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
@Steele:
Actually, no. I’m reading notalwaysrelated.com at the moment. Though, really? My jaw-drop was unimpressive?
…
Do you just operate in a hyper-amplified world, where jokes turn into virulent bullying, jaw-drops turn into fantastic attempts at argumentation, and for the love of god HOW CAN YOU NOT SEE THAT YOU LITERALLY JUST SAID THAT THE NOTION OF A GIRL BEING TOLD SHE WAS INFERIOR BY A MALE TEACHER WAS SO ABSURD THAT YOUR FIRST INSTINCT WAS TO CALL “BULLSHIT,” WHILE SIMULTANEOUSLY TALKING ABOUT HOW BOTH YOU AND I HAVE BEEN TOLD BY A FEMALE TEACHER THAT WE WERE INFERIOR HOW THE BLOODY BLAZES CAN YOU NOT SEE THE PROBLEM WITH THIS ARGLEBARBLEBARGLE *wheeze gasp wheeze pant*
*badoomph*
I also note that every time a man is attacked for being sexist, violent, endorsing rape, or threatening women, (or for just not being very good at writing) he’s really being attacked for being male.
Which, wow, talk about a dim view of men, Steele.
Also holy shit go to bed already. And go out and get some goddamn fresh air tomorrow!
All of these wars had higher American casualties than the Vietnam War did.
They also had a far larger number of volunteers; particularly the Civil War, in which the draft was hardly employed at all. Vietnam had the largest number of conscripted soldiers in US history, as well as a higher death toll proportional to the number of soldiers engaged. There’s a thing called Google.
@Cloudiah: well, obviously, that’s completely and infallibly true, and beyond contestation. But he did say he would reciprocate. I wouldn’t want him to get a reputation around here for not backing up his arguments just because he forgot he said that, you know. (And, well, for utterly failing to back up any of his arguments here.)
Did kirbywarb asplode? Someone check on kirbywarp, STAT!
@cloudiah:
I am dead. Steele has slain me. I am reading about a five-year-old holding an imaginary conversation with Michael Jackson and I am dead.
HOW CAN YOU NOT SEE THAT YOU LITERALLY JUST SAID THAT THE NOTION OF A GIRL BEING TOLD SHE WAS INFERIOR BY A MALE TEACHER WAS SO ABSURD THAT YOUR FIRST INSTINCT WAS TO CALL “BULLSHIT,” WHILE SIMULTANEOUSLY TALKING ABOUT HOW BOTH YOU AND I HAVE BEEN TOLD BY A FEMALE TEACHER THAT WE WERE INFERIOR
No- I could absolutely see an explicitly misogynist teacher, or even a few. What I was rolling my eyes at was the implication that there were these virulently misogynist teachers everywhere, and this misandrist teacher was merely “doing her part” or whatever, to counter that.
Nothing but the highly transparent rationalizations of a bully, abuser, and harasser.
Yeah, VoIP! Never mind about your degrees and actual research into the topic at hand, with, like, original sources and stuff. There’s a thing called Google!
/argument to end ALL arguments.
“Nothing but the highly transparent rationalizations of a bully, abuser, and harasser.”
Harasser? Abuser? Who in this scenario has Kirby harassed or abused? You?
Yeah, VoIP! Never mind about your degrees and actual research into the topic at hand, with, like, original sources and stuff. There’s a thing called Google!
Didn’t realize I needed a history degree to look up, you know, statistics.
Harasser? Abuser? Who in this scenario has Kirby harassed or abused? You?
I meant Kirbywarp’s teacher, not Kirbywarp himself.
Great, Steele — you are the first troll to have actually killed a commenter. Talk about ad hominem! (Hint: Except that it’s not actually ad hominem to kill a commenter.)
Kirbywarp, we’ll miss you so. It’s a good thing your death doesn’t seem to interfere with your commenting.
@Steele:
Sorry, but no. You said this:
There are two possibilities. One, you belive the very concept of girls being told they are inferior is bullshit. If so, you are either very dense or very hypocritical. Too, you interpret the phrase “harmful messages towards girls” as specifically referring to girls being told blatantly that they are inferior by men at that particular school, and the teacher’s purpose was to “counter” that very specific and local thing. If so, you are simply very dense.
And the second option is yet another spin that tries to make misogyny only appear to ever be a localized, individual incident, rather than a large variety of messages of many different degrees of visibility towards girls that label them inferior. Par for the course for you, chum.
@cloudiah:
It does appear to be interfering with my spelling and grammar though. *gasp* This must be 6th sense! I’ve been dead all along!!!
“I meant Kirbywarp’s teacher, not Kirbywarp himself.”
That may have been what you meant, but it’s not what your sentence actually said. Once again, this is quite possibly why your former teacher discouraged you from pursuing writing as a career.
Silly me, when you talked about the the costliest use of the draft, I thought you were talking about the absolute number of Americans killed, not the proportion of American troops killed to the number engaged.
And while I’ll grant you that more draftees were killed in the Vietnam War than the Civil War, I’m really curious as to where you are getting your statistics for World Wars I and II.
After the funeral march, everyone is welcome at my place for strong coffee and sandwiches.
Why do they need to be “virulent”? There is really no interpretation of what Kirby has said that would suggest his teacher was even vaguely “virulent,” and you seem to be plenty worked up about her, just the same.
If, then, we set the standard not at “virulence” but just at “misogyny,” then, dude, give me a freaking break.
Remember what I said about reading your comments before you posted them?
You see, if you had actually bothered to do that, you could have caught that error before you posted that comment.
Too, you interpret the phrase “harmful messages towards girls” as specifically referring to girls being told blatantly that they are inferior by men at that particular school, and the teacher’s purpose was to “counter” that very specific and local thing. If so, you are simply very dense.
Well, we’ve sort of hit a wall here, because I don’t believe misogyny is all that pervasive, and I believe misandry is institutional. But I don’t want to discuss any of that. So, we cannot proceed.
I will say that even if you’re right- you’re not- but if you were, your teacher’s misandry was still unacceptable. Being explicitly demeaned- explicitly– by an authority figure is the absolute pits- I know this from experience. Thus, your teacher’s misandry was still bullying, abusive, harassing behavior that could have seriously damaged her male students, and she should have been stripped of her job or issued a severe reprimand.
Silly me, when you talked about the the costliest use of the draft, I thought you were talking about the absolute number of Americans killed, not the proportion of American troops killed to the number engaged.
Volunteer being killed is not actually a result of conscription. I’m not sure why I need to specify this, to be honest.
@Steele:
You put up that wall, boyo. Figures though that you truly belive in the opposite of reality. Explains the constant spin and bias you’ve displayed in this conversation.
Also, way to keep interpreting my own experiences for me. Don’t know what I’d do without you, you mind-reader and claryvoyent you.
OH! Oh! Guys, Steele is from Opposite Land. We’ve been misinterpreting everything he’s said, because everything where he’s from is OPPOSITE to how it is here on Earth. We’re going to have to re-do this entire conversation!
Kirbywarp:
I will say that even if you’re right- you’re not- but if you were, your teacher’s misandry was still unacceptable. Being explicitly demeaned- explicitly- by an authority figure is the absolute pits- I know this from experience. Thus, your teacher’s misandry was still bullying, abusive, harassing behavior that could have seriously damaged her male students, and she should have been stripped of her job or issued a severe reprimand.
@Steele:
Ooh, are we repeating ourselves?
Also, way to keep interpreting my own experiences for me. Don’t know what I’d do without you, you mind-reader and claryvoyent you.