I think it’s relevant to our interests to point out that news broke yesterday that Anita Sarkeesian was driven out of her home by threats this week.
There’s not strong enough words for what it’s like to be a female gamer. It’s frustrating, infuriating, demeaning, saddening, and sometimes downright scary. I would never go to a con without Boyfriend out of fear. I play male avatars online so I don’t have to deal with the harassment. I purposefully have kept my handles and speech gender-neutral since I was a tween, because I learned quickly what it meant that people could identify you as a female in gaming culture… especially when you dare to have opinions, loudly.
But that people are so angry, and resorting to such desperate measures to silence prominent women, means we’re getting to them. We’re making progress. Hopefully we’re seeing the thrashing of a dying beast now, and the slow but sure annihilation of one small form of structural inequality.
Sarkeesian is a hero to me. She’s literally, now, put her life on the line to fight for something she believes in, something that will benefit all of us.
Even if it’s in the tiniest of ways, I hope we’re helping here as well. I don’t know if I could ever be as brave as she is, but in my bitty corner of the internet, I will speak– and I will continue to, no matter what.
I hope you all do as well.