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:
Some male characters in games are sexualized. The more recent Final Fantasy games for instance have several men that look like Gackt, a Japanese musician known for his sex appeal, and they also have impractical costumes that show off his bod.
Now, see, that can’t be true, because we were just informed that Asia is a bastion of anti-feminism where female video gamers would never be tolerated, let alone catered to. Only wimpy white countries would try to make video games for girls.
I’ve heard people discuss this in comics fandom and one of the rationales is that these dudes are largely geeks who were judged for being geeks when they were younger, both by other guys and also by girls. Comics/games/whatever become not only something they love but also a space where they could escape other people looking down on them for being a geek. So whenever anything they love becomes mainstream, or becomes popular with women, they hyperreact like an autoimmune disorder at the prospect of their safe space being invaded and taken from them.
Ugh, this attitude came up so much in the “Fake Geek Girl” teapot-tempests. I saw some dudes declare flat-out that women can’t be nerds, because being unpopular, unattractive, and unable to get a date is essential to being a nerd, and of course there are no unpopular, unattractive, or dateless women.
Self-loathing nerds are not fun nerds to hang out with.
“(I’d also like to note, as a bit of off-topic point, the apparent contrast between Anita’s proposed videos #4 and #9. It looks like she’s exploring the trope of women being sexy and evil in 4, and the trope of being unattractive and evil in 9, both of which are apparently unacceptable. Damned if the villainess is attractive; damned if she isn’t. But hey, only an approximate $260 per minute for this knowledge, right?)”
“This means that, currently, she has successfully netted a little over $13,000 per video she intends to eventually release; an impressive feat. Her first video was released a few days ago (a few months late, relative to her stated delivery, but here nonetheless) and, hot-button topic that her project was, I felt inclined to watch it and see what $13,000 a video buys in terms of research quality, methodology, and explanatory power. From my impression of Anita’s first video, were I to work under the assumption that she was making a reasonable amount of money for her time, effort, and conclusions in this project, I think I could be so bold as to suggest that I’m wildly underpaid for what I do in terms of research and writing.”
I don’t have permission to post in the forum.
Shaun: Is that guy serious or is he joking? I can’t tell. It’s almost like he’s self-aware enough to realize that what he’s saying is complete bullshit but not self-aware enough not to say it.
So troll babies…wuz up? (I’m old…shaddup)
What is your problem with girls? If you are boys and you are straight why on earth would you turn down opportunities to hang out with girls?
When I was eight I played street football (tackle on asphalt) with boys and dolls with girls. The nice thing about having a broad definition of fun, is you get to have more fun with more people. It’s also handy when you hit puberty (I know you are not there yet…you might want to ask your parents about that) since there will be girls that already like you.
I love how dude can’t see the common thread between #4 and #9 is women’s looks being centrally important to their value as characters.
I’m glad I managed to pull myself out from the indoctrination of the MRA. I just hope I can remove the poison still ravaging my mind. I still feel involuntary revulsion when I see a woman depicted in a powerful position in films and literature and I’m trying to fight it. But at least I’m not spouting the rhetoric anymore.
“Yesss, the world will be made a better place by destroying one if the last few joys left in the life of the average straight male who isn’t lucky enough to be born as an alpha with the capability to have his own personal harem. Yeah right…not! It’s not enough that you have your own toys, oh no, you have to deprive us of ours. Western Feminists want to be able to get sexual satisfaction free of actual human males if they so choose but are threatened by the thought of straight men doing the same, why else are they so obsessed with banning straight male porn, including and especially the “2D” variety best represented by Japanese hentai/eroge (ex. the infamous Rapelay, which was actually rather quite vanilla to anyone intimately familiar with Otaku subculture and which was
specifically marketed to the hardcore shut-in agoraphobes who never even leave their homes, much less interact with actual human females aside from their own moms). Indeed, Western Feminism is not about genuine equality (except maybe misery-loves-company compromise where nobody is happy and everybody is sexually frustrated) matriarchy, a reverse of the Taliban/Wahhabi system if you will, where the male libido is enslaved bdsm-style with the proverbial phallus of heterosexual mankind imprisoned in the cock-cage of feminazi sadism. Thankfully though,
aside from your own castrated mangina lapdoggies, nobody else is really buying it.”
Look at that. It’s a marvel of modern idiocy.
Why revulsion, Do Re? I’m not snarking, I’m genuinely curious.
semi-OT
Lindsay Ellis aka The Nostalga Chick http://blip.tv/nostalgia-chick has a new video “Disney Needs More Gay” and while the discussion is regarding LGBT and Disney, it covers many of the same topics such as market forces will push LGBTism and feminism into games and film and there really isn’t much the antis can do about it.
I just call it my vagina. Potato, potahto.
I have a new favorite MRA web page, created by an AVfM commenter named Ray. Please go here. Just … everything about it is special. Come for the boxing donkey and elephant, stay for the prancing squirrel with the cricket soundtrack. And the wood metaphors. And the gyrating images. And so much more!
You can find more examples of Ray’s artistry on his photobucket page. My current favorite is his poster illustrating The Triune God of Gender Feminism. Although he also makes fine use of Microsoft Word Art here.
It’s just like a feeling of disgust hellkell that I have no control over, like it’s an unnatural depiction of women or something. Before I would just turn the film off but now I force myself to continue. I don’t want to feel like this but I don’t know how much I can change, it’s subconscious for me now.
And Hellkell wins the internetz!
Do Re – I think you can change, you’re already aware of it and wanting to. Would seeing a therapist be a possibility? Getting guidance and support in changing thought patterns can be a huge help (I’m speaking from experience here).
@shaenon
ugh, people say that? (I should probably stop wondering that). Also, whoever thinks that probably never knew me in high school.
@Do Re
It’s good that you’ve noticed what you’re doing, for me that really helps when trying to change my biases. Good luck 🙂
@ Cloudiah Oh my god, that website. I’m laughing so hard right now.
Good grief, now that website has to win a Lousy Design prize if nothing else. I’m just sad he didn’t use Comic Sans anywhere in it.
And all the tree stuff? LOL wut?
Cloudiah, did you read this part?
“A man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do,” reads the headline of the pamphlet in English slang. Apparently, if your already using males (overwhelmingly) for canon fodder, there’s no need to show them the common courtesy of proper grammar.
That website! So does anyone else understand why pork is feminist? Or is only some pork feminist? And how do you tell? (on the boxing elephant & donkey gif)
Pork is feminist because we want to turn all the menz into herbivores so we’re withholding it from them.
@ titianblue I think he means pork feminist spending, as in wasted government money. I think the term has faded out now, but I remember “pork spending” being said by a lot of conservative relatives. Forgive me if you knew that and were just making a joke. I can be kind of dense about that sort of thing.
In other news, real leaders don’t follow feminist lifs.
Pork in this instance means government spending. Ray-Ray clearly thinks we get money for existing while female.
Also, I would never use males for canon fodder. Only tri-x pan for me!
Did you watch the “movie” of the guy sitting on the park bench with the bald eagle on his knee and the squirrel dashing by? I could watch that for hours. The guy is a genius.
Do Re, a bunch of people here recommend something called cognitive behavior therapy for changing destructive/self-destructive patterns. It seems like this is something that is making you unhappy, so I hope you can find help for it.
Let’s try that link again.