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.
Trollacle,
Telling mammotheers not to talk about cats is going to be an exercise in futility.
Dracarys has developed a new habit. When I get dressed for work she comes tearing into the bedroom and hides under the bed for about a minute. This is her very weird way of asking for a snack before I go.
Darrow requests snacks by sneaking up behind me on the back of the sofa and butting me in the back of my head. If I’m in bed he knocks the alarm clock on the floor.
Other people see Jesus in a piece of toast, but we see Aslan, because of the misandry.
Reproduction is the way the mutations are passed on to the next generation… but reproduction without mutation would be stagnant. They would just be clones. And natural selection is the process by which the mutations become good, bad or neutral for the individual organism’s survival. The most common form of reproduction is simple cell division, and yet over time a single cell will result in many genetically different cells; variability… via mutation.
Are we still trying to explain the whole adjective thing? Because seriously. It’s been like a day.
Is there a cat equivalent to the Jesus toaster yet? David, maybe something for the zazzle shop?
cassandrakitty:
This neatly encapsulates my relationships with cats, religion, Narnia, baked good, feminism and this blog.
@ Policy of Madness
Aww, I just don’t know WHAT I like, do I? I kid.
Heels, I’ve never understood outside of fetishism, so yeah, it would be terrible if everyone wore heels. They’re hobbling, which I think is the underlying point of them. Dresses, hell yeah! I’ve been known to don a skirt every now and then at a certain party in the desert. Although they are quite inconvenient for things like bike riding and some other physically demanding activities, which is probably why men stopped wearing them when pants came around.
As for childcare, the first 6 months belong to the mother, ideally, so yeah, I’d categorize that period as distinctly “feminine.” It’s HUGELY more effort to attempt some kind of parity at that time, to the detriment of the kid. Of course, that’s not always doable financially. When we had our oldest, we were flat broke and my wife went back to work 6 weeks after he was born. That was rough on all of us, and the main thought running through my head during that time was, I SO wish I was making enough to allow her to stay home with him while he was so little. I think, and studies show, that breastfeeding is important (not necessary, I wasn’t breastfed and I turned out OK *&#*@* SKORP!!), but IDEALLY. My wife pumped at work, she fucking hated doing that. So, while it wouldn’t be awful if men took over childcare right after birth, it wouldn’t be my preference, nor, in my opinion, should it be the standard to shoot for.
As for things like wiping asses and whatnot, of course men should do it. Most these days do. And after 6 months or so, I don’t think it matters who stays home with the kids. It’s different for every couple. I can tell you that most men I know (myself included) would much rather NOT stay at home. I can’t say if that’s due solely to social conditioning collectively, but for me, I’ve never had that impulse. I did it for 6 months and couldn’t wait to go back to work, even though I’m very involved in my kids’ lives and activities, both in and outside the home. Is it that way for most women? I don’t know.
I don’t think there’s anything “feminine” about caring for your elders, but you’re right, it’s mostly women who do it. I have no issue with men doing it. I’m quite sure, as the eldest child, I’ll be taking care of my parents when they get old. They already joke about moving in.
I don’t consider “nurturing” as a distinctly feminine trait, although men and women, generally, seem to exhibit that trait in different ways. Those differences are probably not biological outside of bearing and breastfeeding kids. However, that doesn’t mean I think gender roles are useless, particularly in teaching us how to behave around and treat each other. Heterosexual men, the vast majority of the male population, desire women. Constantly. All day long. In every interaction with them. There needs to be a framework around which those impulses are harnessed and refined. For women (and not just the straight ones, sorry!), they must know that all heterosexual men will desire them, even the seemingly nice ones. Within that tension lies peril if not given context, as I’m sure you know. So, we must act within certain gendered roles. And again, it’s mostly about containing the destructive tendencies of men, I fully admit it. And there is zero excuse for a man mistreating a woman (or anyone). It has nothing to do with occupations or childcare or clothing. It’s about the sexes behaving well together.
I never said I wanted to copy over our current society. My point was that social constructs around inhabiting male female bodies are needed, and that there are some inherent differences between the sexes such that the constructs would also be slightly different. The blank slate thought experiment, to my mind, always ends with the same driven, physically stronger and less attached to child-bearing people ending up on top, which is the very reason socially constructed gender roles came about in the first place: to mitigate and regulate that tendency. If you think a different outcome would occur, then we simply disagree on that point.
katz:
That Time We Spent 700 Comments Trying To Explain Adjectives To Trolls
This is the most ass-backwards thing said so far in a thread that contains the dude who thinks that seahorses have gender roles. Feel shame.
http://p-ec1.pixstatic.com/52547834dbfa3f2d3400fd68._w.331_h.228_s.fit_.jpg
@cassandrakitty:
The same dude who decided that comparing humans to cats was not appropriate, for no apparent reason other than that it didn’t suit him.
No. Just. No.
This is socialized, based on the objectification of women. There exist societies in which this does not happen. This is not immutable. Men are better than this.
@puddleglum:
That’s an owl.
Nice, puddleglum. Although I first saw an owl.
@titianblue
That’s being a little disingenuous. I didn’t want to assume femininity was the de facto corollary to masculinity in this context, even though it’s obviously the dictionary definition of such, so I included both, as well as the coda leaving it open to another word I may not be aware of. But continue to focus on this if you must.
“Oh no, here comes the censorship police. Where were you when I was being insulted? Where where you when I specially stated “I do not want to be mean?” This so convenient for you isn’t it? It’s ok. I have screen caps for months and enough distribution channels at my disposal.”
BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Troll being mocked is equal to using ableism in a safe space that bans ableism because it is palpably harmful to already marginalised and vulnerable people and is *really not the same fucking thing as mocking fyfuckingi*. The lack of any semblance of awareness…it burns!
The Owl Cat Schism in toast imagery.
Isn’t troll here to tell us not to talk about owls?
Which women? All women? Any women? Specific women? Is this like an abstract desire for just ” a woman” or is it a raging boner for all women ever?
Oh, so JV (junior varsity?) thinks men are constantly up for sex and women are the sexual gatekeepers who don’t get horny at all. What a fucking shock.
Just to illustrate the fractal wrongness, an exercise:
“Bisexual people, a fairly large amount of the general population, desire everyone. Constantly. All day long. In every interaction with them.”
Nope. Nope. Nope.
Feminist: Wow, I sure like ice cream, but this hemlock ice cream is toxic, and is causing harm to people:
Troll: Ice cream is perfectly natural, how dare you call it toxic!
Feminist: Well, just hemlock cream. It kills people.
Troll: Ice cream is rich, creamy and delicious.
Feminist: Yes, I really like it. Especially the Chocolate Banana kind. But the hemlock variety should be taken off the shelves.
Troll: Ice cream is a frozen delectation that is roasted to perfection and also causes people to fart rainbows and I take extreme exception to your slander of this peaceful marsupial.
Feminist: Um… You seem to be mixing some concepts together that are not the same thing.
Troll: Why are you so hateful??? I’m very smart and strong and can do maths!
Feminist: Let’s try and define some terms, shall we, so that we know we’re both talking about the same thing.
Troll: Hatemonger! I’m rilly smrt, HDY! You ice cream hater!
Feminist: Patiently explains the concepts and definitions that Troll has wrong.
Troll: ICE CREAM IS NOT TOXIC11!!!!1eleventy11! Stop talking about cats! Quit behaving like you know each other, and have anything to say that is not about me!
That sounds tiring. Can’t I just desire some of the people some of the time instead?
@cassandrakitty
Why is it ass-backward? I’m not saying my end-result theory is preferable, I’m saying barring social constructs, it’s probably the most likely result. Why do you think it isn’t?
OMG, you mean Aslan is also an owl???? Heresy!
And now I cannot unsee the owl.
Gender roles were created to enshrine women’s subordination and ensure male control over us and our reproductive capabilities, not to control men. If the goal had been to control men then rape and domestic violence would not be commonplace.
You dumbass.