New Statesman article about Anita Sarkeesian's project to expose stereotypes in video games

[OddBoots]

link

Another woman set upon by a group of men and apologists for daring to make a point (and aim to get hard evidence for) sexism in gaming.

I've just shown my 12 yo son and we've had a good chat about what is and what isn't appropriate, he likes some games (not the kind featured but maybe the time will come that he will be exposed to them) so needs (IMHO) to learn about some of the obvious stuff and the less obvious and potentially more nasty stuff.

second life is the only online game i play it's more social interaction than a game actually, everyone has an avatar and of course they are tempted to give their avatar better looks than they have in real life, but this go's for the men too. ridiculous biceps and six-pack galore!!

the comic figures dipicted in SL are created by the people who use them, or are you suggesting that women are so brainwashed into beliveing the size zero feminin perfection created by men is the ideal?

as for verbal sexism in gameing, the internet offers anonimity so all sorts of fuckwits get away with whatever they want, sexism, racism, ageism, you name it. but, the vast majority of people online are ok, it's just there is a very noisy minority.

Thanks for this. I saw her youtube video linked to from another thread, I think it's a really worthwhile project and I look forward to the results.

I know women have to put up with a lot of hideous abuse online (I've been on the receiving end a couple of times myself) but fucking hell this is some of the worst I've seen. That wikipedia page!

Anita Sarkeesian, You are a very brave woman! All power to your elbow thumbs!

Well done to her and good luck with her project.

The abuse women come in for when they object to sexism or even just want to discuss it is something else.

Revelatory, but disgusting and utterly unacceptable.

I keep telling you, chairman, you're going to the wrong places.

You don't have to hang around at dirty talk sex lounge

Did you ever get round to discussing this with your OH, by the way?

i'm not sure if your saying that dirtytalk is sexist or i would experience more sexism if i went to different places.

and no, i keep it quiet and only go to voice sims when my OH is out and the kids are in bed. does that make me a terrible person?

I'm saying that Dirtytalk, if it's anything like most sex establishments in SL, is sexist.

What sort of a person do you think hangs out on live sex chat sites without their partner's knowledge? I couldn't possibly say without being deleted

maybe you should go there before judgment.
dirtytalk is a load of people standing around talking bollox while a host treis to keep the conversation on sex and not drifting onto subjects like "i'm so tired and i have to pick the kids up from school soon".

it's not a pay-sex site, and it's run entierly by women so, clearly there are some women who want to talk about sex, are they sexist?

dirty talk is about 50/50 men to women

i've just realised like i sound as though i'm on their payrole or something, i hardly ever go there in thruth it's just that was one sim mentioned when we were discussing online sexism.

It doesn't matter that it's a free sex site, it's still a sex site and you're hanging around on it without your partner's knowledge. I'd be livid if DP did that.

I don't need to go there - from their events listing and your description I can see it's a pretty bog standard SL sex club - full of exaggerated barbie and action man style avatars, lame sex-themed events, wanky-men demanding voice to 'prove' you're female etc. I visited loads of places like that when I was researching a piece on the creation of Zindra.

The mainstream 'adult' culture in SL is incredibly sexist. Here's an experiment you might like to try - create a female alt and have a good wander around. When you get bored of being bombarded with filthy IM's, NCs on 'how to be an escort' or 'how to be a gorean slave' and having your av dry-humped in sandboxes try the same experiment as an old female av, or a black female av, or a fat one. It's quite an eye-opening experience.

You could alternatively detatch the freenis for a night or two and stick to General rated sims. You could even decide to be non-human for a while. Being a giant insect, a cardboard box, a tiny woodland creature or the solar system is great fun! I had many a larf being a zebra. I never did voice of course, people might have found out I wasn't a RL zebra It's a big grid out there and you're hanging around in a wanky-bar. What a waste of bandwidth.

i have a female alt, she was a kind of experiment, hardly ever use her now, i got fed up of wondering if a woman would actually say that every time before i hit the enter key. she was a serious experiment, small breasts and a dark bob hairdo, i thought she looked lovely, but i have to inform you she diddnt get lots of attention, only a voice-happy-chatty woman ever questioned why she diddnt voice. no one ever actually asked her to voice verify.

maybe if she had the barbie-girl look i would have been bombarded,
but it raises another question, you never voice verified, lots of women love to voice chat, and not about sex, they just like to chat, but here in MN we have an anonimous area where you can be what you want to be, not what you are

just like the lesbien blogger in damascus was a canadian spotty boy from living in scotland, any of these radfams could be male!

i have no desire to be a zebra, sorry, you left SL so clearly it stopped being exciting, the story of o is still exciting for me and the women i RP with.

Lovely. You really should tell your OH you are engaging in sadomasochistic roleplay with strangers on the internet. She might have a view on that.

Yes, MN is anonymous and I could be a 70 y/o bloke for all you know, but as I'm not here on the pull, it doesn't matter in the slightest. The radical feminists here could be male but I respond to posts and the radical feminists here write some very good posts.

The reason I left SL is because I'd been doing a lot of freelance work building and managing sims for RL orgs (on RL pay ) and I found it difficult to just switch off and treat SL as a leisure activity, even with an alt. I would never go back because of the vilely misogynistic sex culture there, which took a while to process, but I'm still tempted by the OpenSim project and might do something with that before my graphics card dies becomes obsolete.

she knows i engage in bdsm RP and she's ok about that, she disaproves but she ok really.
are you genuinly concernd for my moral well-being ?

whats the open sim project?

i dont have alot of time online , when i am on SL it's for recreation, i have really never got into building or management.

the fact is most BDSM domme females are men in rl, and some male subs say stuff like "women should be in charge, it's the natural order of things" what they mean is women being in charge gives them a stiffy. they stay as pathetic men begging a domme to favour them or they pay for the treatment they desire. OR, they get a female alt and become the female of their fantasys . but after hearing guys say that i would be very suprised if all of the well known regular radfem posters here are all female.

are you genuinly concernd for my moral well-being ?

No I'm concerned about your OH who doesn't like what you are doing but puts up with it.

Another New Statesman article I really don't get where all that hatred comes from.