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.
Well, honestly, I’m a little flattered that you appear to believe that I have both the power and the money to set someone up with food, housing, and a job that pays a living wage and decent benefits. Sadly, sparky is not yet ruler of the world and has neither the power or the money to do that. sparky is lucky that she’s able to provide for her own family and home. And even if I did have the power and money to do that for one person, what about the hundreds of thousands (millions? not sure about stats on world hunger and homelessness, but I’d bet it’s in the millions, if not billions) of people who are hungry and homeless worldwide? What about them?
So no, sorry, I can’t actually solve the problems of hunger and homelessness by myself. No one person can. It’s going to take the concerted effort of lots and lots of people, whole governments making widespread changes even, to solve those problems. But that doesn’t mean that people shouldn’t care about them, or do what they can, or that soul kitchens and homeless shelters should just throw up their hands and shut their doors because they’ll never solve the problem. Which is basically what you’re arguing we should do about women being harrassed on the Internet for the crime of being women.
Oh, we have the tools, alright. One of those tools is spreading awareness about the problem. Another is getting people to see and acknowledge that it’s actually a problem. Another is to get people to speak out about Internet harrassment, to not tolerate misogyny and harrassment on their boards and blogs. These are just three things I can think of off the top of my head. You’re not very problem-solving oriented of imaginative if you honestly believe there is nothing that can be done.
Sure. But that doesn’t mean that they have to have a platform, or that the rest of us should just shrug our shoulders and say “What ya gonna do?” she people are sending rape and death threats. Overwhelmingly to women. Who’s only crime is being a woman on the Internet.
Yes. Your ignorance is showing again.
… ok, I guess you want me to look up the names then?
Jack Thompson:
Found that he was given a 91-day suspension from the bar for unethical practices as a lawyer, but finding no indication of a harassment campaign. Gonna have to give me more info as to what you’re referring to.
David Smalley:
Google searches for “David Smalley harassment” yields nothing, trolling his twitter yields nothing apart from a single tweet “oh god what did I say.” Not very informative. Gonna have to give me something more for this dude.
Thunderfoot:
I’m intimately familiar with Thunderfoot, and how he basically leads harassment campaigns himself. I used to be a fan of his videos, then saw him gain a spot on FreethoughtBlogs, then saw him ousted for being a huge asshole. Widespread criticism from social justice-minded folks is not harassment. You’re gonna have to tell me what harassment you’re referring to.
The Amazing Atheist:
He is an odious person who is famous for intentionally trying to trigger a male rape victim on Reddit. Again, you’re gonna have to tell me what harassment you’re referring to, because again wide-spread criticism is not harassment. He’s probably the most likely person in the list to have received death threats and hate from the internet, but it just isn’t comparable to Anita.
Oh right, Richard Carrier. Forgot that one. I’ve followed his blog, and I’ve never ever even heard of any harassment directed towards him. Granted, sometimes people disagree with what he says, but he’s still blogging at FreethoughtBlogs, which is more than one can say for Thunderfoot. I’m gonna have to give a big “Huh?” and ask you to provide more info.
So, what Delton’s saying is, we can now harass and abuse him however much we want, as long as we do it on the Internet. He will totally be unphased, unbothered, and totally above it all, because he knows it’s just the Internet and none of it will really happen, and he will never feel the slightest bit of discomfiture. Just the price of doing business on the Internet right?
RIIIIIGHT.
You gotta give him more time to get those smokes! He first needs to find the fake ID. (“18 years on the Internet.” SNORT.)
What’s the motivation of someone who comes in here to us we’re wasting our time? Wouldn’t someone who actually believed that not waste their time writing multiple posts?
And sure Delton, go ahead and share all the graphic rape fantasies those guys got hit with. I’ll wait.
“Why won’t you hold my hand and educate me? Why won’t you prop up my ego by pretending my approval matters to you?”
And of course, I can only see a direct link to games from one dude on the list; Jack Thompson.
Dalton, let me just tell you that you’re fighting a losing battle. First, finding dudes that have been harassed doesn’t prove that misogyny wasn’t behind the harassment of Anita Sarkeesian. Second, Anita’s harassment was astoundingly huge even for women on the internet, so trying to demonstrate that that kind of harassment is widespread and common is an uphill battle. Third, you apparently don’t know what “harassment” means if the examples that come to mind are people who are criticized for the things they do in pretty reasonable ways (TAA in particular).
Dalton doesn’t dare admit that it is a problem, and that something can be done to solve it. If he did so, he would be almost obligated to do something about it. Such as, y’know, when he sees abuse being “showered” on another person, speaking up and saying, “Hey bro, not cool. You can’t be in our guild if you act that way.”
But that would be so haaaaaaaaaaaard, it would practically be like solving world hunger singlehandedly. So he must remain invested in thinking it’s no big deal for ladies to be run out of their own homes by scary people who know their home address, and who have never had a “not cool, bro” thrown at them, ever.
Dalton, forget five minutes. I’ll give you all day. I sincerely doubt you can come up with anything, but you made the challenge so I’m gonna call you on it.
Bet your ass people threatened to kill jack thompson and his family, and i don’t recall personally reading any rape threats toward him but you all know the troll MO as well as I do. TAA had that masturbatory video of his leaked and mirrored everywhere and general public hatred of him has only grown proportionately with his youtube fame, Thunderfoot had false accounts created in his name on pornographic websites where his face was shopped onto naked men having sex with each other.
I don’t have chat logs of most of these things because these guys don’t screencap them and post about them, they get over it.
And many of you continue to assume that I’m a hatemonger despite the fact that I haven’t even reciprocated the rudeness you’ve shown me. That’s because no matter what kind of vile shit people type at you on the internet none of it is substantial. The worst thing you can do is take it personally and the best thing you can do chill out and carry on. You really doubt that I’ve ever been threatened with violence, rape, or murder? Haven’t you ever been? And people don’t even know who we are. They don’t have to, they do it automatically when they have a tool like the internet which allows them to do it without consequence. Definitely not a laudable thing, but people have a right to do it as long as nobody ever comes to any actual harm.
Personally, I enjoy both explaining things to the trolls and seeing other people do it, because it helps me find words for ideas that are obvious to me but that I have a hard time expressing.
YES, that is exactly what we think. You came here to argue and you don’t even know what our thesis is?
How did your cigarette run go? Did you stop to feed a homeless person?
Evidence content: 0.
You know about what they say about assertions without evidence…
Oh man, fuck off. Seriously. “They get over it.” Your utter lack of empathy for the women who have received harassment at the level of Anita Sarkeesian and Zoe Quinn, well… no wonder you’re getting such pushback from us. Show some empathy, or get treated like an asshole.
Also, another troll who can’t do due diligence about this as a mockery blog.
My guess is the fake ID didn’t work. Have to steal some from Dad.
Oh, you’re back. Did you fix the homelessness problem so soon? I know a couple of organizations that would love to hear how you did it!
Do you even hear yourself?
While the harassment he gets is often terrible (the shaming of his sexual habits is particularly odious), but in terms of the non-harassment ire, it’s not just his fame that attracts “hate”. You’re comparing a woman whose only “crime” is criticizing video games to a man who complains when teenage suicide victims get attention and who is an unapologetic misogynist. How many of his “haters” (not the harassers, again, but the haters in general) have a legit grievance? How many of Sarkeesian’s do?
But it’s just the internet! We have a right to be mean! Get over it and go save a kitten from drowning!
Also, you started it. We’re only giving as good as we’ve gotten.
Like this, right here. This is a terrible thing to say and you’re a terrible person for saying it.
Also just fucking stop with pretending a right to do something means it’s the wise thing to do. Or that people shouldn’t criticize it.
We do have lives outside this place and communities where we have power and influence over the social context. So being aware of these kinds of trends makes us able to call them out and make people aware of what they’re doing before the insults predominate the debate.
Though you probably don’t believe socialization has any power over you or people like you, oh special snowflake.
Too bad Dalton didn’t make like the dude in the country who went out for a pack of smokes and never came back.
Me too!
I see we’ve gotten to the tone-trolling portion of events. Little bit hypocritical to complain about us being rude while simultaneously minimizing harrassment, rape threats and death threat, eh?
Is tone policing on the bingo card?
You said you could come up with 5 dudes who have received equal vitriol to Sarkeesian. You have listed unsubstantiated allegations about 3, which don’t actually reach the same level of verbal violence even if one were to take all of them as assumed true and combined them together.
You honestly have not even the slightest clue how much, and how threatening, the abuse against AS has been, do you? And you have no clue whatsoever how different of an experience women have with violent threats than men. You are so wrapped up in your privilege you can’t even see the people around you.
Aitch – As much asI hate to admit it but I do remember the Jack Thompson episode. People did express a wish to harm him pretty frequently. Of course there was no organized campaign of harassment the way the whole gamergate thing became. I’d suggest going to Penny Arcade and looking through forum comments from the time relating to Thompson.
Emilygoddess – I tend to approach trolls the same way, it’s an opportunity to examine my own views and refine my thoughts. Even when it’s just the same old tired talking points.
” The worst thing you can do is take it personally and the best thing you can do chill out and carry on.”
Hmm, no, I think I like Bill and Ted’s “Be excellent to each other” speech much better.
Dude, what’s your motivation for coming here and insisting we chill out and carry on? Are you afraid we’ll make you think about something you don’t want to think about?
Got better things to do, like pulling out my teeth with a trebuchet. But thanks for the correction, and it’s a shame he had to go through that.
People have a right to do it? No they really don’t. Rape and death threats are illegal. At least they are in the US and the UK. I’m guessing there are laws against it pretty much everywhere.
RE: Dalton Jones
Bet your ass people threatened to kill jack thompson and his family, and i don’t recall personally reading any rape threats toward him but you all know the troll MO as well as I do.
So, what you’re saying is, you have no evidence, never READ any evidence, you just KNOW it happened. And I should believe you. Uh huh. Welp, I can’t argue with “logic” like that!
I don’t have chat logs of most of these things because these guys don’t screencap them and post about them, they get over it.
Your evidence for this? No. It’s just your interpretation. They could also be so ashamed they want nobody to see. They could also have nothing to screencap. You aren’t actually backing up any of your assertions, so why should I believe them?
I haven’t even reciprocated the rudeness you’ve shown me.
You seem to be mistaking “politeness” with “respect.” I’m very politely telling you that you’re arguing badly, as constructive criticism.
no matter what kind of vile shit people type at you on the internet none of it is substantial
You know, this is interesting to me. See, I’m actually kinda an outlier; all my worst trolls were people I knew personally. Friends. Parents. They weren’t an anonymous horde. When they typed to me, “I can’t love you,” that wasn’t just some stranger. That was my father. It wasn’t just some dude, it was MY FATHER telling me he couldn’t love me, and threatening to institutionalize me. And I had to make some pretty major plans and changes in my life to avoid that.
The Internet, email, IM, they aren’t some parallel dimension with no consequences, buddy. They’re real people, typing real things, and sometimes acting on them, such as my parents. They were DOING and SAYING the same things in person! Just when I stopped seeing them in person, they started using the phone, and when I stopped taking their calls, they started using email.