Yesterday I wrote about a vile online game in which players were invited to “beat up Anita Sarkeesian,” the feminist cultural critic who’s faced endless harassment because she had the temerity to ask for donations to fund a video project looking at sexist tropes in video games.
The game, which (happily) has been removed from Newgrounds.com, where it was originally posted, was put together by a young Canadian gamer named Bendilin Spurr. On the game’s page, he offered this explanation as to why he created the game:
Anita Sarkeesian has not only scammed thousands of people out of over $160,000, but also uses the excuse that she is a woman to get away with whatever she damn well pleases. Any form of constructive criticism, even from fellow women, is either ignored or labelled to be sexist against her.
She claims to want gender equality in video games, but in reality, she just wants to use the fact that she was born with a vagina to get free money and sympathy from everyone who crosses her path.
That doesn’t really explain much, as asking people for voluntary donations to a video project is a far cry from “scamming,” especially since she’d asked for far less, and that the misogynist backlash to her project began long before she’d collected anywhere near this amount.
It also doesn’t quite explain why Bendilin felt that a Sarkessian-punching game was the best format to make this, er, critique.
Last night, after learning from the comments here that young Bendilin had a profile on Steam and a Twitter account, I decided to peruse both to see if I could find more clues that might explain his foul game.
On his Steam profile, he’s set forth his basic philosophy of life, video games, and how much women suck:
I think it’s just adorable how absolutely no girls are any good at video games, just like how no woman has ever written a good novel. They are nothing but talk and no action, probably because girls are such emotional creatures and base everything they do on their current feelings and then try to rationalize their actions later. How pathetic.
You know what’s priceless? When a gamer girl posts a pic of herself looking as slutty as possible and then throws a fake fit when people talk to her like she’s a whore. What did you think was going to happen, you dumb broad? Lose thirty pounds.
Sadly, these aren’t terribly rare or original opinions for a young male gamer.
Over on Twitter, Bendilin has offered a number of conflicting explanations for why he felt so much hostility for Sarkeesian and her video project that he felt justified in creating a video game devoted to punching her in the face.
There’s the fiscal argument:
There’s the laziness argument:
There’s the rather strange argument that Sarkeesian is not taking the proper time to research the subject, although she has not yet started the project. (Also, one of the reasons she was asking for money was so that she could take the time to research the subject properly.)
The “nuh-uh you’re wrong” argument:
The “she won’t listen to me argument.” Part one: The Lego Incident
And Part 2, in which our hero explains that making a video game about punching someone in the face is a great way to open a dialogue with them:
Naturally, Bendilin, like most misogynists, fervently denies that he’s a misogynist:
Yep, that’s right. The guy whose Steam profile claims that “absolutely no girls are any good at video games” and that “no woman has ever written a good novel,” and who decided to express his criticism for a video project that hasn’t even started by making a video game in which players punch the woman behind it in the face, is angry that anyone might conclude that he hates women.
Well, Bendilin, if you wanted to defend video games and the gaming community at large from charges of sexism, you’ve done a bang-up job of it.
UPDATE: Bendilin is also an artist! Here, Virgil Texas takes a look at Bendilin’s erotically charged Sonic the Hedgehog art.
That last paragraph and the update contained
Not for Steele who is an asshat, but when I started teaching, I soon saw a pattern in some of my classes where the non-traditional age women students (many of whom were divorced) would on occasion group together and some out with some really passive-aggressive shit about men–and in the groups (smaller groups for discussion), sometimes younger men (a number of whom had been raised by single mothers) were singled out for bullying by several of these women. I had to act to stop the bullying.
I am sure it was very difficult for you.
Yeah! Why are all you mean feminists talking about the pervasive, systematic attack on women and girls instead of the occasional, noteworthy attack on men and boys! WHAT ABOUT TEH MENZ???!?!?!?!!!
It always seems to go back there, doesn’t it?
Steele, perhaps this isn’t the venue for you to work out your issues. There’s a whole big internet out there for you and your feelings.
Well, it’s not surprising that an MRA would read persecution into a situation where there is none.
Please, point me to where I said I was “persecuted”.
Are you saying that it’s unreasonable for an individual to be hurt or damaged as a result of bullying by an authority figure- regardless of the justification?
Would it have been unreasonable for one of your classmates to be hurt as a result of your teacher’s misandry?
That seems to be what you’re arguing.
Has Remington Steele acknowledged yet the examples of Sodini & Lepine proving that women have been attacked and murdered specifically for “being female”? That’s just in the West.
It’s well-documented that when confronted with bigoted “jokes”, a lot of people who are targeted will feel pressure to play along, so as not to ruin the “fun”.
That’s true, Steele, just not in the way you think. There’s ample evidence on line that men who dare to say the kind of crap directed at Sarkeesian (or any woman) is not OK will be told to STFU and stop being such emasculated faggot mangina she-males. (Here’s a Privilege Denying Dude Pro-Tip: If you don’t want people to think you’re a misogynist, work up some material that doesn’t include the words “whore”, “dyke/faggot”, “c**t,” “bitch” or “grow some balls.”)
Actually, that just made it funnier VOIP.
Okay, Steele, let me try to explain this to you:
A teacher picking on boys is not cool. Teachers should not tell boys that they aren’t as smart or as strong as girls. That is wrong and should be stopped.
But a teacher telling boys that they are worth less than girls is an anomaly. The idea that boys are not as good as girls is not reinforced by the culture at large, which consistently implies that the opposite is true.
Girls, on the other hand, are constantly being bombarded with the idea that they are not as valuable as boys are. If a teacher tells girls that they are not as good as boys, then this idea is reinforced by the culture at large.
So, while a teacher doing either of these things is bad, one is ultimately more harmful than the other.
Understand?
… I honestly can’t talk to you Steele. You have an honest-to-god complete lack of self-awareness.
I talk about my experience, but I’m a feminist, therefore I must have internalized all the misandry in my classroom. Isn’t it common for individuals to internalize persecution in an effort to fit in?
You talk about your experience, and I say you’re an MRA, therefore you must be reading persecution into your experience. You defend yourself by saying how isn’t it common for people to be hurt or damaged as a result of an authority figure’s bullying.
In your mind, literally the only anecdata that matters is your own, and whatever will further support your own beliefs. Despite how silly this whole thing is, you’re still trying to erase my experience at the expense of your preconcieved notions, and that’s too much frustration for such an inconsequential conversation.
Nobody here is arguing that it’s okay to inflict harm (except the MRAs, who argue that it’s just peachy-keen-fine to threaten, insult, beat, rape, or kill women for daring to start feminist projects).
1) This thread is about a man who made violent video game specifically targeting a woman starting a project about misogyny in video games.
2) It is in a blog specifically dedicated to making fun of misogyny.
3) There is a long tradition of smacking down disingenuous bullshit comments that try to turn the message from “misogyny is mock-worthy and stupid” to “what about men, huh? Men are discriminated against and treated worse than women!!!!!”
4) You are fulfilling your role of village idiot to a T.
I think one useful analogy for the discussion of misandry is gravity from the earth and the moon. Obviously the moon has a gravitational pull, and it causes things like tides, but it’s not going to life any of us off the ground. Complaning about misandry is a bit like complaining about the gravitational pull of the moon.
“Damn! I dropped some eggs and they broke. Curse you, earth gravity!”
“What about the moonz!”
So, while a teacher doing either of these things is bad, one is ultimately more harmful than the other.
And if that was the argument set forth by Kirbywarp et al, I’d have more time for it. I’d still disagree, because I don’t consider misogyny to be as pervasive as you all do, but I’d understand the concepts at work. Unfortunately, it’s not the position set forth by the majority of the community.
Secondly, I have a problem with the blanket statements being thrown around here. There are boys who would be heavily damaged by misandric rhetoric, and girls who would barely be fazed by misogyny, because not everyone is “average”. As I said earlier:
Boys aren’t a monolith. Some boys are confident, some boys are insecure. Some boys will be able to shrug off the crap that Kyrie describes; with others, it could lead to some dark places. It did for me. The same is true for girls, of course; if you want to argue that it would be, on average, more damaging for girls to hear a misogynist coach, that’s a discussion that can be had. But it’s really not all that material in a practical sense, in my opinion, because impressionable children aren’t “all average”.
There’s a sense I’m getting that Kyrie’s teacher/Kirbywarp’s teacher were just “kind of bad”, which is a sentiment I strongly disagree with. It is terrible, and those teachers should have been either stripped of their jobs or issued a severe reprimand.
Skimming the comments, it seems Steele is a boring “what about the men” derailment troll. Ho-hum. I wonder if we’ll get another weapons-grade MRA kook like Arks, Zarat, Meller or NWO. This “Bendilin” guy would be a contender.
I remember stumbling upon his comics as a bored kid on the internet, my initial impression was “this is complete crap.” It’s sad that his artistic output seems to have only devolved from there.
“What about the Moonz” made me LOL 🙂
Yeah that hey baby game is so terrible.
More terrible than say, being told by random dude yeasterday that hed like to lick my pussy. I was walking down the street. In a floor length dress that only revealed my arms. (Empress waistline)
Or my daughters very first. “nice tits”. She just turned TEN. And sadly, she now understands why I fuss over certain aspects of her clothing and deportment. And the guy who said this? Looked to be forty. And now, she’s frightened to go anywhere without me. Because everyone who isn’t clearly a child is an authority figure to her.
So please Steele tell me how hard it is to hear one person tell you you suck when you’re a guy.
Well shit, if I’m looking for opinions on the pervasiveness of misogyny, the one I’m going to give the most weight to is certainly that of an MRA. My own lived experience must mean essentially nothing in the face of MALE RATIONALITY.
I talk about my experience, but I’m a feminist, therefore I must have internalized all the misandry in my classroom. Isn’t it common for individuals to internalize persecution in an effort to fit in?
I didn’t say that. I just said that as a feminist, maybe you’re more inclined to let it wash off your back. I didn’t think it was all that wild of an assumption. Likewise:
You talk about your experience, and I say you’re an MRA, therefore you must be reading persecution into your experience. You defend yourself by saying how isn’t it common for people to be hurt or damaged as a result of an authority figure’s bullying.
It is possible that as someone inclined to the MRM, I am more sensitive to misandry. So? It doesn’t make the misandry okay.
Would it have been wrong for one of your classmates to be hurt by your teacher’s misandry? If the answer is no, I don’t really know what you’re disputing here.
In your mind, literally the only anecdata that matters is your own, and whatever will further support your own beliefs.
You say, “no boys were hurt because I wasn’t.”
I say, “You can’t say whether they were hurt or not unless you discussed it privately with them.”
Who’s relying on anecdata, again?
Despite how silly this whole thing is, you’re still trying to erase my experience at the expense of your preconcieved notions
Ridiculous. I do not dispute for one minute that you were not bothered by your teacher’s misandry.
@Anathema
“But a teacher telling boys that they are worth less than girls is an anomaly. The idea that boys are not as good as girls is not reinforced by the culture at large, which consistently implies that the opposite is true.”
Actually our government, education system and media are in a constant state of glorifying women and demonizing men. The only place it doesn’t happen is in comment section, blogs and games apparently. Which if you’re a woman you’re so used to the constant praise being heaped upon you as well as the demonization of boys and men it must come as a shock to go anywhere where this isn’t institutionalized.
Princess snowflake had her feelings hurt and was rewarded with 160K. If that ain’t woman worship I don’t know what is. Let’s see what happens if I cry that all the mean girls here hurt my feelings.
Hang on, hang on……zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzipppppp. Just unzipped my pants and noticed I don’t have a pussy. Guess I don’t get a reward for crying the blues. It’s real easy to see who is privileged beyond all comprehension. Remember how I said a while back if a woman cries in the street she get’s whatever she wants? I guess I was wrong. Privileged little princess didn’t even have to leave her comfy daddy paid for abode. She cried online and got whatever she wanted.
Well shit, if I’m looking for opinions on the pervasiveness of misogyny, the one I’m going to give the most weight to is certainly that of an MRA. My own lived experience must mean essentially nothing in the face of MALE RATIONALITY.
The irony is thick with this one.
Fuck everything about this. This is why society needs to change, and the people fighting it with trolling tactics are enablers.
Steele, the only thing thick around here is you.
Polliwog, I’m sorry that happened to your daughter. That is fucked up.
Polliwog, that is terrible. All the internet hugs in the world to you and your daughter.
This was the day I’ve truly dreaded zardox. I prayed that it would happen later. Literally. But everyone has to remark on what a beaty she is. Which is cruel on so many levels. Mostly because they put her at risk of never seeing her intelligence, her wit, her kindness or any of her struggles to gain real achievement based on what she’s done with her life, not just the genetic lottery. Also because some children do not develophe looks their childhood seemed to promise. What will she be if she doesn’t become the knockout everyone thinks she will?
Also Steele, boys and men have been telling my daughter that girls are stupid from the moment she entered school. It would have been earlier if I had cable and she could watch Saaturday morning cartoons. Did you know there’s a barbie thtells little girls that “math is hard”? How many brave, capable female heroines are there in cartoons?
Protip: That was sarcasm. (Replacing “misogyny” with “misandry” and “MRA” with “feminist” doesn;t work, because even if you flip the tables, you are the one arguing about feminism in an explicitly feminist space.
Do you understand?
I should never have cut my nails. Damn cell keyboard keys are too fracking small!
Sorry for the rampant typos!