GamerGaters sure do love their Based Mom! Christina Hoff Sommers, as you may or may not know, is a libertarian think-tanker who’s been grinding away at feminism for two decades, while still, rather perversely, claiming to be feminist. Though not a video gamer herself, she’s jumped aboard the GamerGate train, and GamerGaters have repaid her interest in their little crusade with interest, anointing her their “Based Mom” and talking about her with weird reverence.
That is, when they’re not making creepy fan art about her. Today, five of the most disturbing examples I’ve found so far.
1) Virgin Based Mom, in which an old publicity shot of Sommers is pasted onto a picture of the Virgin Mary to very creepy effect.
2) Based Waifu, in which Sommers is reinvented as an anime character.
3) Mass Effect Mom, in which Sommers becomes a Space Marine.
4) Whatever the hell this is.
5) Perfect Mom. And last but certainly not least, this tweet. No image manipulation here, just a guy expressing his opinion about a women. His really, really creepy opinion.
https://twitter.com/ItalyGG/status/537271807326572544
BONUS: The world’s most annoying Christina Hoff Sommers animated gif. Sommers finishes her ironically titled “Factual Feminist” YouTube videos, which are neither factual nor feminist, with an annoyingly contrived tagline: “Check your facts, not your privilege.” Now you can watch her smugly repeat this phrase over and over without end. Which is, I think, the very definition of hell.
Warning: Excessive viewing of this gif may give you nightmares; its smugness is that powerful.
H/T — GamerGhazi, for pointing out the Virgin Mom
@katz:
Fair enough. It always seemed to me that stuff like Pollock and Mondrian reflect the viewer rather than something external, and so one is in a better position to say “This is what this art means to me” and be secure from checking. Which is never to say that art does not reflect care, planning, thought and work.
Art snobs, though. Feh.
Does anyone recognize all the players in the Thanksgiving picture?
I like Vivian James as the surly teenager who’s clearly planning to stay on her smartphone for the whole duration of the meal. And who can blame her? I’m guessing that the human-looking people are various GG personalities who all represent the “racist uncle” Thanksgiving trope.
But what’s the deal with the statue sitting next to Vivian? I did a quick Google search for “Assyrian sphinx” “gamergate” but didn’t get any hits so now I’m stumped.
I think it’s the avatar of one of the head dinguses (dingii?) of GG on twitter. For whatever goddamned reason, he goes by Sargon of Akkad.
Which pisses me off, since I love Sumerian history.
I suspect Sargon would be highly unimpressed with that.
“Check your facts, not your privilege.”
Well, I’m greedy. I say we do BOTH!
The reason is simple: Sargon, being the historically illiterate sub-intellectual that he is, has elected a Semitic king who didn’t fit any modern concept of “white” as an icon of White Power, and by god he won’t let any facts penetrate his thick skull.
TRIGGER WARNING – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOCD_T9Qqpc
you know, back when there was that whole #BanBossy movement i said “ok sure take that… but you’re going to give us ‘creepy’ back in the spirit of equality” — of course anyone down with the BB funk was eek!/egads! and an emphatic NO. creepy is a term that’s stretched to fit any sort of definition of undesirable with that inherently negative connotation that implies a bit of danger, and you think of all the socially awkward/veritably-autistic kids/boys out there who have no idea how to ask a chick out and they try something halfassed and they’re branded “creepy” after the fail, and those labels last for a long long time (unless dude loses 200lbs and starts making 200k. then he’s “brilliant” and “motivated” =) and bossy? man i dont even remember thinking “man that chick sure is bossy” even once in my life, but i hear ‘creepy’ flung around so much that, indeed, i must have been a creepy boy growing up, eh?
so that said how are the majority of these pictures “creepy” ??? CH sommers’ head on a mass effect space marine’s body? how is that creepy whatsoever? these kids clearly like her and think of her as some sort of “common sense oldschool feminist” and want to defer to her and pump her up, so they’re insinuating she kicks ass and takes #s with the whole space marine thing. to me creepy would be if they photoshopped her face on a pull-string doll or something, or if they did some rule 34 (read: pornographic) stuff of her. that could be construed as creepy…. but the last one, aka the silly blingee enhanced one with deal with it sunglasses and a blunt and mountain dew (aka “gamer fuel”) and whatnot? it’s attempting to be silly and fun, and i have no idea how it can be “creepy” as much as it is “stupid”
so yeah TLDR = i’m guessing that you used “creepy” as clickbait cuz you’re trying to appeal to that lowest common denominator factor with women by using a versatile word that always carries a damning negative connotation, and like i said, if you’re gonna word police me and start telling me that (even tho i don’t use it) bossy is off the table, well then oooh la la let’s also give up “creepy” and take something away that’s branded countless boys/men as inherently negative with a twinge of malevolence (cuz with creepy you’re putting out there that insinuation of danger and whatnot, but like, comeon…. you just gotta understand that as the hunters in terms of going out and seeking to start any sort of relationship guys are going to try some goofy shit, and if you’re aesthetically yeah you’re gonna get more of that shit because of hardwired human instinct and stuff, and yeah… there’s a whole bunch of guys desperate for human contact who are gonna try some unorthadox things for whatever reason (usually in that they have no idea what they’re doing) and you brand them creepy which is putting them in a category with, example, that guy you said NO to go to prom with so on prom night he comes over to your house while you’rre @ prom crying and decides to go jerk off on the side of your house right under your bedroom window. THAT’S CREEPY. i’ll definitely give you that one…. but the weird pudgy boy who stammers when he talks to you cuz he’s so faclempt and nervous cuz he thinks you’re awfully swell but he has no idea how to calm his iniquitous sea of nerves and ask you out proper?
brand him creepy, ruin his reputation in many circles…. and that’s real pain. calling a chick bossy isn’t pain. nor is making a goofy picture of CH sommers. maybe the virgin mary thing could be like 2% creepy, but only if you’re super religious and etc.
so yeah i babbled in this comment but i gave you some #realtalk so i look forward to the talking points and narratives to tell me why i’m sooooo wrong =D
Shut up, Adml.
CHS is unintentionally right about one thing – usually people prone to being told to check their privilege could stand to take a second to stop being offended by that request and check their facts.
Fell asleep in the middle, sorry.
I read through the part where trolly pulls out the “think of all the poor guys on the spectrum (of whom I do not claim to be one)” and got as far as the point where dude admits that people call him creepy all the time, then I laughed and stopped.
Dude, if people are calling you creepy a lot, you are probably very creepy and need to re-examine the entitlement complex that is leading you to creep behavior.
Quite the teal dear and I mostly skimmed, but this stuck out.
Being desperate for human contact is not an excuse for harassment, assault, rape or whatever the fuck you’re trying to excuse here. Nobody is owed physical contact with anyone ever.
I’m not buying that nonsense about not knowing what they’re doing either. Lots of lonely and socially inept people manage not violate someone else. Lots of people who do harass and rape aren’t lonely or inept either. It’s always a conscious choice to harass or rape another person.
I love how he assumes we all endorsed “ban bossy” which has nothing to do with this post.
A woman did a thing that annoyed me, therefore all women did that thing. I are the king of logic.
I love that he used TLDR only halfway through his post.
Yo, admiral awesome! Three things:
1) cut the caffeine, mkay?
2) don’t you have a ship to catch?
3) STFU
Says the person who’s whole post is a mishmash of manosphere talking points.
Did that guy use a hashtag in a blog comment?
I like the sudden appearance of ‘iniquitous’.
I initially read that as taquitos, which is what happens when you skim because the deer are much too teal.
Well, Cindy…if the glass slipper fits, then I say WEAR IT.
When someone has a crowdsourced reputation as a creepster, there is probably some basis there.
Some basis like this, for instance. Why do women “gotta understand” these things about dudes and their desperation, but dudes don’t “gotta understand” that women don’t owe them anything and their “goofy shit” is not excused in any fashion?
Why don’t dudes “gotta understand” that their desire or need for any particular social thing does not somehow entitle them to what they desire? I mean, I’ve run into some selfish children who think that “I want that” is the ultimate trump card that entitles them to whatever “that” may be. That’s not how the world actually works. Children eventually learn better, so what’s trolly’s excuse?
I dunno, Policy of Madness. That much logic so neatly condensed might asplode the admiral’s brain.
Also, do NOT click on his nym.
This. Person. Has. A. Computer.
Look up clubs and organisations. Join or volunteer or visit a theatre group, rock climbing class, knitfortheneedy, circus group, choir/band/orchestra, landcare group, cooking class, a pub quiz team or one of the other untold thousands of fun or worthy or interesting activities that have some kind of organisation you can attach yourself to.
Whaddayaknow! Those people have friends, relatives, workmates that you might meet at a bbq, party, dinner. Pretty soon, you’ll have a much wider circle of acquaintance, maybe a couple of friends. More than one of those people will, as people do, think about introducing unattached you to an unattached neighbour/ workmate/ daughter/ granddaughter – even if it’s only because she needs a partner for an event. Going to just a couple of such social events gives you opportunities to meet even more people.
Pretty soon, you can have a fair-sized circle of acquaintance and a satisfactorily filled in social calendar. If that doesn’t work out, find another interesting group and see whether their social circle is more to your taste.
Something I’ve wondered for a while: do any gay men have this same sense of entitlement to sex (with other men)? If so, is it on the same scale as straight guys feeling entitled to sex with women?