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, be fair. There’s nobody to make him a sandwich because his mom is at work. What else is he supposed to do till he gets home but pester random women on the internet?
I just love how these trolls always claim they get modded because someone is “scared of dissent”. As though a stirring defence of the right-wing status quo could ever qualify as such.
Next up, I fully expect another herd of teal deer about Free Speech™, and how “suck my dick and get me a sammitch, cunt” qualifies as an eloquent use of the same.
I love how they come to a mockery site and expect to be taken seriously. On any level. They never grasp that their posts aren’t allowed through merely because ‘freeze peach’ but to entertain us.
Dance more, monkey. So far, your ratings suck and you’ll never win ‘quoted forever on other threads’ or ‘mentioned humorously whenever a certain subject comes up’.
Do you live DIRECTLY ON THE BEACH?
Shut up, Woody.
I vote for a non-filthy limmerick.
The majority of feminist blogs wouldn’the even let most of these trolls through moderation, and yet we are still accused of either censorship or fear of dissent once a week or so. I swear, trolls are like telemarketers, sticking to their scripts no matter what the other party is actually saying.
“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?””
You must be really, really dense.
“they are all completely wrong. Show me you’re not scared of dissent by letting through that comment, and I’ll gladly explain why”
Three short and simple sentences – do you find it hard to understand their content?
I said I’ll respond to those rebuttals (which are “completely wrong”) when my other comments gets approved. I’m not particularly interested in entering a discussion in which any comment can be blocked at will – with quote-mining, at least you can point to the part that got ignored 😉
“Let my comment through and I’ll gladly impart my wisdom to thee?”
Well, the cheekiness of that particular bit was intended 🙂
But I mean, I’m not bargaining with anyone, I’m just saying… if you’d really like to find out why you’re wrong 😀
Dear troll. That was in neither iambic pentameter nor trochaic tetrameter.
I regret to inform you that I did not read your teal deer.
🙁
That is totally my regretting face. For real. My face totally isn’t more like this:
🙂
Wow. This idiot really thinks that we’re dying to hear his words of great wisdom and that we will do whatever he demands in order to hear said wisdom.
This is easily the densest troll we’ve had in a while.
Foolish troll d00d. You are not in contention for troll of the year.
No one care what you think. No one care what you say.
You are a standard issue troll just like all the other ones honking the same horn over and over in hopes that someone will give you what you crave.
We do need to give some thought to troll of the year awards.
Shut up Woody.
Contrapangloss,
I think that was trollic turdameter.
It’s always sad when someone thinks that smilies give the illusion that they have a personality.
*glances over troll teal deer*
*eyes glaze*
Hey y’all, if you want me to poke the troll by deleting his posts, gimme a call. I’m going back to doing new pics of Mr K.
Boring troll is still boring. Delete away. I think a good implosion would be far more spectacular than more smug “You’re wrong, and I’ll tell you how wrong you are when you restore all my other boring bullshit.”
Interesting how they are attempting to negotiate with us for something we do not want.
That’s some weak sauce trolling, there.
See, isthisafuckintroll, if you had an actual, legitimate argument to make, you would have already made it. The two posts David let through? Completely ridiculous. Refusing to actually address people’s points? This childish tantrum your throwing because the man who owns the blog didn’t post one of your shitty comments? Also completely ridiculous. And all this tells me you aren’t here to argue in good faith, and you never were.
But do you LIVE DIRECTLY ON THE BEACH??!??
SPINSTERS want to know!!!
Hey, did anyone else have “Two out of three aiiin’t bad…” play in your head?
David, please don’t *ever* let his 3rd post through; this is kinda funny the way it is.
OMG, Kittehserf, delete every.. THIRD post! Mwahahahahahaha
Done. Muahahahahaha!
I’d cheer, but I just realized I used a two dot ellipse. Clearly, my procrastination over writing my nano novel has bitten me in the butt.
Imagine someone writing an MRA-style novel for Nano.
… On second thoughts, don’t.
No, no, no. Don’t delete.
When we get around to polling for troll of the year, it’ll be handy to have some evidence for just how weak-sauce some of the eager-but-feeble contenders really were. I can’t imagine how much this fool would have to up his game to make it into the Hall of Fame represented in the welcome package.
@mildlymagnificent, I don’t know, it’s not like this troll is overly original. At least a third of his posts are gonna be spammy trollbot grudge.
Oh gods, this one’s not even in the running. Actually I don’t think anyone but Mikey DIRECTLY ON THE BEACH who took his girlfriend to romantic Charlotte, SC (or was it NC?) is remotely worthy of the title.