What a surreal life Anita Sarkeesian must lead, in which virtually everything she says and does becomes grist for the Great Internet Lady Harassment Machine, Sarkeesian Division.
Take the latest blowup, which followed a few comments Sarkeesian made in the wake of Friday’s school shooting in Marysville, which may have been triggered by the shooter’s angry response to a romantic breakup. On Friday, Sarkeesian posted a few thoughts on the matter on Twitter:
We need to seriously address connections between violence, sexism and toxic ideas of manhood before boys and men commit more mass shootings.
— Feminist Frequency (@femfreq) October 24, 2014
Not a coincidence it’s always men and boys committing mass shootings. The pattern is connected to ideas of toxic masculinity in our culture.
— Feminist Frequency (@femfreq) October 24, 2014
While it it not literally true that every single mass shooter in history has been male, we are talking about an almost exclusively male club: one recent attempt at crunching the numbers found that 97% of school shooters have been male, and 79% of them white. (The Maryville shooter was Native American.)
In any case, the notion that a crime so heavily associated with men might have something to do with our society’s notions of masculinity isn’t exactly a radical notion. Indeed, it seems rather obvious.
But to Sarkeesian’s many haters, on Twitter and elsewhere, it was as if Sarkeesian had just posted a video of herself drowning puppies. Cue the twitterstorm.
Here are just a selection of the literally hundreds of lovely comments that Sarkeesian had Tweeted at her on Friday and Saturday after making her original comments.
[Giant TRIGGER WARNING for violent, explicit threats, harassment]
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There were, of course, the explicit threats:
And the implicit threats:
And the sexual harassment:
And those who merely expressed their hope that Sarkeesian would kill herself:
Or die a horrible death:
Or simply die :
But not everyone wished violence on her. Some just told her that the threats and/or harassment she’s already getting is totally justified:
(Apparently by “fishing” Mr. de Alba means “expressing an opinion or making an observation.” Also note that the tweets that set off this latest wave of harassment didn’t contain the #GamerGate hashtag. )
Speaking of harassment, we’re just getting started in our chronicle of the latest wave.
Let’s continue with an assortment of Tweets using the c-word, a favorite slur amongst Sarkeesian’s detractors.
Why, yes, that is Suzanne McCarley, A Voice for Men’s “Assistant Managing Editor” happily adding her voice to the harassment.
Others pulled out the f-word:
She was called a “bitch.”
She was called a “whore.”
She was called a “terrorist.”
And a Nazi:
One fellow said that he thought Sarkeesian’s tweets were actually worse than the shooting itself:
And one even declared her “officially worse than Wil Wheaton,” the former Star Trek:TNG actor who has won mass opprobrium from internet dicks for publicly expressing his belief that people should not be dicks.
To add insult to injury, a few reported Sarkeesian herself to Twitter for various imaginary infractions:
Another asked why she wasn’t in jail for her, er, crimes:
Just to remind you: these tweets are all from TWO DAYS’ worth of harassment and threats on Twitter. And this isn’t all of them.
At this point anyone who claims that Sarkeesian is “making up” the harassment she gets, or writing it herself, or just the work of a “few trolls,” is either disingenuous or delusional.
I’ll leave the last word to Sarkeesian herself.
Our culture is deeply sick when simply asking questions about how toxic forms of masculinity may harm men leads to hours of hate on Twitter.
— Feminist Frequency (@femfreq) October 25, 2014
EDITED TO ADD:
ATTENTION NEW COMMENTERS! I would like to draw your attention to this bit from my comments policy:
[I]f I’m writing about someone who’s gotten harassed by misogynists on the internet, and you want to talk about how much they deserved it, or what a lying liar they are? Well, fuck you! Your comments go right into the trash.
So take that into consideration. It might save you some time.
CORRECTION: I removed a screenshot of a Tweet that wasn’t threatening but was posted by a troll. See here.
It’s like saying “Bloody Mary” in a mirror three times.
Do these harassers think there’s no imperfect version of masculinity? I just don’t understand how they can react so strongly to the suggestion that bullying violence is linked to ideas of macho manliness. It seems kind of obvious. Anyone who has ever been bullied should see that dominating others through aggression is socialized and rewarded as manly in our society. Male heroes in all of our culture solve problems through violence. That’s obviously our cultural ideal for men. All of this is as plain as the nose on anyone’s face. How can they have such a problem with this idea?
Oh. Sorry. I see where I went wrong now. I used the word “think.” My bad.
But don’t forget: IT’S ABOUT ETHICS!!!111one
I believe this is my first time posting this here, but here’s a handy visual guide I made for people making Nazi comparisons
http://i.imgur.com/aVOEm24.jpg
You know what, I have a lot of respect for how Anita keeps going in the face of this. I feel like I’m pretty tough, (I can face a full classroom and teach the perfect tenses without anyone resorting to arson), but honestly, I wouldn’t be able to handle that level of harassment.
Lizzyf620, from the “sexist c*nt” screenshot above (seen in this tweet https://twitter.com/lizzyf620/status/525798575016775680), was interviewed by the Washington Post, where she was labeled someone “who denounced the harassment done in the movement’s name.” The article continues, “Lizzyrf620 said she and other supporters are now quick to report hateful or threatening speech as soon as they see it.”
I don’t have the reach or influence for anyone to see it, but someone who does should point out this contradiction. The Washington Post article is a puff piece glorifying a gentler side to the movement that *does not exist.*
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2014/10/24/how-some-gamergate-supporters-say-the-controversy-could-stop-in-one-week/
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The first rule of misogyny is that women are responsible for what men do.
The second rule of misogyny is that you must not speak of male violence, except to blame women for it.
“It’s a mental health issue” = “It’s about ethics in journalism”???
Easy solutions for unthinking people.
Also, Sarkeesian is trying to divert attention to herself by expressing an opinion? or pushing an agenda? or being a demagog (sic, lol)?
Most of the reactions are not worthy of reaction. They are stupid.
What bothers me most, having seen a lot of her work, is the extreme reaction to her mild comments. She is a real academic with real measured language. And her arguments are good, and most of the reactions are like the above tweets.
Statistical average of about 30 people die to gun violence (discounting suicide or this almost triples!) in the US each day. Day!
Any reaction to gun violence will always be “milking a tragedy” because this just *is* a tragedy. Sarkeesian might even have withheld her message after this week’s first public shooting, only to have another.
It’s very political to say “don’t be political today.” It tells us our message cannot be voiced when it’s most effective, and for gun violence means it can’t really ever be voiced. US gun politics are such a third rail, and we need more brave leaders willing to talk about it.
Reblogged this on The fiction of Amelia C. Gormley and commented:
So, this happened.
That last tweet almost perfectly encapsulates why that sense of entitlement to women that many men possess is a problem. Yes, @redsteeze, let’s take your bullshit seriously and think this through: you’re saying that women should give men pity relationships (and no doubt pity sex along with it) in order to keep those men from committing murder.
I can see no possible way in which that attitude itself leads to male violence.
HCK – I like that diagram, Can I use it?
Just donated $50 to Feminist Frequency specifically in response to this latest torrent of abuse. Anita is a hero, I have no idea how she stays so strong and calm and steady in response to this bullshit.
NonServiam: please share and spread
I wasn’t mad at the arguments she made, while I disagree with her arguments, she has every right to make them. However, this happened on the day a young woman was killed in a school shooting that Anita was aware of this, it was a big story in the news. I know some may claim it as being “intellectually dishonest,” but I just thought the family should have some time to grieve before their daughters death became politicized.
Wow. Just wow. If these people think like this on their daily lives, however do the poor dears manage to tie their own shoes? Pretty sure a cat could barf on a keyboard and the argument would be more cogent.
I see on David’s Twitter that the #Gits have already set their Not All #GamerGaters™ deflector shields to maximum. I swear, the rising and setting of the sun is less predictable than these shitwits.
…so much horrible. Brain bleach anyone?
http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/236x/5b/e3/54/5be35430a781ba4fa718adf5ca5d545a.jpg
Let’s see if this works.
Thanks, andiexist!
These people, primarily men, think that speaking against the culture of masculinity is equal to degrading men. They do not see how it is the culture of masculinity that degrades men. The lack of self-awareness could fill chasms.
This has been said before, but it bears repeating:
So, many of these people would claims that men are inherently superior in intellect and capacity for rational thought than women…
…but then will also exclaim that men “can’t help” but engage in physical and sexual violence in the face of the feminine machinations (or: “not being perpetually sexually accepted by every woman they have ever had an interest in”).
-_-
Yep, makes total sense.
Editing: “claim” and “physical, verbal, and sexual violence”.
Explaining that takes longer than a blurb. I’m not sure that they’re ready to process that level of nuance.
Oh no! It’s the attack of the Demigogs! I never thought I’d see the Gogs breaking out of Heroes Of Might & Magic and into the real world, but now they have half-human offspring? Egads!
It amazes me that people insist on thinking this. It’s almost as if they don’t even bother reading or listening to what’s being said. “Aaaah! You said toxic masculinity! Why do you think masculinity is toxic?!” Blargh.
Reblogged this on Girl, Uninterrupted.