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.
@Exuin,exe
Have you actually watched Anita’s videos? Because she does a really damn good job of doing that. She spends a hell of a lot of time dissecting these games and literally showing why they’re sexist, with citations and everything.
I really don’t think you’ve actually watched her videos. I also don’t think Thunderf00t watches her videos, despite using clips in his “responses”, because neither he nor you actually addresses what she fucking says.
Go watch her videos. Until then, shut the fuck up.
“What if those threats were made hundreds of times and included your personal information, including your address?
Yes, you would call the police.”
No I wouldn’t. I would admit I would be more careful and aware of my surroundings but I lock my doors after me and I maintain my own security until its out of my hands. Other wise its like a kid who says hes got your private IP address and you should be scared, you shouldn’t cause it really is public information. And in all honesty just because someone has your IP address doesn’t mean they can do anything with it. Just like if someone from the west coast started sending me threats I’d seriously doubt that they would spend so much money on getting to me to kill me.
there is no irrefutable proof that determines them sexist
I’m waving my patented Misogynometer at my copy of Watch_Dogs, but currently the readings are unclear. Must need recalibrating.
Seriously though, what the fuck would ‘irrefutable proof that determines them sexist’ look like? Clearly that fact that thousands of people think they’re sexist isn’t enough. Are we supposed to find a high count of sexism molecules or something?
The fact that video games are frequently sexist isn’t even really controversial. That’s what’s so funny about Exuin’s flailing.
That’s an idiotic answer. It’s no different from a creationist claiming that if evolution is untrue then creationism must be true. The default is not “no sexism exists” and we fall back on that automatically. The default is “we don’t know if sexism exists or not” and you have to demonstrate that your position on the “does sexism exist?” question is backed up by evidence.
In other words, even if FemFreq were just cat videos, that would have zero bearing on any assertion that video games are not sexist. You have to demonstrate evidence, not just rely on someone else’s (alleged) lack of evidence.
HAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!
“Have you actually watched Anita’s videos?”
Yes I have as I said there’s no irrefutable proof. Just her talking about the subject. Just like how people say my sources are “dubious” and aren’t proof. She is not an appeal to authority her word holds no ground.
Not IP address exuin, REAL HOME ADDRESS WHERE YOU LIVE. That is what happened to anita, her home address was published.
@Exuin.exe
You really should try to find a sound reason why exactly a video presentation of stuff in video games that has a corresponding section on TVTropes warrants rape- and death threats.
And yes, we could construct a fair use case as she isn’t using less than… probabla less than five percent of those LP’s video’s runtime and she’s using them for educational purposes. She also does quote the source of it – as in – the games they’re from. Yes, not crediting the channels is a shit move, but recordings of video games would probably fall into the same category as recordings of TV programs – the original source is always the original creator, not the person who recorded and re-distributed them.
Pointing out her sloppy research and her low academic standards is fine, but her critics really do not seem to focus on that all that much. A lot of the stuff that we’re supposed to accept as rebuttals is just guys screaming at cameras and presenting lists of games that never reached an audience outside of Japan after all.
Honestly I’ve made this many comments all ready can someone tell me how to quote like everyone else? I’ve never used this site before.
In addition to not knowing the meaning of “fair use”, our troll doesn’t know the categorical difference between an IP address and a home address.
“It’s no different from a creationist claiming that if evolution is untrue then creationism must be true.”
But evolution has and is being tangibly proven. Unlike discussions on sexism where you can’t prove or disprove people’s thoughts and feelings towards an action without testimony and even then there is still an air of doubt on it.
@Exuin.exe:
Anita has been in the public eye and under attack for how long now? And only just now is she tweeting that she called the police? You act as if she overreacted to a single anonymous threat.
Great. So how was the threat directed at Anita not tangible?
You don’t know?
You don’t even know what the threat was?
Huh… That’s odd. Because for some reason you gave the impression that you knew exactly what it was that triggered the police call, and knew enough about it to deem it not credible.
How strange.
Then why would you make the completely unfounded assertion that [given thing] is not sexist? If you are saying that nobody can know if something is sexist or not, then you should be agnostic on the subject, not falling firmly on the side of “no sexism exists.”
It’s no longer 1995, and this isn’t Usenet. Everyone uses the Internet, airfare is cheap even for people in their 20s, and there’s been plenty of stories of people travelling cross-country to cause domestic or gendered violence (some of of which have even led to murders). If someone is determined enough, yes, they can carry out an Internet threat.
@Exuin:
<blockquote>
Blockquotes are made using html tags, like this.
</blockquote>
Alright, if you want to stick around and be annoying, lets focus on the most recent video content and start with the basics. Is Anita correct when she states that women, particularly sexualized and brutalized women, are used as background decoration in games in a way men aren’t?
LOL – sexism doesn’t exist because it can’t be proved with hard science. Other things that don’t exist: pretty much anything to do with human psychology or culture.
Dude, you should really stop listening to Thunderf00t and start listening to AronRa. I’m afraid he doesn’t do any of that sweet, sweet lady-hate that you morons seem to like so much, but on the plus side you might actually learn something that isn’t bullshit.
Sure.
< blockquote >
< /blockquote >
without the spaces. Close tags.
Does anyone fully read my comments. While I do have to thank you guys for giving me so much discussion and I have had fun talking with you all, I do have to say I do feel insulted that I’m not being given as much attention as I’m giving you. I really don’t like to ask much of other people but it is frustrating when I’m constantly making more comments and taking more time to retype what I’ve already written. Though I do enjoy reading responses it would be I enjoy it ever so more when people respond to me as a whole instead of me reading a question on a comment and thinking “I answered that in the next sentence.” It really has been fun but honestly I don’t think I can keep up with this amount of people asking me nor do I feel that I hold a position of responsibility to do so.
In the end though thank you guys for this much discussion you’ve given me so far.
I’m also curious about what constitutes irrefutable proof of misogyny. I think a constant theme of women as sexualized, scantily clad victims and women constantly being portrayed as sex objects with no name or personality while the vast majority of playable characters with a personality and motivations are men is actually enough evidence for most reasonable people.
Exuin reminds me of those people who think you can’t be racist if you aren’t a KKK member.
There’s none so blind as those who will not see.
No… your physical address.
And you would call the police. BS if you say otherwise.
The problem is people don’t like being called sexist. ‘This video game full of naked murdered women is to my tastes, all this is a matter of preference not sexism’. Like how racists insist they’re not racists because they understand the word has bad connotations.
Exuin.exe’s username is quite appropriate. It is a file I would not run, because its willfully stupid files would crash my computer.
Internet stalkers can and have turned into meatspace stalkers.
Very few people with a family would want to risk that family’s safety on the chance that they won’t run into these folks in meatspace. Especially when the interweb nasties have been given your meatspace address.
It’s not your responsibility to support your own assertions? Interesting definition of responsibility you’ve got there.
Yeah, I’d call that a flounce. Let’s see if he sticks it.
So don’t come here and make unsupported, poorly researched statements if you feel you have no responsibility to defend them.
Flounce in one… two… three…