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.
“I don’t know how simply I can put this, but I will try for the trolls here.
If the negative people that Anita was dealing with were actually interested in debunking her analyses and conclusions, their comments would actually address Anita’s analyses and conclusions. Explicitly.
But those people aren’t doing that. They are sending rape threats, other threats of violence, gendered slurs and so forth.
The reason for this behaviour is to shut one one woman who “doesn’t know her place” and to send a strong signal to other women that this is the outcome they can expect if they speak up too.”
Only one possibility – there are others.
-People are pissed off, and express it with ineffectual threats of violence – no agenda behind it, just a visceral reaction.
-Threats aren’t meant literally – more along the lines of “I really wanna smash this dude to bits”. Don’t ask – it’s a common human form of expression.
-Defiance – someone says how misogyny and threats are bad, so they write a bunch of threatening, misogynistic comments out of spite.
-An intention to drive off or scare off the target – however, not because she’s a woman, but because she says things they don’t like. Anita Sarkeesian says a lot of bullshit about how people are wrong for enjoying certain things, which is already a sufficient explanation for the hate she receives.
As always, you feminists/SJWs have to pick the one variant that rhymes with “misogyny”/patriarchy/oppression, and pretend as if it was the only thing in existence. Just as Anita always picks the one interpretation of a given fictional scenario that fits along those lines, and then insists that this is the way it should be understood.
Another example:
“They’re NOT part of the solution. Why should we believe the people who are “mean” (great way to minimize death and rape threats there) to Sarkeesian aren’t misogynists? If they act like misogynists, then they’re misogynists.”
People can act like x without being x – this is one of those things about human behavior that if you’re not aware of it, you are seriously, seriously out-of-touch.
“I mean, let’s take you as an example, you claim that you think rape and death threats are bad, but then you turn around and say it’s just people being “mean””
Mean doesn’t seem like an antonym of “bad” to me. Diminishing the severity of how bad something is, doesn’t mean you’re saying it’s not bad to begin with.
“and constantly try to place the fault for the threats on Sarkeesian.”
If they’re saying it’s “bad”, they’re clearly placing a large chunk of the fault on the people who do it.
“It’s clear that you don’t in fact think the threats are bad, you just say that to insulate yourself from criticism.”
Aaaaaand jackpot, there we’ve got it. The same common SJW tactic in a slightly different variant: read a hidden meaning into someone’s words, then insist that you guessed right.
No – he said it’s bad, and you don’t get to erase that and substitute your own reality instead.
If someone reads this and doesn’t get why this is nonsensical behavior, there are problems!
“You’re dishonest, you’re misogynistic, and you’re boring, so just shut up already.”
Well you just implied that misogyny was merely something “boring” – this seems suspicious to me.
Anyhow, you people feel free to continue your circlejerk here – that’s what this site is for! Enjoy your little escapist release and then start acting reasonable again when back in the real world… kinda like with gaming!
Have a great day.
@troll who doesn’t seem to be aware that this is a two-month-old thread
http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p209/mommawookiee/tldr.jpg
Learn to blockquote if you want anyone reading your teal deer, fuckwitted troll. And piss off with your apologia for rape and death threats.
INSULTS JUST HAPPEN TO BE FLOATING IN THE ETHER AND PEOPLE PICK THEM UP IN A VACCUUM, DISCONNECTED FROM THEIR MINDSET
THE FACT THAT HOMOPHOBIC, SEXIST AND RACIST INSULTS TEND TO BE THE FIRST THING COMING OUT OF THESE ASSHOLES IS JUST COINCIDENCE
I’M SURE THAT THEY NOT CARING ABOUT SPLASH DAMAGE IS ALSO NOT RELATED IN ANY WAY TO HOW THEY THINK
STUFF JUST HAPPENS, MAN
ALSO, GAMERGATE TOTALLY HAS A COHERENT PLATFORM CENTRALIZED AROUND ETHICS, BUT ALSO AMORPHOUS AND LEADERLESS SO WE DON’T NEED TO TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANYTHING
Troll is on moderation, BTW, I just let through a couple of comments for you all to bat around.
The think about specious arguments is that they work much better orally than they do in writing.
When they’re picking out random insults out of the ether, why don’t they ever pick out the good ones, like “poltroon,” or “gonif,” or “splourplie.”
Ok, I made up that last one.
Now I want to know how to pronounce splourplie.
Poltroon is very applicable to trolls. Cowards all.
http://media.tumblr.com/8d6c4fbc0f429f4a437ca78044d511b3/tumblr_inline_msihm8zaQG1qz4rgp.png
This bit is fun:
Apparently, the fact that Sarkeesian is getting misogynist harrassment and threats because she is a woman who criticizes misogyny proves that there is no misogyny involved.
And this bit:
Umm, no, it’s actually not. Most mature, rational adults do not threaten people with death or physical harm when they are angry. Threats of violence are generally not considered an appropriate way to express anger. That troll seems to think that threatening violence is something that most people do says quite a bit about troll.
Also, troll seems to think that people should not and cannot be judged by their actions. How very surprising that the troll who spent so many words minimizing the threats and misogyny against Sarkeesian doesn’t think that people should be judged for their misogynistic actions! /s
Dearest recent troll:
Your formatting leaves much to be desired. Nevertheless, I will attempt to address your concerns because I’m bored, and you’re silly, and the stars are in the “Contrapangloss will humor trolls” alignment.
You state that we only state one possibility, and that there are others. Then, you proceed to detail these others with far too many dashes. However, just because there are other explanations doesn’t invalidate the simplest explanation. Also, if we hope to adjust behavioral patterns, starting from simple principles will help lead toward more applicable solutions.
So, let’s address your “Other Possibilities” that you set forth with an air of “Since these reasons exist, your reason is invalid and we shouldn’t consider it as a possibility”
-People are pissed off, and express it with ineffectual threats of violence – no agenda behind it, just a visceral reaction.
Whoa, blockquote mammoth be hungry! Let me try that again…
Mods, feel free to ax the massive dead formatting fail. Or not. I can always use some humble pie when it comes to html.
Dearest recent troll:
Your formatting leaves much to be desired. Nevertheless, I will attempt to address your concerns because I’m bored, and you’re silly, and the stars are in the “Contrapangloss will humor trolls” alignment.
You state that we only state one possibility, and that there are others. Then, you proceed to detail these others with far too many dashes. However, just because there are other explanations doesn’t invalidate the simplest explanation. Also, if we hope to adjust behavioral patterns, starting from simple principles will help lead toward more applicable solutions.
So, let’s address your “Other Possibilities” that you set forth with an air of “Since these reasons exist, your reason is invalid and we shouldn’t consider it as a possibility”
People being angry is a good explanation for why people would be angry. There is nothing circular there, at all. What we’re (the regulars of the blog) more interested in is why people get so angry at Sarkeesian as opposed to other people who say pretty much the same things, far less courteously.
People being angry and having visceral reactions to Sarkeesian doesn’t explain why they have such a peculiarly strong reaction to Sarkeesian as opposed to male critics who say similar things.
… whereas, you know, the fact that ladies in gaming get death threats far in excess of the threats made to their many male counterparts might, maybe, have something to do with internalized male entitlement and some misogyny.
Just, maybe.
Again, why is sarkeesian so ‘special’ as to get sooo much of these non-literal threats as opposed to everyone else online? Also, how does “threats aren’t made literally” supposed to explain why people assume that making threats is a good behavioral choice?
Saying bad behavior exists does not explain why the bad behavior exists.
Try again.
Oh wait, you did.
And how exactly is this supposed to be the behavior of a bunch of good folks that we should sympathize with? If you make misogynistic comments out of spite, your comments are misogynistic.
It also fails to explain misogynistic comments that came before Anita started telling people those comments and emails were misogynistic and threatening, and that sending them was uncool.
Basically, if you think that being told that some things might be misogynistic is so threatening that you have to leap to ‘defiance’ and start being a worse person out of spite… you might be a little misogynistic.
Maybe.
Okay, same problem as your first one. Anita hasn’t said anything that hasn’t been said before. So why so much hatred specifically towards her and other women in gaming? Also, she’s pretty darned polite about saying that there are misogynistic tropes.
She even says that you can still find games fun, even if they have troublesome parts.
Seriously.
Your sufficient explanation is not sufficient explanation for the degree of hatred, threats, and misogynistic slurs hurled her direction. Unless, of course, you’re admitting that there’s a veritable horde of terribly behaved and misogynistic gamers…
Thus sayeth the person who cannot possibly posit a potential explanation for bad behavior other than people behave badly.
Really?
Yes, people are capable of acting. However, if you are ‘acting’ like X, it is generally with a firm realization that this behavior is not your typical behavior. If it is your typical behavior, than you are X.
Also, there are some behaviors that if you do engage in, it automatically makes you X. For instance, if I kick a puppy, I am an animal abuser.
If I punch someone in the face for saying my mother is like a fractal (with infinite dimensions), then I am a bad person with anger management problems.
I am neither an animal abuser nor a bad person with anger management problems.
If you send misogynistic death threats and laugh about them, or feel pride in sending them, then you are a misogynist and a bad person.
You are capable of stopping being a misogynist and a bad person, but the you sending the threats is still misogynistic and a bad person.
Savvy?
The meaning of your words is not all that hidden from anyone but yourself. If someone tells me that I’m being racist or ableist, it doesn’t necessarily mean I’m racist and ableist, but it does mean that I maybe should pay attention to why they might think that, because I might be saying some very problematic things.
If your entire takeaway from this is “Wow, feminists be stupid” then you are failing at self reflection.
Oddly enough, I behave very similarly to my online self in the real world, sans a pseudonym and a yellow cat avatar. I also, sadly, cannot smite monsters with a lute and am not a purple wearing dwarf in real life.
However, snarky feminist? Yeah, real life people know that about me.
My image may change, but my politics, morals, and ethics remain consistent. If yours don’t, you might want to ask yourself why.
Maybe.
I think I will!
You, too. Maybe you’ll find enlightenment someday, and ponder why you aren’t disturbed by and are so chill about bad behavior online.
I’m kind of doubtful.
Arise necrothread! Your master calls you, with runes ancient and rites macabre!
David, if this is a sample of what gets through, I just don’t know how you deal with this claptrap. Have you worn out your copy of “How to Even for Dummies” yet?
I removed your sacrifice to the blockquote mammoth, contrapangloss. Though it still wasn’t as epic as my one-letter-per-line one, back in the day. 😛
I think it telling that trolls so often claim that verbal abuse is normal everybody does it behavior. Nope. It most assuredly is not.
“Troll is on moderation, BTW, I just let through a couple of comments for you all to bat around.”
He let through 2 of 3 comments – the one that got blocked was the least inflammatory one, had the least stuff about harassment in it, and also happened to be a response to the article rather than the comments. Excuse me while I’m slightly raising one eyebrow there…
I’ve just read through all your responses, and they are all completely wrong. Show me you’re not scared of dissent by letting through that comment, and I’ll gladly explain why 🙂
isthisafuckintroll?!:
Wow, that’s it? Several people gave you detailed rebuttals and that’s you got to say? “You all are too scared to let through dissenting comments?”
Not even going to attempt to support your arguments? Just gonna cry “FREEZE PEACH!”
You’ll excuse me while I raise my eyebrow. o_O
Ugh, it’s a troll extravaganza these days, they’re practically flying off the shelves. “A troll for every day of the week/ Buy one troll, get one free”.
Seriously, isthisafuckingjoke (oh, the irony) is trying to bargain with the mods? “Let my comment through and I’ll gladly impart my wisdom to thee?”
Jog on.
No. That’s not true. But your threshold for misogyny is apparently so high that apparently nothing actually qualifies. Can you please, oh please mansplain to us just what is really misogyny?
Apparently, I apparently overuse the word apparently. Apparently!
Years ago I had a partner with a… AD&D?? poster, with a funky mage summoning undead with a crystal globe. There was a quotation zie used to say (and I’m gonna have to paraphrase, it’s been years). ‘Rise, rise! My minions of the dead! Rise- hey, I can see my reflection in this thing!’
http://thumbs2.ebaystatic.com/d/l225/m/mtHlQjbBWakyNYPIv4woL6Q.jpg
If 2/3 your posts are inflammatory then it’s not David who’s making you look like a sad ass troll.
The amount of harassment of Sarkeesian has been off the charts, the sheer volume and ferocity makes your attempt to write it off as run of the mill specious and, quite frankly, ridiculous. You also seem to ignore the fact that she’s been doxxed, prank called and received specific threats of a mass shooting at her cancelled speaking engagement. Not to mention the two idiots who are making, or at least trying to make, a feature length documentary in order to denounce her with more emphasis.
The firestorm set off by Sarkeesian’s Kickstarter campaign and videos is wildly out control and way out of proportion to any effect her videos could have on the gaming industry. In fact the harassment of her has raised awareness about the misogyny in gaming “culture” far more then a hundred videos by her could. Efforts to wave away that harassment aren’t going fly, Chief.
Funny how it doesn’t occur to him that David only let through the comments that he thought we’d find entertaining, so if the one that wasn’t let through was really boring…
Did the troll just try to do a reverse-troll challenge?
Dude, not the way it works.
Might I suggest his challenge should be explaining why we are so off base, in iambic pentameter, before letting any more of his comments through?
Or, trochaic tetrameter.
Or, just using the word “Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia” in a context that makes sense in every post.
How about you fucking DON’T. How about you just fuck off back to Trollistan, instead of trying to trollsplain to me all the shit that I’ve been getting on the fucking Internet AND in the flesh, BECAUSE I AM A WOMAN, for longer than your sorry ass has been in existence?
And yeah, I’m sure this is because we’re just “scared of dissent”. Like people are so scared of YOU. A status-quo, booger-nosed, zit-faced fucking 12-year-old who’s mad because no one will suck his dick or make him a fuckin’ sandwich.
I’ve upped MY game. Now UP YOURS.