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
Dude, this is so easily solved:
1 – you do not think you need to show evidence of systemic prejudice against men to justify the existence of the word “misandry”.
2 – everyone you have been arguing with does.
But wait-
3 – you say you have evidence that systemic prejudice against men exists and is a real problem
There’s your workaround! Prove point three, and the conflict between points one and two vanishes instantly!
You… can prove point three, right?
Oops, sorry.
Paranoia? I enjoy my life. i’m going to Vienna in two weeks and I’m going to spend the rest of the summer doing research. That’ll kick ass. What have you done with your life in this world?
What did the Frankfurt School ever do to you, man?
@kirbywarp,
But is that source on the MRA-approved sources list?
@Pam:
Well, it does say that misogyny is a thing, so probably no. Also it doesn’t talk mention misandry once!
And with that, I am done with this discussion.
I’ll only say: Misandry is a word. It is defined- which I’m sure really gets your goat. And this is true no matter how much you wail and rationalize and justify and stamp your feet. I will continue to use the term. And more and more people are hearing it.
You’re on the wrong side of history, bucko.
– Steele
And with that, I am done with this discussion.
Dude, it gets less convincing every time.
This is really great, coming from someone with your grasp of statistics.
Hee hee. As soon as I trot out a source that shows how misogyny is used to describe a societal thing, Steele throws up his hands and leaves in a huff and a “You’re wrong and that’s that.”
Of course. See you again tomorrow, Steele.
Yeah. I mean, who uses the definition of misogyny found in critical theory? Well, other than all of academia. Really, it’s the people who actually study misogyny who are on the fringe when it comes to defining the term.
(This is why when biologists try to explain the definition of “theory” to creationists parroting the “evolution is only a theory” line of argument, it’s the creationists who are right. The biologists are just the fringe.)
Well then, we can just toss that source out with the bathwater.
12.04 – can he beat his record?
I mean, frankly, how would you know whether you were on the right side of history or not?
Oh, actually the wiki entry on misogyny does mention misandry! Keep in mind that Micahel Flood is the guy who I quoted originally.
Obviously Michael Flood is a feminazi sympathizer, and is not a legitimate source for Steele. Funny how every quoted authority on misogyny seems to fail the same test.
Yes, they all fail the gold standard of agreeing with him.
Again?
“Kittens?”
Yes
http://youtu.be/fbn75LITtlc
And also tiny pigs
http://youtu.be/H7leMctSTMc
“Steele huffed as he drew his katana. Many lay slain on the field of Internet this day, but the wankery was not yet complete. Oh no. He would make sure of that.”
*is ready* (I seriously have that game paused currently)
@Magpie: here, a fawn grooming a kitteh.
Yeah, he’s probably off to read some more authoritative works… perhaps something by Warren Farrell …
And since I love dictionary trolls —
pro·jec·tion, noun
1. a projecting or protruding part.
2. the state or fact of jutting out or protruding.
3. a causing to jut or protrude.
4. the act, process, or result of projecting.
5. Cartography . a systematic construction of lines drawn on a plane surface representative of and corresponding to the meridians and parallels of the curved surface of the earth or celestial sphere.
6. Photography .
a. the act of reproducing on a surface, by optical means, a remote image on a film, slide, etc.
b. an image so reproduced.
7. the act of visualizing and regarding an idea or the like as an objective reality.
8. something that is so visualized and regarded.
9. calculation of some future thing: They fell short of their projection for the rate of growth.
10. the act of communicating distinctly and forcefully to an audience.
11. Psychology .
a. the tendency to ascribe to another person feelings, thoughts, or attitudes present in oneself, or to regard external reality as embodying such feelings, thoughts, etc., in some way.
b. Psychoanalysis . such an ascription relieving the ego of a sense of guilt or other intolerable feeling.
12. the act of planning or scheming.
13. Alchemy . the casting of the powder of philosophers’ stone upon metal in fusion, to transmute it into gold or silver.
The common usage is usually 11a in this context.
par·a·noi·a, noun
1. Psychiatry . a mental disorder characterized by systematized delusions and the projection of personal conflicts, which are ascribed to the supposed hostility of others, sometimes progressing to disturbances of consciousness and aggressive acts believed to be performed in self-defense or as a mission.
2. baseless or excessive suspicion of the motives of others.
Please stop mis-using psych terms, it makes my brain ache, I spent way too much time and money on a psych degree to listen to you go on about “projection and paranoia”.
D’aaaawwww! Tiny pig is freaking ADORABLE.
Kittens cure everything!!!!!! Same with playful crows, affectionate fawns and teensy-weensy piggies. May I won’t hide in the corner, but go outside and play with the chooks instead.
So much inter-species D’AWWW — crows are kind of scary smart —
http://youtu.be/TtmLVP0HvDg
http://youtu.be/41Z6Mvjd9w0
Considering they can supposedly remember faces for 2 decades and hold a grudge, I wouldn’t want to cross a crow.
Y U NO EMBED?!
The second one is a crow using a tool to get a tool to get a tool to get some food…scary smart.