So Anita Sarkeesian, who apparently didn’t run off with all her Kickstarter money to found a Misandist Gynarchy in the wilds of Canada, has released the first video in her Tropes vs Women in Video Games project. (I’ve embedded it below.)
Naturally, this is causing great consternation in certain corners of the Internet (*cough* Reddit *cough cough* everywhere else that misogynistic nerds congregate *cough*). In the Man Boobz forum, Katz has started a contest to see who can find “the whiniest, brattiest, most entitled response” to Sarkeesian’s video on the Internet. So far Katz and Myoo have found a couple classic comments from irate Sarkeeianaphobes:
[H]ow does one go about stating that genders and gender roles are social constructs? I mean is evolution nothing to her? Does the patriarchy make male peacocks dress provocatively?
Yes. Yes it does.
And:
I’m gradually losing respect for the opposite sex. I’ve unfollowed people on tumblr who talk about how great she is, because it actually causes bile to rise in to my throat.
Yeah, that’s a totally reasonable response to a woman making a video about video games.
So anyway, I’m thinking we should bring the contest over here.
See what you can find! Consider it a sort of scavenger hunt.
Here’s my contribution, from the Men’s Rights subreddit, complaining that Damsels in Distress are the truly privileged ones:
Amazingly, this acutally got called out on r/mr as being pretty damn stupid.
Also, I have another question, to add to the stack of other questions I’ve been asking lately: Just why do you think so many guys get so angry when girls and women invade what they consider a male sphere, like gaming? (Also, why do they consider gaming to belong to boys and men?)
Oh, and here’s the video that’s causing all this hubbub:
Even taking out the feminist aspect – relying on tropes like this is lazy writing. What is wrong with someone hoping that the people working in the medium she loves might try not to be lazy?
“I didn’t read Michael’s joke as virgin-shaming – and I am virgin, too, by any physical standards. I read it as creepy MRA shaming: the why of guys like this being alone, not the fact of it. Which might be splitting hairs, I dunno.”
Yeah, and I’m bad at it. Or maybe really good at. Splitting hairs I mean. But I was bad at making my point.
From the same guy as my previous one, in response to someone who said that half his female friends play Skyrim, he says:
Women working for money = free money
Indeed, that’s a major theme of her criticism: If your whole story is driven by “a bad guy came and carried off a girl and we have to get her back,” then that’s a lame story.
@Kim
I think that “legitimately” was supposed to somehow stand in for “in ways no one ever criticizes.” So, since lazy writing would be a criticism, clearly what they are doing can’t be lazy. 😉
I also don’t think someone who is basing so much on an appeal to tradition would care much for original material. It is surprising they are so invested in such a new-fangled medium.
Myoo… Dennis was more than just weird. His factive, fictive shit was.. well… huh.
Here I found someone who thinks that Sarkeesian should have enabled comments in order to be worth agreeing with:
And, in response to the suggestion that he make his own response video on YouTube comes out with this:
So, you can just ignore these comments and also, maybe Sarkeesian should have made this on a better YouTube? Seems legit to me.
Metalmattz here and here.
Wow. I was going to write something snarky about that but I’m just at a loss for words.
Female gamers only count if they’re attractive, but guys can have opinions no matter what they look like! (Disregard the fact that if a female gamer is “attractive” she’ll probably get called a poser because no attractive women could be interested in gaming.)
Ick.
Ow wow I was hoping the ‘they’re not attractive so they’re opinions don’t count’ guy was kidding. O_o
I’m really glad David made this post. I’ve been in a funk over this all day, and I really need to hear reasonable (read: not sexist asshats) people talking about this. I’ve considered myself a gamer since I was in third grade, and I can remember even then being shocked at how women were portrayed in games and struggling to find characters that I could identify with personally. It really frustrates me that some people can’t even admit that there’s sexism in video games. I mean, seriously, have you played like, pretty much any video game made ever?
What’s really gotten to me though is how this whole Anita Sarkeesian “debate” has brought out the misogyny in some of my gamer friends – people I’ve been gaming with since childhood and I thought I could trust. I may actually be a bit heartbroken right now. 🙁
Sexism in games is worth looking into, but it seems like the quality of her videos are no different than before. Maybe I was expecting a little more with her new budget.
Sorry (not sorry) to self-promote, but i’m reblogging some of the vitriol on tumblr under the url http://final-boss-of-gamer-culture.tumblr.com/
A lot of it isn’t as bad as the amazing atheist’s video, but it’s still entirely awful human garbage.
@augochlorella
I’m sorry. 🙁
Isn’t the way that YouTube videos work that if you don’t like what someone said in their video you make and post your own video in response? I think these guys need to learn to internet.
Amazing Atheist wins more whiny, entitled response for WHY WON’T YOU LET ME CALL YOU A BITCH IN THE COMMENTS ON YOUR VIDEO EVEN THOUGH I MAKE MY OWN VIDEOS THAT’S NOT FAIR WAH.
All the comments about Sarkeesian wanting attention from guys who’re basically whining about the fact that by disabling comments she’s refusing to pay attention to them win the irony prize.
Is it sad that I come home and immediately check man boobz? I want to know how you all have been doing!
@augochlorella, I have been there, though not in this specific context. It sucks, and it’s hard. Sorry, and hugs if you want them. Also bear in mind that you may be as important to them as they are to you, and you may be able to use that to make them re-think some of their sexist positions. I’ve actually found that “You can’t be a sexist if you want to be friends with me” is more effective than I thought it would be. Don’t undersell your importance to your friends.
Oddly, most of Reddit seems remarkably okay with it… the supportive comments are massively upvoted, even in /r/gaming. The only ones who are still whinging about this are the denizens of r/MR specifically (and a few in r/SRD).
@ Some Gal Thank you.
@ cloudiah I gladly accept your hugs. I’m going to try to broach the subject with some of these friends face-to-face next time I see them. It’s heartening to hear that you’ve been able to reach some people.
Let’s hope that future women gamers (like maybe this girl) won’t have to explain to their friends why sexism is bad.
Sylocat: You’re right, Reddit in general is being WAY more civil than I would have expected. But I found male disposability in r/games!
::fist bumps from your sad sister::
😉
Having the sexism-in-video-games discussion goes like this, every time: No, there isn’t any sexism in gaming. -> That’s not sexism. -> So what? There are things that aren’t sexist. -> But I like things this way. -> Prove to me that sexism is even a bad thing.
When I have to stop and explain “sexism is bad, mmkay” … There’s a problem.
I’m not sure if I really want to do that scavenger hunt. I find enough faith-destroying comments without actively looking for them specifically. I don’t even come to ManBoobz so much for the hateful vitriol, but more for the mockery of it and the uplifting/hilarious comments from the awesome regulars. Plus the kitties and other cute stuff.
Hah, instead of spending all her time criticizing/attacking videogames INTENDED FOR A MALE TARGET AUDIENCE, why she just put her money where her mouth is and create/support videogames INTENDED FOR A FEMALE TARGET AUDIENCE. This another reason is why I stopped sympathizing with American Liberals long ago, while it’s the duty/responsiblity of the Government/Public Sector to take care of you, because you are paying the taxes/fees that are the lifeblood of the State, it’s not the obligation/job of the Big Business/Private Sector to cater to your audience if you’re not profitable enough for their bottomline. They are a business after all, not a charity. Why does it seem that it’s only the (White American) girls who always demand to be let into the boys-only clubhouse instead of making their own girls-only clubhouse, eh?