Helen Lewis - Ubisoft

Are you from the US? I hear this line of argument all the time That somehow free speech only matters if the government is the force that is curbing it. This is such capitalist / neoliberal nonsense.

It's bizarrely paradoxical. A country's founders recognised how important the principle was that they baked it into the new country's constitution. Back in the 1700s - very progressive. And, being liberal, the constitution can only mandate the government's behaviour, not the people's.

But then a bunch of current people conclude that because their constitution only limits government behaviour that somehow it's only bad when the government does it.

No, it's a universal principle. Your founders recognised why freedom was important. Not "freedom from government" specifically.

*driven

I suppose it's all part of having an identity-drive existence rather than one based on reality.

I do find it amusing that people who call themselves leftists or even communists use the tools of capitalism against their 'opponents'.

...you do realise that Ubisoft can do whatever the hell they want and that this ain’t an attack on freedom of speech.

Are you from the US? I hear this line of argument all the time That somehow free speech only matters if the government is the force that is curbing it. This is such capitalist / neoliberal nonsense.

it implies that it’s fine for anyone to use force and threats to curtail or coerce speech as long as they are not a representative of a government? Well in that case it’s worth asking why do we have freedom of expression in the first place?

For me it has to do with power to coerce or threaten, which corporations have as well as government. Indeed in capitalism corporations could be more coercive than governments towards their employees.

Personally I’m in favor of more protections for employees from their employers not fewer, because I actually care about workers rights unlike TRA “leftists” who are capitalist schills. In my opinion, Employers should be able to fire employees for failure on the job, not for completely unrelated opinions or no reason at all.

The answer to speech you don’t like is more speech unless we’re talking literal threats.

Furthermore, Ubisoft can fire Helen but we are also free to state we the think they are full of shit for doing so. Also we are free to boycott their products and make a huge stink of it. Sadly under capitalism we are left with no other remedy.

@wellbehavedwomen “just read the New Yorker piece recently on abortion follow-up, where the journalist earnestly explains that the term 'woman' is used only because in this instance, all the pregnant people in the study identified as such.”

Oh that has just made me so sad. The New Yorker, FFS.

However, that doesn't mean that one can't usefully make a feminist analysis of the choices ubisoft is making. Are they purely market driven? Do they reflect certain pre-existing prejudices within the gaming community? Does the gaming community have a history of sexism, or is it just all a massive coincidence that women are subject to all sorts of scrutiny/harrassment if they "step out of their lane" (where staying in their lane appears to be "be an honorary bloke or ladette/stick to things like candycrush/be hypersexualised".)

Anyway, what actual things that matter would you suggest we discuss instead? Always interested when someone comes in with "shutdown 101" in the form of "haven't you got better things to be worrying about"? Because it always presupposes that (a) one can't be concerned about more than one thing at once and (b) one isn't actually doing real stuff in the real world too (my background is as a trade union activist fighting for equal pay and better childcare - what's yours?)

...you do realise that Ubisoft can do whatever the hell they want and that this ain’t an attack on freedom of speech.

Simple as that. Anyway. Back to actual things that matter...

Women hatred is now socially acceptable just as long as it's rebadged as T*RF hate, and writing any sort of feminist piece around women's concerns must be hedged around with all manner of equivocations - just read the New Yorker piece recently on abortion follow-up, where the journalist earnestly explains that the term 'woman' is used only because in this instance, all the pregnant people in the study identified as such. It's rapidly becoming problematic to be feminist in a way that centres women, unless by 'women' you include male people, and exclude transmen and NB people (or include them - it seems either/both is wrong).

The drive to make feminism include men, or be dismissed as bigoted, has been a century in the making. Finally, a lever is working. This is it. It's defanging feminism completely - it's a toothless, neutered form that can achieve nothing of worth or value for female people, because we can no longer define feminism as being for female people, if the TRAs and MRAs have their way.

(Wondering how to break the news to a PP that a lot of slash is in fact written by heterosexual women inspired by the theory that "one buff bloke in the nude good, two buff blokes in the nude better." Never been quite my bag, but I have friends who are very much straight, and write a lot of this stuff .)

BTW Helen is one of the best things about The Atlantic. Actual journalism still exists.

I recently swapped my Guardian subscription for an Atlantic one. They seem to be among the few publications doing real journalism these days. Their Covid-19 and US election coverage has been outstanding; they employ journalists who seek out experts and diverse opinions, as journalists should. Jesse Singal also deserves praise for his very balanced article about teenage girls and gender dysphoria, which I'd say opened a few eyes to the issue.

I'm not sure they are the exact same people. TRAs seem to be from the other side of the political spectrum to the Gamergaters.

Nah, thing is that misogyny exists along the political spectrum. Plenty of ‘gaters migrated on over from attacking libfems to attacking radfems once it became more acceptable to do the latter. Don’t forget these are a bunch of cowards. The target of their ire was always women.

There are also still “traditional” ‘gaters who will attack libfem women and radfems. They don’t see a distinction.

(Not that I think that makes Anita a deserving target!)

And Anita Sarkesian is lib fem all the way.

That saves us a conversation about how someone who isn't transphobic was targeted by the exact same mob that came for Anita Sarkeesian. Gamers are sometimes delightful. Brilliant insight.

🙄

Ah cosplay and fanfiction, other hobbies/special interests of mine. Slash fanfiction has been a female and queer driven part of fandom since the 60s. Cosplay is a way to show your dedication, creativity and skill.

Yes there is misogyny in gaming. So many games are male power fantasies with female characters being reduced to window dressing. The lack of women in e-sports as well worries me aswell. Where are all the skilled female players?

But painting all gamers, especially those passionate about the medium as being maladjusted misfits with a lose grasp on reality, does nothing to open it to women. More women in gaming at all levels means things are more likely to change.

I used to play an interactive online game in the nineties, and in retrospect the amount of sexual harassment against the much smaller number of female players was shocking. But it was just accepted at the time.

Yeah sure. Here's a Not All Gamers card for you.

When I see one of those depressingly horrific misogynistic pile-ons against a gender critical woman on twitter the correlation of anime avatar and "gamer" in the bio is unmissable.

I’ve been a gamer my whole life, and it’s always had a strong thread of misogyny running through. This is because I think of the male-dominated nature of the hobby. It’s gotten better though as more women have grown up playing games.

Back in gamergater times the big issue for male gamers was getting violently angry (death threats etc) if anyone made a game not specifically targeted only to them, OR if they criticized a game they liked (this part is still a big issue). They still do seem to have this rage - and it’s still being targeted at women - but now it’s generally reserved for the “wrong” kind of woman.

Actually now that I think, that’s the same as before isn’t it? If you were “one of the guys” and liked everything they liked and kept your head down, and made sure not to be too feminine they’d leave you be.

BTW Helen is one of the best things about The Atlantic. Actual journalism still exists.

Feminists are holocaust deniers? Didn't see that one coming..

Way to paint gamers so negatively there. Being invested in video games, their characters, plot etc. Is no different than the people who religiously watch and get heavily invested in Soaps.

She was clearly talking about "cis" men posing a danger to both trans and natal women, if self-id is widespread. It says a lot that someone could interpret her remarks as meaning that it's not possible to change gender just because you say you have. She wasn't saying that but you can see why they'd think she did because it's all a house of bloody cards. If you can't trust everyone's self id then the whole edifice comes down.