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
I don’t think there is actually any layman’s definition of “misandry”. Try using that word in casual conversation – most people will give you a funny look and tell you that it’s not a real word.
most people will give you a funny look and tell you that it’s not a real word.
Firstly, the layman’s definition is the dictionary definition.
Secondly, most people would probably ask what it meant; I would reply “hatred of men”, and they’d say, “oh, all right. Thanks.”
Most people would not throw a huge fit over it and come up with convoluted reasons why it’s “not a real word” or some such crap.
Thirdly, I have heard the word in casual conversation once or twice. Not much, but it’s in some level of use. I have also heard it used a few times in an academic context.
Try again, kid.
Nope. I’ve tried using misandry in conversation as an experiment, and people have said “that’s not a real word” and then, when I explained what MRAs think it means, “that’s not something that actually exists”. These were men, btw. Doesn’t seem like the general public agrees with you on this (or any other) issue.
I’ve tried using misandry in conversation as an experiment, and people have said “that’s not a real word” and then, when I explained what MRAs think it means, “that’s not something that actually exists”.
Such a comprehensive study!
My experience has been different.
(Personally, as a feminist, I suspect you run with people who are inclined to agree with you. Even if I’m wrong, anecdata is a waste of everyone’s time).
Aw, Schmoopy, sorry to burst your bubble. That was mean of me. I could point out that your circle probably leans pro-MRA and that’s why you know people who recognise the word “misandry”, but that would just be super extra mean.
BWAhahahahaha! You mean, unless it’s YOUR anecdote. Pfft.
Aw, Schmoopy, sorry to burst your bubble. That was mean of me. I could point out that your circle probably leans pro-MRA and that’s why you know people who recognise the word “misandry”, but that would just be super extra mean.
It’s possible, certainly, but your anecdata is no more convincing than mine. The fact that I have heard the word used in an academic context, on the other hand, seems to indicate that it’s not quite as much of a joke as you’d like to think.
Hmmm, I’m not so sure. It depends on the… What’s that word again? … CONTEXT I’ve known many an academic with an extremely dry sense of humor.
I can certainly imagine Ithiliana using that word, but it wouldn’t be as an endorsement.
Ugh, can we just ignore this puling asshole? That’s probably very misandric (even spellcheck thinks that word is bullshit) of me, but I am at roughly half-past give a shit with this utter moron.
Spellcheck, like MS Word, is misandry.
It depends on the… What’s that word again? … CONTEXT
Nothing exciting. Working on a graduate degree at the moment, and I semi-regularly attend lectures on literature- it still interests me despite the fact that I was chased from the profession by a bullying, abusive misandrist. About a month ago the lecturer said something along the lines of:
Some say that yadda yadda yadda’s views could be interpreted as misandrist, that is, anti-male, and others say […]
No one flipped out. No one shat their pants. We wrote it down.
Steele, here’s the problem. You are using “misandry” to refer to an institutional thing. Why else would you say “episodic misandry” rather than just plain “misandry?”
So you’re being fundamentally dishonest in whining over how “misandry” can refer to single episodes or an institutional thing, as if that’s important in the slightest. It’s just a smokescreen over a topic you explicitly refuse to talk about.
You want us to buy the term “episodic misandry?” Prove misandry exists. Want to prove misandry exists? Don’t cloud the issue by saying that there exist individuals who hate men, when really what you need to show is that there is any sort of institutional backing to that hatred. And if you want to use the term “misandry” to just talk about those individual instances, don’t use the phrase “episodic misandry.” You gotta pick one or the other.
Says the man who uses an anecdote about a possibly man-hating, bully of a teacher as evidence that we live in a misandric society.
It really would help if Steele would sit in on some Logic 101 classes, wouldn’t it?
@Steele: You seem to assume a dictionary is a neutral authority. It’s not:
http://www.blackwellreference.com/public/tocnode?id=g9781405111850_chunk_g978140511185042
@Steele
Yes, you heard misandry in a literature class. That is generally where it comes up, because misandry is often used as a hypothetical position for FICTIONAL characters to have. You know those weird caricatures of feminists that show up in books, movies and tvs? Like the Feministas from Futurama?
Alright, misandry is indeed a position held by many characters in novels, a plethora of cartoon characters, and maybe even a dozen or so real live people.
However, you continually contend that it is an institutional bias similar to misogyny, to which we keep replying: evidence or stfu.
Are we going to go around this circle again or are you going to post some sources?
I know your idea of a source is some angry dude talking about how Jesus’ personal sex life was an attack on men, but try to shoot a little higher, yeah?
SOC SCIENCES INDEX: search for misogyny results in 229 ‘hits’.
SOC SCIENCES INDEX: search for misandry (NOT racism, NOT masculinity): 10 hits.
SOC SCIENCES INDEX: search for masculinity, 7124 hits.
@Steele: so you think the word appearing in a lecture means it exists?
What was the context? (book or text under discussion, etc).
Plus, it’s possible that some critics do argue X is misandrist, but others disagree and the consensus is Q.
I think I’mma check the MLA now.
Only 10 hits? Well that’s just MISANDRISTIC!!!
I was going to say, he’s just going to interpet this as a sign that misandry is totally real but tragically underresearched.
Modern Language Association’s International Bibliography (the PLATINUM resource for literature and languages research): misogyny=670 hits
Misandry: 8
Masculinities: 4523
Femininities=2754
Oh, heck, I’m on a roll:
gender=22,225
queer: 3904
Didn’t we already establish that logic is MISANDRY! (I’m having way too much fun with this.)