Internet bullying: a conversation that needs to be taken seriously
By now you probably know about this story of a game made to allow gamers to “punch Anita Sarkeesian” for her campaign to talk about tropes vs women in video games. This latest chapter involves the maker of the game, Ben Spurr, being exposed, and totally not getting that what he’s done is bullying. But this is the part of the conversation that we need to focus on most of all, because it’s this idea that there’s nothing wrong with assaulting someone online. After all it’s only words, and there’s not really an effect to these threats of rape and violence.
Except there is an effect, and it’s horrifically tangible. Thousands of women have fled social spaces time and again because men violently dominate the conversation. Threats are only one aspect of this. Women who dare you disagree with men are called stupid, delusional, ugly, or shrill; they’re attacked as prudes and sluts. Men tell them they wouldn’t have sex with these women, and then turn around and suggest that they’re uptight because they need to get laid.
Guys, it doesn’t matter if you think what you’re doing is no big deal. What’s happened is that you’ve taken the internet from being a level field of discussion to being a male-dominated medium where women who disagree with you are subjected to constant harassment. Beyond the insults and threats are men who report women’s accounts and attempt to get them pulled off the internet. These are not the actions of open-minded, good people. These are the actions of cowards who are so afraid of losing a debate that they would rather silence the other debate team rather than admit that they are wrong.
There is no defense in this situation. Gamers seem willfully ignorant that half their club is made up of women, and every time we try to point this out and ask for more realistic representation, there’s this back lash that we’re “ruining the club’s fun.” Really? So sexual objectification is your idea of fun? You can’t enjoy that martial arts game if the women had more realistic breasts and dressed in costumes that didn’t accentuate said breasts? You can’t even acknowledge that half of your club is sick of women being relegated to a secondary character in games like The Last of Us or Enslaved: Odyssey to the West, unplayable while the big strong man does all the work? Must we just except that our half of the market will be ignored in favor of yours? You can’t even grant us a public space to voice our concerns without constant attacks?
Well here’s how you come across to us: “How dare you imply that I’m not a good guy! If you don’t shut the fuck up, I’ll find you and rape you to prove what a good guy I am!”
Enough, guys. If you’re really good guys, you need to recognize the rights of women to speak, and to have a contrary opinion. Because if you don’t, you aren’t a good guy. You’re just another chauvinist who isn’t willing to admit that you’re part of the problem.
