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.
@HeatherN I think that sounds about right!
@Zoot
Sadly, I wasted five minutes of my life perusing the non-YouTube link, the tumblr page of one of her online stalkers/critics. What does it prove? She’s not what you consider a hardcore gamer? She worked in PR? She works with her boyfriend? In the adult world, people switch careers and fields, non-die hard fans can comment on media, and people can collaborate on things like videos to earn money.
Are you suggesting Sarkeesian deliberately baited male gamers with her feminist critique to create a massive controversy, that she planned and wanted all the harassment? It’s all her fault and the hundreds of morons who harassed her are blameless puppets, manipulated by a PR wizard?
Sorry, her rabid detractors and harassers are responsible for their own actions and if she profited from this shitstorm, well bully for her. In the end, every reasonable adult in the gaming community should be a little embarrassed that an army of fanboys reacted like hearing feminist criticism of video games is the equivalent to having battery acid thrown in their face.
You can think Sarkeesian is wrong, that she doesn’t understand video games or that she’s a complete joke. You can be her harshest critic, without acting like a jackass and casting her as the anti-Christ.
Also, her criticism in no way prevents you or anyone else from criticizing the excess, dehumanizing violence and pro-war sentiments in video games. Everyone is allowed to pick their personal causes. Have at it.
As side note the guy with the tumblr page doesn’t understand what sexism is, because he thinks women wearing sexy costumes at Dragon Con is something Sarkeesian would denounce. Bit of a fail there.
Bina – Not having your choice in fuck buddies is MISANDRY!
Also, apparently the threat of having women with personalities is MISANDRY.
Well, I bit and looked. Aside from the stalkerish vibe there’s not really anything remarkable there.
Well, I guess if you consider a Communications student working a PR/event coordination job ground breaking or if you think that Anita having someone running the camera cracks this whole thing open; then prepare to have your mind BLOWN. Oh, and the kicker: Anita might not have always been as vocal about the way women are portrayed in media! And we all know a person can only ever have one opinion on a subject and it can never change.
I’m going to listen to the Circle Jerks classic Sex Act on vinyl in honor of our
trollguest!That tumblr is gorgeous!
@chibigodzilla
You went to the Top Secret tumblr page as well? We both know too much!
Zoot: So much for you breaking the circlejerk, because all you’re doing is wanking in public. Call yourself Poot, because that’s about what your contributions here amount to.
NonServiam:
Depends. If it’s happening at work (and it does), I don’t usually call it out, but I am VERY wary of that woman from then on. Like, we have one woman exec who pretty much refuses to hire women for her department and is what I like to call a Professional Girl (very into appearances–hers and others–currying favor with men, compeitive with other women for that favor, etc.) who I don’t trust as far as I could throw because of the misogyny coming off her.
If it’s someone I know outside of work, I’ll call it out in “why would you say that/think that?” kind of way.
God, I keep hearing that over and over and over again – yet am given no evidence of such (30-second clips from YouTube from some random asshole don’t count). Being a gamer and having bothered to watch her videos (which I doubt many of her “critics” do), she uses actual examples from those games and in the proper context. But I’m sure there’s some dumb conspiracy theory attached to that too…
Honestly, this intense and obsessive hatred towards Sarkeesian is just bizzare. No one is forcing any of these people watch her videos – yet they keep getting worked up over every single observation she makes. Y’know what I do when I dislike a “talking head” video on YouTube? I ignore it and do something else. See, it’s easy!
The weird part, to me, is how many people I’ve come across who despise her…yet don’t play videogames themselves. I keep hearing the claim she isn’t a “real gamer” (God, I hate that gate-keeping shit…) yet I come across plenty of her “critics” who never as much pick up a controller or even familiar with the games she’s referencing. They claim to be angry at her arguments but, well, how does that make any sense? They don’t get the context which she’s making these observations – which is important. It’s certainly not made in a vaccuum, since the subject matter involves analyzing fictional tropes from a specific medium.
Wouldn’t the equivalent of that be crashing some symposium between molecular biologists and, despite knowing nothing about the subject, arguing that everything they’re saying must be bullshit ’cause it doesn’t “sound right” to you?
But obviously was too busy rage fapping to hear the words that Anita was saying.
*loosens shoulders*
All right, let’s do this…
If you’d listened to the videos as well, you’d know that women are represented as objective goals and are not allowed any agency or actions as independent actors on their own. Anita repeated shows how Damsel in Distress reduces women to trophies that are won or lost by the *real* heroes, men.
As far as your faux outrage about “the THOUSANDS of men that you are mowing down” I’m not seeing any calls for less violence in video games. Are you working to reduce the market for violence as the only solution that make up the largest portion of console games? Because that’s a feminist ideal. Are you calling for more and equal representation of women as heroes and villains in video games? Because that’s a feminist ideal.
Yeah, she’s only been playing games since she was 10.
Just keep spouting your debunked talking points, we love Whack-a-Troll here.
Hey, guys, d’ja miss me?
Hi Cynickal, how ya been?
G’day, cynickal, been a while! 🙂
Among all the “criticisms” Sarkeesian had shot at her, the one that makes me scratch my head is the one where she is a scam artist who intentionally baited trolls, knowing that the death threats could work to her advantage and get her extra money. My take on that is, even if that was true, *why* did it work so easily?
If Fat, Ugly or Slutty and this study (http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/WaiYenTang/20130208/186335/Reactions_to_a_womans_voice_in_an_FPS_game.php) among other sources are any indication, the gaming community is very hostile and unwelcoming to women.
Clearly, they’re aware of that. Shouldn’t we want to address the gaming world’s misogyny?
@Quackers
There are at least four very depressing aspects to this sentence, it’s packed full of sadness.
The honey badgers in general have a dour vibe, it’s as if they believe hundreds of men will immediately die the moment they stop broadly condemning women and/or feminism.
And they spoiled one of my favorite all-time viral videos. Boo.
I wish they’d stop comparing themselves to certain animals Honey badgers are awesome, these guys are not.
Totally off topic, but WTF?
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/11/14/anger-erupts-in-new-zealand-after-defense-lawyer-told-victim-to-close-your-legs-to-avoid-rape/
On another note, Cracked apparently did an article that makes mention of MRAs and the irony of the fedora. It’s #1 http://www.cracked.com/blog/5-awesome-things-with-inexplicably-bad-reputations_p2/
Hey, cool article, naltia! Nice to see MRAs and associated losers given a poke. Plus, fedoras are gorgeous hats, and it’s such a shame they’ve become associated with these oxygen thieves. Hell, the fedora would be the only good thing about most of ’em.
(Not that I’m biased or anything.)
Hey Zoot,
Whether she’s a “real gamer” or not is irrelevant to the content of her critique. If you don’t understand why, then you have pretty much demonstrated that you are a sexist.
What does it take to be a “real” gamer, anyway? I mean, I’m almost strictly a table-topper myself. Is that real?
Feckin’ links!
http://i.imgur.com/b8ln9QN.png
thebobgoblin – easy. Real gamers are dudes and they SUFFER TERRIBLY because everyone picks on ’em and women won’t fuck them on demand.
kittehs – And don’t forget that they need to have their women bland and personality-less, preferably with large boobies and impractical clothes, or otherwise they’re being oppressed!
I don’t really feel any anger towards these women, just pity. They obviously are seeking male attention, and seem to be going about it by trying to be one of the guys.They all take the most extreme, hateful views,in order to prove themselves worthy of the male attention they seek. I’m sure the rest of you have realized already that these women have quite low self esteem. I really do feel sorry for them. 🙁
Totally, Alice!
And young, of course. Over 25 is just so old and eww for manly dudebros.
Y’know, it never seems to occur to these idiots that the whole “the school jocks picked on us for being geeks” defensiveness and gatekeeping doesn’t cut it. It’s not just that it didn’t happen to all of them, or that they’re being just as big arseholes now. School bullies are likely to pick on their targets because of the person, the perceived weakness or vulnerability, and it doesn’t matter what the victim’s interests are. Like sport? They’ll take it out on you on the sports field. Like popular things? You won’t be good enough to be allowed to like them. Like unpopular things? Just fodder for the bullying.