Each new video that Anita Sarkeesian posts is a sign that the bullies are losing
Anita Sarkeesian, still standing
On Monday, Anita Sarkeesian posted the latest installment of her Tropes Vs. Women in Video Games series on YouTube, a half-hour examination of the ways in which video game makers use sexualized violence against women as a cheap way to spice up their narratives and appeal to straight male gamers.
Her tone was measured, her analysis clear and logical and supported by dozens of clips from a wide assortment of games.
Late Tuesday night, this happened:
That’s right: Sarkeesian was forced to leave her home due to violent threats against her and her family … because she made a YouTube video analyzing violence against women in video games.
She then posted some of the threats she had gotten from a Twitter account set up specifically to harass and threaten her and her family. [TRIGGER WARNING for graphic rape and death threats.]
For a larger version of the screenshot, see here.
Sarkeesian has also been tweeting some of the other threats she gets on a daily basis from anonymous gamers who are incensed that a woman has anything critical to say about their precious video games.
“Go ahead, screen capture this and tweet it you piece of shit” ummm… ok. I’m not afraid of strawman "rebuttals". http://t.co/8B74uYJOOU—
Feminist Frequency (@femfreq) August 27, 2014
You’ll notice that several of these threatening comments mention videos by Thunderf00t, a “skeptic” videoblogger best known, at least in the corner of the internet I write about, for a series of videos in which he viciously attacks some of the women who’ve drawn the most internet hate from angry misogynists – from skeptics like Rebecca Watson and Melody Hensley to video game maker Zoe Quinn and video game critic Sarkeesian.
Thunderf00t’s attacks have won him kudos from assorted Men’s Rights activists, from the regulars on the Men’s Rights subreddit to A Voice for Men “operations manager” Dean Esmay, who has praised his videos and urged other MRAs to subscribe to them.
In other words, the harassment of feminist women on the internet is directly linked to antifeminist propagandists like Thunderf00t – and his MRA fans and enablers.
The constant, vicious, personal attacks on Sarkeesian you see not only in video game circles but from Men’s Rights Activists – on Reddit, on A Voice for Men, on YouTube, and so on – have helped to create a hostile environment in which critiques of sexism in games result in real-world death and rape threats against women. This has an undeniably chilling effect on the free speech of women. That in fact is the intent of the harassers.
Margaret Atwood once famously observed that
Men are afraid that women will laugh at them. Women are afraid that men will kill them.
I think we need an internet corollary to Atwood’s observation:
Men posting on the internet are afraid that women will block them. Women are afraid that men will treat them like Anita Sarkeesian.
Thing is, Sarkeesian keeps moving forward, diligently researching and putting forth the videos she promised she would. All the huffing and puffing of her critics and attackers hasn’t shut her up. Each new video she puts out is a testament to her courage and her perseverance. Each new video is a blow against those who would shut women up. Each new video helps to inspire others who’ve gotten similar threats to continue speaking up and speaking out.
Supporting Sarkeesian helps to support every woman who wants to be able to speak out online without fear of violent threats. There’s no better proof of this than how angry the biggest misogynistic bullies get whenever feminists and other people of good conscience rally around her. The bullies are still angry about the money she raised via kickstarter, money that has enabled her to bring a new professionalism to her videos.
Hell, AVFM Bully-in-chief Paul Elam is still so angry about this that he’s already accusing her of “damseling for dollars,” collecting “gash-cash” because of these latest Twitter threats. Indeed, in a post that’s a lot more revealing than he intends it to be, he complains bitterly that she’s getting bigger donations than he is:
I am jealous. I have had half the major media in a couple of countries disingenuously and maliciously demonize me. Even after forcing some retractions I bet I got more threats than Sarkeesian.
My reward? Jack shit.
Maybe it was because I didn’t swoon hard enough or treat the threats like they were tickets to Disneyworld.
Oh, don’t be modest, Paul. You take in tens of thousands every year by pretending to be some sort of human rights generalissimo. You raked in $35,000 this summer by trumpeting “threats” that you were saying privately were phony.
While Elam “damsels” and fumes, Sarkeesian simply goes about doing the job she set out to do. Each video she puts out is yet another “fuck you” to her haters, and they know it.
U mad bros?
Here’s the video that caused all the stir. It’s well worth watching. CONTENT WARNING: Graphic violence against women.
Posted on August 28, 2014, in a voice for men, a woman is always to blame, advocacy of violence, antifeminism, are these guys 12 years old?, Dean Esmay, entitled babies, evil women, harassment, mantrum, men who should not ever be with imaginary women ever, men who should not ever be with women ever, misogyny, MRA, no games for girls, no girls allowed, not-quite-plausible deniability, paul elam, rape culture, sarkeesian!, threats, video games and tagged a voice for men, anita sarkeesian, anti-feminism, antifeminism, men's rights, misogyny, MRA, reddit, threats, twitter. Bookmark the permalink. 649 Comments.
These guys are acting out the “definition” of insanity: doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.
And I’m beyond sick of seeing these dudebros claiming she “scammed” people. Nope. She posted a fundraiser to do videos. People contributed money of their own free will. She’s making videos. That is not a scam. If people contributed and are unhappy with the results, well, okay, and? I buy a box of crackers and eat some of them and decide I don’t like them, even though they’re exactly what the box says, I don’t get to accuse Nabisco of scamming me.
Raising money for, say, superduper extra security at an event because you claimed you were threatened, pocketing the cash and never actually proving there was a threat? That’s a scam.
Paul Elam begs for money every fucking day of his miserable existence. He’s got some nerve.
Reblogged this on Sheryl Nantus and commented:
No matter how hard they try these whiny little boys won’t win – real men don’t need to stoop to threats or need to abuse virtual women to prove they’re men. ’nuff said.
@tinyorc
I really couldn’t get into The last of us, but everybody keeps telling me it’s great. Am I missing something?
@Chie Satonaka in one of the Call of duty games the player is required to torture a bound prisoner in a pretty brutal way to advance in the single player campaign. I have a feeling the only reason that the victim is a man is that there are no women in the game.
And the Dragon age thing was really disturbing and it made it a lot harder for me to enjoy that game. Sarkeesian’s new video though… that was extra disturbing. There’s something really horrifying about pointing out just how frequent sexualized violence is in video games.
Sarkeesian addresses the whole “But you don’t HAVE to do it” argument in the video before this one. The fact that people keep bringing it up as an objection makes it pretty clear that the MRHMRMHRM lacks listening comprehension skills as well as reading comprehension skills.
I like Sarkeesian’s older stuff, and at least the first couple gaming videos, but her videos are getting really bloated and jargony. A lot of the stuff is starting to ring hollow, too. She fails in her criticism in this latest video, as she causally links violence in videogames with real world events without any evidence. I am interested in how women are used in videogames, and not really interested in lazy “media causes violence” tropes that have been around forever.
@maistrechat, real talk, I couldn’t actually get into it either! I played bits and pieces of it, but mainly ended up watching my friend finish it while I played Minecraft beside him. But it is an extremely well-made game, there are some real tearjerker moments towards the end and I thought the development of Ellie’s character was nothing short of groundbreaking in context of its contemporaries. But even if it wasn’t particularly my thing, my point is more that The Last of Us was a huge commercial and critical success which was also directly influenced by Anita’s work. Which is somewhat at odds with the fears of the dudebros shrieking about how she is going to ruin the videogame industry. Like, if the net result of her work is more games like that, what on earth does anyone have to complain about?
This is her best video yet.
Tinyorc: they don’t want developed female characters in games. It’s yet another reminder that they might have to start thinking of women as people and not objects for their viewing pleasure. These guys are more defensive of their views than young earth creationists – despite all evidence to the contrary they will fight tooth and nail to avoid changing their beliefs.
Misogynist gamer #1
“Misogyny in games isn’t an issue! Gamers aren’t sexist. We just shit talk everyone. You’re just being an oversensitive feminazi SJW out to ruin our fun! People are mean to men sometimes too so stop talking about this!”
Misogynist gamer #2
“You are a lying whore and a c*nt. I know where you live and I will rape you and kill your family.
Comment number 2 invalidates comment number 1. And yet there are still plenty of people who try to make the argument that being a woman, especially a feminist on the internet doesn’t invite harassment and there couldn’t possibly be an issue with sexism in the gaming industry.
Oh, and for the last fucking time. Criticizing a game is not in any way a call for censorship. These videos aren’t ruining games. I doubt sexist tropes in games are going away anytime soon. Don’t worry assholes, you’ll still get to see as many dead hookers as you like.
I think the most thought provoking section of the video was talking about WatchDogs, and how the player was actively discouraged through gameplay from doing the actions that help most in real life: Stopping the harassment before it becomes assault, and helping the woman after the assault has taken place. Gotta do the macho vigilante thing and beat up the bad guy yourself.
That’s one of those ways that violent gaming has shaped the narrative which gamers and developers in. Like much of the patriarchy, the bulk of the work is done out of ignorance, not malice. It’s a hopeful thought in some ways. Me might not be able to stop shitlords like the MRAs from hating, but change is possible.
Ever heard of FAIR USE, you blithering idiot?
“Oy, Exuin.exe who does not believe in citing anything, care to do so? Or actually, don’t.”
Oh no no no don’t back down on my part.
http://victorsopinion.blogspot.com/2013/07/anitas-sources.html
If there were a campaign to raise fund to get Anita a security detail, I’d donate to it.
How fucked up is that, that the situation would have gotten so bad that I’d even think that?
I really hope Anita’s okay and she stays safe.
It’s funny, because I’m listening to the Best of the Left episode from August 24, about Ferguson. As I was reading this, a bit from Radio Dispatch came on in which John and Molly talked about how we now live in a society where it takes not just the death of an unarmed black man, but days of protests and police brutality to actually get this society to notice.
And I realize… terrifyingly, this applies here, as well. And that thought scares the fucking shit out of me, and makes me really worried…
“Ever heard of FAIR USE, you blithering idiot?”
Ok I see you then choosing to ignore that what you say implys that she did take the footage and is making money off of the ad revenue and not crediting sources. And then you ignore that discredits all of her statements cause she didn’t play the games to begin with. And that means she really is a con artist cause all that money she got did not go into her studying games.
P.S. Sorry if i cant do the quote things right i don’t know how to use this site.
Wh… wha.. (From that Thunderfoot video)
“In Watch Dogs, where you have to shut down an sex trafficking ring. How can you possibly portray that as objectifying women?”
what.
what.
Sorry, I think parts of my brain just blew out the back of my skull.
Exuin.exe: That’s not how fair use works. Most of the time, you can just say what game it came from and the publisher and you’ll be fine, same as with movies. Besides, it’s the Library of Congress and the publisher who get to decide what fair use is, not you, and making money off of commentaries is not illegal in the slightest; At the Movies would have been off the air before the first show aired if that were the case, not to mention a whole mess of local newscasts.
Oh yes, a blog and some anti-Sarkeesian YouTube videos. Such truthiness!
“We’re not objectifying them, we’re saving them from being sexual objects for other people! The bad people. But hey, if we see some tits in the process of liberating them, well, it’s just part of the job, really.”
So, you don’t know what fair use is.
I accept your concession.
Here’s the door.
Exuin,
Even if everything you’re saying about Anita Sarkeesian is true (your sources are extremely dubious and I don’t believe you, but just for the sake of argument) how does this justify rape and death threats? Do you really think it’s OK to make graphically violent threats against someone just because you disagree with them?
“Exuin.exe: That’s not how fair use works.” I’m not saying it’s illegal and she should get flagged I’m saying that she lied to her viewers (essentially her customers) and thats what i call shady business.
And let’s be clear, this is the only reason you think she’s a “con artist,” not your dubious claims. We saw through this bullshit years ago. You have no high moral ground here.
I advise you to leave now. You are in over your head.
It would be shady if she implied that she had created these games, but, um, no. I guess you should start taking down every other game and movie reviewer on Youtube as well for their “shady business.”
Answer weirdwoodtreehugger’s question: even were this true, does this justify death and rape threats?
“how does this justify rape and death threats?” Do you know a kid in Texas is sitting in jail right now, emotionally broken, cause he “threatened” to goto a grade school to shoot and eat babies over a game of League of Legends. Excuse me if i take matters of security more realistically, and even then for no matter what your cause is once you step up on a soapbox you’d best watch for snipers or else you’ll end up like JFK.
Damn, answering questions is not your strong suit, Exuin.exe.
Answer the question.
“So my thesis is that women are often used, in sexualized ways, to help portray the essential qualities of other people, mostly men. For instance, in this game, you break up a sex trafficking ring…”
“But that’s not objectification! You’re helping these poor women and killing all the evil bad dudes who are doing this to them!”
“… yes. That’s… what I just said”
“It would be shady if she implied that she had created these games”
Ah but she does make up her own misogyny to make to center videos around.
Exuin.exe’s “commentary” boils down to, “A woman is talking and I don’t like it, but I need to come up with a reason for that because I can’t admit that I just don’t like it when women talk and are visible. I know, I’ll rely on some shit that somebody on the internet invented, and it doesn’t matter that this shit is not based at all in reality, because all I needed was an excuse to justify my sexism. It doesn’t have to make sense!”
Yeah, I’m not going to take that seriously.
@Exuin.exe:
Do you care about what you’re saying here? What misogyny did she make up, exactly? I’m at work, so I can’t watch youtube videos, but I have watched all the tropes vs women videos so far, so give me a text summary if you please.
Answer the question of GTFO.
*or
These weird one-line non sequiturs kind of remind me of Woody.
Shut up, Woody.
Shorter exuin: sure she recieved threats so credible that she had to call the police and leave her home, but she doesn’t even play video games!!!1″
How do you know?
He probably shouldn’t have done that, then.
And you’re OK with that? It’s just the way the world is, so why bother fighting it? What a cop-out.
Even if that’s true (LOL), what’s it got to do with fair use? Try to at least follow your own argument, dude.
You know, the video game industry is enormous, and has produced an enormous body of work. The FemFreq videos are long and detailed, because one can’t do justice to such a huge body of work without long, detailed commentary.
And Exuin.exe thinks that doing an equivalent critique of FemFreq is as easy as saying OMG HITMAN! on a blog comment board.
That’s not how critique works.
Oh, so if a sucky game sucks, that’s HER fault, then? Wow, so much power Anita Sarkeesian has…
Also, all your so-called points were debunked MONTHS ago. Try to keep up!
“Answer the question.”
I did. But if you want me to answer it in another way, I don’t condone rape or death threats and I’ve never made them myself, but I’m not about to call the police every time someone comments on me saying they’re going to kill me or rape me over the internet. If the threat was tangible then measures should be taken but until then I also don’t condone the misuse of public resources. And while this slightly doesn’t have much to do with the issue, While police forces all across america are getting military-grade equipment, my school district is damning their funds from reaching the classrooms.
“And you’re OK with that? It’s just the way the world is, so why bother fighting it? What a cop-out.”
So you’re going to be the super hero that stops every human with malicious intent?
Honestly go for it man.
So, you’re saying that rape and death threats are OK because they can’t possibly be serious. Yet, the phrase “or you’ll end up like JFK” seems to suggest that the threats are real and she was asking for it because that’s just what women should suggest when they speak up.
Your last sentence proves that you know misogyny and gendered harassment are real. Not something the feminazis made up. More disturbingly, you seem to be pleased at the prospect of someone shooting Anita Sarkeesian.
You are truly a piece of shit.
Some people might start to have the faintest glimmer of self-awareness there, but not Exuin.exe. No sir.
What if those threats were made hundreds of times and included your personal information, including your address?
Yes, you would call the police.
Oh, I see. So if I found out your real name, your home address, the names of your relatives and pets, and posted a screed at you about how I am going to come to your house and perform graphic and gendered violence on you, and proved that I am capable of physically carrying it out by demonstrating the above knowledge, that’s not a “tangible” threat?
Right.
The thesis of FemFreq is that video games are frequently sexist (and generally unnecessarily so). Can you prove that this is not true? Can you refute the thesis?
Wow. All I can conclude, based on all you’ve posted, is that you’re not a realist at all. You’re an idiot who all but endorses violence and threats of violence.
When you finally manage to pull your head out of there, please let us know. Until then, kindly fuck off.
“Also, all your so-called points were debunked MONTHS ago. Try to keep up!”
Just as “dubious” my sources are called the same is said about those who debunked them. In all honesty I do have to hand it to Anita while she has pretty much flat out lied to the internet (even if all my other points as many people here say are false she’s not on schedule with her own schedule and she did get way over the amount of money she asked for with that much she should be making videos faster than she told people.) shes covered her tracks from getting to accepted credible sources really well. It kinda reminds me of how no mainstream gaming news site would even talk about the Five Guys incident.
Is it opposite day for Exuin.exe who argues to justify rape and death threats by pointing out that someone is in jail somewhere for rape and death threats? Is this poster really arguing that other people being jailed for threats makes it okay to make those threats? Or that Sarkeesian should be threatened with rape and death because “a kid in Texas” is already atoning for the sins of assaulters everywhere?
What I don’t get is that assault is a crime. Threatening another with bodily injury or death is an assault under every state’s law I know of (lawyer here). Is Exuin.exe really saying that assault shouldn’t be a crime and that people assaulting others should not be convicted?
I truly am stumped by Exuin.exe’s comments.
Exuin, you have been seen through. The moment you walked in here:
1) Unaware of fair use
2) Regurgitating “stuff some guys said was true about Anita Sarkeesian”
…you lost.
Hang around here and get made into an exemplar of why Anita Sarkeesian was right all you want, but you were done from the start.
“The thesis of FemFreq is that video games are frequently sexist (and generally unnecessarily so). Can you prove that this is not true?”
Can you prove that they are sexist. Cause while Anita has made few videos discussing there is no irrefutable proof that determines them sexist. Otherwise its just whining that games are designed around you and your tastes.
“Anita … has pretty much flat out lied to the internet” is one of the most ridiculous statements I have ever read. Thank you for the lulz, Exuin you asshat.
I’m bored with games that use GRIMDARK or sexual content as a lazy way to make a game seem “adult” or “hardcore”.
To paraphrase Grant Morrison (on comics, natch), nowadays video games are considered ‘adult’ if they contain lots of swearing, breasts and violence; God help us if that’s what ‘adult’ means.
I don’t think English is exuin’s first language, which could be why we cant understand him? Or his writing skills are worse than Heartiste’s.
OMG leftwingfox! I nearly fell off the treadmill and bust a rib laughing at that!
Did you actually watch the videos, or are you quoting something someone else said about them?
@Exuin,exe
Have you actually watched Anita’s videos? Because she does a really damn good job of doing that. She spends a hell of a lot of time dissecting these games and literally showing why they’re sexist, with citations and everything.
I really don’t think you’ve actually watched her videos. I also don’t think Thunderf00t watches her videos, despite using clips in his “responses”, because neither he nor you actually addresses what she fucking says.
Go watch her videos. Until then, shut the fuck up.
“What if those threats were made hundreds of times and included your personal information, including your address?
Yes, you would call the police.”
No I wouldn’t. I would admit I would be more careful and aware of my surroundings but I lock my doors after me and I maintain my own security until its out of my hands. Other wise its like a kid who says hes got your private IP address and you should be scared, you shouldn’t cause it really is public information. And in all honesty just because someone has your IP address doesn’t mean they can do anything with it. Just like if someone from the west coast started sending me threats I’d seriously doubt that they would spend so much money on getting to me to kill me.
there is no irrefutable proof that determines them sexist
I’m waving my patented Misogynometer at my copy of Watch_Dogs, but currently the readings are unclear. Must need recalibrating.
Seriously though, what the fuck would ‘irrefutable proof that determines them sexist’ look like? Clearly that fact that thousands of people think they’re sexist isn’t enough. Are we supposed to find a high count of sexism molecules or something?
The fact that video games are frequently sexist isn’t even really controversial. That’s what’s so funny about Exuin’s flailing.
That’s an idiotic answer. It’s no different from a creationist claiming that if evolution is untrue then creationism must be true. The default is not “no sexism exists” and we fall back on that automatically. The default is “we don’t know if sexism exists or not” and you have to demonstrate that your position on the “does sexism exist?” question is backed up by evidence.
In other words, even if FemFreq were just cat videos, that would have zero bearing on any assertion that video games are not sexist. You have to demonstrate evidence, not just rely on someone else’s (alleged) lack of evidence.
HAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!
“Have you actually watched Anita’s videos?”
Yes I have as I said there’s no irrefutable proof. Just her talking about the subject. Just like how people say my sources are “dubious” and aren’t proof. She is not an appeal to authority her word holds no ground.
Not IP address exuin, REAL HOME ADDRESS WHERE YOU LIVE. That is what happened to anita, her home address was published.
@Exuin.exe
You really should try to find a sound reason why exactly a video presentation of stuff in video games that has a corresponding section on TVTropes warrants rape- and death threats.
And yes, we could construct a fair use case as she isn’t using less than… probabla less than five percent of those LP’s video’s runtime and she’s using them for educational purposes. She also does quote the source of it – as in – the games they’re from. Yes, not crediting the channels is a shit move, but recordings of video games would probably fall into the same category as recordings of TV programs – the original source is always the original creator, not the person who recorded and re-distributed them.
Pointing out her sloppy research and her low academic standards is fine, but her critics really do not seem to focus on that all that much. A lot of the stuff that we’re supposed to accept as rebuttals is just guys screaming at cameras and presenting lists of games that never reached an audience outside of Japan after all.
Honestly I’ve made this many comments all ready can someone tell me how to quote like everyone else? I’ve never used this site before.
In addition to not knowing the meaning of “fair use”, our troll doesn’t know the categorical difference between an IP address and a home address.
“It’s no different from a creationist claiming that if evolution is untrue then creationism must be true.”
But evolution has and is being tangibly proven. Unlike discussions on sexism where you can’t prove or disprove people’s thoughts and feelings towards an action without testimony and even then there is still an air of doubt on it.
@Exuin.exe:
Anita has been in the public eye and under attack for how long now? And only just now is she tweeting that she called the police? You act as if she overreacted to a single anonymous threat.
Great. So how was the threat directed at Anita not tangible?
You don’t know?
You don’t even know what the threat was?
Huh… That’s odd. Because for some reason you gave the impression that you knew exactly what it was that triggered the police call, and knew enough about it to deem it not credible.
How strange.
Then why would you make the completely unfounded assertion that [given thing] is not sexist? If you are saying that nobody can know if something is sexist or not, then you should be agnostic on the subject, not falling firmly on the side of “no sexism exists.”
It’s no longer 1995, and this isn’t Usenet. Everyone uses the Internet, airfare is cheap even for people in their 20s, and there’s been plenty of stories of people travelling cross-country to cause domestic or gendered violence (some of of which have even led to murders). If someone is determined enough, yes, they can carry out an Internet threat.
@Exuin:
<blockquote>
Blockquotes are made using html tags, like this.
</blockquote>
Alright, if you want to stick around and be annoying, lets focus on the most recent video content and start with the basics. Is Anita correct when she states that women, particularly sexualized and brutalized women, are used as background decoration in games in a way men aren’t?