GamerGaters like to loudly profess that they oppose harassment. They also like to claim that most if not all of the harassment that has occurred comes from people that aren’t “real” GamerGaters.
So what do GamerGaters do when they’re confronted with evidence that someone in their ranks — not an anonymous nobody but someone with some standing in their community — is harassing someone?
Well yesterday we had an opportunity to see just that. I wrote about a couple of instances of sexual harassment from a GamerGater known as Cameralady.
While not as famous as GamerGate celebs like Milo Yiannopoulos or InternetAristocrat or, you know, Adam Baldwin, Cameralady is, at least in Gamergate circles, a bit of a player. She was an early and especially eager opponent of Zoe Quinn, and devoted a great deal of time and energy to digging up dirt on Quinn and others. Many of her “findings” made it into GamerGate propaganda on the web and in assorted YouTube videos.
And her sexual harassment was about as blatant as it gets. In the midst of an argument on Twitter, she tweeted a crude sexual come-on to a woman who opposes GamerGate, and was immediately told to get lost. A week later, in the midst of another Twitter argument, she Tweeted another crude come-on to the same woman. The evidence was as plain as day, and I included it all in my post.
So what happened after I posted a link to my post in the #GamerGate hashtag on Twitter? Did other GamerGaters call her out on her behavior?
Well, no. Instead I was besieged by dozens — hundreds? — of tweets from GamerGaters who assured me that the harassment wasn’t harassment at all.
The tone of the discussion was set early on by Cameralady herself, who insisted that her harassment was simple “flirtation” and that anyone who thought otherwise was some sort of anti-sex puritan prude.
https://twitter.com/The_Camera_Girl/status/524967395715477504
https://twitter.com/The_Camera_Girl/status/524968506480410624
https://twitter.com/The_Camera_Girl/status/524969608043044864
I’m not exactly sure how that would absolve her for her bad behavior. If you shoot someone and you miss, you’ve still committed a crime. If you crudely proposition someone who earlier told you to get lost and they for some reason don’t hear you, well, same thing. Also, the woman she harassed did in fact see her tweet.
She also tried to explain that what she was doing really was flirting, and that I didn’t understand because I’m not a lesbian.
@The_Camera_Girl @DavidFutrelle So it's okay to sexually harass people because you've had sex with other women?
— BlackFish (@BlackFish775) October 22, 2014
Later, she tried another excuse.
https://twitter.com/The_Camera_Girl/status/525087005823483904
Apparently she sends crude sexual comments to so many women she can’t keep track!
Other GamerGaters did their best to minimize, deny and deflect.
@The_Camera_Girl @alexvdl0 @DavidFutrelle I think hes jealous
— SteamPunk_Devil (@SteamPunkDevil_) October 22, 2014
Even those who accepted that what had happened was harassment did their best to change the subject.
https://twitter.com/DanielGauss/status/524965533234393088
https://twitter.com/DanielGauss/status/524970974744039424
But if you really want a sense of the sheer horror of dealing with GamerGaters on Twitter, well, you’re just going to have to jump headlong into the middle of it.
Here you can see all of the responses to my Tweet linking to my post. Here you will encounter every type of deflection known to humankind, as you scroll downward through an argument that never seems to end.
Witness the terror of endless arguments with people who ask for proof that is already in the article they are ostensibly discussing! Hear the demands for screenshots that have already been given to them!
I never know if they’re really this obtuse, or if they’re just screwing with me.
It reminds me a lot of this classic Monty Python sketch. The only difference is that the Monty Python sketch is over in six minutes, while Twitter never ends.
The discussion of – I’m not sure what to call it, information coding? Fascinating stuff. I worked in the main campus library all five years of college, and became adept at using Library of Congress. The mathematics of data storage are beyond me, much like ballroom dancing, but it’s just as wonderful to watch.
Also, CameraLady and Judgybitch should get trapped in an elevator for a few hours. It might not do them any good, but it would give the rest of us a break.
Dvärghundspossen:
Even worse
See, female sexual aggression, harassment, and insidious chemical manipulation. Evidence enough!!
Oh, I’ve seen it all over the internet. It’s basically on its way to becoming the new r-word as far as I can tell. In the sense of being used as a “you’re stupid,” not in the sense of being a slur. Though, in that case, it is being used as one. Not going to let trolls chase me out of my neurology, though. Gah. I am rambling, aren’t I?
Exactly, Talacaris!
Begs the question: What DO gamers do, exactly, that is more than just playing video games? I mean, I know that I don’t fit in with their crowd because my choice of games tends to be the solitaire variety (Mahjongg on my iPad is my all-time fave), but really: Being a gamer IS playing video games. It is nothing BUT that.
And yes, I play solitaire so I won’t have to deal with the shooter-crowd assholes. I don’t like shooters, and I positively despise snotty-nosed 12-year-olds who call everyone else ablist slurs every time they fire a missed shot. BUT I STILL FUCKIN’ PLAY, YA LITTLE BASTARDS.
And you know what that makes me? Yup. And I’ve been at it, in one form or another, for longer than you guys have even existed.
Go cry, emo kid.
Again, begging the question: What the fuck is “hardship” for a “gamer”? Not getting free review copies of all the latest everything before it hits the shelves because you’re just another run-of-the-mill player, not a professional reviewer (who, like, does that as part of a JOB)? Having to talk nicely to all those cootie-ridden girls invading the He-Man-Woman-Haters’ Club treehouse? Running out of Cheetos mid-round and being forced to inhale the artificial orange dust? Crashing off your Mountain Dew sugar high? WHAT?
Whatever these guys’ idea of “hardship” is, it is surely a very spoiled First Worlder’s problem. And it is probably quite easily solved with a very simple attitude adjustment.
Cry more, emo kid.
I can guarantee that NOBODY gets fired from jobs merely for “having an opinion”. If you keep your head down and just do your job, you should have no problem. On the other hand, harassing other people (maybe from your work computer?) and trying to get them fired (or to quit) because, in your opinion, they shouldn’t be in video games, because they’re a cootie-ridden girl? Yeah, damn right you’d get fired. And you’d fucking DESERVE it, too. Nobody wants a toxic asshole like you working on their team. Especially if half of them are women.
And please, spare me the talk about what a “hardship” THAT is.
“Gamers”. Such fucking crybabies.
Because heaven knows, there aren’t nearly enough of THOSE. >eyeroll<
And these are the same people who insist that women don’t understand technology.
Also, wwth is right – if there’s any issue that these fools should be championing, it’s net neutrality, which in the end will have far more impact on them (and everyone else) than whatever Gawker is up to.
No! The internet is NOT a big truck!
“It’s a series of tubes…”
Net neutrality is above their heads. That’s ONE hardship of being a gamer: You literally can’t think of anything else.
(Well, that and “ew, girls have cooties…but I still want to stick my dink in them!”)
People do realize that we’re dealing with sadistic, sociopathic nihilists here, right? I mean, there really doesn’t seem to be much point in engaging them directly– they really have no honesty or shame. They’re not going to admit to anything and they’re certainly not going to back down to logic or reasoned argument. There really is no purpose to what they’re doing aside from the joy they get in being cruel to others and I don’t know how you reach people like that.
And as far as trying to expose this as their true motive, is there really anyone following this with an intellect above the third-grade level who can’t see right through the bullshit?
proxieme Oh man, Borderlands. Torgue’s progression as a feminist is pretty great, and that Fake Geek Guy mission with him is one of my favorites.
He’s easily my favorite NPC in the series.
THERE’S NOTHING MORE BAD-ASS THAN SHOWING A WOMAN RESPECT!
THIS MISSION REMINDS ME OF SPENDING TIME WITH MY FATHER! ALCOHOL DESTROYS FAMILIES!
My level 47 (or whatever) Siren’s still running around with the grenades that I picked up on the FGG mission, but they regenerate – can you blame me?
I haven’t gotten far in Pre-Sequel yet, but I’ve seen some of the nerdbrorage inspired by the fact that they were like ‘we want to put some characters who aren’t straight white guys’ despite the fact that there are also playable white guys in every game. Some of whom may be straight? I know Axton was bi, still don’t know much about Wilhelm-the-dude, and Brick I don’t think it ever came up? Either way the constant conflation of ‘this game has people who are not exactly like me!’ with ‘this game doesn’t have any people who are anything like me’ is tiring.
My husband and I have just scratched the surface (level…12 characters?) because we just squeeze in an hour here and there after the kiddos are in bed. We’d play the game regardless of its gender representation since it’s one of the strongest local co-op options out there, but the diversity in playable characters (and in sympathetic NPCs) has been nice.
I still say that zer0 was probably going to be purely asexual andriod character (early promos that I’ve seen feature a much more ambiguous voice), but they balked at the last moment because someone in marketing told them gamer-guys wouldn’t settle for only two male playables at launch.
Re: characters’ gender & sexuality / gameplay & critisism from whining misogynists: When I saw chatter w/ arseholes calling the dev an “SJW”, I couldn’t help but laugh.
There are many aspects of the games that someone serious about feminist or queer theory analysis (or mental health advocacy) would find problematic, and it actively pokes fun at those who would speak against FSPs on principle (remember that gun that was like 3x better than anything else available at level that would screech, “I BET HE HAD A FAMILY!” Or “MURDER! I HOPE YOU FEEL GOOD ABOUT YOURSELF!” whenever you shot it?).
These guys are just pissed because it’s not unequivocally parroting their ideals – which is obviously terrible, untenable oppression.
Some others that I’ve seen comment are right: Bro-gamers (and, yes – women can be bros, too) see people claiming victimhood everywhere they look / assume that anyone with anything critical to say is crying “victim” because the tendency to do so is so deeply ingrained in their own behaviors.
That is, the tendency to cry “victim” as soon as someone with a dissenting opinion joins the conversation.
Sorry for any disjointedness or confusing autocorrects – pecking this out onmy phone while waiting for my eldest to get ready for an ass-early, all day practice for a strings concert.