Reddit, what the hell is your problem?
So last night I discovered the PunchableFaces subreddit. That’s right, an entire subreddit devoted to posting pictures of people so that Redditors can fantasize about doing them bodily harm.
While most of the pictures in the subreddit are of boys and men – some targeted for being “faggots” – the recent posts (as of this writing) with the greatest number of upvotes and comments were, naturally, aimed at women. Specifically, at two outspoken feminists who’ve been singled out by Men’s Rights Activists and #GamerGaters for endless harassment: video game critic Anita Sarkeesian and Canadian feminist activist Chanty Binx, perhaps better known amongst her enemies as “Big Red.”
Here are five of the worst comments I’ve run across in the, er, discussions about these women.
Needless to say, TRIGGER WARNING for explicit threats of violence and rape.
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.
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1) This rapey comment about Anita Sarkeesian:
2) This comment about Sarkeesian with more than two dozen upvotes:
3) This comment about Chanty Binx:
4) This other comment about Chanty Binx:
5) And this other other comment about her:
BONUS: Three comments about much-maligned game designer Zoe Quinn, the subject of another post on the PunchableFaces subreddit:
![fuckyourteam 2 points 2 hours ago Wtf is this cunt looking at? permalink save report give gold reply [–]edu_gon95 [S] 5 points 2 hours ago Hopefully an incoming fist permalink save parent report give gold reply [–]ovenbutt 2 points 2 hours ago I want to pretend it's a fist coming straight for her face.](https://i0.wp.com/www.wehuntedthemammoth.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/quinncomments.png?ssl=1)
One more BONUS Zoe Quinn comment:
Oh, and as an ADDED BONUS, here’s another terrible comment, this one directed at a gay teen boy whose picture is the third-most upvoted one on the subreddit as of this writing.
Why exactly is Reddit providing a forum for hate speech and explicit violent threats directed at, among others, gay teenagers and women who are already the regular targets of widespread harassment and threats?
H/T: r/againstmensrights
Yes, I ask you in all seriousness, please pretend that I don’t exist at all
Don’t respond to anything I said
Don’t make reference to anything that I said in any of your other responses to other posters.
I am still a Cookie Monster fan all these year later. COWABUNGA!
http://media.tumblr.com/0ecb1390cad373a001e087ecdd52a1f3/tumblr_inline_n9t4c1eYdI1qhoypo.gif
@Misha
I always wonder when they are going to figure this out. Responses like that are exactly why we need to be having this discussion. If your immediate response to someone with a differing opinion is to harass and threaten them, there is clearly a problem. Based on the amount of harassment women with opinions get, it’s a BIG problem, so we’re going to keep talking about it until this kind of shit stops and everyone is treated like a person, regardless of gender.
It’s a giant blue furry thing that talks about delicious baked goods all the time. What’s not t love?
The dudes currently harassing Emma Watson don’t seem to understand that if you want to prove that a thing doesn’t really exist and isn’t really a problem, it probably isn’t a good idea to respond by doing that very thing every time someone points out that it’s happening.
Reddit & 4chan: Where hope for humanity goes to die.
BABY! On a Cookie Monster blankie! Thank you, Shaennon, your baby is soooo cute.
Leela: Hugs, if you want them. I’m a nurse too, and the job’s hard enough without coworkers making it worse! There’s definitely something wrong if your crying on the way home. Are you able to transfer to another unit or look for a new job? Is your manager supportive that you could talk to zir about it? If you are able, maybe take some vacation time, even, just to give yourself a little break, if you can.
Here’s some brain bleach.
Best Cookie Monster moment ever, IMHO.
This is (one) of my personal favorite Cookie Monster sketches.. (Seriously, too many great ones.) I love Cookie shotgunning out weird guesses, then guilting Kermit heavily to give him a cookie, followed by criticizing him for only giving him one. (Ah, but “Me settle.”)
Emma Watson is the woman who played Hermione Granger, right?
RE: Shaenon
Quoth the hubby: “TINY BABIES! 8D”
RE: Michael McG
The fact that you don’t find some of my other opinions relevant our that you may not agree with doesn’t make them–or the way that they are communicated–annoying.
…uh dude. You’ve already admitted to derailing. Is it that hard to admit that the derailing might be annoying to some of us? I’m not sure what your deal is.
a quote blockquote…uh dude. You’ve already admitted to derailing. Is it that hard to admit that the derailing might be annoying to some of us? I’m not sure what your deal is.awkward blockquote
I’m sorry but it’s a little hard to be sympathetic towards derails being annoying when the last five posts haven’t even been tangentially related to the topic of the OP…nor–come to think of it were-,the post criticizing credits “free speech”/”freeze peach “policy.
I’m willing to accept that I might just be plain adversarial and that’s why people don’t like me. However, it is kind of baffling when my posting style gets labeled “annoying” for “derailing” when other posters me the same seemingly off-topic observationsand which are pursued without comment.
Would it be possible to correct the blockquote tags in my last post?
(Stops ignoring temporarily)
You know, stuff like this?
Is unlikely to result in any group of people looking at you more fondly. As a general rule people don’t appreciate being instructed as to what they may and may not talk to other people about, especially when the effect of following those orders would be to put you beyond criticism if you happen to say something awful.
BTW, LBT – yes, Watson played Hermione Granger. She seems to have been the target of a great deal of fetishism as a result of playing that role, so I’m not surprised that the dudebros are not responding well to the idea of her attempting to set limits on what level of creepy invasiveness she and/or other female celebrities should be expected to tolerate.
Way to go for completely ignoring the context of my!
My point was if you are going to ignore me, you should just ignore me. I said absolutely nothing about how people who were willing to interact with me should interact with me, so I honestly don’t see how what I said puts me above criticism at all.
Michael:
The first part answers your second part.
If you’re just going to keep being an adversarial ass, go somewhere else.
Dude, your inability to handle even the mildest criticism of your behavior is not my problem, and nor is your lack of reading comprehension.
Like LBT said, not sure what your deal is, but I suspect I’m not the only person who’s growing weary with these kinds of outbursts.
Since when is having a difference of opinion with someone inherently adversarial?
Could you point out to me where my initial statement of my differing opinions was actually adversarial? Or when my elaborations on my opinion became adversarial?
OK, I literally gigglesnorted at that last comment. Y’all have fun with Michael, I’m going to go do something with a higher potential success rate, like trying to teach my cat how to play the piano.
Are you really this dense, or just trolling?
I am not going to hold your hand. When people tell you you’re stepping on their feet, do you make them prove it?
@Michael McG
I don’t think you’re always annoying. However, you do tend to do a thing that I tend to do myself if I don’t watch myself, which is to only have something to say when you are in disagreement with someone.
I know, it’s easier to make a conversation out of a disagreement than out of agreement. But when that’s all you do, you come across like you’re not actually interested in the community except insofar as you can nitpick it to death.
Leela is having a hard time. Yes, that post was off-topic. But this is a community, not a debate club, and a community is going to care about its members, even the ones who don’t make a comment on every post. That is why Leela’s off-topic post is okay, and yours is catching flak – people don’t feel pecked when Leela asks for hugs, but do when someone is pedantic all the time and doesn’t respond to the requests for hugs (demonstrating little interest in the “community” aspect of the community).
I hope this makes sense. Like I said, I can go that way myself sometimes. I am mad, and I get into noncommunicative moods in which I can only rouse myself to communicate when I don’t agree with a thing. But it’s my responsibility to deal with that on my end. It’s not anyone else’s responsibility to deal with me being a nitpicker.
RE: cassandrakitty
yes, Watson played Hermione Granger. She seems to have been the target of a great deal of fetishism as a result of playing that role
Oh lord, I can only imagine! That’d be a hard load to bear, for sure. Good for her, standing up for herself. (Also, it’s so hard to imagine she’s an adult, since my mental image of her is when she was in the first couple movies, so very young. But no, dammit, just because I didn’t see the later movies doesn’t mean her aging stopped!)
RE: Michael McG
Could you point out to me where my initial statement of my differing opinions was actually adversarial? Or when my elaborations on my opinion became adversarial?
Here. Right here. These lines, right here.
We said: you’re annoying. Your response: “I’m not annoying, I’m OFF-TOPIC! Just because I’m off-topic doesn’t mean I’m annoying!” And now when we say you’re being adversarial, you’re insisting for evidence. Hint: by demanding it, you’re BEING it. You’re acting like this is some battle to win instead of just accepting: dude, you’re being fucking annoying. Arguing with us about what YOU think your behavior is does not make us think you less annoying.
Chill the fuck out.
@Leela
I’m sorry you’re dealing with that. I recently quit a job where I had been for more than a decade, partially to improve my career prospects but partially just because I could no longer stand the crap.
Is there no way for you to get a different job? I realize the economy is not exactly roaring and jobs aren’t necessarily easy to find, but just looking at my options made me feel so much more in control of my life.
Emma Watson seems like a good egg. Hopefully the dudebros are just trying to intimidate her and they’re not actually gearing up for yet another massive invasion of privacy.
@Michael McG:
Oh christ. First you admit to a derail, and call it a bad habit. Then cassandrakitty asks if you could try to make this the last derail (presumably) because it was getting annoying. You then say this:
Notice cassandrakitty not actually saying what made your derail annoying, just saying that it was. You then uncharitably assume she is annoyed simply because she doesn’t agree with you. Welcome to adversarial land.
I’m sorry I don’t see where I have been adversarial until Cassandra–who has in the past attacked me for making certain mail statement that she felt were only to win the approval of the community–started objecting to my “derail” which was in itself a response to a “derail” about Reddit’s free speech policy. I tend to take with to Sandra says more personally because she has in fact attacked me personally before.