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.
That “evidence” is even weaker than the “how did she log off so fast?” shit I’ve seen. “Oh, the fucking sociopathic monster holy shit ‘troll’ supplied a legal first and last name! This is so obviously faked by her!” Yeah, and my name is Willem Dafoe.
For those unfamiliar with the other conspiracy theory, it alleges that she made the account, sent the tweets, logged off, and then screencapped it. This ignores that she could have been using a phone or something for Twitter and upon getting the first doxing tweet, immediately got on a computer that wasn’t logged in and screencapped the account. For a group that often prides itself on their leet computer skillz, they sure are myopic on the myriad ways technology can be used when they just want to burn a witch.
Strikethrough apparently doesn’t work here. Probably better that way.
blahlistic (@blahlistic)
Actually she agrees with you. (About the normalization bit, not the degrees). She basically says it does both.
from the video:
There’s more, but she’s basically saying it trivializes it and normalizes while also separating the action from normal people. It happens a whole lot, but only done by the evilest of people. That makes sense from me.
Okay, so I’m late…
… but that robin video!
“WHY CAN’T YOU SWALLOW THIS HUGE BERRY!”
[shoves it back in again]
“WHY IS THIS BERRY NOT EATEN!!”
[keeps shoving berry]
Birds. They be silly and adorable and wonderful. I would hate if my mom fed me like that though.
“WHY IS THIS ENTIRE HUNK OF BROCCOLI NOT GONE YET???”
[shove shove shove]
It does, you just have to use del rather than s if you’re typing the code.
contrapangloss, lol! I thought that robin was Clueless First-Time Parent. Reminds me of one of Gerald Durrell’s stories about his childhood in Corfu. He watched two pairs of swallows. The first one, the male had no clue about nest-building and brought back all sorts of useless stuff, which the female promptly rejected and got the nest built herself. But when the eggs hatched, the male proved good at bringing back just the right sort of food for the babies to manage. Second pair, the male had nest-building down pat and helped make a great structure – but when the eggs hatched, he had NO idea about food and would bring back all sorts of big, spikey insects and other critters, and try to force ’em down the babies’ throats, just like this robin. 😀
Hue yeah. If i’m being honest, I keep reading it as socks too when I reread my comment.
Cheap socks are nice. =P
Also, Just watched that bird video, and I can hardly contain the happy noises I make on watching it.
I could totally talk about socks. Not that I’ve ever knitted ’em – haven’t that skill – but ooh, some of the hand-knitted/crocheted socks some Mammotheers have made!
Also cats wearing socks, of course.
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Lv7rgnA8QVU/UqvQZhS_OiI/AAAAAAAAWnE/NuXUPAzMLs4/s320/socks10.jpg
Proof that leg-warmers can be cool!
http://petdiys.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/DIY-Sock-Cat-Leg-Warmers.jpg
Men that make these videos are telling us EXACTLY what they think about women.
And then they wonder why we are angry, upset, disgusted, or simply want to make others aware of this ugly, ugly, stuff?
But, when *they* freak out and threaten to KILL over a video, well, that is totally cool. But women being upset about this nasty stuff, that is not allowed.
Repeat- they threatened to KILL over a video that merely points out the obvious- representations game developers are PROUD off, they are not hiding their disdain for women! This is no secret. The violent reactions are totally insane.
These games are so disgusting, I never knew just how bad they were, as I am not a gamer. They are so much more graphic and nasty than they used to be.
How do these hater men think this is acceptable, I have no idea.
Mark-
If you think the threats are fake, please follow this little exercise and see for yourself:
Go make yourself an account with a female name and persona, and use it to post on MRA blogs, reddit, or other sites/you tube channels where this video is being discussed.
Then start commenting defending Anita, her ideas, or any other prominent feminist like Rebecca Watson. Call yourself a feminist, but only say things you lifted from her video. Don’t make up wild stuff, use real comments the women you defend have made.
Do this for a few weeks, and see what happens. If you have a related email/cell number, make sure it is visible. Check the replies to your posts. Then count up the number of nasty messages, rape and death threats you get. It will NEVER be as bad as what these women get because your persona is fake, so they will not be able to make IRL threats, which are much more terrifying than online bluster and harassment.
THEN TELL US THIS HARASSMENT IS ALL FAKE!
(sorry for feeding the troll. I thought this was a point worth making, even if it was addressed to him. I am glad I was finally able to comment here, I always have a hassle with wordpress, which makes my comments few and far between.)
The troll!logic of Anita’s harassers never cease to amaze me. I just shake my head and go How…?/…Why/Wut?! at it. Oh, and that there in the beginning of my post is a Buffy reference, Edward, which is something I’ve been a very emotionally attached fan of for ages and despite that manage to not take it as a personal judgement any or every time it is criticised. Imagine that…
Oh and thanks for the sympathies and warm welcome everyone! I admit, I’ve peeked at the welcome package before when it’s been linked for others, but it’s different to get it for myself. I’m a very proud misander-er(ist?) right now! =D
Have you ever read the Ciaphas Cain books? He’s a Commissar of the Imperial Guuard and one of my favourite characters ever. Combined with his aid Jurgen, he’s like a 40k version of Blackadder and Baldrick.
Oh, hey, let’s do a little demonstration/experiment.
I don’t like Buffy. In fact, Whedon has thus far never done a single show that I have liked! I think he’s given a lot more credit for being a feminist than he deserves, and that there are some consistently problematic elements in his writing.
Now watch how pawsjones responds. I’m going to make a prediction – scroll down if you want to see it, or don’t if you want this to be a surprise!
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My prediction is that she will not threaten to rape or kill me. Now ask yourself why that response is so different from the ones you’re defending.
This could be a good game.
I have almost no interest in video games at all. Descriptions of some that Mammotheers like make me go “ew” or yawn. How many Mammotheers have threatened me over this? None!
I X-th that being bullied in school or being very emotional about your hobby doesn’t excuse rape and death threats.
Why as a teenager, I used to be really emotional about newsmags releasing stories that painted anime and manga as being nothing but pornography. I even did write angry comments below their online articles but I did not threaten the author’s life or bodily integrity. Even as a teenager who had been using those comics and cartoons to disconnect from reality for a few hours, it seemed more productive to point out in which ways the article was painting a wrong and racially charged picture in order to better utilize sex to sell magazine issues.
It really isn’t hard, even for people who at least can claim to be in an emotionally unstable phase in their lifes, so why do so many people fail this challenge when it comes to women working in and around video games?
Kim- I have not read any of the 40k books. I was going to read one a long time ago that was recommended by my ex but I don’t remember the title of it. Silly me. 😛 but I’d be interested in reading them. since I think the universe is so badass.
Also a thing to bear in mind is that if the stereotype about people who like the stuff that you like is that you’re raging misogynists then responding to even the mildest criticisms with raging misogyny is perhaps not the wisest way to go about challenging those stereotypes.
Vaguely remembering that now. My tiny new attention span strikes again.
Not certain it does that last, ” separating the action from normal people,” so much…
Thinking it actually might make it seem more acceptable to someone already prone to battery of a female partner…but then again that person would probably do it anyway…more acceptable to those around him or her, perhaps, as well?
“Oh, she probably had it coming…”
But, meh, not even sure that counts as an actual disagreement so much as variance of emphasis, then?
Both aspects are valid.
Anyway, insomnia meet sleepypills. G’night.
Niters!
@ Shaun day
We support your empowerment, but cannot afford your bail money or legal representation. Remember county ER’s are sucky. Do as you will.
@cassandrakitty … how DARE you criticize Saint Joss!! I’m gonna find you and …
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have a spirited and respectful discussion about the issue. SO THERE! 😛
Why should anyone ever do that? Art doesn’t make any sense if you don’t know its context. Art is codified and shaped by restraints originating in real life, from its subject down to the colours being used in its creation. There is noting incidental in something created by an artist’s hand, which is why art makes for such a fascinating subject.
Still resisting the urges to harrass and threaten even after reading the horrible slights on my beloved Buffy/Joss up above, however do I do it? I tell ya, if I could bottle this amazeballs and totes unique restraint I apparently obsess and sell it, I’d be rich. Hey, maybe I could get the wheels in motion via Kickstarter? *ponders*
I know the thread’s moved way past this, and it’s possible that Edward’s flounced. I don’t know because I haven’t read past this comment from Edward Gemmer, and I want to respond to it:
My all-time favorite band is Led Zeppelin. Jimmy Page is the reason I play guitar (specifically, and especially, his use of a violin/viola bow to play his guitar). Robert Plant took me from hating to loving my voice, which some might say never really changed, because I can sing almost like him. I have plans to start learning bass, mandolin, and banjo, and re-learn piano all because of John Paul Jones, and I consider John Bonham to be the greatest drummer ever. “Bron-Y-Aur Stomp” is my all-time favorite song, and I listen to that song, and Led Zeppelin in general, at least once a day. I’m obsessed with Led Zeppelin’s music, to the point where I’m a collector of the unofficial releases.
I’ve done a few blog posts on Led Zeppelin, in fact.
But Led Zeppelin’s history is not great. I have many friends who can’t listen to anything involving Jimmy Page because he is a kidnapper and pedophile, and thus a rapist (Lori Maddox was 14 years old when she and he had a year-long relationship, and while she consented and has suggested it was all her idea, in fact, he kept her locked up often basically to avoid their relationship becoming a scandal and he being arrested… and let’s not forget that she was 14… two to four years too young to consent to any of it according to the law).
I also have many friends who consider Led Zeppelin to be a glorified cover band, because around 34% of Led Zeppelin’s music is not original, and they got sued often for it.
And the music itself isn’t always great lyrically. Many of their songs could be considered misogynistic, or at least sexist. “Dazed and Confused”, “Living loving Maid”, “Sick Again” (also kinda creepy when you listen to the lyrics: “said you dug me since you were 13”), “How Many More Times”, “Hey Hey What Can I Do”, etc. Some might even call their song “Royal Orleans” transphobic, as it’s partly predicated on an incident when John Paul Jones went to his room at the Royal Orleans (an infamous New Orleans hotel) with a woman who turned out to be a transvestite (side-note: I’m uncomfortable with that word… is there a better word?).
And when people critique Led Zeppelin and their music about this stuff, you know what I don’t get?
Insulted.
Because it isn’t about me. If they explicitly called me a bad person for loving Led Zeppelin, then yeah, I might be a bit offended, and feel the need to defend myself, but only because they are directly attacking me, thus making it about me. But I don’t feel the need to defend Led Zeppelin. In some cases, I can’t (Jimmy Page and Lori Maddox, for example… there is no defending that… there just isn’t… and sadly I have tried… I can’t). In other cases, I think Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones, and the Bonhams are strong, independent people who don’t need a complete stranger they don’t even know exists to defend them. Even when I think some attacks on them are bullshit (like the recent lawsuit over Stairway to Heaven… I sincerely hope the Randy California estate is sued by Davy Graham for stealing his intro to his “Cry Me a River”… then the Gio Battista Granata estate can sue Davy Graham for stealing his song “Soavi concenti di sonate musicali, Op. 4” for “Cry Me a River”… and so on and so forth), I don’t think they need me to defend them.
Neither Johnny Cash (I’m also a fan, BTW) nor his estate need you to defend them or be insulted for them. Most critiques of his music are not attacking you personally. So stop thinking that.
I’ll admit sometimes I get really upset when people criticize things, especially if I think the criticism is due to either misunderstanding the material and/or having what I take as an incorrect interpretation of things. And when I say upset, I mean really upset – full on have to stop reading the conversation, bitch to RL friends, and just generally stomp around feeling pissy about people being ~wrong~ on the ~internet~.
But y’know what? I realize this is an overreaction which is why I remove myself from the conversations and only complain to people I trust to take the complaining for what it is – my personal overreaction. I have (amazingly) never felt the need to attack the person making the critique.
Somewhat unrelated, but this whole mess reminds me of how happy I am that one of my favorite authors has promised that her characters will never be raped.