Misogyny and Sexism in the News

Kobi · 10-20-2014, 09:03 AM

Gemme · 10-20-2014, 09:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kobi

Allison W · 10-21-2014, 09:20 AM

Anya and Kobi already posted two articles here about GamerGate, which kind of shames me, because it occurs to me that as someone who's been playing video games for the past 25 years or thereabouts and who is actually in communities where GG and anti-GG factions are clashing, I should have been on the ball about posting GG-related news here. It's just, there's so much that has been written on it, and most of it in the gaming press rather than the mainstream press, that I wasn't sure where I'd start. Still, that's no excuse on my part.

So yeah, I'm someone who's actually part of the subculture where this conflict is raging. That, and as a lifelong gamer whose first memories of the medium are flitting visions from before the onset of childhood amnesia and who was one of the many children who had crazy nightmares about enemies that keep coming even when you pause the game(!!), I also feel that video gaming is fucking well my hobby to "invade" with feminist values. So for those reasons, I'm going to offer not just links and articles but also a bit of commentary, at the risk of meandering somewhat from the original purpose of the thread, and some of the following links will be from small-time bloggers and other non-mainstream sources that those of you who aren't part of the gaming subculture (or, well, who don't follow wehuntedthemammoth) might have missed. I hope this is all right.

Part of the issue is--as was touched upon in Kobi's post--that GamerGate is a dual-layer movement, built upon a core of original agitators whose motive is right-wing anti-feminist backlash, surrounded by a humongous shell of useful idiots who actually think this is about journalism, despite the fact that the movement's biggest "accomplishments" thus far have been driving numerous women out of the industry and making gamers look like psychopaths to outside observers. That core hides behind the nebulousness of this leaderless movement and uses the outer shell as a shield to deflect criticism and disown responsibility for their actual goals and deeds.

Some links related to the last paragraph:
this exposé of the conspiracy at GG's core is comparatively bite-sized, so I'd recommend starting here
What GamerGate's manifesto really means
An example of the deflection of responsibility: one of the "anti-harassment" GGers is actually the same asshole who created the "Beat Up Anita Sarkeesian" flash game a few years back
L. Rhodes writes an open letter to GamerGate's misguided outer shell.
More detailed evidence of the GG conspiracy follows:
Evidence of core GGers using sockpuppets to pad their outer shell and get the ball rolling, and further links to articles that pissed them off
Zoe Quinn posted screenshots providing evidence of the motives of core GGers
Further evidence of the conspiracy at GG's core, from their own IRC logs
Good golly more evidence

This is about more than just video games: video games are a major cultural institution now, bigger even than television, music, or movies, and thus the medium is a major fortress in the cultural war between feminism and patriarchy--and supporters of patriarchy, even outside the gaming press, are absolutely treating it as such and fighting to maintain patriarchy's hold upon it. GamerGate has gotten a fair bit of right-wing--and also specifically MRA--support from outside that gamer press. That right-wing garbage mill Breitbart (to think a movement allegedly about journalistic ethics was happy to receive support from fucking Breitbart) was one of the first non-gaming-press outlets to write in support of GamerGate--the author of the piece even thinks gamers are losers, but supports GamerGate because he and GG share the goal of defending patriarchy. False-flag "feminist" Christina Hoff Summers wrote that GamerGate is a reaction against feminists trying to, allegedly, destroy male culture (if the behaviour of GamerGate is representative of this male culture, maybe it's about fucking time it get destroyed). And even carnival-of-misogyny A Voice For Men has jumped on the bandwagon, apparently defending video games as an alternative to marriage for men (what the christ).

Some links for the last paragraph:
On Milo Yiannopoulos, the guy who wrote the Breitbart piece
On Christina Hoff Sommers's piece on GamerGate
I was serious about A Voice For Men defending video games as an alternative to marriage and oh my god you have to see this image
Because it really is about misogynists trying to keep video games a patriarchal stronghold
MRAs appropriating the concept of "safe space" to declare that entire swaths of culture, like video games, are supposed to be "safe space" for male nerds who are apparently traumatised by women's refusal to give them sex or some stupid shit

A further observation: the "corruption" that was used to justify GG was the allegation that Zoe Quinn had traded sex for positive reviews (check out the very first link in this post for some very gross defenses of this position), and the fact that major games-press sites deleted such accusations, which was supposedly censorship. Thing is, it later came out that no, Zoe never traded sex for reviews, and her game was not actually reviewed by people she'd slept with (one of them mentioned it in passing in some article or another). And moreover, the journalists in question knew she never traded sex for reviews, meaning that they rightly saw these accusations as baseless harassment and not a legitimate indictment of anyone's journalistic integrity, and that the deletion of these accusations was thus a normal response to harassment and in no way censorship or corruption. And yet, despite this original accusation being found false, the GamerGate ball keeps rolling. (Because it was never about corruption.)

Another observation: Anti-"social justice warrior" gamers who line up in defense of GamerGate on the one hand whine and moan about how games aren't taken seriously as art, and on the other hand the moment someone critiques games as cultural artifacts rather than simply meaningless entertainment, they start screaming about how THEY JUST WANT TO PLAY VIDJA GAMES KEEP YOUR SOCIAL JUSTICE BULLSHIT OUT OF IT. hypocrisy much

I'd like to thank Zoe Quinn, Brianna Wu, and Anita Sarkeesian for standing their ground against GamerGate. I'd also like to thank David Futrelle for making wehuntedthemammoth.com and doing such a good job of tracking GamerGate; it made providing sources much easier. I'd also like to thank the headwiz of one of my other Internet hangouts for putting his foot down and telling GamerGate supporters that they can get the fuck out because he wasn't going to be "neutral" about a movement orchestrated as an attack on women. And I'd also like to thank all the journalists who act like grown-ups and accept that it's time for the medium they love to grow up, and don't straddle that hypocritical fence mentioned in the previous paragraph.

Lastly, here's an MSNBC video in which Zoe Quinn herself is interviewed and gets to speak on the subject.

*Anya* · 10-21-2014, 10:37 AM

Allison, thanks so much for your explanation of what GamerGate really means, your links, and, in general, providing context for those of us (like me) that did not know enough to know what we did not know!

Much appreciated!

PS: I am sorry I left out the "i" in the spelling of your name in my rep comment!

Allison W · 10-23-2014, 08:55 PM

I don't think anyone here had any delusions that Republicans are anything but moustache-twirling villains that hate women for rebelling against old white male dominance, but:

Right-Wing Media Discourage Young Women From Voting

Conservative media personalities have discouraged young women from voting as the midterm elections near, claiming that they are "too dumb to vote."

Fox's Kimberly Guilfoyle: Young Women Shouldn't Exercise Civic Duties Because "They Don't Get It." During the October 21 edition of Fox News' The Five, the co-hosts discussed the impact of women voters in the upcoming midterm elections. After co-host Greg Gutfeld suggested that young women lack the wisdom to vote as conservatives, Kimberly Guilfoyle suggested that they should be excused from jury duty, because they lack life experience and just "don't get it." Instead, she said, they should "go back on Tinder or Match.com." [Fox News, The Five, 10/21/14]

Fox's Tucker Carlson: "Do You Want Your Government Run By People Whose Favorite Show Is Say Yes [To The Dress]?" During the October 2 edition of Fox News' Outnumbered, network host Tucker Carlson criticized a Republican campaign to encourage young women to vote Republican by asking whether or not the young women targeted by the ad should vote at all:

CARLSON: I don't think as a general matter you should be encouraging people who don't know anything about what they're voting for to vote. That's what the Democrats do, giving Newports to the homeless to get them to the polls. That's literally true. Republicans shouldn't follow suit on that. You shouldn't pander to people. Tell us what the candidates are for, what they're against. Attack the other guy, that's fair too. I'm all for attack ads, but you're targeting people -- you're targeting people who are watching Say Yes To The Dress? You want your government run by people ... who's favorite show is Say Yes To The Dress. [Fox News, Outnumbered, 10/2/14]

National Review Online: Five Reasons Young Women "Are Too Dumb To Vote." In a September 28 post challenging Lena Dunham for encouraging young women to vote in an article for Planned Parenthood Action Fund, NRO's Kevin D. Williamson provided his "Five Reasons Why You're Too Dumb To Vote." Calling voting a "shallow gesture of citizenship" which women use to say "I want," Williamson urged those who do not agree with his political values to not vote at all:

I would like to suggest, as gently as I can, that if you are voting as an act of self-gratification, if you do not understand the role that voting in fact plays in a constitutional republic, and if you need Lena Dunham to tell you why and how you should be voting -- you should not vote. If you get your politics from actors and your news from television comedians -- you should not vote. There's no shame in it, your vote is statistically unlikely to affect the outcome of an election, and there are many much more meaningful ways to serve your country and your fellow man: Volunteer at a homeless shelter; join the Marine Corps; become a nun; start a business. [National Review Online, 9/29/14, via Media Matters]

Fox's Harris Faulkner: Do We Want Young People To Vote "If They Don't Know The Issues?" On the October 8 edition of Fox News' Outnumbered, co-host Harris Faulkner responded to Rock The Vote's "#TurnOutForWhat" campaign by questioning whether or not young people should vote "if they don't know the issues." [Fox News, Outnumbered, 10/8/14]

10-20-2014, 09:03 AM	#1
Kobi Infamous Member How Do You Identify?: Biological female. Lesbian. Relationship Status: Happy Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Hanging out in the Atlantic. Posts: 9,234 My Photo Gallery Thanks: 9,840 Thanked 34,617 Times in 7,640 Posts Rep Power: 21474860	With mid term elections in mind.......

10-21-2014, 10:37 AM	#4
Anya Infamous Member How Do You Identify?: Lesbian non-stone femme Preferred Pronoun?: She, her Relationship Status: Committed to being good to myself Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: West Coast Posts: 8,258 My Photo Gallery Thanks: 39,306 Thanked 40,449 Times in 7,285 Posts Rep Power: 21474858	Allison, thanks so much for your explanation of what GamerGate really means, your links, and, in general, providing context for those of us (like me) that did not know enough to know what we did not know! Much appreciated! PS: I am sorry I left out the "i" in the spelling of your name in my rep comment! __________________ ~Anya~ Democracy Dies in Darkness ~Washington Post "...I'm deeply concerned by recently adopted policies which punish children for their parents’ actions ... The thought that any State would seek to deter parents by inflicting such abuse on children is unconscionable." UN Human Rights commissioner Last edited by Anya; 10-21-2014 at 10:40 AM. Reason: Apology!

10-21-2014, 09:20 AM	#3
Allison W Member How Do You Identify?: TG Femme Preferred Pronoun?: She Relationship Status: Loner Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Wisconsin Posts: 366 My Photo Gallery Thanks: 1,414 Thanked 1,195 Times in 319 Posts Rep Power: 12203815	Anya and Kobi already posted two articles here about GamerGate, which kind of shames me, because it occurs to me that as someone who's been playing video games for the past 25 years or thereabouts and who is actually in communities where GG and anti-GG factions are clashing, I should have been on the ball about posting GG-related news here. It's just, there's so much that has been written on it, and most of it in the gaming press rather than the mainstream press, that I wasn't sure where I'd start. Still, that's no excuse on my part. So yeah, I'm someone who's actually part of the subculture where this conflict is raging. That, and as a lifelong gamer whose first memories of the medium are flitting visions from before the onset of childhood amnesia and who was one of the many children who had crazy nightmares about enemies that keep coming even when you pause the game(!!), I also feel that video gaming is fucking well my hobby to "invade" with feminist values. So for those reasons, I'm going to offer not just links and articles but also a bit of commentary, at the risk of meandering somewhat from the original purpose of the thread, and some of the following links will be from small-time bloggers and other non-mainstream sources that those of you who aren't part of the gaming subculture (or, well, who don't follow wehuntedthemammoth) might have missed. I hope this is all right. Part of the issue is--as was touched upon in Kobi's post--that GamerGate is a dual-layer movement, built upon a core of original agitators whose motive is right-wing anti-feminist backlash, surrounded by a humongous shell of useful idiots who actually think this is about journalism, despite the fact that the movement's biggest "accomplishments" thus far have been driving numerous women out of the industry and making gamers look like psychopaths to outside observers. That core hides behind the nebulousness of this leaderless movement and uses the outer shell as a shield to deflect criticism and disown responsibility for their actual goals and deeds. Some links related to the last paragraph: this exposé of the conspiracy at GG's core is comparatively bite-sized, so I'd recommend starting here What GamerGate's manifesto really means An example of the deflection of responsibility: one of the "anti-harassment" GGers is actually the same asshole who created the "Beat Up Anita Sarkeesian" flash game a few years back L. Rhodes writes an open letter to GamerGate's misguided outer shell. More detailed evidence of the GG conspiracy follows: Evidence of core GGers using sockpuppets to pad their outer shell and get the ball rolling, and further links to articles that pissed them off Zoe Quinn posted screenshots providing evidence of the motives of core GGers Further evidence of the conspiracy at GG's core, from their own IRC logs Good golly more evidence This is about more than just video games: video games are a major cultural institution now, bigger even than television, music, or movies, and thus the medium is a major fortress in the cultural war between feminism and patriarchy--and supporters of patriarchy, even outside the gaming press, are absolutely treating it as such and fighting to maintain patriarchy's hold upon it. GamerGate has gotten a fair bit of right-wing--and also specifically MRA--support from outside that gamer press. That right-wing garbage mill Breitbart (to think a movement allegedly about journalistic ethics was happy to receive support from fucking Breitbart) was one of the first non-gaming-press outlets to write in support of GamerGate--the author of the piece even thinks gamers are losers, but supports GamerGate because he and GG share the goal of defending patriarchy. False-flag "feminist" Christina Hoff Summers wrote that GamerGate is a reaction against feminists trying to, allegedly, destroy male culture (if the behaviour of GamerGate is representative of this male culture, maybe it's about fucking time it get destroyed). And even carnival-of-misogyny A Voice For Men has jumped on the bandwagon, apparently defending video games as an alternative to marriage for men (what the christ). Some links for the last paragraph: On Milo Yiannopoulos, the guy who wrote the Breitbart piece On Christina Hoff Sommers's piece on GamerGate I was serious about A Voice For Men defending video games as an alternative to marriage and oh my god you have to see this image Because it really is about misogynists trying to keep video games a patriarchal stronghold MRAs appropriating the concept of "safe space" to declare that entire swaths of culture, like video games, are supposed to be "safe space" for male nerds who are apparently traumatised by women's refusal to give them sex or some stupid shit A further observation: the "corruption" that was used to justify GG was the allegation that Zoe Quinn had traded sex for positive reviews (check out the very first link in this post for some very gross defenses of this position), and the fact that major games-press sites deleted such accusations, which was supposedly censorship. Thing is, it later came out that no, Zoe never traded sex for reviews, and her game was not actually reviewed by people she'd slept with (one of them mentioned it in passing in some article or another). And moreover, the journalists in question knew she never traded sex for reviews, meaning that they rightly saw these accusations as baseless harassment and not a legitimate indictment of anyone's journalistic integrity, and that the deletion of these accusations was thus a normal response to harassment and in no way censorship or corruption. And yet, despite this original accusation being found false, the GamerGate ball keeps rolling. (Because it was never about corruption.) Another observation: Anti-"social justice warrior" gamers who line up in defense of GamerGate on the one hand whine and moan about how games aren't taken seriously as art, and on the other hand the moment someone critiques games as cultural artifacts rather than simply meaningless entertainment, they start screaming about how THEY JUST WANT TO PLAY VIDJA GAMES KEEP YOUR SOCIAL JUSTICE BULLSHIT OUT OF IT. hypocrisy much I'd like to thank Zoe Quinn, Brianna Wu, and Anita Sarkeesian for standing their ground against GamerGate. I'd also like to thank David Futrelle for making wehuntedthemammoth.com and doing such a good job of tracking GamerGate; it made providing sources much easier. I'd also like to thank the headwiz of one of my other Internet hangouts for putting his foot down and telling GamerGate supporters that they can get the fuck out because he wasn't going to be "neutral" about a movement orchestrated as an attack on women. And I'd also like to thank all the journalists who act like grown-ups and accept that it's time for the medium they love to grow up, and don't straddle that hypocritical fence mentioned in the previous paragraph. Lastly, here's an MSNBC video in which Zoe Quinn herself is interviewed and gets to speak on the subject.

10-23-2014, 08:55 PM	#5
Allison W Member How Do You Identify?: TG Femme Preferred Pronoun?: She Relationship Status: Loner Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Wisconsin Posts: 366 My Photo Gallery Thanks: 1,414 Thanked 1,195 Times in 319 Posts Rep Power: 12203815	I don't think anyone here had any delusions that Republicans are anything but moustache-twirling villains that hate women for rebelling against old white male dominance, but: Right-Wing Media Discourage Young Women From Voting Conservative media personalities have discouraged young women from voting as the midterm elections near, claiming that they are "too dumb to vote." Fox's Kimberly Guilfoyle: Young Women Shouldn't Exercise Civic Duties Because "They Don't Get It." During the October 21 edition of Fox News' The Five, the co-hosts discussed the impact of women voters in the upcoming midterm elections. After co-host Greg Gutfeld suggested that young women lack the wisdom to vote as conservatives, Kimberly Guilfoyle suggested that they should be excused from jury duty, because they lack life experience and just "don't get it." Instead, she said, they should "go back on Tinder or Match.com." [Fox News, The Five, 10/21/14] Fox's Tucker Carlson: "Do You Want Your Government Run By People Whose Favorite Show Is Say Yes [To The Dress]?" During the October 2 edition of Fox News' Outnumbered, network host Tucker Carlson criticized a Republican campaign to encourage young women to vote Republican by asking whether or not the young women targeted by the ad should vote at all: CARLSON: I don't think as a general matter you should be encouraging people who don't know anything about what they're voting for to vote. That's what the Democrats do, giving Newports to the homeless to get them to the polls. That's literally true. Republicans shouldn't follow suit on that. You shouldn't pander to people. Tell us what the candidates are for, what they're against. Attack the other guy, that's fair too. I'm all for attack ads, but you're targeting people -- you're targeting people who are watching Say Yes To The Dress? You want your government run by people ... who's favorite show is Say Yes To The Dress. [Fox News, Outnumbered, 10/2/14] National Review Online: Five Reasons Young Women "Are Too Dumb To Vote." In a September 28 post challenging Lena Dunham for encouraging young women to vote in an article for Planned Parenthood Action Fund, NRO's Kevin D. Williamson provided his "Five Reasons Why You're Too Dumb To Vote." Calling voting a "shallow gesture of citizenship" which women use to say "I want," Williamson urged those who do not agree with his political values to not vote at all: I would like to suggest, as gently as I can, that if you are voting as an act of self-gratification, if you do not understand the role that voting in fact plays in a constitutional republic, and if you need Lena Dunham to tell you why and how you should be voting -- you should not vote. If you get your politics from actors and your news from television comedians -- you should not vote. There's no shame in it, your vote is statistically unlikely to affect the outcome of an election, and there are many much more meaningful ways to serve your country and your fellow man: Volunteer at a homeless shelter; join the Marine Corps; become a nun; start a business. [National Review Online, 9/29/14, via Media Matters] Fox's Harris Faulkner: Do We Want Young People To Vote "If They Don't Know The Issues?" On the October 8 edition of Fox News' Outnumbered, co-host Harris Faulkner responded to Rock The Vote's "#TurnOutForWhat" campaign by questioning whether or not young people should vote "if they don't know the issues." [Fox News, Outnumbered, 10/8/14]