Tag Archives: gamergirl

When Enough is Too Much.

pangolin-green:

ultrace:

If you’ve folllowed gaming news or possibly even some other news in the past day or so, you might have heard how Anita Sarkeesian was forced to cancel an appearance at Utah State University after threats of a massacre were made if she carried out her talk. Utah’s gun laws wouldn’t permit police to search or restrict properly permitted firearms at the event, and school shootings motivated by anti-feminism are a legitimate possibility, so Anita did the smart thing—the responsible thing—and canceled her appearance.

But this isn’t a win for anybody. The person who made these threats didn’t accomplish anything but further the impression that an ever-greater portion of gamers suffer from a range of psychological problems, from social maladjustment to psychopathic urges. Whoever it was, they thought it would be funny, or cool, or heroic to put a stop to all this feminine nonsense. But they were wrong. There’s nothing “funny” about shooting someone, it isn’t “cool” to try and keep someone from speaking their mind, and there’s no heroism in threatening to murder a bunch of peaceful unarmed people.

If you agree with me, then you share the same responsibility I do: to stand up against this kind of sick, twisted, bullshit behavior. You don’t have to take to the streets waving a sign to make a difference. When you see a threatening, harassing, misogynist or otherwise just fucked up tweet, respond and tell them the truth: that shit ain’t cool. Got friends on Facebook who think its fun to call women cunts and bitches, joke about raping or even killing them? Make those ex-friends. Use those downvotes on Reddit. Let a socially primitive Tumblr user know what you think. We live in a socially empowered world. The people who don’t feel this kind of behavior is okay ought to be able to use it as well.

This is a poison in our culture and it needs to be stamped out, or whatever the appropriate analogy happens to be. It won’t be fixed overnight, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t start now. I don’t generally use this space as a soapbox, but there are times when I have to speak up on things. This is one of them, because it’s behavior we tolerate from fellow “gamers” which shouldn’t be tolerated from anybody. Threats of rape and violence—whether intended to be carried out or not—aren’t acceptable, no matter what the reason and especially not because someone has the audiacity to speak about something you like. If you disagree, then you’re just flat wrong, and if you disagree strongly enough that it affects your view of me, then find the unfollow button.

Ultrace speaking the truth.

What he says above holds true here. If you think this crap is acceptable, the door’s over there, and don’t let it hit your arse on the way out.

The Standard you walk past is the standard you accept. And we do not accept misogyny or the all too prevalent and pervasive Rape Culture.