I finished reading this article a few moments ago. My emotions are vacillating between ‘subdued fury’ and ‘deep sadness.’ I have another post planned to discuss the interesting issue of anonymity and trolling raised in the article I linked to, but I don’t want to talk about that now and risk drawing attention away from the issue at hand.
Hate speech is not OK. Everyone knows this whether or not their actions actually prove what they know. I am especially saddened by this story because I am, at heart, a lover of video games and sometimes identify myself as a “gamer.” It saddens me that my game-loving brethren cannot get their act together and keep their mouths shut. But it’s not enough to merely discourage bad behavior and to that end I would like to issue a challenge.
Are you a male? Do you play video games? Do you recoil every time you see a story about the misogyny of video gamers?
Then say something. The next time a story comes up like this, don’t joke make jokes, don’t make excuses and certainly don’t pretend it doesn’t exist. Say something.
Here’s what I’m going to do. When I read about people like Anita Sarkeesian, or see trailers for openly misogynistic games I’m going to tweet the link to the material in question with the hashtag #thisisnotok.
I know this is a small step, but I am tired of being quiet. I don’t want anyone to assume that I won’t put up with misogyny: I want everyone to know it.
