Amateur game invites player to beat up woman

13 posts / 0 new

Tue, 2012-07-10 07:20

macktheknife

OK, the mods are obviously free to move this thread if deemed to be better placed elsewhere.

There is a currently and ongoing "Internet" drama that basically involves a U.S. woman, Anita Sarkeesian, who started a project on the "Kickstarter" website to make a series of videos that discuss female representation in video games.

That immediately drew the ire of young males, who objected to the donations she was getting to fund "a bunch of feminist videos", which soon led to a flash game being posted to a website that had an actual photo realistic likeness of Sarkeesian, which a player could "punch" causing the face to eventually become bruised and lacerated.

This issue was "storified" by Steph Guthrie, a women from Toronto, who has since herself become a target for bullying and death threats.

It was soon discovered the miscreant who created the hateful misogynist "game" was a Ben Spurr, from Sault St.Marie, Ont.

Ok, that's it, those links will be more that enough to get caught up.

But my question is, after reading through everything, including (especially) the comments being left, and TBH I've seen it before in places online, but still, I am struck by the depth of venomous misogyny emanating from (seemingly) young males, where is it coming from?

Schools systems have brainwashed our youth right out of the habit of smoking, such that it's almost disappeared from our landscape, yet the hateful and seriously messed up views some young men hold towards woman in 2012 would raise eyebrows at an English pub in the 1950's.

Tue, 2012-07-10 08:14

Maysie

macktheknife wrote:
I am struck by the depth of venomous misogyny emanating from (seemingly) young males, where is it coming from?

Misogyny is everywhere. This is only surprising in its intensity and that it made it to the level of international news.

Our society hates women, this is only one manifestation of that hatred. Age has nothing to do with it. Blaming young men for this is incorrect, since they've learned this from somewhere, ie, our society.

Women know this hatred exists. We carry this knowledge every day in our bodies. If there were more than a handful of feminists left on babble, this place would have more of that knowledge around it, in discussions. It doesn't. If you want to learn more about woman hatred and feminist responses, google is your friend. Also, older and archived feminist threads right here at babble.

Tue, 2012-07-10 09:05

ElizaQ

macktheknife wrote:

But my question is, after reading through everything, including (especially) the comments being left, and TBH I've seen it before in places online, but still, I am struck by the depth of venomous misogyny emanating from (seemingly) young males, where is it coming from?

Schools systems have brainwashed our youth right out of the habit of smoking, such that it's almost disappeared from our landscape, yet the hateful and seriously messed up views some young men hold towards woman in 2012 would raise eyebrows at an English pub in the 1950's.

What Maysie said and...

There is no doubt that many of these comments come from young men below 18. It would be good to define what you mean by young though. There are a lot of stereotypes around gaming and gamers with one being the age of gamers. I'm a female gamer and have been for over 25 years. I have tons I could say about the the topic of sexism in gaming over the years.

Anyways I think your use of 'seemingly young' is apt. I also have no doubt that many of those comments are coming from gamers that aren't so young. Some of the worst sexists I've come across in gaming are 30+. I've actually found groups of younger guys to be more welcoming to having women in their midst then some older groups.

Over the past few years 'gaming' has been going more mainstream and for a long time 'gaming' has been considered a male thing. Quite the boys club. I can attest from experience that for a long time it was. Women players were rare. Now more and more women are playing as well as speaking out about playing. The past few years has seen the rise of 'geek girl' culture and a long with that is more and more women's voices chiming in about gaming in general and for a certain segment that 'boys club' is threatened. "Oh no the wymins are coming in here too! Everything is going to be ruin! Ruined I say."

This sort of thing is and will continue to be addressed in gaming culture. Us women gamers aren't going anywhere and most female games I know don't put up with a whole lot of bull like this. A lot of men don't either which I've seen really make males like the ones doing this sexist crap even more angry. It's rough, it's sickening at times but in my mind it's part of a maturing of the culture as whole. It's growing out of it's more infantile stage.

This however is a great example of what happens when from the perspective of some, women 'intrude' into an established boys club or culture. It's an example of what women have had to go through ever since the advent of women's rights.

Tue, 2012-07-10 17:58

Timebandit Timebandit's picture

Interesting case that preceded Sarkeesian's: http://www.forbes.com/sites/danielnyegriffiths/2012/02/21/bioware-hepler-harassment/

Hepler is a female interactive writer working in the gaming industry who suggested that one way to make the game more accessible to people who aren't hardcore gamers (who happen to be predominantly straight white males) might be to make the combat bits skippable, just as some of the story parts currently are. That there might be as much or more appeal in the interactive storytelling as the shoot 'em ups. Result? Huge wave of misogynist online bullying.

More: http://www.themarysue.com/inclusion-what-jennifer-heplers-story-is-all-about/

The kind of shit Sarkeesian has been dealing with has been going on for years, she's just had a little more mainstream profile. Which is a good thing - it's now more widely known and hopefully talked about.

And while I was drafting this and looking for the links I vaguely remembered, Sarkeesian has made a very dignified response: http://www.torontostandard.com/technology/exclusive-anita-sarkeesian-responds-to-beat-up-game-online-harassment-and-stephanie-guthries-death-threats

Tue, 2012-07-10 18:02

Timebandit Timebandit's picture

PS - Sarkeesian mentions Hepler and some others who I was thinking of but couldn't recall names for in her response.

Tue, 2012-07-10 18:17

MegB

It's the usual crap: even strong women need a man to rescue them from themselves, and thereby fulfill the role of women in heterosexual relationships, ie, needing rescuing because they can't run their lives according to mainstream standards.

Mon, 2012-07-16 17:58

Sean in Ottawa

The whole story in this thread shocked me but one thing surprised me. I scanned the story and don't see anything about charges being laid. Why is the person not going to jail for this? It seems very strange that he could do something like this and even be located for interview but the police have not charged him.

Anyway, the point I'd like to make is that I agree with Maysie that misogyny is everywhere. People should not assume if they have "evolved" values that their kids do as well. Given the context that exists everywhere, it is a parent's responsibility to know what their kids think and to educate them. It is essential that people do not assume their kids have the same outlook as they have. Given how steeped the world is in sexism, education is a direct responsibility of parents. That said, it is very much a responsibility of schools and while some teachers put in some effort, little is done. There is no reason to just look at young people and blame them -- society as a whole needs to look at what it is doing and not doing and make changes. To ask why young men behave this way is an odd question. They simply follow how society behaves, values women, how older men behave. I am not absolving those young men of responsibility but the responsibility for change is a wider collective one.

It is more surprising that people (those who are even somewhat aware) can imagine that progress is automatic. It has never been. Those who wonder why governments need to spend on women's advocacy organizations need to look only this far.

Wed, 2012-07-18 08:53

Red Tory Tea Girl

Maysie, wondering if you thought rabble was better when the hardcore, misogynistic cissexists who called themselves feminist while doing everything possible to marginalze, erase, and deny bodily agency, to the kind of womyn they don't approve of, were still here? I've read the old threads, the treatment of trans womyn as failed or former men at best, and 'Men in Ewes' clothing' at worst. So you can remember a golden age, I just remember my existence being problematized and before that precluded from being a possibility. I see progress.

It's ironic, in a discussion of misogynistic violence in video games, that Poison hasn't come up yet, the henchgirl that Capcom retroactively made trans in order to silence accusations of violence against women, because again, you can beat a woman without much social sanction as long as you have pretext to degender her, erase her, don't even bother to admit what is implicitly known: That she is a woman.

Wed, 2012-07-18 11:11

MegB

RTTG, you are being pointlessly antagonistic. Please don't take a good thread down that path.

Wed, 2012-07-18 11:17

#10

Caissa

Sean wrote:

The whole story in this thread shocked me but one thing surprised me. I scanned the story and don't see anything about charges being laid. Why is the person not going to jail for this? It seems very strange that he could do something like this and even be located for interview but the police have not charged him.

I wonder what charges could be laid?

Wed, 2012-07-18 14:11

#11

Sean in Ottawa

Incitement to violence against a person for starters.

Threat of violence- since it is in response to a behaviour they want to change possibly extortion.

Even lesser charges like mischief could apply.

Not sure how hate crime law is structured but maybe something there as well.

It is definitely criminal.

Wed, 2012-07-18 22:53

#12

Red Tory Tea Girl

Rebecca West wrote:

RTTG, you are being pointlessly antagonistic. Please don't take a good thread down that path.

I'm pretty sure noting the good ol' days when people here supported making my body an illegal act weren't very good for me isn't so much needlessly antagonistic, as harshing a good second-wave mellow that you had going on.

And yeah, I'm pretty sure Poison is awfully goddessdamned relevant to discussion of violence against womyn.

Fri, 2012-07-20 16:11

#13

macktheknife

ElizaQ wrote:

This however is a great example of what happens when from the perspective of some, women 'intrude' into an established boys club or culture. It's an example of what women have had to go through ever since the advent of women's rights.

I know this is going to sound incredibly naive, but, why? Why do women have to go through this every step of the way. It makes no logical sense that one half of the human race, gender wise, hates the other. We can say that males have historically "owned" a position of power, and are simply loath to give it up, but that is too simplistic.

Women are our mothers, our daughters, our lovers, and individually men would give up our lives to defend anyone who tries to hurt those we love, but collectively, we shit on women, why? (Generally speaking)

I know google is my friend, but my "friend" always wants to know where I am in geo space, and frankly I think it knows what I'm going to ask before I ask it, so I'm getting just a bit creeped out by *whisper*google*whisper*.