No, call a spade a spade. If she does wrong, call her on it. Just don't make the mistake of blurring the lines between messenger and message. She's certainly not the best spokesperson for the feminist movement. Arguably Anita does more harm than good when it comes to sexism in video games, but there is a problem in the industry, and it should be addressed. By a gamer. But probably not a dude.Memphis wrote:Sure, it's hilarious when conspiratards blame mass shootings on the government, but when she tweets "This is how patriarchy can hurt men too", whilst the corpses are still warm, two hours after the story breaks, we're supposed to care about the backlash she gets?
How do you know that the tweet came from some 13-year-old twat instead of from some unstable nutbag with a gun and a car? The tweets should be taken with a grain of salt, sure, but they aren't all off the cuff. And it obviously doesn't make her immune to criticism; anyone who makes that claim doesn't have a leg to stand on.Memphis wrote:Anyway so, some overly abrasive shit-lipped loser angily tweets 'Raaargh imma kill you and rape ur face bitchtits' or some such shit, which is of course, fucking disgusting behaviour, but why should this automatically make her the victim and immune to any other criticism?
Ok ok, my use of "running rampant" is a bit melodramatic, I'll admit. There is sexism in games, though. Not always overt shit (but a quick wander through Steam Greenlight would say otherwise), but there are plenty of examples of gender inequality and sexism in games. More on that later.Memphis wrote:I'll just wait for those examples of why video games are sexist and why it's even a bad thing.
One could pass the time with a good romantic novel, but it's all bloody lovey-dovey stuff. Like they're just made for women or something. Where are all the romantic novels for men? And all the covers are plastered in man-nips. These fucking sexist books are oppressing my gender! #slapthematriarchy
As far as your romantic novel analogy, it falls apart immediately. I don't know if that example was meant to "take the piss" as you Brit weirdos like to say, but it goes to my point so I'll humor myself and respond. First of all, I assume there are romantic novels for men, especially in the age of Amazon and Barnes & Noble. But even if there weren't, the whole genre came about as a result of all the other non-fiction that doesn't cater to women. All the other non-fiction that uses women as a reward for the protagonist for triumphing over the antagonist, or as a prop to move the plot along, or overly sexualizes them for no particular reason, or whatever. If there was a good chance that any given novel you cracked open described all the male characters based on the size of their package, or implied they all had the intelligence of cavemen, or if there were only 2 dudes in the whole book, you'd probably tire of it quickly. There's enough room for all kinds of subgenres catering to all kinds of readers, and I think it's totally fair for there to even be a subgenre of novels dedicated to rape fantasy, BDSM and everything else under the sun. So long as it's not the only thing on book shelves. But that's beside the point.
There are more female gamers than men nowadays, and a lot of them are kids. Tens if not hundreds of millions of young adults who turn to video games instead of novels for their escapism and entertainment. Kids learn social queus, mannerisms, right and wrong, and so much more from the media they consume as they grow up. When you grow up seeing female protagonists dress in provocative, unrealistic and often times downright ridiculous attire, it sends a message, however subtle or subconscious it may be, which seeps into the mind of gamers. Lara Croft has been the media's favorite example of that, but there are plenty of others. When you have 1 in 20 games with a female protagonist, it sends a message that video games are for boys. When the reward for beating the original Metroid is an image of Samus without her suit, and beating the game on progressively harder difficulties reveals more and more skin to the point of Samus becoming bikini-clad at the hardest difficulty, it sends a message. When nearly every female protagonist has the same personality, body type and wardrobe, it sends a message. These messages aren't deliberate, of course, but they're insidious in their effect. That shit seeps in over time. It's not as bad as it used to be, but only because people like Anita bring it to light. When the game development community is made up of more than 90% men, it can have an impact, don't you think?