4241

I think part of Sarkeesian’s stuff is just about drawing attention to certain things, which are otherwise easy to just gloss over since they’re “just the way things are”. I’ve never noticed her to be demanding anyone rectify such atrocities, but merely say, “Hey, this is kind of simplistic and outdated.”

And frankly, in many regards she’s correct. I think that perhaps some of her pieces end up demonstrating a somewhat superficial understanding of the games she is talking about, and I’m not sure she really appreciates them beyond things to serve as a platform for criticism and ultimately her message, but I don’t find it particularly offensive in any way. Her ideas are at least coherent and thoughtfully presented.

4242

To me, attacking women (as a man) is one of the extreme ends of cowardice. I have zero respect for any man that engages in that kind of thing, whatever the so called ‘reasons’ (same for attacks against the mentally ill or infirm etc). You are not a man anymore, just a scared child lost in the world, you won’t make it, you’ve already failed your life and it won’t get better.

And on those kind of themes I have two articles, one about something no doubt directly related to the pro GG crowd, and the other more a broad global look at the rise in violence towards women.

‘Feminist site attacked on International Women’s Day’:

‘Twitter abuse: Women journalists get more threats’:

I think you really have to fully understand who women are, and why they are important. We all owe are lives to women, seems very psychologically fucked up to want hate them so much imho, must mean you have to deeply hate yourself (that life they gave) also? I see the mentality of GG (and people like them) being very much a psychological problem, they need serious mental care.

4243

What kind of attacks are you talking about? Words? Do you feel that women are innately weaker that they can’t defend themselves against mens’ words? Are you really comparing attacking women with words the same as attacking mentally infirm people with words (lol) REALLY?

I think you really have to fully understand who women are, and why they are important. We all owe are lives to women, seems very psychologically fucked up to want hate them so much imho, must mean you have to deeply hate yourself (that life they gave) also? I see the mentality of GG (and people like them) being very much a psychological problem, they need serious mental care

I think you will find we owe our lives equally to both women and men

4244

I think Zak is saying that attacking women for being women or simply wanting equal rights and respect is reprehensible and cowardly.

I think you will find we owe our lives equally to both women and men

Biologically it is not equal, perhaps you should rethink your position.

4245

Men are like THIS and women are like THIS. Women have the choice to deal with 9 months of being pregnant and that is admirable, but it’s not a reason to state that we owe our lives soley to women. That’s kind of putting them up on a pedestal, IMO. Again it goes to that whole “women are weaker and need to be pampered and handled with kiddy gloves” that it’s insulting to women.

4246

Reread your own first sentence carefully. Men can be enlisted to kick off the process but without the woman’s choice to do so there is no life.

As to the rest, again, it’s about men attacking women for being women, or for daring to consider themselves to be humans of equal value. Forget kid gloves… can a female journalist maybe just not get deluged with death and rape threats because she did her job while female?

4247

I don’t want to go on and on about it but this sentence by Zak “I think you really have to fully understand who women are, and why they are important. We all owe are lives to women” seems to me like he’s trying to downplay men’s role in procreation. And also it seems like he’s saying the reason why they are important is for child rearing. And then you saying men can get is started, but it requires women to finish. The point is it takes two. Should women who have had children be more respected then women who haven’t? It just seems like such a weird point to focus on. I don’t think that women’s breeding ability is something to base their worth on.

It’s sad to see anyone being attacked for who they are or what they believe, since aggression is hardly ever the correct course of action. The type of people that attack women just for being women will either never change, or one day grow up. Internet death threats aren’t special to women and they should stop wholesale, but as long as there is an anonymous internet that’s not likely to happen, unfortunately.

4248

Anita Sarkeesian: “What I couldn’t say…”

http://youtu.be/tDbz_RyNHhk

Jesus at those comments.

4249

I’d ignore him. He links Turkish Islamists attacking Turkish women journalists and blames it on GG. Yet in other threads he blames Islamism on the US and the West. He’s just a big blubbering pile of male and white guilt.

Its not women being attacked, its third wavers and the adherents of identity politics. Hence large numbers of women and equality feminists like Sommers being a core part of GG and NotYourShield. Identity politics doesn’t allow for anything other than black and white, hence his inability to distinguish between far left radical authoritarians and an entire gender.

4250

I agree that women should not be valued purely for their child rearing ability, but as independent humans in their own right. It was definitely an appeal to emotion.

However for procreation, male participation can be extremely minimal (leaving aside technology making them actually redundant) so I would really shy away from saying that men and women are equal in their roles. That is not to say that men should not be as involved as possible in the creation and rearing of their offspring. Of course they should. However the women inevitably bears the majority of the risk, and so in a free society imho with that risk comes the ultimate responsibility for the decision to procreate. In that sense it can never be a truly equal arrangement.

4251

Oh please. It’s all about those birthing hips.

4252

It’s amazing how sticky that straight-down-the-line equality can be, isn’t it?

Although that being said, I don’t disagree with your and Zak’s chivalrous positions; it was unironically part of my upbringing as a “gentleman”. From where you guys sit, though, it’s at least a touch hypocritical, wouldn’t you think? Sounds like more re-education videos for the both of you.

4253

I don’t think equality of opportunity and equality under the law are at all unreasonable or at odds with what I said.

I think some of the traditional chivalrous attitude towards women is a little … painful… but treating people fairly and being generous to people in general and sticking up for the weak or disadvantaged whoever they may be I think are all facets of chivalry that apply well in a non-gender specific way

4254

“Acceptable”? Is that just a poorly chosen word or phrase (i.e. you’re just saying that it’s undesirable to you), or are you suggesting it should be prohibited?

4255

Video hoster apparently took it down. Transcript can be found here.

4256

Ah, the damsel in distress trope :p

Joking aside, that is a sad read.

4257

Excellent article from Tim Lott at The Guardian, another fellow left leaning liberal who had woken up to the dangers of identity politics.

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/mar/11/mainstream-left-silencing-sympathetic-voices

4258

I think what i find the most odious part of the pro GG sentiment is that the women being targeted ‘deserve it’. Now while i find all forms of extremism repugnant, and point that out in pretty much every post of a sensitive nature i make, why do we have (and i only go on what pro GG people say here) these ‘aggressively feminist’ bloggers or whatever that they (the pro GG lot) love to focus on.

Why are they doing what they do? Do the pro GG guys ever (as in really ever) think about that? I suspect not, because then they have to evolve into full grown men and understand the complexity of issues we have to deal with in life, like that slavery is bad, that the equal rights movement for coloured people (and across most of our world this in within our living familes generation!) needed to happen, that women do indeed deserve to vote etc etc.

Once you have grown out your diapers and fully accepted your position and responsibility as a man in the world, you find that often (if not nearly always) there are REASONS things happen, and REASONS why people are maybe doing/saying something you might not understand or at first agree with.

So the GG line is really just one of immaturity and not understanding (or even wanting to) that there is a reason why here as well in their ‘crusade vs women in games’. Those women are doing what they do for what reason? What has taken it to the level they need to do what they do?

Is it really that hard to think? Sure when you are still young and not grown up i get it can be, but once you think your all grown up you have to confirm that you are by doing stuff that grown ups do, which is understanding the complexities around issues.

I’m really not that invested in this debate, i just find it sad that so called grown men can get it so wrong on what is really a very simple issue, so i post what i hope are simple things for those guys to consider to see if it helps the penny drop for them. It might not always be comfortable for them, but i’m really just helping my fellow man along in his evolution where i can.

Now if that all just flies under the radar, then whatever. I’m so far from the GG mentality (and really it is repugnant for me to even pretend i could be one of them) that i actually rarely think on the issue in my day-to-day, it is that unimportant to me, and really a non issue inflated beyond it’s real importance, BUT it has had a really negative effect on real peoples lives and that is something i do care about. When people are being shitty to other people, for no real reason at all. That is just wrong behaviour.

4259

“Pro GG guys”

4260

You take a gator feed, and a feed of an SJW- and the tone is pretty much identical. They live for the fight, and any attempt at making a better space is secondary at best. (Note, I’m talking full-blown gators here, people who you look at their twitter feed and it’s 50%+ GG messaging)

I’d make the argument that gators (note: I’m talking the hardcore gators, such as some of Brad’s twitter followers) are SJWs, they just view the people like Anita/Brianna as the perpetrators of social injustice- with their wealth privilege.