On Monday, Anita Sarkeesian posted the latest installment of her Tropes Vs. Women in Video Games series on YouTube, a half-hour examination of the ways in which video game makers use sexualized violence against women as a cheap way to spice up their narratives and appeal to straight male gamers.
Her tone was measured, her analysis clear and logical and supported by dozens of clips from a wide assortment of games.
Late Tuesday night, this happened:
Some very scary threats have just been made against me and my family. Contacting authorities now.
— Feminist Frequency (@femfreq) August 27, 2014
I’m safe. Authorities have been notified. Staying with friends tonight. I’m not giving up. But this harassment of women in tech must stop!
— Feminist Frequency (@femfreq) August 27, 2014
That’s right: Sarkeesian was forced to leave her home due to violent threats against her and her family … because she made a YouTube video analyzing violence against women in video games.
She then posted some of the threats she had gotten from a Twitter account set up specifically to harass and threaten her and her family. [TRIGGER WARNING for graphic rape and death threats.]
I usually don’t share the really scary stuff. But it’s important for folks to know how bad it gets [TRIGGER WARNING] pic.twitter.com/u6b3i0fysI
— Feminist Frequency (@femfreq) August 27, 2014
For a larger version of the screenshot, see here.
Sarkeesian has also been tweeting some of the other threats she gets on a daily basis from anonymous gamers who are incensed that a woman has anything critical to say about their precious video games.
It’s especially amusing that this misogyny laced email is unironically signed “See you soon m'lady. *tips fedora*” pic.twitter.com/rLk3CvoxXV
— Feminist Frequency (@femfreq) July 15, 2014
https://twitter.com/femfreq/status/504437681527353344/photo/1
I get so many emails like this I could publish a coffee table book full of them. pic.twitter.com/qMoYOtV9tT
— Feminist Frequency (@femfreq) July 15, 2014
Unfortunately, this is an all too typical twitter response to my observations about video games. #E32014 pic.twitter.com/aWmwtQZLnm
— Feminist Frequency (@femfreq) June 9, 2014
You’ll notice that several of these threatening comments mention videos by Thunderf00t, a “skeptic” videoblogger best known, at least in the corner of the internet I write about, for a series of videos in which he viciously attacks some of the women who’ve drawn the most internet hate from angry misogynists – from skeptics like Rebecca Watson and Melody Hensley to video game maker Zoe Quinn and video game critic Sarkeesian.
Thunderf00t’s attacks have won him kudos from assorted Men’s Rights activists, from the regulars on the Men’s Rights subreddit to A Voice for Men “operations manager” Dean Esmay, who has praised his videos and urged other MRAs to subscribe to them.
In other words, the harassment of feminist women on the internet is directly linked to antifeminist propagandists like Thunderf00t – and his MRA fans and enablers.
The constant, vicious, personal attacks on Sarkeesian you see not only in video game circles but from Men’s Rights Activists – on Reddit, on A Voice for Men, on YouTube, and so on – have helped to create a hostile environment in which critiques of sexism in games result in real-world death and rape threats against women. This has an undeniably chilling effect on the free speech of women. That in fact is the intent of the harassers.
Margaret Atwood once famously observed that
Men are afraid that women will laugh at them. Women are afraid that men will kill them.
I think we need an internet corollary to Atwood’s observation:
Men posting on the internet are afraid that women will block them. Women are afraid that men will treat them like Anita Sarkeesian.
Thing is, Sarkeesian keeps moving forward, diligently researching and putting forth the videos she promised she would. All the huffing and puffing of her critics and attackers hasn’t shut her up. Each new video she puts out is a testament to her courage and her perseverance. Each new video is a blow against those who would shut women up. Each new video helps to inspire others who’ve gotten similar threats to continue speaking up and speaking out.
Supporting Sarkeesian helps to support every woman who wants to be able to speak out online without fear of violent threats. There’s no better proof of this than how angry the biggest misogynistic bullies get whenever feminists and other people of good conscience rally around her. The bullies are still angry about the money she raised via kickstarter, money that has enabled her to bring a new professionalism to her videos.
Hell, AVFM Bully-in-chief Paul Elam is still so angry about this that he’s already accusing her of “damseling for dollars,” collecting “gash-cash” because of these latest Twitter threats. Indeed, in a post that’s a lot more revealing than he intends it to be, he complains bitterly that she’s getting bigger donations than he is:
I am jealous. I have had half the major media in a couple of countries disingenuously and maliciously demonize me. Even after forcing some retractions I bet I got more threats than Sarkeesian.
My reward? Jack shit.
Maybe it was because I didn’t swoon hard enough or treat the threats like they were tickets to Disneyworld.
Oh, don’t be modest, Paul. You take in tens of thousands every year by pretending to be some sort of human rights generalissimo. You raked in $35,000 this summer by trumpeting “threats” that you were saying privately were phony.
While Elam “damsels” and fumes, Sarkeesian simply goes about doing the job she set out to do. Each video she puts out is yet another “fuck you” to her haters, and they know it.
U mad bros?
Here’s the video that caused all the stir. It’s well worth watching. CONTENT WARNING: Graphic violence against women.
How is she humiliating people? She’s talking about games, not people.
At no point does she say “You’re a bad person if you like this stuff.”
If you were to go over all the stuff I’ve liked…well, some of it’s some pretty warped shit. I’m not a bad person, though.
They are not necessarily bad people for liking misogynistic games.
That depends entirely on their actions when dealing with other sentient beings.
Can the games influence meatspace behavior? social science says yes.
….Are you saying these people can’t differentiate themselves from their games?
I’ve advanced that idea-that an attack on the games reads as an attack on the person’s identity, thus the vitriol.
Gee, Edward, it’s a damn shame Anita didn’t call you for pointers before doing her series, isn’t it? Wanker.
I’m starting to see why people who spend more time on FTB were going “ugh, this guy” as soon as he showed up.
@LeftWingFox,
“Which you haven’t actually defined. I guess it’s as good a way as any to be lazily dismissive. Good job.”
Well I’ve gone at length on her looser connections between art and reality. In general, I think she is most effective in sticking with the facts. She’s done a great job at gathering all this information, but sometimes her opinions or conclusions feel a little bit like a throwaway. The overwhelming message I get from her videos is she wants more creative and less stereotypical storytelling from videogames, but the way she conveys this message seems a little more like “you suck for liking this game” and less of “imagine how great games could get.”
…Sarkesian and I actually disagree on this.
She thinks it portrays violence as something stereotypical badguys do.
I’m inclined to think it more…normalizes it.
Desensitizes the player to the idea of violence in general and particularly violence to enforce masculine dominance.
She has more degree than yours truly, though…and I’m just stating an educated hunch.
Is this a claim Sarkeesian has actually made? Or is it between the lines, like your “humiliation” thesis?
Edward…that seems to be just you hearing that in this particular forum, and as you’ve said it many times, what else have you got?
And this was where I started laughing loud enough to wake my three year old on the opposite end of the house.
Bravo, shaenon!
@blahlistic,
“How is she humiliating people? She’s talking about games, not people.
At no point does she say “You’re a bad person if you like this stuff.””
No she doesn’t – but it certainly could feel that way. For example, I love Johnny Cash. Just love the hell out of his music. Some of his best songs are about killing women. I like those songs, not because I have some fetish about killing women, but because they are great songs. He has lots of songs about violence or murder. I like those songs too. If someone did a critique about Johnny Cash and reduced his music down to a bunch of clips designed to exploit murder and misogyny, I would feel insulted. I would feel they are taking someone I really love and misrepresenting it. They wouldn’t have to explicitly say “you’re a bad person” for that message to be sent.
In that case you are an emotional child and need to stop thinking of yourself as the center of the universe.
“but the way she conveys this message seems a little more like “you suck for liking this game” and less of “imagine how great games could get.”
Hmmm. I didn’t get that at all — and I used to get paid to critique pop culture — like, in a grown-up kind of way. Funny that.
I don’t recall that she’d make it sans a research study leading one to posit a potential cause/effect relation. Since most sociology research goes with “correlated” rather than caused…my guess is she’s not made that claim.
As for me, I know very little…
…Which is why I cite other people.
Note from the above: *video games do affect social outcomes*.
With the study I noted before, game play of sexist games was noted to correlate with stronger sexist views in the players.
@ Shiraz
IKR? I keep wanting to ask whiny dude if he knows what reviews are.
…I like Lovecraft’s work, even though the dude was a flaming racist.
If someone said “He’s a racist, how could you possibly like him?” I’d say, “I manage for the rest of it, even though the racist parts make me decidedly uncomfortable.”
I’ve played non-sexist games that were horrifically and comically violent, and REALLY enjoyed them ( I BLEW UP THE CITY! WITH A THERMONUCLEAR BOMB! YAY! )
…Based on that I’d probably be able to enjoy sexist games too, though I’d agree they’re sexist and think, “can’t we do better than that?”
(note: the only reason I don’t play games any more is because I tend to do nothing but game when I game. As in eat, sleep, bathe, workout…fuhgeddaboutit. Work and game and maybe catch a few hours sleep, rinse off for work and that’s it. It’s a bit TOO addictive. I will play until I dream the game and have screen-burn on my eyeballs.)
Cassandra, I read things online and often think, “Shit, that would get me fired,” or “Wow, if it wasn’t for the internet, I wouldn’t have wasted my time watching (fill in the blank).” What they presented would never have been published in old media. That’s not a virtue.
Then you, too, are a crybaby.
Ugh, I really appreciate most of Lovecraft as well (though the florid language can be just a bit too much sometimes, if I’m really honest) but UGH UGH UGH does it sometimes take some hard swallowing of my objections to things. I feel the same about Robert Heinlein, whose work I will go on and on adoring and then suddenly I will trip over some massive bit of whatthefuckery so glaringly racist or sexist that I just need to retch.
You can still like, even love the work while recognizing and acknowledging the flaws. Talk openly and be upfront about the flaws and over time we’ll get better stuff, with all of the good things we like and less of the bad. This is the service that hard criticism provides.
NO. This is NOT analogous. An analogous situation would be somebody doing a youtube clip analysing the different ways murders are portrayed in song, including your Johnny Cash songs, and then a whole bunch of music fans trying to ruin the author’s life because they misinterpreted it as a personal attack on them, as well as misinterpreting the thesis as being “If you like these songs YOU’RE A BAD PERSON”.
A.S. is saying it sucks that there’s so many examples of women being treated badly in media. For some reason gamers have taken it a lot more harshly than movie fans did in her previous work, perhaps because movie fans are more used to a broad spectrum of opinions and debate and analysis about their favourite art form, whereas a lot of the people attacking Sarkeesian tend to oversimplify into “likes games/doesn’t like games”.
If someone did a critique about Johnny Cash and reduced his music down to a bunch of clips designed to exploit murder and misogyny, I would feel insulted.
That’s kind of your problem, then, because that’s not a reasonable reaction.
And if you decided to deal with your feeling of being insulted by threatening to rape and kill the person who wrote the critique, and rallying hundreds of other Johnny Cash fans to harass the critic for years on end, that would really, really be not reasonable.
Johnny Cash would frown and shake his head sternly at you for that.
Why don’t you let Sarkeesian know and I’m sure she’ll get right on that. Catering to your personal preference is of paramount importance, after all. That goes totally without saying, doesn’t it? After all, there would be no reason for you to vomit out a statement like this if we didn’t urgently need to know what would make you, personally, happiest.
So you admit that you’re concern trolling. That was apparent, but it’s nice when concern trolls out themselves in words.
Maybe we need a new word for this kind of thing. We can call it crybabysplaining.
For some much needed levity with this frustrating crap, how about a video of a robin feeding his children?
Also, since both video game developers and Hollywood shove the “white male is the generic norm” bullshit down our throats, I’ve been wondering how many completely non-sexualized, (mostly) ungendered female protagonists we can find in video games.
I think much of why Samus is such a great character is just the fact that she’s a badass bounty hunter that happens to be a woman and (most of) the games don’t feel the need to sell you on it or anything. It normalizes the idea that women can be strong and self-sufficient instead of treating it like it’s some divergence from reality that needs to be acknowledged lest the audience reject it. I just wish they didn’t do those few bikini endings or the Zero Suit in general, but most of the time, she’s great.
Another example that fascinates me is Level Up!, a short exploration platform game. There is some weird relationship stuff, but it’s really benign and bizarrely disconnected from reality (it seems to be a commentary on JRPGs, to be honest). Outside of that, there’s really no reason she needs to be a woman and I find that reaffirming.
Anyone have any recommendations for other games?
“When some men need to feel powerful in a jiff, they startle women in the street. Ever have that happen to you? You’re walking in public, a car races past you with some schmuck hanging out the window yelling, “YEAHHHHHHH!”
You jump a little and the guy smiles a shit-eating grin.”
Am I the only one who has men rev hard when I am crossing the street in front of their vehicle? That’s the worst. It screams “I could just run over you and there’s nothing you can do” to me. Absolutely terrifying.
There’s Portal, obviously.
Alex: a lot of my favourite games have the same dynamic. Portal 1 + 2 and Beyond Good & Evil both feature female protagonists, but the female-ness is neither ignored (just a reskinned male) nor made a big deal of (either in an eye candy way or a WE MADE A GAME WITH A GIRL AREN’T WE GREAT SHE’S SO GIRLTASTIC way). It’s just one part of who the characters are.