Democracy Now did a segment on Anita Sarkeesian and #GamerGate yesterday.
Anita Sarkeesian, a prominent feminist critic of video games, was forced to cancel a speech at Utah State University last week after the school received an email threatening to carry out “the deadliest shooting in American history” at the event. The email sender wrote: “feminists have ruined my life and I will have my revenge.” The sender used the moniker Marc Lepine, the name of a man who killed 14 women, most of them female engineering students, in a mass shooting in Montreal in 1989. Sarkeesian canceled the talk after being told that under Utah law, campus police could not prevent people from bringing guns. We speak to Sarkeesian about the incident, the “Gamergate” controversy, and her campaign to expose misogyny, sexism and violence against female characters in video games despite repeated physical threats. “Online harassment, especially gendered online harassment, is an epidemic,” Sarkeesian says. “Women are being driven out, they’re being driven offline; this isn’t just in gaming, this is happening across the board online, especially with women who participate in or work in male-dominated industries.”
Sadly, or pathetically, the comments have filled up with the familiar misogynist dreck.
The comments really are horrifying reservoirs of nasty. Amazing the things people will say when they think there are no consequences for saying them.
I got to the point some time ago where I cannot bring myself to read the comments on any post/video on this topic. I can’t imagine what it must be like for those on the receiving end.
Less amazing when you consider what they do when there are no consequences for doing them.
The comments from the GG crowd don’t shock me anymore, though I hope if I ever say something like, “I can’t believe how many people I used to agree with that now disagree with me on this one contentious thing are so wrong.” I will have the presence of introspection to look long and hard at either or not I am the wrong one.
That and I take heart that the comments supporting women, diversity and calling GG out for the hate group it is. They seem to be increasing. I’ll go add some more to that dide shortly.