Feminist Kickstarter Project gets Harassed/Threatened

[wetnap]

I happen to like FPS games, and I couldn't even begin to count the number of times I've been told "you just got raped so bad", or seen "let's rape the shit out of the other team", and yet, these comments didn't ignite a six figure controversy. Is there a reason that this kind of abusive shit is acceptable there(at least to the point of not generating huge "I'm so offended" threads online), but it's a global famine level crisis when a political rhetorician is on the receiving end?

You don't see it, then. That shit ISN'T acceptable. And there's multiple topics of such harassment all over the place. Extra Credits and Moviebob have covered it.

I grit my teeth every time I hear the term used in such a casual manner. Like how "gay" became synonymous with "stupid".

I'm a gay female atheist. Internet life for me is FUN.

I was raised in a town where public stoning (biblical sense, not hippy sense) is apparently something we just ignore and move on.

What do I mean? Well a friend of mine was literally pelted with fist sized stones when going to school one day, by complete strangers, all because he had long hair, slightly overweight (and maybe because of the school we went to) and a little... "quirky". I presume this because I was there and watched it happen, as they jeered him about various things.

After a quick patch job from the closest thing we have to a medic (a staff member with cursory knowledge of Fist Aid), he was sent to class... no cops were called, no inquiry was made and no penalties were handed out to those asshats.

I was 15 at the time.

Needless to say, I've been furious towards complacency towards ANY form of bullying since. Not the bullying itself, but the lack of a social contingency to properly deal with it. I've made efforts, but too few people seem bothered enough to concern themselves on the well-being of others.

What I see here, and is possibly why I take such a strong stance towards this, is that if anything Complacency and wilful ignorance is WORSE then the bullying, as it reaffirms the messages sent by the bullies.

The abuse they suffer from is a wound... the complacency is a poisonous infection that spreads and causes more damage over time.

What I see here, on this site and on the internet as a whole, isn't the brutes, the bullies and the belligerents but the people who give them a free pass to harm others and in turn poisoning the minds of those who are affected.

Sorry about the rant, I just needed to vent. Your back and forth with lolwhat just struck a chord.

Let me guess, you don't see how hyperbole frequently trivializes the thing it was meant to highlight. As in, comparing actual physical assault that resulted in injury to the point of medical treatment being required, to words on youtube, trivializes the suffering that your friend went through, and reduces it to the level of emotionally hurtful but not physically damaging comments made by anonymous strangers(which should be disregarded as the drivel it is).

You're right, bullying sucks. I was subject to it, many people are subject to it, it is a throwback to a different time in evolutionary history which should be left to the dustbin of history. Getting beaten up is in no way, shape, or form equivalent to what is being discussed here.

The reality is, that if you choose to create and put your creations on a public stage, they are going to be ridiculed, your competence and worth as an artist and human being will be called into question, and that's just the way it is. Obviously, there is a right way to do this(professional critics) and a wrong way(the subject under discussion), but there is no way that choosing to put yourself in the line of fire is comparable to being physically assaulted for being different, unless farfetched is your middle name.

Setting a precedence in my view on this is not something I'm worried about... I FIND IT INTOLERABLE. There is no degree of measurement in which I can measure my disdain for wilful apathy. If someone is actively trying to harm someone else... and i mean HARM, and others just shrug it off and let the victim deal with it, I will flip, regardless of the extent of the harm.

Also, are you aware that there were deliberate and organised attempts at sabotaging this kickstarter? That goes well beyond the realms of criticism and dives straight into the realm of oppression and censorship.

Or how about attempts at discrediting her as a person. Not her work, but herself, irrelevant towards what she does. That isn't criticism. That's an attack.

Oh yeah, and forget the fact that most of the verbal assaults were drawn out simply because she has different type of genitalia. Again nothing to do with the artist and her work. Just biology and social ignorance.

No matter how futile their gestures may seem in regards to the project, the reaction OTHER people have towards it is inexcusable.

Do I differentiate the impact of both of these scenarios? No... because its NOT those acts I'm scrutinising. It's the IGNORANCE and COMPLACENCY that other people encourage and which seems to infest society at almost every level. That is the worst offence. I have fought people on multiple occasions over this poisonousness logic.

If you think I'm belittling my friends assault because I'm furious about the inaction by absolutely everybody with power to actually do something then you are dead wrong and completely miss actual problem at hand.

[HEADING=3]My point had nothing to do with comparing the Physical Assault or the Misogynistic Attacks against that Kickstarter. It was a personal incident which I could use to illustrate the flaws of apathetic behaviour. Of which I have no tolerance for. [/HEADING]

Censorship is standard on womens sites, thus the only opinion that gets through is clique approved, or the extreme troll that has bothered to deal with all the hoops you have to jump through to even appear on the site, everyone else cant be bothered.

Anyways the reaction has something to do with a long history of these types of attacks of male interests. Its not just a reaction to this incident alone. It comes from a history where because some feminists saw that mostly men watched pornography and they didn't have much interest in itself, it must be sexist and degrading to women by default, and its gone on to be the basis of attacks of every other male dominated interest around. The message always is you have to change this to suit my interest, even if I have none myself. Its like if men had gotten together to complain that oprah did not cater to their needs, and thus it should be pressured to change, and labeled as sexist until that time, and all the women who watched this oprah were by association sexist as well, part of a wide cultural sexism against men. The rational reaction would be to tell such a loser to eff off, but when women do it, it becomes a virtuous cause.

I'm not excusing the level of reaction, just explaining it.

Its pervasive in society now, you don't notice it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmRDUcbx9tw
as pointed out by maher a while back, "making women nod" has become the thing, even if it involves lies, bad logic and the rest, it has become the default position.

 

[meepop]

EDIT: Why does she need money, exactly? I know she's funding a series, but what is the money going to do for her?

Better recording equipment? Better editing software? Computer upgrades to make the production process easier?

I'm honestly surprised so many people are asking this.

This goes BEYOND stating opinions. This is an attempt at imposing ones will over another. These people don't like what they see and instead of boycotting or criticising the project, they attack her and the project directly. That is inexcusable.

See, this is what I was getting at before. It's not that these fucking creepazoids are misogynists that pisses me off so much. It's how they act on those feelings. It's completely unacceptable in a civilized society to behave this way.

Yes, but better recording equipment when she already made a series on this, along with the video she made to detail what is was she was doing? Obviously I don't know much about technology used in recording, but surely what she has is good enough?

 

[Revnak_v1legacy]

no woman has invented a world changing technology.

To be fair, you must have known this was coming.

No woman has ever invented a world changing technology? How can you seriously believe such a bullshit claim? I'm going to leave with a series of links, one with a good explanation for why women have not invented as many things, and also with a very simple truth. Men and women will always be at least as different as we assume they are, and have never been more different than that. If the day comes that the differences between men and women are being understated, that is the day we have truly, honestly found equality. That day is almost certainly not today and will likely never come around as long as clearly ignorant fuckwits continue to claim that women are inherently inferior, like the brainless, misogynistic, hateful, ugly, lonely, borderline-psychopathic, freakish, monstrous, heartless, bastard cavemen that they are. In fact, scratch that last one. As anthropology shows that inequality is found to be much smaller in primitive societies, I feel that cavemen likely don't fall into this category. Such dick-loving morons (no offense to people who legitimately love dicks, these buffoons are far below you) are likely a major insult to cavemen. These wastes of carbon, water, fuck, these wastes of uranium, as I am fairly certain that even a trace amount of that in their bodies is worth more than the entirety of their trivial existence, are truly far less advanced than cavemen.

Spoiler

http://www.factmonster.com/ipka/A0906931.html
http://www.factmonster.com/ipka/A0768070.html
http://science.howstuffworks.com/innovation/inventions/10-things-that-women-invented.htm
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110117201051AAunEkb
http://library.thinkquest.org/CR0210181/images/timeline.htm
http://inventors.about.com/od/womeninventors/a/women_inventors.htm
http://inventors.about.com/od/womeninventors/Women_Inventors.htm

 

[zefiris]

Brad Calkins:
no woman has invented a world changing technology.

Wetnap:
Censorship is standard on womens sites,

These quotes really sum this discussion up wonderfully. Thanks for posting, you two, and thereby proving the point and just how frequent this kind of behavior is.

What happened? Essentially, we have butthurt gamer males afraid that a woman(!!!) will look at games and *gasp* criticize them, and all hell breaks lose.
Predictably, these butthurt gamer males now are equally butthurt that their behavior is criticized, so here comes the whiteknighting, dismissing (including people outright lying, to pretend it's just "youtube comments"), and, of course, the "censorship" thing. Predictable.

Hey, Wetnap. If you'd stop posting rape threads or stuff like "no woman has invented a world changing technology", then these places would be moderated less. As we can see, the opinion you want to uphold is the one that usually gets other opinions censored - this campaign is just another attempt to remove a opinion you do not want to hear.

"womens sites" generally have very little censorship in comparison, and the only thing that gets removed is trollbait or things that are obviously false, such as what Brad Calkins wrote there. Just deal with it. If you want to post about how awesome it is that a transsexual was beaten to death, how women are inferior, or how women should be raped, just go to 4chan or reddit, where your "right" to post that kind of stuff is not "infringed" on.

Thankfully, most other places will remove it. Including women's sites, but also other places staffed by sane people.

PS: Oh, and look up censorship. It doesn't actually mean what you think it does.

 

[lowhat]

I happen to like FPS games, and I couldn't even begin to count the number of times I've been told "you just got raped so bad", or seen "let's rape the shit out of the other team", and yet, these comments didn't ignite a six figure controversy. Is there a reason that this kind of abusive shit is acceptable there(at least to the point of not generating huge "I'm so offended" threads online), but it's a global famine level crisis when a political rhetorician is on the receiving end?

You don't see it, then. That shit ISN'T acceptable. And there's multiple topics of such harassment all over the place. Extra Credits and Moviebob have covered it.

I grit my teeth every time I hear the term used in such a casual manner. Like how "gay" became synonymous with "stupid".

I'm a gay female atheist. Internet life for me is FUN.

I was raised in a town where public stoning (biblical sense, not hippy sense) is apparently something we just ignore and move on.

What do I mean? Well a friend of mine was literally pelted with fist sized stones when going to school one day, by complete strangers, all because he had long hair, slightly overweight (and maybe because of the school we went to) and a little... "quirky". I presume this because I was there and watched it happen, as they jeered him about various things.

After a quick patch job from the closest thing we have to a medic (a staff member with cursory knowledge of Fist Aid), he was sent to class... no cops were called, no inquiry was made and no penalties were handed out to those asshats.

I was 15 at the time.

Needless to say, I've been furious towards complacency towards ANY form of bullying since. Not the bullying itself, but the lack of a social contingency to properly deal with it. I've made efforts, but too few people seem bothered enough to concern themselves on the well-being of others.

What I see here, and is possibly why I take such a strong stance towards this, is that if anything Complacency and wilful ignorance is WORSE then the bullying, as it reaffirms the messages sent by the bullies.

The abuse they suffer from is a wound... the complacency is a poisonous infection that spreads and causes more damage over time.

What I see here, on this site and on the internet as a whole, isn't the brutes, the bullies and the belligerents but the people who give them a free pass to harm others and in turn poisoning the minds of those who are affected.

Sorry about the rant, I just needed to vent. Your back and forth with lolwhat just struck a chord.

Let me guess, you don't see how hyperbole frequently trivializes the thing it was meant to highlight. As in, comparing actual physical assault that resulted in injury to the point of medical treatment being required, to words on youtube, trivializes the suffering that your friend went through, and reduces it to the level of emotionally hurtful but not physically damaging comments made by anonymous strangers(which should be disregarded as the drivel it is).

You're right, bullying sucks. I was subject to it, many people are subject to it, it is a throwback to a different time in evolutionary history which should be left to the dustbin of history. Getting beaten up is in no way, shape, or form equivalent to what is being discussed here.

The reality is, that if you choose to create and put your creations on a public stage, they are going to be ridiculed, your competence and worth as an artist and human being will be called into question, and that's just the way it is. Obviously, there is a right way to do this(professional critics) and a wrong way(the subject under discussion), but there is no way that choosing to put yourself in the line of fire is comparable to being physically assaulted for being different, unless farfetched is your middle name.

Setting a precedence in my view on this is not something I'm worried about... I FIND IT INTOLERABLE. There is no degree of measurement in which I can measure my disdain for wilful apathy. If someone is actively trying to harm someone else... and i mean HARM, and others just shrug it off and let the victim deal with it, I will flip, regardless of the extent of the harm.

Also, are you aware that there were deliberate and organised attempts at sabotaging this kickstarter? That goes well beyond the realms of criticism and dives straight into the realm of oppression and censorship.

Or how about attempts at discrediting her as a person. Not her work, but herself, irrelevant towards what she does. That isn't criticism. That's an attack.

Oh yeah, and forget the fact that most of the verbal assaults were drawn out simply because she has different type of genitalia. Again nothing to do with the artist and her work. Just biology and social ignorance.

No matter how futile their gestures may seem in regards to the project, the reaction OTHER people have towards it is inexcusable.

Do I differentiate the impact of both of these scenarios? No... because its NOT those acts I'm scrutinising. It's the IGNORANCE and COMPLACENCY that other people encourage and which seems to infest society at almost every level. That is the worst offence. I have fought people on multiple occasions over this poisonousness logic.

If you think I'm belittling my friends assault because I'm furious about the inaction by absolutely everybody with power to actually do something then you are dead wrong and completely miss actual problem at hand.

[HEADING=3]My point had nothing to do with comparing the Physical Assault or the Misogynistic Attacks against that Kickstarter. It was a personal incident which I could use to illustrate the flaws of apathetic behaviour. Of which I have no tolerance for. [/HEADING]

So what exactly have you done lately to to protect those being victimized? And no, your brand of internet tough-guyism isn't doing anything productive or useful, it's crying over spilled milk. Many of the ignorant cretins who inhabit this planet aren't going to respond to anything except force, so unless you're already taking trips into the Idaho wilderness to take away the neo-Nazi survivalist's connection to the internet, you might want to consider the phrase "put up or shut up".

The reality of this situation is that it highlights one of the many double standards on the Internet. If the exact same videos had been created by someone with a penis, far fewer fucks would have been given(ht: Smash) when they were ridiculed for creating something so patently stupid(Really? Lara Croft, a character as close to the realization of feminist ideals as you could possibly get, is now a symbol of sexist oppression?)

Once again, if she doesn't want to be attacked, there are plenty of things she could be doing with her time besides making asinine videos that don't make a lick of sense. It doesn't excuse the attacks, but there are far, far greater injustices in the world for me to spend my concern on.

 

[Rastien]

"LOL U R SO DUMB I WILL RAPE U AND UR DOG AHUEHUEHUEHUEHUE UMAD?" comment on youtube proudly wears a troll badge like it's some kind of medal.

Are you implying that all bad trolls are Brazilian? If so then I agree good sir.

Nah, I just love typing HUEHUEHUEHUE to make fun of something.

AHUEHUEHEHUHEUEHUEHUEHUEHUEHUEHUE SO FUNNAY!!! XDDDDD

Love it.

Think we could start a petition to replace the statue of Jesus in Rio with Mordekaiser?

Maybe replace the church bells with repeated chants of "Mordekaiser es numero uno"?

MORDEKAIESER ES #1 BRAZIL HE ES ALWAYS WEEN LIKE BRAZILEEEN FUTBALE TEAM ES#1 HUEHUE...HUE.

On topic:
You know i read through fatuglyorslut.com and now reading this... fuck me there are some total cunts out there :/ what this woman is doing is a good thing! why feel the need to run her into the ground. Sigh

 

[Ragsnstitches]

Censorship is standard on womens sites, thus the only opinion that gets through is clique approved, or the extreme troll that has bothered to deal with all the hoops you have to jump through to even appear on the site, everyone else cant be bothered.

Anyways the reaction has something to do with a long history of these types of attacks of male interests. Its not just a reaction to this incident alone. It comes from a history where because some feminists saw that mostly men watched pornography and they didn't have much interest in itself, it must be sexist and degrading to women by default, and its gone on to be the basis of attacks of every other male dominated interest around. The message always is you have to change this to suit my interest, even if I have none myself. Its like if men had gotten together to complain that oprah did not cater to their needs, and thus it should be pressured to change, and labeled as sexist until that time, and all the women who watched this oprah were by association sexist as well, part of a wide cultural sexism against men. The rational reaction would be to tell such a loser to eff off, but when women do it, it becomes a virtuous cause.

I'm not excusing the level of reaction, just explaining it.

Its pervasive in society now, you don't notice it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmRDUcbx9tw
as pointed out by maher a while back, "making women nod" has become the thing, even if it involves lies, bad logic and the rest, it has become the default position.

What I find funny is that, you tell me it's pervasive in society, yet the only source you offer is a your word and a comedian/political controversialist who has had some hilariously awkward experiences with women. Just off the top of my head, he was in a relationship with a playboy model, who was also crazy, and sued him for something like a Billion dollars for apparently lying about wanting to get married and wanting a baby. It went to court, who if this was TV would probably have seen him lose that money, but because they aren't insane, he won.

If that didn't skew his opinion of women... wait it totally did.

He equates marriage to slavery, which sort of undermines the efforts of the entire LGBT community who have put many years and going, trying to make marriage of same sex couples legally sanctified and socially acceptable.

Oh yeah, and he isn't funny. His social commentary jokes are of the same calibre as TV dinner jokes... in that they ran out of fashion in the 1980s I have no respect for the man.

Also, you must confuse me for a feminist. I'm not a feminist and at no point did I say I was. I don't go out of my way to protect womens rights, I support it to an extent... its hard not to see the destructive and harmful movements within feminist ideals. I don't support the belittling of men and I take issue with the concept of gender neutral. Rather then accepting and embracing our differences in society some movements would rather throw up the illusion that we are the same... its a half hearted gesture that would eventually collapse on itself.

I DO however, have contempt for people who gang up on others for bigoted/spiteful reasons and, even more so, the people who are aware of it but choose apathy over taking a stance. This is why I'm here, arguing with others...

Please take your fear of change elsewhere.

So my stance is this: Show no quarter. These people can't have a cushion of complacency and indifference to fall onto. Especially not on the scale we see here... I agree it will never go away, but the least we can do is make it abundantly clear that they aren't welcome and if possible, force them back into the recesses of the various offensive chan sites and its ilk, where they can fester and circle jerk over their painfully low wit until the end of days.

I've spent enough time on 4chan and the internet in general to know that won't work. As long as they don't have to fear any real world repercussions they couldn't give less of a shit if you welcome them here and anywhere else.

Simply saying "This shit will not fly!", then making that statement again and again without actually doing anything is what pisses me off.

Congratulations, you won't welcome sexism with a warm cup of tea and a backrub. Sorry, but that's not worth much. I can respect that as your own personal demeanor but I'm still going to ridicule you for recognizing a problem, then turning your back on it so to speak, which is exactly what is going on in this thread.

This shit is what has been pissing me off for years now. It's the same deal as starving children in Africa really. Not just the internet but the first world in general sees a problem, screams "OH MA GAWD THATS TERRIBLE" and then goes along the same as before. No, sorry. If you act like that, don't even fucking try to pretend you care. Because in reality, you don't. Every fucking time this happens. Feminist kickstarter problems, Breivik, Africa, you name it. Just ***** ***** ***** without really thinking about it.

This is also why (this will probably shock you but it's my honest opinion) I have about as much respect for the people flaming that video and the people commenting here. Both think they see a problem (whether they're right or not is a different subject) and refuse to do anything else but hit their keyboard a few times.

Yet you will be argumentative towards people who do? So you don't care about the issues facing the world/internet/forum whatever, just the people talking about them?

Let me try that again... You try not to worry about things that you can't change BUT will argue the reasons for caring about things that people want to argue about?

What it actually boils down to is this; I don't care, and I don't pretend do. Like I said, most people here don't care, but they pretend to, because they think typing a paragraph is enough. I disagree. Making a post on an internet forum does not mean you care, that goes for me as well as other people too. Again, if you did care, you would do something beyond posting on The Escapist.

I do things beyond posting on the escapist. I was part of a REAL social group in school that aimed at promoting support towards victims of bullying in any shape or form, and to raise awareness of the damage apathy can cause.

I'm currently in a college club that talks to people who were bullied, offers support in dealing with any long term harm due to it (including redirection to counsellors) and who actively campaign in OTHER colleges and also do talks in any primary and secondary level schools in the county that will have us.

However, after a few graduations and some administrative cut backs in regard to facilities, we haven't been able to recuperate our dwindling numbers. So I'm a little bent out of shape about this whole topic.

BEYOND that however, even by posting my displeasure on an internet forum, I'm doing a sight more to combat this phenomenon then you or lolwhat. Not because I'm talking about it, no... but because you are actively antagonising those that do. Rather then encouraging the growth of awareness, you cut it off because you don't feel like it helps and it makes you feel bad.

Heh, that got a chuckle out of me. I'm uncomfortable with a lot of things, ranging from poverty to modern human mentality to discrimination. To answer your question, no, I am not, and I'm not comfortable with this whole situation either, but that's irrelevant to this discussion.

Because giving a shit doesn't help in this case. The most you can do is leave a friendly comment. There are no charities to donate to and no voluntary work to be done.

Your posts here do fuck all.

Also you are fooling no one but yourself. You do care, but since you can't see anything you can do, you play apathetic to the whole thing... while simultaneously railing against those that want to talk about it.

Forced apathy is Bullshit and it is the problem I have with so many people, it is a social faux-pas I will never accept.

I happen to like FPS games, and I couldn't even begin to count the number of times I've been told "you just got raped so bad", or seen "let's rape the shit out of the other team", and yet, these comments didn't ignite a six figure controversy. Is there a reason that this kind of abusive shit is acceptable there(at least to the point of not generating huge "I'm so offended" threads online), but it's a global famine level crisis when a political rhetorician is on the receiving end?

You don't see it, then. That shit ISN'T acceptable. And there's multiple topics of such harassment all over the place. Extra Credits and Moviebob have covered it.

I grit my teeth every time I hear the term used in such a casual manner. Like how "gay" became synonymous with "stupid".

I'm a gay female atheist. Internet life for me is FUN.

I was raised in a town where public stoning (biblical sense, not hippy sense) is apparently something we just ignore and move on.

What do I mean? Well a friend of mine was literally pelted with fist sized stones when going to school one day, by complete strangers, all because he had long hair, slightly overweight (and maybe because of the school we went to) and a little... "quirky". I presume this because I was there and watched it happen, as they jeered him about various things.

After a quick patch job from the closest thing we have to a medic (a staff member with cursory knowledge of Fist Aid), he was sent to class... no cops were called, no inquiry was made and no penalties were handed out to those asshats.

I was 15 at the time.

Needless to say, I've been furious towards complacency towards ANY form of bullying since. Not the bullying itself, but the lack of a social contingency to properly deal with it. I've made efforts, but too few people seem bothered enough to concern themselves on the well-being of others.

What I see here, and is possibly why I take such a strong stance towards this, is that if anything Complacency and wilful ignorance is WORSE then the bullying, as it reaffirms the messages sent by the bullies.

The abuse they suffer from is a wound... the complacency is a poisonous infection that spreads and causes more damage over time.

What I see here, on this site and on the internet as a whole, isn't the brutes, the bullies and the belligerents but the people who give them a free pass to harm others and in turn poisoning the minds of those who are affected.

Sorry about the rant, I just needed to vent. Your back and forth with lolwhat just struck a chord.

Let me guess, you don't see how hyperbole frequently trivializes the thing it was meant to highlight. As in, comparing actual physical assault that resulted in injury to the point of medical treatment being required, to words on youtube, trivializes the suffering that your friend went through, and reduces it to the level of emotionally hurtful but not physically damaging comments made by anonymous strangers(which should be disregarded as the drivel it is).

You're right, bullying sucks. I was subject to it, many people are subject to it, it is a throwback to a different time in evolutionary history which should be left to the dustbin of history. Getting beaten up is in no way, shape, or form equivalent to what is being discussed here.

The reality is, that if you choose to create and put your creations on a public stage, they are going to be ridiculed, your competence and worth as an artist and human being will be called into question, and that's just the way it is. Obviously, there is a right way to do this(professional critics) and a wrong way(the subject under discussion), but there is no way that choosing to put yourself in the line of fire is comparable to being physically assaulted for being different, unless farfetched is your middle name.

Setting a precedence in my view on this is not something I'm worried about... I FIND IT INTOLERABLE. There is no degree of measurement in which I can measure my disdain for wilful apathy. If someone is actively trying to harm someone else... and i mean HARM, and others just shrug it off and let the victim deal with it, I will flip, regardless of the extent of the harm.

Also, are you aware that there were deliberate and organised attempts at sabotaging this kickstarter? That goes well beyond the realms of criticism and dives straight into the realm of oppression and censorship.

Or how about attempts at discrediting her as a person. Not her work, but herself, irrelevant towards what she does. That isn't criticism. That's an attack.

Oh yeah, and forget the fact that most of the verbal assaults were drawn out simply because she has different type of genitalia. Again nothing to do with the artist and her work. Just biology and social ignorance.

No matter how futile their gestures may seem in regards to the project, the reaction OTHER people have towards it is inexcusable.

Do I differentiate the impact of both of these scenarios? No... because its NOT those acts I'm scrutinising. It's the IGNORANCE and COMPLACENCY that other people encourage and which seems to infest society at almost every level. That is the worst offence. I have fought people on multiple occasions over this poisonousness logic.

If you think I'm belittling my friends assault because I'm furious about the inaction by absolutely everybody with power to actually do something then you are dead wrong and completely miss actual problem at hand.

[HEADING=3]My point had nothing to do with comparing the Physical Assault or the Misogynistic Attacks against that Kickstarter. It was a personal incident which I could use to illustrate the flaws of apathetic behaviour. Of which I have no tolerance for. [/HEADING]

So what exactly have you done lately to to protect those being victimized? And no, your brand of internet tough-guyism isn't doing anything productive or useful, it's crying over spilled milk. Many of the ignorant cretins who inhabit this planet aren't going to respond to anything except force, so unless you're already taking trips into the Idaho wilderness to take away the neo-Nazi survivalist's connection to the internet, you might want to consider the phrase "put up or shut up".

The reality of this situation is that it highlights one of the many double standards on the Internet. If the exact same videos had been created by someone with a penis, far fewer fucks would have been given(ht: Smash) when they were ridiculed for creating something so patently stupid(Really? Lara Croft, a character as close to the realization of feminist ideals as you could possibly get, is now a symbol of sexist oppression?)

Once again, if she doesn't want to be attacked, there are plenty of things she could be doing with her time besides making asinine videos that don't make a lick of sense. It doesn't excuse the attacks, but there are far, far greater injustices in the world for me to spend my concern on.

1st off, read the start of my response to smash on this comment.

Also, you again miss the point of my actions... its not the bullying, but the people who turn away from it because they don't see a solution. I can't accept that as it is counter-productive. The people who do nothing have accomplished nothing and, on more then one occasion, have intentionality encouraged the acts that wrong us all. Even speaking out against it, or adding your voice to the dissent is enough for me. Words spread and carry power that most people don't realise...

Which is another reasons why I can't stand what you and Smash are doing. You are fighting a voice that wants to eliminate the free reign these detestable cretins have. Even though you BOTH state or at least infer you don't like what these people do, you choose to rally with them by simply fighting us.

Once again, if she doesn't want to be attacked, there are plenty of things she could be doing with her time besides making asinine videos that don't make a lick of sense. It doesn't excuse the attacks, but there are far, far greater injustices in the world for me to spend my concern on.

... and this makes no sense. What chance have you got at abolishing poverty/war/famine/oppression if you can't even tackle the garden variety bigot. I mean, you did say to put up or shut up right? What have you done against that? Do you throw a few pennies into a plastic box? or do you go over to this broken locations and try to fix it?

I will guess the former if anything, though that might not even be true. But even I will admit that I wouldn't have to courage to go over to these places. I also don't tell be people to not bother either.

Oh and one last thing, lest you all forget;

[HEADING=1]I'M NOT A FEMINIST.[/HEADING]

 

[Clearing the Eye]

no woman has invented a world changing technology.

To be fair, you must have known this was coming.

No woman has ever invented a world changing technology? How can you seriously believe such a bullshit claim? I'm going to leave with a series of links, one with a good explanation for why women have not invented as many things, and also with a very simple truth. Men and women will always be at least as different as we assume they are, and have never been more different than that. If the day comes that the differences between men and women are being understated, that is the day we have truly, honestly found equality. That day is almost certainly not today and will likely never come around as long as clearly ignorant fuckwits continue to claim that women are inherently inferior, like the brainless, misogynistic, hateful, ugly, lonely, borderline-psychopathic, freakish, monstrous, heartless, bastard cavemen that they are. In fact, scratch that last one. As anthropology shows that inequality is found to be much smaller in primitive societies, I feel that cavemen likely don't fall into this category. Such dick-loving morons (no offense to people who legitimately love dicks, these buffoons are far below you) are likely a major insult to cavemen. These wastes of carbon, water, fuck, these wastes of uranium, as I am fairly certain that even a trace amount of that in their bodies is worth more than the entirety of their trivial existence, are truly far less advanced than cavemen.

Spoiler

http://www.factmonster.com/ipka/A0906931.html
http://www.factmonster.com/ipka/A0768070.html
http://science.howstuffworks.com/innovation/inventions/10-things-that-women-invented.htm
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110117201051AAunEkb
http://library.thinkquest.org/CR0210181/images/timeline.htm
http://inventors.about.com/od/womeninventors/a/women_inventors.htm
http://inventors.about.com/od/womeninventors/Women_Inventors.htm

A woman invented the circular saw? That thing is so old that I would have assumed it must have been made by a man, because it wasn't until fairly recently that women were allowed to do anything besides cook. Well, that's a slight exaggeration, but they were hardly encouraged to do anything besides cook and attempting to get into the hardware and tool industry must have been a grueling exercise.

A woman also invented the dishwasher according to one of your links. Don't know if it's true, but if it is... I want to give that woman the biggest hug of my life. Might not seem like a big deal and it's a total first-world problem, but oh my god is having a dishwasher so much better than doing dishes. So, so, so much better.

 

[Helmholtz Watson]

[
I grit my teeth every time I hear the term used in such a casual manner. Like how "gay" became synonymous with "stupid".

But how do you stop a semantic shift? I mean doesn't language evolve and change over time?

I happen to like FPS games, and I couldn't even begin to count the number of times I've been told "you just got raped so bad", or seen "let's rape the shit out of the other team", and yet, these comments didn't ignite a six figure controversy. Is there a reason that this kind of abusive shit is acceptable there

I don't think it is. If a person can't act like a half-way decent human being in a social situation, then they should... uh, what's the phrase? Shut their damn mouths?

And if they don't? Then what do you do?

 

[Clearing the Eye]

[HEADING=1]I'M NOT A FEMINIST.[/HEADING]

Are you a feminist? I couldn't quite tell from your comment, but I think you might be.

Kidding! Don't kill me <3

 

[Clearing the Eye]

Women also invented the dishwasher according to one of your links. Don't know if it's true, but if it is... I want to give that woman the biggest hug of my life. Might not seem like a big deal and it's a total first-world problem, but oh my god is having a dishwasher so much better than doing dishes. So, so, so much better.

*A woman

But still. I don't have a dishwasher right now. That sucks. Once you have lived in a household that has a dishwasher for more than a year, you just can't go back.

Oppsies. I shall edit typo!

Yeah, you just can't go back to no dishwasher. It's impossible. Some serious Flowers for Algernon shit.

 

[Darkmantle]

Well, yeah, obviously these guys aren't going to disappear. That's years of miseducation for you. In short, we fucked up, and now we are stuck with a generation of both men and women who don't know what feminism is. You won't be able to turn these people around again, not all of them, and not most of them either.

I'm thinking more along the lines of "What can we do to make sure this doesn't happen again?".

I think you may be overestimating your own understanding of feminism, and underestimating mine. Saying things like "it's all mis-education" implies that you know that you are factually correct.

As you may have gathered, I'm not a big fan of "feminism" as a label, and as it seems to exist today. Here's why.

Many feminist organization intentionally skew statistics or use outright faulty stats, or stats from 40 years ago, to make their argument. For example, M.A.V.A.W. claims that 90% of all domestic violence is against women. This is false, the numbers are much closer to 50/50, with studies pegging it anywhere between 45/55 or 40/60 with men over representing. Or a university professor at St. Thomas UNB who showed stats saying that there are more poor old women then poor old men, therefore that proves society is against women. What she left out however, is that there are more old women then old men, and when you break it down into percentages, it's a nearly Identical rate.

I have no respect for those organization or people that intentionally mislead in this way. Yet they are reputable and widely held as good, feminist, organizations.

the usual counter point I get is the no true scotsman fallacy. So I'll address it here. If you want to say, well I'm a feminist and I don't act like that, then I have a question.

Why identify as a feminist?

You are affiliating yourself with groups that claim to represent you, but evidently do not.

And if these organizations and people are held in such high esteem by feminists, why am I supposed to assume they are not "true feminist" organizations.


it's not mis-education, I know why I hold my views.

 

[Ragsnstitches]

I do things beyond posting on the escapist. I was part of a REAL social group in school that aimed at promoting support towards victims of bullying in any shape or form, and to raise awareness of the damage apathy can cause.

I'm currently in a college club that talks to people who were bullied, offers support in dealing with any long term harm due to it (including redirection to counsellors) and who actively campaign in OTHER colleges and also do talks in any primary and secondary level schools in the county that will have us.

However, after a few graduations and some administrative cut backs in regard to facilities, we haven't been able to recuperate our dwindling numbers. So I'm a little bent out of shape about this whole topic.

BEYOND that however, even by posting my displeasure on an internet forum, I'm doing a sight more to combat this phenomenon then you or lolwhat. Not because I'm talking about it, no... but because you are actively antagonising those that do. Rather then encouraging the growth of awareness, you cut it off because you don't feel like it helps and it makes you feel bad.

My original post was never aimed at you, you know. No need to pretend it was now when it suits you.

And while joining a college club that offers counseling is a noble thing to do, doing an extra mile to PREVENT bullying is more important in my eyes.

Rather then encouraging the growth of awareness, you cut it off because you don't feel like it helps and it makes you feel bad.

People are already aware. Are you actually telling me you believe there are people on this site who did not know sexism existed until they stumbled on a kickstarter project? What?

And yes, growth of awareness does fuck all. Yay, now everyone knows about *insert random problem here*. We raised awareness. Wait, nothing changed. Next time maybe we should concentrate on solving *insert random problem here* instead of screaming about it to people who do not and will not give a fuck.

Forced apathy is Bullshit and it is the problem I have with so many people, it is a social faux-pas I will never accept.

At risk of sounding like a 2darknedgy4u teenagers, I could give a fuck about social faux-pas and unwritten laws. In a thread that, at it's core, has become about discussing problems in society, you pull the "social faux-pas" thing? That's rather contradictory.

First of all:

But hey, you can keep telling me that I should be analyzing the situation properly and thinking about solutions, while you do fuck all in that direction yourself, instead opting to patronize people who aren't jumping on the rage bandwagon.

You said that earlier, I forgot to respond to it, your post above reminded me. Hence why I responded to it. Also, everything you post is subject to scrutiny, not just whats targeted at me... remember that.

So what do you do to prevent bullying? Personally I can't think of anything to directly stop bullies. I'm not a psychologist, I don't know what makes a bully thick, but I'm pretty sure insecurity is the biggest contributor to bigotry. You know what can cause insecurity? Bullying... though not entirely. It requires another ingredient... apathy towards the bully. That is what I'm targeting.

Apparently people struggle with the concept of sexism. Especially when they keep associating my post with anti-sexist movements, rather then for what it is.

Laying it thick here: I am against FORCED apathetic personalities, regardless of the topic.

It's not contradictory. My opinion from the very start has been that people FORCE themselves to be apathetic. At almost every social level we are told to take others into account. Be considerate, be patient, be friendly, be quiet, don't rock the boat etc... from a young age its bred into us to be aware of how we affect others, though the lessons learned aren't always beneficial (or may even be harmful).

The point is that NORMAL people DO consider others, but in these cases CHOOSE not to concern themselves because it makes life marginally easier. Considering the quantity of self-destructive lifestyles present in our time, a little bit of selflessness wouldn't go astray... whats one minor inconvenience to all the stress we get ourselves into on a daily basis?

Its a social faux-pas, because it goes against human natures inborn awareness of the self in the community (who we are and where we place ourselves in life) and how the community affects us (trends, expectations, tolerance etc). People SEE these problems, they can't help but feel something towards it (apathy is the absence of feeling/concern... and is not a natural state of being) but choose to ignore and feign apathy (they force an illusion of not caring on themselves in order to alleviate an inherent sense of responsibility about the community).

I'm not going to quote it again, but you said it makes you uncomfortable, along with other things. You do care... but because you can't think of anything you can do you choose ignorance instead.

 

[geK0]

Youtube is the internet's dumping ground for loud mouthed illiterate jags.

It's a place with a "community" of 30+ men who record themselves talking about TV wrestling, and then upload the footage for review by their peers. It's also a place where 14 year old girls congregate to squee mindlessly about the most attractive teenaged celebrity of the present year.

Read that last paragraph out loud, and then tell me if you still care about the opinions of Youtube users.

They don't actually know anything about anything, so who gives a shit if they're sexist? It's like finding out that the patients at your local mental hospital are anti-Semitic. Sure it's unfortunate- but it's not like any of their opinions actually matter.

Pretty much this.... I've been told to kill myself for commenting on a Minecraft video saying "This is great, but I don't think you can actually get ice in survival mode"

I hardly see how youtube commenters reflect the gaming community.