A Voice for Men’s so-called “Honey Badgers” — its little super-team of female MRAs, led by blabby Canadian videoblogger Karen “GirlWritesWhat” Straughan — have a new theory about Anita Sarkeesian. And it’s a doozy.
Sarkeesian, you may recall, is a feminist cultural critic who’s faced pretty much nonstop harassment from misogynistic internet assholes since she launched a project to dissect sexist tropes in video games. AVFM has contributed, in its own special way, to this wave of harassment, with articles describing Sarkeesian as, among other things, a “moneygrubbing liar” and a “queen bee … girl interloper” in the world of video games; AVFM’s Dean Esmay also held her partially responsible, along with an assortment of other internet feminists, for the suicide of one Canadian Men’s Rights Activist.
The principals at AVFM have blamed her for — either inadvertently or deliberately — bringing this harassment on herself by going to 4chan and posting about her project. (As I noted in a previous post, there’s no actual evidence she ever did this.)
The Honey Badgers, for their part, are certain that getting harassed by 4chaners was part of her devious plan all along.
In a teaser for their internet “radio” show tonight, the “Honey Badger” known as TyphonBlue writes:
Like all professional damsels in distress, Anita Sarkeesian had to choose a good dragon. Just the right looming shadow to fall over her delicate and fragile sensibilities; just the right cackling stage-villain to inspire her cries of helpless horror.
She chose 4-chan. An internet forum known for it’s underbelly of foul-tempered and hair-triggered trolls.
Then, after accusing Sarkeesian of inviting countless rape and death threats upon herself (and only a portion of it from 4channers, I should add), the Badgers take their weird conspiracy theory one step further:
But we at Honey Badger Radio have noticed something… odd. The wave of so-called hate that Anita received from her carefully chosen dragon, wasn’t really all that bad.
Yeah. A year and a half (so far) of pretty much unending harassment and baseless criticism, complete with violent threats directed not only at her but at other women who have defended her — that’s nothing.
Compared to 4-chan’s usual scorched earth strategy–raizing [sic] everything to the ground and pissing on the ashes, Anita got a little singed, like she sat too close to a campfire.
So we have to ask… Did 4-chan white knight Anita? I mean, come on. Was that the best 4 chan could do?
Yes, that’s right. The Honey Badgers are accusing those who sent rape and death threats to Anita Sarkeesian … of “white knighting” her.
I can’t even.
I’m really wondering why Zoot cares so much. Sarkeesian seems to send MRAs and other misogynists into a frothing, apopleptic rage. I find her inoffensive, personally.
Is it the hoop earrings?
@Gizwardo
Yeah, I agree that the first thing is always to identify my own internalized misogyny (used to have to pretty messed up ideas on me vs. other girls.)
But you know, I’m not even just talking about other women not identifying as feminists. There’s a fair few good reasons to not identify as one – none of which are are reasons the MRAs ever seem to bring up. It’s stuff like being quick to judge other women’s sexuality or judging other women’s lifestyles in a really toxic manner.
Asking questions seems like a really good idea though. I guess “why” is a powerful word!
Alice, I have seen the video.
I just honestly think the problem doesn’t go one way (damsel in distress can overshadowed by the THOUSANDS of men that you are mowing down with your machine guns in a game)
I think that society is changing and that we are re-negotiating gender roles as we all have more options. There are still problems, but they certainly don’t lead to death in the first world that often (diseases, wars, childbirth).
That being said, I think that people who pretend to have problems and stir up drama to get attention are manipulative and demean the whole thing. Much of AvFM is carefully crafted articles to offend the emotions of certain people to get attention to men’s issues (real one’s, like suicide, custody, disposibility in wars, etc) and I think that demeans the whole conversation.
But anyways, from what I’ve seen of this site, it’s a circlejerk ala SRS, and if I don’t feed the other side of the hate – well, I’m breaking the circlejerk.
jefrir – I like your thinking!
As a fervent gamer, I think you’d just have to be a complete idiot not to know that women are objectified and turned into stereotypes in gaming. Even to this day. Just look at all the Skyrim modders obsessed with mods that make women’s bodies in Skyrim obnoxiously voluptuous/”sexy” and their outfits skimpy. Almost every female character of significance in video games are unrealistic or fit the cultural mold of so-called beauty.
All Anita Sarkesian did was draw out the defenders of sexism from the woodwork, the same way a completely benign statement from Rebecca Watson did in the atheist/skeptic/freethought communities. To acknowledge the sexism terrifies the crap out of the Dicks.
BTW If male allies of feminism are white knights, shouldn’t female allies of MRAs get a name, too? I’m thinking maybe…white knights!!
Hey Zoot, I’m curious…do you look up info on every gaming critic you watch/read to make sure they meet your qualifications for what a “real gamer” is? I’m willing to bet you don’t.
Anita is clearly knowledgeable enough in feminist critique and video games to be able to speak on the subject intelligently. Whether or not she’ll pre-order the next CoD or stand in line for hours to play a few-minute-long demo for the next Assassin’s Creed (etc.) is quite irrelevant.
And because I self-promote wherever I can…here’s my little parody of the Honey Badger’s blurb: http://radicalcentristblog.wordpress.com/2013/11/14/still-with-anita-sarkeesian-avfms-honey-badgers-monthly-rant-against-her/
Also, my rant against the honey badgers when they went off on Anita a month ago, for some reason: http://radicalcentristblog.wordpress.com/2013/10/24/nothing-but-rant-scourge-of-the-girl-gamer/
Bullshit. AVfM does not one thing for real men’s issues. Paulyboy doesn’t spend his hundred grand a year on opening shelters for male victims of domestic violence, or funding breast cancer facilities and support for men, or anything at all.
Plus your little line about “disposability in wars” is a give-away. First, if you’re talking about the US, the draft is not a thing. All your soldiers are volunteers. Nor are all your soldiers men. Second, who’s sending soldiers to war anyway? Oh yes, it is, overwhelmingly, other men, now and historically. Third, just how great do you think it is being one of the civilians in a war zone? Who is it who hasn’t the training or the arms to defend themselves? Who is it who’s overwhelmingly the target of rape as a weapon of war? Why, it’s women, not men.
As for custody – those men who bother to apply for it have an even (or better than even, iirc) chance of getting it.
Suicide is a problem for people of any gender, not just men. Undoing the culture of toxic masculinity that says men don’t talk about their problems, or take care of their physical health, because doing so is “weak”, would do a lot to help. But it’s not MRAs doing that; they’re all about reinforcing toxic masculinity, because what they’re really about is men ruling women. That it’s mutually destructive doesn’t seem to bother them, if they have the wit to grasp it at all, which I doubt.
You know who does bring attention to these things? Feminists.
I’m not clear on why Anita pointing out one problem means that other problems don’t exist.
And can you explain how she “troll baited?” You do know that she never posted on 4chan, right? It was someone else. I’m not seeing how she did anything wrong such that LONG AFTER THE FACT you can find posts on her at least weekly on Reddit and new YouTube videos. She was interested in one thing, she raised funds to do it, she got more than she asked for, she is delivering. Why the frothing rage?
People they disagree with reading a website are “operatives,” posts on a blog are “articles,” and comments are “posts.” It’s like little kids playing a game that they think is real.
@Michael Farkness: How about black hats?
Damn tootin’ sparkly purple dildz! All glory and praise be to Brd!
SRS does indeed have operatives in the highest levels of government and the interbutz and not one ingrown hair in a shitlord’s neckbeard escapes the attention of the Fempire.
They thaw all the peaches and rustle all the jimmies.
Seriously though, it really is amusing to see how upset that one subreddit makes the brosephs.
The dudebros would be even more upset if they knew SRS is just a cover. Those operatives are really working for the Furrinati.
@Zoot: Oh for goodness…the BIG problem with damsel in distress isn’t that there’s a woman in distress…it’s that she’s in distress for the purpose of furthering along the protagonist’s story…the protagonist who is almost always a man. She is conceptualised as an extension of him…his mother or sister or wife or child….she does no have a character or identity in and of herself, EXCEPT through the eyes of the male character.
The bazillion faceless people the main character might mow down in order to save said damsel are similarly given character/identity ONLY through the eyes of the male protagonist…but the key difference here is that their gender is not part of that character. This is often where issues of race and religion come in, though…when modern shooters have the main character mowing down a whole lot of people of colour.
TL;DR – The problem is thus
Women: There to be saved
People of colour: There to be killed
Men (esp. white men): Can fit a VARIETY of roles in the game, including, most often, the protagonist
Nope, it only goes one way. Only women are oppressed via sexist norms. There is no overshadowing.
That they aren’t as bad as other problems is irrelevant.
Nope. AVfM’s articles don’t merely offend the emotions of certain people. They also perpetuate misogyny and various other prejudices that are institutionalized, such as the article in which Elam openly supports victim-blaming. If you think that making light of abuse, sexual violence, and institutionalized oppression to make a point that can easily be made without doing so is okay, there’s something wrong with you.
I’m rooting for you, O Righteous MRA Warrior! (Not.)
And “carefully crafted” my ass. They have shit writing, even without all of their bigoted “satire”.
Well, to be fair, it’s possible that their posts are carefully crafted and that what we see on AVFM genuinely does represent the best they can do.
Lol, good one. =P
Zoot:
Are you aware that there have been feminists who suggest making those hordes of faceless mooks match the historical record in terms of gender balance (ie, typically about 20% of the fighting force)?
For that matter, are you aware that it’s feminists who have attempted to alter the rules of the actual U.S. forces to allow women into combat roles?
This is, of course, a rhetorical question, as I realize that you are far too busy simultaneously patting yourself on the back for your clever retorts and shoving your head far enough up your ass that you can ignore the real world.
*************
For some brain-bleach: Little girls design superheroes–and it’s AWESOME!
http://bettersupes.tumblr.com/
This looks like an attempt to bait 4chan into stepping it up a notch in their harassment of her. Basically it looks like they are saying to 4chan “is that the best you can do?”
I ssomeow managed to listen to a good portion of the last HB show on her and to hear some women call in and including the honey idiots say that Anita is making it harder for good women be accepted by male gamers was pathetic and sad. So to be accepted in a so called male space you need to shut up and not toe the line, lest the poor men get suspicious of all women. And as if all men agree with each other’s behavior and all make rude comments.
Also the obsession with Sarkeesian and conspiracy theories about her are so bizarre. This one dude keeps stalking her on twitter leaving snarky comments. Wtf? So you disagree with her, fine. Get over it like most people do. I think they are just paranoid she’s gonna make all pixilated boobies dissappear or something >_>
And to add one more thing: I love when the dudebros argue “it’s just as bad because of all the faceless men you mow down,” and then refuse to acknowledge that games like Mainichi or Journey are actual games because “there’s no combat.”
Sorry that should say women SHOULD toe the line, lest they get kicked out of the clubhouse.
freemage, that tumblr is adorably awesome.
“ssomeow”
Ugh. Damn phone. But lol at meow. So fitting for manboobz.
Heh heh…please do! I did.
Now there’s a thought. She’s probably only ever seen the dreck through the beer goggles of local boosterism. And she probably thinks it’s some kind of Happy Hunting Ground for hussies, too, due to the wildly out-of-whack ratio of males to females there. Misandry!!!
Shush, dear, the grown-ups are talking.