It has come to my attention that some of my posts can be a bit ranty. Usually, though, I try to tone it down for at least part of the post to make a larger, more serious, point. This, however, is nothing but rant (hence the title). The language will get salty. The points won’t necessarily be very fleshed out. It’s a response to something making my blood boil at the moment, nothing more. Maybe I’ll turn it into a series. Anyway, here we go, a rant about A Voice For Men’s Honey Badger Radio* hating on Anita Sarkeesian:
/startrant
The manosphere is still freaking out about Anita Sarkeesian and her Tropes vs. Women in Video Games series? Still?! I mean, for goodness sake people, Sarkeesian’s Kickstarter campaign was over a year ago. She’s since put out three videos and the world hasn’t exploded. Heck, the video game industry as a whole hasn’t even hiccupped! Actually, have any of them even watched any of her videos? Because if they have, I cannot imagine how they’re still pissed off about what she’s saying. It is some of the most chill critique I’ve ever read/watched.
Like, if they think Sarkeesian is harsh, I’d hate to see their reaction to a TotalBiscuit video. Though, okay, he doesn’t really address gender issues. So fine, for some harsh critiques of the use gender in video games, they should go watch some Errant Signal videos, or this Extra Credits video, or this Extra Credits video (which also addresses racism), or Yahtzee Crowshaw’s critique of Tomb Raider, or this Jimquisition video, or this Jimquisition video…
Oh wait, I forgot. All the mouthpieces for the above internet videos are men! They don’t fit into the honey badgers’ preconceived “thesis” that it’s feminist women who are ruining video games by daring to talk about gender representation. I guess the honey badgers will just conveniently pretend the above videos don’t exist. Or maybe they’ll write them off as brainwashed manginas jumping on the Sarkeesian feminist-critique train. Never mind that some of those videos are older than Sarkeesian’s Kickstarter campaign.
And then there’s this bollocks:
We’ve all had experience with this particular girl. You know the one, she has a passing interest in games and when she strides into a scene that’s sprung up around men who have turned a love of games into a vibrant subculture… she says “now I get to make the rules. Because vagina.”
It doesn’t matter if there are already women in the subculture, enjoying it for its own sake, she’s the self-appointed queen bee and all must bow to her pronouncements.
The false divide between women who really love games and are thus totally fine with the status quo, and the intruders who don’t really like games and just want to ruin it for everyone else. To that I say: Look up #1ReasonWhy and #1ReasonToBe, fuckers. The women (and men) who care the most about representation in games and the gaming industry are (surprise, surprise) the women (and men) who’ve been involved in the gaming industry for their entire lives. I mean, that should be freaking obvious. Women like Brenda Romero (who’s been working in the game industry for the past 20+ years), are the ones with the most invested in the gaming industry. They are the ones who offer the most critique of gender representation. Because they’re the ones who care.
And it’s absolute bullshit to claim that “Anita doesn’t even have a passing interest in games.” For crying out loud! Obviously she does, or she’d be offering a gendered critique of some other medium. Plus, Anita’s talked about how much she’s interested in games in the past. How dense do these people have to be to think Anita doesn’t qualify as a gamer? Or maybe they’ll point to the idiotic YouTube video that made the rounds awhile ago claiming to show “proof” Anita wasn’t a real gamer. *headdesk*
And you know, now that we’re on that, what the fuck is with asking women to prove they qualify as a gamer anyway? I don’t see anyone suggesting that the folks at Extra Credits aren’t real gamers, or that the dude on Errant Signal isn’t a real gamer. No one’s demanding Matthew Gallant (the creator of Kotaku) proves he is a real gamer before people read Kotaku reviews. Oh right, they’re all white cis dudes. Every damn time I see someone claim that the only women critiquing sexism in games aren’t actual gamers, I am tempted to list my gaming ‘cred.’ But you know what? Fuck that noise. I don’t have to prove to anyone that I’m a real gamer. I am. And you know how the honey badgers know I am? Because I fucking said so.
Actually, how about this: honey badgers, are you all even gamers? If not, don’t you find it kind of hypocritical to talk about gaming while lambasting Sarkeesian for daring to talk about gaming while (supposedly) not a gamer? And if so, then don’t you find it kind of hypocritical to demand proof of female gamers that they’re ‘real’ gamers, but not provide any for yourselves? Why should I even listen to your little radio program, without you first satisfying my demands to prove to me you’re really a gamer? Exactly.
/endrant
And I haven’t even heard the radio show yet. Phew.
ETA: Have you seen the promo video for the honey badger radio thing? What the actual fuck? Is that meant to be a MaleShep finding an injured FemShep and then not helping because Anita says damsellling is bad? And then what is that bit about “giving women money in real life”? How does that have anything to do with gaming? And they do realise that when Anita critiques games, she’s critiquing the game’s developers and writers, and not the player, right? No one is saying that when playing Mario, the player shouldn’t rescue Peach. We (and Anita) are saying it’d be really great if more games were made where the playable character wasn’t a cis man whose character arc involves saving (or failing to save) some helpless cis woman.
ETA2: I wonder if this has anything to do with AVfM’s renewed interest in Anita. Naw, probably a coincidence.
* The anti-feminist women over at AVfM apparently call themselves honey badgers, for some reason. The ‘radio’ show is presented by GirlWritesWhat, TyphonBlue and two other women (I think).
Filed under: Gaming, Gender Tagged: #1ReasonToBe, #1ReasonWhy, A Voice For Men, Anita Sarkeesian, AVfM, Brenda Romero, Catharsis, Errant Signal, Extra Credits, Fake Gamer Girl, Fake Geek Girl, Feminism, Feminist Gamers, Feminists, Games, Gender, Gender representation in video games, Girl Gamers, Honey Badger, Honey Badger Radio, Jimquisition, Kickstarter, Kotaku, Mangina, Nothing But Rant, TotalBiscuit, Tropes vs. Video Games, Tropes vs. Women in Video Games, Video game, Yahtzee Crowshaw, Zero Punctuation
