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
Oh mikey you have been missed…
I had some misandry for dinner with my misandry. It tasted misandry! For dessert we shared a misandry. Then we all sat down around the misandry to watch some misandry on the misandry.
I’ll repeat what I said to kirbywarp:
I say again- it is you who have a specialized meaning for “misandry”, not me. I am putting forth the layman’s definition. You are putting forth the specialized sociological definition.
Who’s “randomly assigning words meanings” again?
There is no basis for “misandry” on a macro level, and that is why you are wrong to argue that it is just a big a societal problem as misogyny.
@Steele:
I’ve already responded to this.
I’ve highlighted important bits for your convenience.
someone get rutee in here see if he can control himself
“Of course not. Depending on the context in which the word is used- ie, if you’re speaking on a macro (sociological) or micro (individual) level, the word will mean one or the other. If you want to argue there is no basis for “misandry” on a macro level, that’s fine. Don’t use it in that context. But it still exists on the micro level.”
Wow, you actually nearly managed to get macro and micro levels right. Macro is societal, not sociological, I’ll pretend that’s what you meant though. In any case, hatred of people with hates, without hats, etc, also exists on a micro level (going to address hatred of people in hoodies anytime soon?)
Also — “If you want to argue there is no basis for “misandry” on a macro level, that’s fine” — scroll the fuck up. “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.”
Can we “not proceed” by you going away?
@Steele:
Ye gods would I love to argue about this (or at least, I did want to in the past, not sure now), but you keep insisting that this would be pointless. I’m starting to see that you were correct for once.
kirby not letting mikey have his cake and eat it too is misandry
and projection
One- It’s ridiculous to claim misandry- or even heterophobia- is as rare or random as the examples you cite, and I think you know that
One: It’s ridiculous to equate isolated people with no ability to actually affect your life with a systemic problem. You are equivocating again (well, no, again implies you stopped).
There have been videos that celebrated killing men.
Maybe if I call TX a matriarchy again. After all, I am the True Face of Feminism.
Doooo itttt. I will mock Chris again, here we go
Misogyny is not just a collection of random individuals hating on women for being women, it’s a system that makes those types of individuals both common and protected. Whether you want to admit it or not, trying to reduce words like “misogyny” and “homophobia” down to just random events completely erases the notion that they don’t occur in vaccuums.
You’ve just described the sociological understanding of “misogyny”. As I’ve stated countless times, this is not the only application of the word.
Wait Steele, I don’t see how that is a response at all to what you just quoted.
Okay, I think I’ve finally got a handle on Steele’s logic here:
“Misandry” means “breakfast cereal.”
“Misandry” also means “institutionalized man-hatred.”
Breakfast cereal exists.
Therefore, institutionalized man-hatred exists.
QED
There have been videos that celebrated killing men.
http://www.avoiceformen.com/mens-rights/activism/1000-bounty-to-identify-swedish-scum-members/
Ok, can someone dig up a “missing the point” award? Steele wins it easily a dozen times over by now.
Which means it’s time for Spot That Fallacy!!
Ignoratio elenchi (irrelevant conclusion, missing the point) – an argument that may in itself be valid, but does not address the issue in question.
stating isnt the same as proving, duder, and screaming meeee tooo for days on end doesnt go anyways towards it
Hey, Steele, maybe don’t link to a post offering a bounty on women because they played fictional characters if your point is that men have it so rough.
Ain’t no bounty on Paul Elam, is there?
Oh good lord, Steele, why did you come back?
Look, since you aren’t interested in giving us any evidence for the existence of systematic misandry (you know, the one thing which might actually justify your position), why don’t you just leave for good?
Snowy that never gets old.
@Steele:
As everyone has pointed out, I specifically argue why you shouldn’t (and in fact can’t in good faith) say that there are two equally valid understandings of the word. Whatever you call the non-sociological version actually obscures and erases real things, it’s not just another opinion or another point of view. It is wrong. And if you say “well, like I said I’m not interested in discussing this” so help me GOD I will reach through my monitor, through the internet, over to yours, grab your phone, call your mother, and ask politely for her to put you in a timeout.
Let’s compare writing styles for a moment:
http://antimanboobz.wordpress.com/
Someone needs to send a bouquet to the misandrist that discouraged Steele from pursuing the humanities and/or writing. Stat.
@Argenti
After Trayvon Martin, and the subsequent apologia, this feels like an immensely more worthwhile cause than institutional misandry.
no, remember, there probably is but elam is to solemn and reserved to make a big deal out of
Oh Shadow, you’re missing the important point that anti-white racism is the most important issue of all! /sarcasm