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.
Is there any way to download and save a Flash animation (or whatever you call it)? I live in fear that Ray will take his page down and I will never again get to see that squirrel.
OMG IT’S THE SQUIRREL AGAIN.
Nobody gets my tri-x pan joke! You shoot giant iron balls at wooden ships from cannons. You shoot film with Canons.
/is a Canon fangirl
The squirrel has caught wind of our conversation!
Well, fuck. We’re going to have to officially call a permanent end to the poster contest, because Ray has won it forever.
(But I have to point out my prescient use of the 3D orange diagonal wordart.
“My perfect fantasy LadyGame for Ladies doesn’t turn men into sexual objects. It’s not in a world where literally everyone except the love interest is female.”
And why ever not, eh?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otome_game
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CastFullOfPrettyBoys?from=Main.BlueBishonenGhetto
I have no problem with the wimminz and gurlz wanting their share of the pie, but I have a problem if they make us give up our own share. Do what Japan does, “objectify” our side as much as we “objectify” yours, but don’t force us to stop being true to our primal (sexual) natures. If you don’t want to be “repressed” anymore, well, that’s just fine, but then, don’t try to repress us either.
Because I don’t want every game I play to feel like a dating sim. Because sometimes I just want to kill a dragon without dehumanizing people of any gender. Because the desire to kill dragons can be felt by anyone, so there’s no reason to segregate gamers based on sexual preference.
And more to the point – because when I do want romance/erotica in my video games, I know it’s possible to design a love interest (again, of any gender) who isn’t belittled, objectified, or one-dimensional. Why shouldn’t I be disappointed when the video game industry gives me anything less?
You’re making it sound like the only reason to play video games is as a sexual outlet. That paradigm at best severely limits the possibilities of video games as a media and at worst is really insulting to gamers as a whole.
What do you do when you play a game that (gasp) doesn’t even have women characters to sexualize? Is the game un-playable?
@Abnoy
How does wanting a game where there is more than 1 female character repress you?
You see it in films too. A group of boys and one girl. The girl is the love interest and is the only female in the whole film that talks.
And how come your solution is to objectify men? That is NOT want I want to do. I want to play a game with a relatable female character. I don’t want to objectify men in my video games. I don’t want to objectify anyone in my games.
It is not repression to want a game with characters I can relate to.
*that is not what I want to do.
Someone tell me this Ray bloke is the Poe of MRM posters. Please, please, he can’t be for real! :D
Say, what would happen if JohntheOtter and RaytheSquirrel met in mortal combat?
Anboy related, but I think everyone should step on at least three legos every time they use gurls and wimminz without sarcasm. bad anboy bad you are annoying. Also, if you want to jerk off, do it to porn, not videogames.
(sorry if this comment was out of line, non anboy people feel free to call me out on it. I’m just grump and tired and unwisely reading the troll)
If Abnoy wants something to jerk off too why can’t he just download some porn?
Not out of line at all, but a wasted effort – Abnoy’s a charmless loser who likes to skirt around claiming to be a child molester.
@kittehs
Thanks for the heads up, I already knew he was a troll though (or at least thought) I’m just cranky. Probably a sign I shouldn’t engage (and should actually get some sleep) but…man Idk. I’m rambling a lot today.
Marie — ABNOY’s nicknamed annoy by a lot of people around here, and for good reason.
And now seems an ideal time to remind everyone that he thought it hilarious we’d be offended at the implication he’d bought sex from teenagers /PSA
@Argenti Aertheri
Ew on that last one. bad anboy bad.
maybe next time I engage him I will call him annoy. It does seem fitting.
Just to clarify, that ew was assuming he’s not a teenager trying to buy sex from teenagers, not at the actual buying sex thing.
He implied he was at least mid-20s, but probably not much older than me (27) — so no, he wasn’t soliciting sex from his peers.
Point noted about buying sex not being the problem there — though really, the finding it hilarious we’d be outraged part was what really got me. Any of the rest could be false just to troll us, but that he found it funny? That’s legit and skeevy.
There;s this persistent myth among misogynists that the only reason adult women object to men having sex with teenage girls is that they’re jealous of men’s sexual attention going to young girls rather than to women.
In fact, older women are protective towards teenage girls because we still remember being teenage girls ourselves and having creeps like Abnoy harass us.
He likes to talk as if he’s an adult buying sex from twelve-year-olds – whether he’s lying for lulz or not, he’s a failtroll.
Calling women: gurls and wimminz is dehumanizing.
“Do what Japan does, “objectify” our side as much as we “objectify” yours, but don’t force us to stop being true to our primal (sexual) natures. ”
Right. We’ll totally be allowed to do that.
Otome games/romance novels are trash. Justin Bieber is pure evil. Twilight is TEH WORST THING EVARRRRR *homophobic slurs*!!
Despite that fact that these things may indeed be terrible and regressive, the majority of their hate is just backlash to finding out that girls have fantasies, too. And guess what? These aren’t even remotely close to the level of sexualization imposed on women. Not. Even. Close. They’re timid dippings of the toe into the already huge sea of fanservice and wish-fulfillment that a certain demographic already owns and protects rather vigilantly.
So, no. You aren’t going to be okay with us doing the same to you.
I would imagine his main problem, as was mine at one point, is losing the exclusivity which comes with having gaming be a ‘boys club” environment. You only notice this environment when females enter and try to change it. We can’t really have our lads being lads fun when women are around which leads to some men resenting the presence of women in certain activities.
Should we all start posting “men we lust over” stuff here and see how long it takes for Abnoy and the other angry geekboys to flip their shit about it? Because that could be arranged.
Do Re – I’m a complete outsider in gaming, never played anything but Freecell or Tetris, but d’you reckon part of the problem is not just the “it’s our space” stuff, but how extremely misogynistic that space seems to be? I mean, if these guys didn’t dislike and resent women anyway, would they react that strongly? (Genuine, not rhetorical, question, btw.)
Cassandra – are we lookin’ at clad or unclad or semiclad or whatever pics, or just names?
I was thinking pics and videos. but hey, given the term “tingles” pretty much any reference to women having sexual preferences seems to upset these guys.
::rubs hands:: First in, then!
I wish Sarkeesian had done a better job at this. Yeah ‘Damsel in Distress’ is a prevalent trope, yeah it’s lazy writing and yeah it’s harmful to women to have a trope in which women are reduced to useless macguffins be so prevalent. But she spent most of the video just showing that it exists and giving us a history lesson, not giving much meaningful analysis to the harms the trope presents (hopefully that will come up in the next one, although she implies it’s to going to be more of a modern history lesson). Everyone knows what a damsel in distress is, what more people need to be told is how it is actually problematic and how it translates into society, and therefore why we should be trying to get rid of it.
No, I probably couldn’t have done a better job, but I’m a science student, gender studies isn’t my expertise and it isn’t how I make a living. I had hoped for something more from someone who does this for a living.
Still good nerd rage bait though.
I would say it may play partly on ignorance, especially with women demanding to be more than sex objects in games, as opposed to full blown misogyny. Obviously a lot of heterosexual men have no problem with females depicted as sex objects and would naturally be frustrated by women coming in and trying to change it, especially with the perceived notion that women aren’t even into gaming (or golf, or whatever else it may be) they just want to “come and ruin our fun”. This perceived invasion by women into male spaces for the sake of invasion has not just come about with gaming, it’s been around for a long time. But no, I don’t think it’s got anything to do with these people disliking women (though the most vocal of complaints probably are coming from misogynists), it’s just that in their mind women are only complaining for complaining’s sake and have no actual interest in the outcome of their complaints (ignorant? Definitely. Bit of a stretch to call it misogyny though).
I’m going to guess that I’m not the only woman who loves this guy given that someone bothered to make a video that’s just a 10 minute loop of him standing around in the shower.
I think he wins the all-time boy band fanservice award for this little number.
(Starts to get interesting about 3 minutes in.)
Rain taught him well, though I think Joon may be even better at fanservice since he’s not as big and intimidating as Rain.
Aw, videos posted all messed up. Let’s try that again.
Thanks, Do Re.
Small tip, if I may? Don’t use “females” as a noun, especially when it’s in the same sentence as “men”. It’s dehumanising. It’s fine as an adjective.
Adding to the tip from Kittehs – avoid describing adult women as “girls” when you’re describing adult men as “men”. If you’re an adult man and you want to talk about your attraction to actual girls, just don’t, nobody wants to hear it.
(Not that Do Re gives any indication that he’d do that, this is just a general public service announcement.)
Oh gross, it’s only going down to 24C tonight … I hate summer I hate summer I hate summer
Posted with the permission of the subject.
(more or less NSFW)
I think you missed my point kitteh, I was purposely using the word females in context with what I was saying, pointing out that they’re just females in that perspective.
And I’m not quite sure what your apparent obsession with pedophiles is about, Cassandra, lol.
Okay, sorry, but your phrasing didn’t make it clear that you were referring to “how this group of men see women”. It read as if you were simply using the word that way yourself. BTW, calling women females when men are not called males is misogyny. It makes us less than human.
Oh yeah, Do Re, that last crack really helps to build up your credibility.
You’re right I didn’t make it very clear at all, just kind of assumed it would read the way I was thinking it, lol. My point was that they are looking at women as females only (I.E female is any woman’s defining attribute) and as such have no problem with them being nothing more than sex objects. It’s not out of hatred or dislike of women, it’s out of ignorance mainly. I disagree that calling women females amounts to misogyny (my understanding of the word being a hatred of women) but I think it is somewhat ignorant.
Relax Cassandra it was a joke, hence the lol. I saw nothing in the comments policy about no sense of humour allowed. This is the second time I’ve seen you talk about adult men liking girls or something, just struck me as a bit weird that’s all, especially as I don’t think I even used the word girls in any of my comments.
Humor is encouraged, but you need to actually be funny. Sticking “lol” on the end of a statement is tedious, not funny. If you have to tell people that it’s a joke…
Ehhh funny is subjective. It wasn’t a serious statement is my point. Just relax a little, I’m not here to attack you.
OK, you win today’s not worth bothering with prize. See ya.
I just don’t understand why you’re being so hostile/defensive, but okay.
Do Re – first, misogyny is more than virulent, open hatred of women. It’s a lot broader in meaning than that, the same as “racist” isn’t limited to “person who plants burning crosses or commits murder”. The othering, the refusal to see women as more than sex toys and servants, the desire to force us into those roles, is all part of it. The US Republican party is extremely misogynist, with its attempts to control women’s bodies and lives.
But from everything I’ve read, hatred isnt far below the surface for a lot of these guys in the gaming community. The minute someone online, or in the gaming community, is identified as a woman, they’re getting the demands for sex, or the rape threats, or the death threats. It gets worse if the person speaks out against it – witness the thread we’re writing in. That isn’t just ignorance and shyness and discomfort, that’s precisely the hatred variety of misogyny.
Given that this guy assumes that any woman who doesn’t agree with him is hostile/upset/defensive I’m not holding out a lot of hope as to him understanding more nuanced issues like “why calling women females is not cool”.
@Do Re
Ignorance of the fact that women are people, rather than hobby- and personality-free masturbatory aids? You’re right, no misogyny there.
9_9
Hey, weren’t you supposed to be going back to bed?
…Yes. Yes I was. I’ve calmed down a bunch (seriously I shouldn’t have panic-attacked all over Man Boobz that’s not cool and I’m sorry) but I still actually need to sleep.
Technically I am in bed, I just have my phone with me. Which is why they say not to do that XD. I will turn it off.
Sorry, can’t help going into big sister mode…
Viscaria: I’m home sick as a dog today, PM me or whatever if you just need to chat and calm yourself.
Right Cassandra, because everything in the world is due to your gender and there’s no way I could’ve called you hostile/defensive because you were being hostile/defensive (in my opinion). You also represent every woman in the world and anything said to you clearly goes to all women, it’s not like you’re individuals or anything…..
I’m not saying looking at women as sex objects isn’t bad, I specifically said it was. I’m just saying it’s due more to ignorance than misogyny. If most of these guys knew what they were doing was hurting the feelings of women they would stop. But that’s not something we’re taught in society. We’re not taught that women have a problem with being sex objects, we’re taught that women LIKE being sex objects,
Bullshit. Got any proof of this besides your feels? Back your horseshit up, kthx.
Wow, someone is feeling a little defensive. Do try to relax. After all, humor is allowed!
Also, please try not to end sentences with a comma. I know you’re awfully upset, but still.
I’m not upset about anything, I’m typing on my iPad, the comma is right next to the full stop and on occasion I end up tapping that instead without realising. I guess I am feeling a bit defensive though, I didn’t realise it wasn’t just MRAs that receive hostility but in fact any man who dares step away from his ingrained misogynist views and tries to change his ways. My apologies for bothering to give a shit about how women feel…but no worries, I can take the bad experiences with the good.
Hellkell I have only one bit of evidence other than anecdotal and that would be the website cracked where a bunch of the women in the video making department made a video basically saying please don’t make comments about how hot you think we are or which sexual position you’d like to have us in etc because we put a lot of effort into producing comedy videos, most of the usual ‘misogynist’ commenters were making heart filled apologies.
Whoosh goes the point right over his little head. It’s adorable!
Anyway, this dude is boring, so moving on. I’m trying to use up a coupon for DSW before it expires and can’t figure out whether or not to get a certain pair of boots. Anyone want to chime in with an opinion?
(Apologies to anyone who actually wants to talk about Sarkeesian, I’ll be happy to re-rail again as soon as someone interesting comes back online.)
You weren’t making a point you’re just pissed that I called you out on your hostility.
Boots, you say? Let me see them. I love DSW. I just bought a pair of very Ziggy Stardust leopard platform booties (Madden Girl shoes and my feet were made for each other) there for the low low price of 16 dollars. They put me juuuust over the 6 foot mark, how could I say no? Plus Mr. HK’s reaction when I tower over him like that is adorable.
Do Re: Cracked? Get the fuck out of here.
I do not believe you’re here to learn and change. If you were, you would listen more and talk less, and leave the defensive feelings elsewhere.
Do Re: as a call out, that was weak. You are not the first to try, do you think we’re upset? Ha, you are a chew toy.
Behold as I angrily shop for shoes. Next I will defensively pay my telephone bill.
(We could do this all day. Anyone have the “ladies be hysterical” bingo card handy?)
# hellkell
http://www.dsw.com/shoe?fromPage=shoppingBag&category=dsw12cat1100004&brand=&prodId=254755&no_redirect=1&skuId=58000000002547550010000M008.0&productRef=&qty=1&item=ci8871004059
I’m not sure how crazy I am about the way the taupe bit sits away from the rest of the boot at the back.
I like the shape of them, but I’m angrily judging the taupe.
katz, I think he’s serious. I also think if we can’t *tell*, then his satire,(*if* it’s satire) has failed and he deserves to be nominated anyway.
Cassandra: I also bought these:
http://www.dsw.com/shoe/not+rated+knockout+oxford?prodId=268345&productRef=SEARCH
Do Re: after readin
These are the leopard booties:
http://www.dsw.com/shoe/madden+girl+relly+leopard+wedge+bootie?prodId=dsw12prod4080168