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
VoIP: Yep. When someone else is trying to kill you, the need for a bra vs. a cup is small beer.
I’ve got a really good book about women and the British Army, “Following the Drum” by Annabel Venning, which details a lot of how women lived in the near proximity of their partners, and the ways in which the Army changed as a result.
One dollar on Amazon plus shipping. I just bought it.
Screw everyone who thinks girls/woman can’t be good at anything. Or are wimps losers idiots, I heard them all. Screw you who think that!
Let me guess… Men hate u so this website is your way to express your hate towards the male race?
Get some help u ugly fat loser!
Which male race? Is this like The Amazing Race? Are there going to be hurdles? Please do tell us more!
The male race is a misandric competitive sport orchestrated by our callipygian overlords.
There’s a male race? Is it a 10k or a fun run?
Pffft! The Male race is 5000 lightyears over burning coals! The Male race is the kessel run, over legos!
I mean, we’ve heard from the misters just how hard it is. It’s a triathlon where the second leg is pain and the third leg is DEATH!
Evidently Obama got tired of having to be so eloquent all the time.
Men are a “race”, now? Next thing you know, we’ll be hearing shit about the “master race”, too.
RE: Obama
Men hate u so this website is your way to express your hate towards the male race?
Yes. You’re totally right. Men hate me. That’s why I’m married to one. That’s why I have male friends. Because I hate the whole of maleness.
Also, dude, men aren’t a race, we’re a fucking gender. Read a book, dumbass.