy on the comments thread at Pharyngula. He goes on for a while, this is just from his first comment.
Blitzgal, yeah… He’s not too bright on concepts such as shape, color, time or logic. Expecting him to know what freedom of speech is… eh.
I think my favorite are the ones that are whining about how much money she made and how the video totally isn’t worth it. Other people paid more than I would have for a product I didn’t want! Waaaah!
sooo glad I finished my drinking when I read that. *immature giggles*
[blockquote]Choking on self-imposed forever-alone virginity… Huh. More power to ya.[/blockquote]
Could we please not virgin shame, I understand the temptation to pull ad hominem attacks on MRAs, gods, I’ve wanted to do it myself from time to time, but if we succumb, we only end up bringing ourselves down to their level.
In other news, here’s TJ The Amazing MRAtheist being his entitled, misogynist-in-denial, self: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfkS9YS_T0k
I also fail at blockquotes lately.
As someone on Tumblr said, this is “men.txt”. Or at least “cismen.txt”. The obliviousness of how grinding and awful constant death and rape threats can be is something that can only be seen in men who have never had to deal with people constantly discussing seriously hurting you in a sexualized manner.
Virgin shame? It’s no shame to be a virgin, except if you’re an absolute asshole who repel any advance. Which was the point. Not that I don’t get yours.
Fair enough, I guess I’ve been spending a bit too much time around youtube and facebook flame wars, It’s kind of become a force of habit.
@The Kittehs’
That reminds me if a bit in Coupling where Patrick mishears “Why don’t men like snuggling?” As “Why don’t men like smuggling?” and includes in his answer that men have fewer “concealment crevices.”
/Moffat fan
Other than that, all I can think about is yeast infections which are not very funny.
“Fair enough, I guess I’ve been spending a bit too much time around youtube and facebook flame wars, It’s kind of become a force of habit.”
You delve into Youtube comments? WHY? Protect your sanity!
I love that the people who say, “She trolled for offensive comments so she could have the moneeeeeez” are most likely the ones complaining now about her disabling comments.
“Other than that, all I can think about is yeast infections which are not very funny.”
Never worked in a bakery, eh?
Sometimes I get bored and like to drink tears of impotent MRA rage.
@Michael
Even if you mean well, your comment was still hurtful. It is virgin-shaming and that’s not on.
I cannot put into words the disappointment I feel. I was going to sell all my worldly goods and move there,
Kim, I wasn’t shaming him for being a virgin. There’d be no point, and yes it would be wrong.I was mocking him for his idea that women somehow prolong his virginity by refusing to sleep with him.
I don’t know where Michael has come from with his dubious jokes, but I wish he’d go back there.
Who’s idea? That seems to be something you’ve inferred. Either way, not on.
This one certainly isn’t the whiniest, but I did find it amusing that they have never heard a feminist complaint about any of the misogyny in pop or general or high culture. Nope, their first exposure was Sarkeesian and videogames.
All of society is misogynistic and caters to me. Why can’t games do it too? :(
defskyoen at Forbes.
Other than that, defskyoen basically says all the same things about Sarkeesian *gasp* seeking attention for her project, implies that she asked for the threats (shocker) and that she then made money because of them *gasp*.
I just find the lack of awareness of anything that has been happening in feminism (or, for that matter, academia and elementary/secondary education) for at least fifty years oddly charming. Like Brendan Fraser in Blast from the Past, but with hatred.
hellkell, I agree. Sorry. That was inferred.
@some gal
not the whiniest, but definitely facepalm worthy.
I didn’t read Michael’s joke as virgin-shaming – and I am virgin, too, by any physical standards. I read it as creepy MRA shaming: the why of guys like this being alone, not the fact of it. Which might be splitting hairs, I dunno.
Some Gal: “That reminds me if a bit in Coupling where Patrick mishears “Why don’t men like snuggling?” As “Why don’t men like smuggling?” and includes in his answer that men have fewer “concealment crevices.”
LOL! And now I’m thinking of smuggling as in Devon and Cornwall and West Country accents. Arrr!
Even taking out the feminist aspect – relying on tropes like this is lazy writing. What is wrong with someone hoping that the people working in the medium she loves might try not to be lazy?
“I didn’t read Michael’s joke as virgin-shaming – and I am virgin, too, by any physical standards. I read it as creepy MRA shaming: the why of guys like this being alone, not the fact of it. Which might be splitting hairs, I dunno.”
Yeah, and I’m bad at it. Or maybe really good at. Splitting hairs I mean. But I was bad at making my point.
From the same guy as my previous one, in response to someone who said that half his female friends play Skyrim, he says:
Women working for money = free money
Indeed, that’s a major theme of her criticism: If your whole story is driven by “a bad guy came and carried off a girl and we have to get her back,” then that’s a lame story.
@Kim
I think that “legitimately” was supposed to somehow stand in for “in ways no one ever criticizes.” So, since lazy writing would be a criticism, clearly what they are doing can’t be lazy. ;)
I also don’t think someone who is basing so much on an appeal to tradition would care much for original material. It is surprising they are so invested in such a new-fangled medium.
Myoo… Dennis was more than just weird. His factive, fictive shit was.. well… huh.
Here I found someone who thinks that Sarkeesian should have enabled comments in order to be worth agreeing with:
And, in response to the suggestion that he make his own response video on YouTube comes out with this:
So, you can just ignore these comments and also, maybe Sarkeesian should have made this on a better YouTube? Seems legit to me.
Metalmattz here and here.
Wow. I was going to write something snarky about that but I’m just at a loss for words.
Female gamers only count if they’re attractive, but guys can have opinions no matter what they look like! (Disregard the fact that if a female gamer is “attractive” she’ll probably get called a poser because no attractive women could be interested in gaming.)
Ick.
Ow wow I was hoping the ‘they’re not attractive so they’re opinions don’t count’ guy was kidding. O_o
I’m really glad David made this post. I’ve been in a funk over this all day, and I really need to hear reasonable (read: not sexist asshats) people talking about this. I’ve considered myself a gamer since I was in third grade, and I can remember even then being shocked at how women were portrayed in games and struggling to find characters that I could identify with personally. It really frustrates me that some people can’t even admit that there’s sexism in video games. I mean, seriously, have you played like, pretty much any video game made ever?
What’s really gotten to me though is how this whole Anita Sarkeesian “debate” has brought out the misogyny in some of my gamer friends – people I’ve been gaming with since childhood and I thought I could trust. I may actually be a bit heartbroken right now. :(
Sexism in games is worth looking into, but it seems like the quality of her videos are no different than before. Maybe I was expecting a little more with her new budget.
Sorry (not sorry) to self-promote, but i’m reblogging some of the vitriol on tumblr under the url http://final-boss-of-gamer-culture.tumblr.com/
A lot of it isn’t as bad as the amazing atheist’s video, but it’s still entirely awful human garbage.
@augochlorella
I’m sorry. :(
Isn’t the way that YouTube videos work that if you don’t like what someone said in their video you make and post your own video in response? I think these guys need to learn to internet.
Amazing Atheist wins more whiny, entitled response for WHY WON’T YOU LET ME CALL YOU A BITCH IN THE COMMENTS ON YOUR VIDEO EVEN THOUGH I MAKE MY OWN VIDEOS THAT’S NOT FAIR WAH.
All the comments about Sarkeesian wanting attention from guys who’re basically whining about the fact that by disabling comments she’s refusing to pay attention to them win the irony prize.
Is it sad that I come home and immediately check man boobz? I want to know how you all have been doing!
@augochlorella, I have been there, though not in this specific context. It sucks, and it’s hard. Sorry, and hugs if you want them. Also bear in mind that you may be as important to them as they are to you, and you may be able to use that to make them re-think some of their sexist positions. I’ve actually found that “You can’t be a sexist if you want to be friends with me” is more effective than I thought it would be. Don’t undersell your importance to your friends.
Oddly, most of Reddit seems remarkably okay with it… the supportive comments are massively upvoted, even in /r/gaming. The only ones who are still whinging about this are the denizens of r/MR specifically (and a few in r/SRD).
@ Some Gal Thank you.
@ cloudiah I gladly accept your hugs. I’m going to try to broach the subject with some of these friends face-to-face next time I see them. It’s heartening to hear that you’ve been able to reach some people.
Let’s hope that future women gamers (like maybe this girl) won’t have to explain to their friends why sexism is bad.