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.
LOL – sexism doesn’t exist because it can’t be proved with hard science. Other things that don’t exist: pretty much anything to do with human psychology or culture.
Dude, you should really stop listening to Thunderf00t and start listening to AronRa. I’m afraid he doesn’t do any of that sweet, sweet lady-hate that you morons seem to like so much, but on the plus side you might actually learn something that isn’t bullshit.
Sure.
< blockquote >
< /blockquote >
without the spaces. Close tags.
Does anyone fully read my comments. While I do have to thank you guys for giving me so much discussion and I have had fun talking with you all, I do have to say I do feel insulted that I’m not being given as much attention as I’m giving you. I really don’t like to ask much of other people but it is frustrating when I’m constantly making more comments and taking more time to retype what I’ve already written. Though I do enjoy reading responses it would be I enjoy it ever so more when people respond to me as a whole instead of me reading a question on a comment and thinking “I answered that in the next sentence.” It really has been fun but honestly I don’t think I can keep up with this amount of people asking me nor do I feel that I hold a position of responsibility to do so.
In the end though thank you guys for this much discussion you’ve given me so far.
I’m also curious about what constitutes irrefutable proof of misogyny. I think a constant theme of women as sexualized, scantily clad victims and women constantly being portrayed as sex objects with no name or personality while the vast majority of playable characters with a personality and motivations are men is actually enough evidence for most reasonable people.
Exuin reminds me of those people who think you can’t be racist if you aren’t a KKK member.
There’s none so blind as those who will not see.
No… your physical address.
And you would call the police. BS if you say otherwise.
The problem is people don’t like being called sexist. ‘This video game full of naked murdered women is to my tastes, all this is a matter of preference not sexism’. Like how racists insist they’re not racists because they understand the word has bad connotations.
Exuin.exe’s username is quite appropriate. It is a file I would not run, because its willfully stupid files would crash my computer.
Internet stalkers can and have turned into meatspace stalkers.
Very few people with a family would want to risk that family’s safety on the chance that they won’t run into these folks in meatspace. Especially when the interweb nasties have been given your meatspace address.
It’s not your responsibility to support your own assertions? Interesting definition of responsibility you’ve got there.
Yeah, I’d call that a flounce. Let’s see if he sticks it.
So don’t come here and make unsupported, poorly researched statements if you feel you have no responsibility to defend them.
Flounce in one… two… three…
@weirwoodtreehugger:
Pretty much. He’d probably argue that Duke Nukem Forever wasn’t actually sexist, because the game didn’t print in bold letters “I HATE WOMEN I HATE WOMEN” over and over.
It seems like he was just arguing “sexism is debatable, therefore you can’t prove it exists.” He also characterized Anita’s videos as her “just talking,” dismissing entirely the content. What else do you do in a video, show examples? She had oodles.
I’ll be nice and give the flounce a 3 for the “You aren’t paying enough attention to meeeee!!”
Thoughts?
Hey, that was first experience in a real-time take-down of a troll! Enjoyable, although a bit distracting when I’m also trying to get work done.
Is Exuin saying that thoughts and actions have nothing to do with each other and we can never infer someone’s motives by what they do? That’s some bullshit.
Thunderf00t’s videos are just some guy talking, but I reckon that’s Totally Different on account of he’s … a guy.
How far does your head have to be up your ass to think there’s no sexism in video games. And if you couldn’t see it on your own, her videos spell it out. I mean it’s not controversial stuff, it’s fucking obvious! She organizes and puts language to something that’s already in your face. I just don’t get this willful ignorance. Seriously? How many games have you played where you have to beat up a hot guy in a speedo, or save him from being sodomized to move up to the next level?
Oh this was amusing:
Yes. All of us should carefully read your comments, and then organize a retreat where we go to a cabin in Lake Arrowhead to discuss them and craft a unified response. That makes sense. That would be much easier than, say, Exuin reading & distilling all the responses and then crafting hir own reply. Totally logical.
Okay this will be my last. Yes. Again while I did like the discussion I know none of you personally and if the amount of questions I have tried to answer isn’t enough for you, I don’t personally feel indebted to answer more if I don’t want to. I’m not asking anything of all you so I don’t feel responsible to return a favor that I wasn’t given.
THEY NEVER STICK THE FLOUNCE, WHY DO THEY NEVER STICK THE FLOUNCE?
So, Exuin us flouncing because we aren’t paying enough attention to him, yet we are also besieging him with too many questions. Makes sense!
Okay, standard 2 point deduction.
1
Well, xie ‘s still in the positives?
But that’s incorrect. Wrong. Factually not a situation that corresponds to the empirically measured universe.
Sexism isn’t about people’s thoughts or feelings. Sexism is about people’s direct actions in the real world. A thing we can see. A thing we can think about. A thing we can feel. A thing we can measure (using SCIENCE).
When the statistical odds of a woman in a game having armor or clothing that is both physically impossible, professionally impractical and sexually revealing is way, way higher than most mens? That’s sexism.
When women exist in video game narratives more often than not with the sole purpose of being sexy, captured or dying terribly to prove how bad the villain is? That’s sexism.
When Wolfenstein makes nazi female super soldiers who are blonde, attacking using backflips and wear reglation standard german uniforms with a corsets and a massive pair of stonking great tits, that’s sexism.
It’s visibly and tangibly proven. Discussions on sexism isn’t some thought experiment where you can raise pros and cons, you can talk about degrees and you can talk about possibilities and you can even disagree and offer your own analysis, which is all fine and possible, but it’s not some wildly mystical nominal field where you can never be entirely sure because other people are so unknowable and mystic.
I mean, come on. Duke Nukem isn’t sexist? It’s a fun, well made game, but don’t bloody tell me the moaning women in pods isn’t there because they’re meant to titilate the player. You open doors by flicking virtual tits, man. The original Duke Nukem, not the 2011 remake. If you want to claim the remake isn’t visibly sexist, I’m going to disagree by frowning so hard I’ll create a gravitational singularity with my face.
That’s the lowest possible example I can think of visibly, easily, tangibly proven sexism.
The rest is just as easy, but it doesn’t stick in my head and takes a bit longer to recall. So, yeah.
Also RE: the rageboner-wielding kid from Texas – I don’t really feel bad when people are arrested for posting shit like, “I’m fucked in the head alright, I think Imma shoot up a kindergarten and watch the blood of the innocent reign down.” I’m tired of the attitude that writing abusive shit on the internet is just boyish fun. If you feel oppressed because you can’t threaten to shoot up a kindergarten without repercussions, you need to do a deep dive on your priorities.
@cloudiah
I think what exuin wants is a point-by-point analysis and response. As though every word and phrase were somehow unique and special, and deserving of grave consideration and a thoughtful and individual response.
I hadn’t heard of Sorbo’s rant before it’s kind of weird I’ve actually met him a few times since we’re from the same area of Minnesota and he dated a family member of mine for a while. He actually always seemed like a decent sort when I ran into him.
Huuuuuuge pothead though. At least he was more than a decade ago, who knows now.
that’s it
that’s the whole discussion
Now that zie’s gone …
If you want to read more ranting about how feminazis are ruining vidya games, go here:
http://np.reddit.com/r/MensRights/comments/2etmqs/the_postzoey_quinn_antisjw_tsunami_backlash/
It’s full of hilariously angry whiners.
You’re the one who came charging in here Exuin. We didn’t seek you out. Quit acting like we’re burdening you by taking you to task for what you choose to come here and say.
Pendragon,
You’re Minnesotan? Me too!
Translation: “Your replies have convinced me that I have no fucking clue what I’m talking about and that I am just desperately making shit up as I go to prove a point I’m not even sure about, but damn if I’m going to admit it, so I’ll just feign some unsupported feeling of superiority and pretend I’m above your level.”
Get a grip, man.
Aw, poor baby. I’m insulted you came here and shit on the rug with your inane ramblings and flailings.
@ pendraegon re: Kevin Sorbo
I kinda hope it was someone else or something, I have also always heard that he was pretty down to earth and cool :(
I am Weirwood, go Wild. Been meaning to say I dig the name by the way, much love for the old gods.
Hey Exuin, discussing opposing viewpoints with people is a lot easier if you at least try to pay attention to what others are saying (you haven’t done this, not with the people leaving comments or Anita Sarkeesian’s videos), don’t use circular reasoning (you use circular reasoning), and put a similar amount of effort into your responses as others do (you don’t do this).
Basically, if you get your head out of your ass, you might learn something.
Sigh. Has he flounced already?
@Exuin.exe – when you were called out, nobody was ‘backing down’. I simply lost faith that you would actually be able to support your disparaging and derailing opinion piece with anything more substantial than other disparaging and derailing opinion pieces. Happens every time. And here we are.
And the slide into minimising and denying the seriousness with which threats of rape and assault should be taken, the steep nose-dive into victim-blaming, ended by refusal to adequately substantiate your arguments … yawn. Again, predictable as hell.
More of the same fresh-off-the-production-line asshattery. Someone really has to turn that thing off.
It really is incredible that when some misogynyst dipshit makes up ludicrous biotruth horseshit videos the various other dipshits eat it up.
Women say they are being harassed online? “BLUH BLUH SHE’S ONLY DOING IT FOR ATTENTION NO ONE IS HARASSING THAT [STREAM OF SLURS]”
on top of that, in the continuing stupidity that is the Zoe Quinn shitstorm, you’ve got people claiming “indiegames are destroying gaming”
Indie game devs are often the only ones who will fucking TRY SOMETHING DIFFERENT instead of just making another goddamn FPS.
Me too Aural, not saying it’s impossible or anything, I only met him a handful of times so I don’t know the guy real well. It’d just be a bit of a shock to find out, this is why I try to avoid twitter and learning too much about performers I like. Hate to learn they may hold some vile beliefs, after the whole Gene Simmons suicide comments I just sort of cut myself off of that sort of news. Except Felicia Day, I will read and watch ever damned bit of media she produces.
@cloudiah:
…
That sounds fun, actually. Can this be a real thing?
@kirbywarp, As long as the topic isn’t Exuin’s comments!
@kirbywarp
Oooooh, can we go canoeing while we participate in the hive mind?
Head’s up; Ed Germer is a sexist troll. I’ve seen him show his ass multiple times over at FTBs. He’s a jerk.
@inurashii
It does always boil down to that, doesn’t it?
“Gash cash”? Is that a common MRA saying, or is it used by Paul Elam alone? Is it possible to distill everything that’s wrong with A Voice for Men into one phrase? I think he’s done it.
Woooo, after years of searching anita arkeesian’s work on google and youtube I finally spelled her name correctly on the first try!!!!! Man, I had absolutely no idea how bad games were. It certainly explains the attitudes of the stalkers who threaten her. I wish there were something I could do. I am considering wearing an anita asrkeesian t-shirt for my first fight.
@bunnybunny
While Exuin.exe’s mention of it is a disgusting, tasteless attempt at scoring Debate Points™, the case he’s referring to has some pretty serious implications about free speech. You can read about it here.
For those of you wondering about Kevin Sorbo…
Christians, Stop Doing This (Kevin Sorbo mouths off about atheists)
Nope, I’ll never be able to watch Hercules again (Kevin Sorbo’s racist rant against the “animals” of Ferguson, MO)
Kevin Sorbo is an idiot, part Umpty-Eleven (More of Kevin Sorbo’s mouthing off about atheists)
Sorry… I was just as devastated by this…
I have read about it. There are implications about free speech when people like Sarkeesian report threats as well, and when legal action is taken against people who make threats of violence online. I don’t condone the charges against Carter, but I don’t think this shit should slide, either.
“But is the the fault of feminists like Anita that this happens? I don’t think so”
From a comment way above. Of course it’s not her fault, nor is it entirely the fault of feminists. However, there’s no empathy here, no awareness of the fact that the goal is to shame some male gamers into becoming aware of the inherent misogyny in video games. To shame and bully them into doing something about it. It’s like policing people’s fantasies, judging them for their thought crimes. If you consider how many gamers game to escape the world of bullying, this would be perceived as simply another attack. Does that justify death threats and harassment? No, but can no one even consider where that might be coming from?
OH NO THOSE POOR GAMERS MIGHT NEED TO LEARN EMPATHY HOW AWFUL.
shut up.
Oh, look, Inanitybytes is here to add exactly fuckall to the conversation.
Won’t someone please think of the poor gamers? You know, it’s not like it’s become a mainstream hobby or anything in the past few years.
Alex M: I honestly don’t think that’s a free speech issue, but rather a prosecutorial misconduct/prison issue.
I think the police were right to take his threat seriously, but there should have been no reason to arrest him after the investigation turned up no weapons, history of violence or pattern of behaviour. What happened to him in prison is heartbreaking.
IB: Anita isn’t bullying anyone. She’s presenting examples of misogyny in video games as plainly as possible, with little in the way of hyperbole. If anything, the examples tend to speak for themselves.
It’s not like she’s the Angry Video Game Nerd, screaming at games on camera just because everyone says they’re bad.
You know, one of the reasons that I take the ‘feed the trolls till they burst’ side of things, is that sometimes you just get to watch a spectacular meltdown, but sometimes (rarely, it is true, but it does happen) they vomit up something useful. Like this
Here’s the thing. Yes, sexism is an attitude and a mindset, but it is also a set of behaviors (or maybe it’s more accurate that it can be manifest in a set of behaviors). Honestly, I could care less what people think or feel. Really. I am not (necessarily) trying to change anyone’s mind. You can still think women are icky and mean and have cooties, so long as you do not get in the way of any woman or group of women living their lives as they see fit and enjoying all the benefits and freedoms of full humanity. That’s it for me as a feminist. You can continue to think and feel whatever you like, but you can’t discriminate.
It is not necessary to prove that a particular game writer or developer team has a particular attitude toward women in order for the manifestation of behavior in the game to be judged (and judged accurately) as sexist. Actually, sometimes these tropes and ideas are embedded so deeply in our culture that you have to work really hard to see them as anything other than normal (they come up all the time, after all), so that people who would be deeply offended if you suggested that they are condoning violence against women might still produce a game where violence against women is used, as Sarkeesian points out, as some kind of shortcut to establish how ‘dark’ or ‘gritty’ a setting is.
The thing is, as with any work of fiction, there is a choice in how you articulate the world you are creating. Game developers could, for example, use violence against animals to show how ‘dark’ and ‘gritty’ a particular world or setting was, in which you would have the mutilated corpse of dogs and cats and other animals lying about, and NPCs or ‘bad guys’ would abuse animals on the street. It is clear, tangible evidence of sexism in society that the choice to use the abuse of women to “set the scene” for a world is seen as automatic and uncontroversial by so many writers and development teams (as is the fact that the choice to subject so much graphic and purely gratuitous “stage setting” violence to animals would raise more general alarm and opprobrium than similar violence enacted on representations of women’s bodies.
Oh, and one more thing. In my former life, I wrote a lot of cultural criticism, primarily of movies and tv. I have never made a movie or a tv show, I don’t work in the film or tv industry, but I am a member of the cultural community in which and for which movies and tv are made, and I do watch some, though it would obviously be impossible for one human being to watch all of them. Just being part of that cultural community gives me the right to write and talk about them and judge them as much as I like, just as Sarkeesian has the right to write and talk and judge video games. She does not need any kind of membership card, or magic key, or permission to do so. She doesn’t have to play each and every one in order to talk about it, and yes, to judge it. You are free to disagree with her, dislike her, or produce as much media as you like refuting or debunking or critiquing her work (right now you are attempting to do so through flimsy logical fallacies and weak, unsupported assertions and it’s not very persuasive) as is anyone else.
But there is no argument, no framework, no justification, no analogy by which it is acceptable to threaten or harass her or anyone for her opinion. No one on Youtube or in a jail cell in Texas, or anywhere else in the world, for that matter, has any bearing on the above.
Oh ffs. Inanity is at it again. Are you here to get more blog fodder or are you just lonely?
I feel no need to empathize with sexist assholes who harass women or excuse others who do so. Being bullied as a child is not an excuse. Lots of us were bullied as kids. I was shy, awkward and geeky with bad hair. And I played video games. I know how it feels to be picked on. I also know that the proper response to that is to oppose the bullying and exclusion of others. All these assholes are doing is staking out an area in which they can use the privilege they do have to finally feel powerful by harassing others. Fuck that.
This is sort of off topic but sort of on topic because it’s about “oppressed” white male nerds.
I’ve seen nerds complaining about the Big Bang Theory because it’s “nerd minstrely” That really pisses me off. A group of people that is privileged appropriating racism to bitch about a stupid sitcom
Social awareness equals bullying? I can feel the stupid.
What? There are children starving in some third world countries? Waaaaa! Why’d you make me think about that?! I feel totally bullied right now.
**eyeroll**
“Nerd minstrely”? Wow, I hope that term never pops up again.
Sure.
A possibly bad space, where they are people who want to zone out and enjoy themselves for a few hours to escape the press of lives that are hollow and people they despite, the young, arty types who were bullied in high school who are too creative for the dreary lives and living in small disaster to disaster existences, caught in the vast vagaries of fate and never quite going to make, too stuck with the bad deals of the past and the unknown quantities of the future. The sort vulnerable, stereotypical geek you might imagine if you closed your eyes when I wrote geek, who really means no harm and intends no evil, but just wants some peace and quiet. You know the sort. Nice dad, good friend, happy worker, a bit distant perhaps, yearning for some inner wonder the world hasn’t quite managed to find yet after the mortgage and the heart attack that killed one parent.
Wait.
No.
fuck that
Did the adoption of Dante’s Inferno really need a “Sin to Win” campaign and endless pictures of naked or near naked demonettes licking various parts of themselves or others? Does pointing out that’s fucking ridiculous really shame anyone?
Analyzing a story isn’t shaming and bullying. No one has even once said “You are bad people for liking this”. People just wonder at the sheer random weirdness of some games and the images and stories those games tell, and offering critique on how this is the way it is, why it is the way it is and in some cases how to change it. “Shame” enters into it because of you.
Yes, you, insanitybytes22, who decide to construe it as a riff on your chosen lifestyle and feel attacked by the words of other people, feeling like you must mount some kind of pre-emptive defense against their vicious meme vectors, the ones that only exist in your head and has no bearing on reality in any way, shape or form. All you can do is clutch your pearls and wail against the evil feminists who bully and hate and deride all men everywhere, despite the fact none of them have done such a damn thing, and you come here, and you do it again and again and again and again and again.
I normally try to be nicer and wittier when I write these kinds of posts, but your specific mealy mouthed inanity and haphazard playing around a topic and random attempts at trying to prove we’re all deluded monsters that hate the poor sad men who are unjustly victimized by a cruel world and only need a hug is so incredibly grating.
If you cared a wit about hating feminism, you’d look it the fuck up and argue cogently against the points raised by feminists. Yet you don’t.
If you really cared about men, you’d spend your time in the comment sections of sites that offered aid and help and partnerships and mentors and talks to men, and they are legion, and they are useful, but you don’t.
Just.. either bloody damn well come here and make a point that’s worth pointing out, has relevance, or is an attempt at pointing out something out, or at least, AT LEAST, be funnier when you do all this.
The rest is just pathetic. And it’s sad. And it gets to me, because I just really, really wish you’d have something more constructive, fun, interesting, wonderful and delightful to do with your life. And I hope you find some wonder to occupy your time.
I’m kind of annoyed exuin.exe flounced without at least thanking Fibinachi and kirbywarp for explaining how to use blockquotes. Rude.
But that doesn’t mean zie needs to come back.
“Head’s up; Ed Germer is a sexist troll. I’ve seen him show his ass multiple times over at FTBs. He’s a jerk.”
Uh, thanks? Still, I think one can like Sarkeesian’s videos, have some mild criticism of them, and still not be a sexist jerk.
Also that was a great comment, gillyrosebee.
I’m trying to parse this last sentence and failing. Yes, the goal is to make male gamers (and everyone else) aware of the inherent misogyny in video games. Is that “shaming?” Well, I guess gamers should be ashamed of the misogyny in their hobby, and for not recognizing it earlier. There certainly is an element of “you should feel bad that this exists.” The shaming isn’t something done on purpose, though, it’s just a natural product of being made aware of a terrible thing.
People feel ashamed that Richard Dawkins, someone they admired and looked up to, turned out to be such a douche on some things. Nobody said “be shamed that Dawkins said this,” they said “Dawkins said this terrible thing.”
What does this have to do with lacking empathy?
It’s not “shaming” (in a pejorative sense) or “bullying” to point out that misogyny exists in video games. As for “doing something about it,” why is it a bad thing to want to do something about the sexism once you realize its there? The intent of Anita’s videos is to recognize a problem. If people feel ashamed once they realize the problem exists, that’s a good thing! It means they agree its a problem! And if they feel like they need to do something about it, even better! But you can’t say that Anita was trying to shame them. Then you’re blaming Anita for making you feel things.
Games are not thoughts. They are actual products manifest in the real world. Comparing the content of games to “thought crimes” is silly. Anita is not critiquing table-top rpg gamers who role-play something misogynistic, she’s critiquing a product like a movie or a book. Many of those products contain common sexist themes.
Ahh, ok. So you think Anita’s critique of games is identical to a critique of gamers.
No.
Games are the subject of the videos. Anita is pointing out sexist tropes in those games. Gamers are among the people who are showering her with slurs and rape/death threats. They are sexist also, but in a different way.
Critiquing games is not bullying gamers. Labeling gamers as misogynistic assholes for making rape and death threats is not bullying gamers any more than calling a racist racist is bigoted.
You are asking us to consider the harassers and feel bad for them, when those harassers are not being targeted except for being harassers. No.
Edward Gemmer: You know, I’d point out that Lea was talking about your past history of coments as the reason you’re a dick, not because you have mild criticism of Anita’s videos…
…if I already didn’t have long experience with watching you continuously misconstrue conversations and dance around the point.
@insanitybytes22: No, fuck that, calling out and critiquing sexism is not, and has never been, bullying. That mentality is extremely dangerous and regressive.
Oh, but Breakfastman, don’t you see? We have to be very sweet and deferential to the men folk because we’ve been SO HARD ON THEM for SO LONG. I mean, they get treated worse than slaves, after all. /sarcasm
Also, late to the party again. Wheee!
Now I’m really annoyed that ib22 has engaged in the shaming bullshit so typical of MRAs.
Edward, I know who you are and yes, you’re a sexist asshole. I did not say that you are a sexist asshole because you criticize Anita’s work and you know it. Don’t play dumb. I said I was familiar with you and with your bullshit. Don’t show up here and expect no one to know you from elsewhere. You like to go to feminist spaces and act like an asshole. You have a history of it. You should leave. Go play with your friends at the Slime Pit.
Inanity,
If someone steps on your toe and you tell them they are on your toe and you want them to get off of your toe, it is no bullying them. If they choose to stay on your toe and you tell them that makes them an asshole, that isn’t shaming them. It is stating a fact. It is not “bullying” to point out racism, misogyny or homophobia. It is absurd for you to claim it is. Then again, I’d expect nothing better from you.
I’m really, really tired of people having the nerve to use the term bullying in the most outrageous of contexts. @insanitybytes, you’re an absolute asshat and a fucking disgrace.
Long time lurker, first time commenter, sorry/notsorry for just jumping in. =P
@redpoppy: Oh right, yeah, I forgot, social change doesn’t happen because people fight for it and critique the existing power systems, it just magically happens when the people in power feel it is the right time, and we shouldn’t try to expedite that at all. :P