#but the rights of women and poc and the lgbt community are not political

[oz-protection-squad]

Hey, so... I know this is a bit delayed. I've been grieving hardcore over the election results since 4 am. But I just wanted all of you to know:

I love you. I love you so, so much.

I know it's hard, but please don't give up the fight. We need you here, now more than ever. Giving up would mean letting the hatred win, so we must outlive it. Hang in there. This is not the end.

Keep moving forward.

[lisztomaniac-mp3]

make plans to get out of here (america) as quickly as possible in an emergency (read: get your passport and save money)

become as familiar as you can with everything that trump has said he will do, study that 900+ page plan and know who is involved

show as much support as possible for queer people and poc, especially trans and latinx people

support women's rights to their own body

specifically to Christian people: please, please, please show support for queer people and poc and please show your aversion to Christian nationalism

protest, disrupt the natural flow of things, don't be quiet don't stop talking about it

[buk0wskis]

with the results of the election, i beg you: please, please keep living. the greatest form of protest is to live. there are people who love you and want you to thrive; stay close to those people. your life is more important than those in power. existence is not a crime. you are beautiful, and the world is more beautiful with you in it. you are so incredibly strong, and we are proud of you for being here.

there are resources available for those who need them. below are just a few; there are so, so many more. please reach out to someone if you need any help. there are people that want and are willing to fight for you.

[16bruises]

don’t stop loving. don’t stop living. don’t stop being who you are. be proud, be strong, be brave.

the future looks dark, so be the light to guide not only yourself but all those whose light has dimmed.

i love so much and i will not allow fear to discourage me.

stay proud, stay strong, stay loving.

[octou-sin]

TO ALL MY GIRLYS LGBTQ POC AND THOSE WHO SEE A SAFE SPACE IN THE LEFTIST COMMUNITY

I WILL ALWAYS BE ON THE SIDE OF HUMANITY. I WANT TO BE A VOICE OF REASONING AND CHANGE.

things are hard right now, personally to me, very very hard. i don’t need all of us to be bed rotting, day drinking, chain smoking, and more. this is our time for community. i’m here for all of you rn.

i’ve always as an autistic queer hispanic woman have had a hard time keeping friends who don’t share my mentality. IM HERE FOR YOU. need help to start activism ? i’m here. need a support group? i’m here. need a shoulder to cry on? I AM MF HERE. sometimes it’s hard to make friends, sometimes it’s hard to find a voice of reasoning. my DMs are always open and i will be here to talk to each and everyone one of you. i don’t care if it’s one person reaching out, 100, 1000, or a 1000000. i will speak with everyone i possibly can in my lifetime.

tbh myself, i need a friend, i need a shoulder, i need a group where i feel safe, if you want to help me start a group for women for, anyone who needs it no matter the issue. i’ll be here.

DM me, talk to me, i will never blast your information, i will never put anyone in danger. let’s help eachother out.

love you guys, love my followers, love anyone who happens to pass by this message. stay safe, stay alive, stay happy through the pain.

[gimme-da-sword]

No, actually. That is not an enemy. That is (likely)a severely un/misinformed person. I severely doubt that many people who voted for trump came from a place of hate. They just don't understand. They do not truly get who they voted for and what that means, because if they did truly understand what trump and his campaign plan to do with America, they would not have voted for him. People that vote for trump are fed lies and fiction that lead them to believe that trump will make their lives better regardless of the casualties (aka minorities losing hard earned rights). I am by no means saying that you should keep in contact with people like the "friend" above, but they are not the enemy. They are the byproduct of propaganda that tells them their neighbors and friends will harm them unless Cheeto Voldemort swoops in and strips them of basic human rights. Do you hear me? They are not the enemy. Talking about fellow Americans like that is exactly what trump is doing. It is not your responsibility to explain to your brother's friend Jeff that Kamala Harris isn't going to show up at his door and chop his dick off, but dividing people and turning them against each other is exactly the type of shit that Nazis did. We had a whole ass civil war about that type shit. It is crucial to surround yourself with people who support you and make you feel safe, but calling people evil for being uniformed will only add fuel to the fire we are desperately trying to put out. Still, I am not saying to just quietly accept that someone has harmful beliefs. I would recommend saying something like, "Hey, your choice to support trump essentially says to me that you don't mind it if my rights are taken away. I don't feel comfortable spending time with someone who thinks like that. Goodbye." Something that says 'I don't want to hang out with you if you obviously don't give a fuck about my wellbeing' in a way that doesn't give them a reason to hate whatever minority you may be a part of. It is important that we grow as communities and stay strong, but giving people reasons to support the removal of your rights does anything but help. It lets people go back to their buddies and say 'bro these women are so emotional' or 'gay people are such babies.' I am also not saying you can control how people think and what they say, but if you give them reason to think of you as whichever part of your identity instead of the human being you are, be aware that they can and will take that shit and run. Of course, if the person in question is a parent or close family member, do what keeps you safe. You need to survive over all else. Proving a point isn't worth getting kicked out of your home, and I wouldn't recommend telling a parent off unless you have somewhere safe to go.

Be safe, I love you.

(btw if something I said was incorrect or severely misguided reblog with your own take, or my dms are open. Civilly, tho. I will not respond to childish finger pointing or death threats)

[khaire-traveler]

⚖️ Subtle Themis Worship ⚔️

Try veiling

When you have a big decision/judgement to make, blindfold yourself for a moment; be in a place where you're alone and can think quietly

Vote if you can

Get a candle that reminds you of her (no altar needed)

Keep a picture of her in your wallet

Wear jewelry that reminds you of her

Stay up to date on local politics

Join a local activism group; LGBT rights, POC rights, women's rights, etc.

Support humanitarian organizations or homeless shelters

Have a stuffed animal lion: have a stuffed animal of any creature you associate with justice, order, custom, prophecy, or judgement

Have imagery of the earth/sky, scales, blindfolds, swords, or lions around

Volunteer at a homeless shelter; volunteer at a soup kitchen

Spread the word about injustice, especially related to humanitarian causes

Speak your mind; be honest and direct with others; note that honest does not mean cruel

Get more comfortable with the idea of conflict; look into healthy conflict resolution skills

Join a debate team; spectate or participate in formal debates

Write letters you will never send to people who have done you wrong; burn them (SAFELY!!!)

Try to get involved with your local community; help run events, join groups/clubs, meet new people, etc.

Cook a warm meal for someone in need

Ask someone in need for the things they need most; buy/give them those things if you can

Practice restraint and grounding, especially when it comes to people who annoy you

Try to stay away from gossip; don't spread rumors about others, especially those that you're unsure the integrity of

Get curious about the world around you and the way things work; encourage yourself to question things

Trust yourself; listen to your gut

Work on setting boundaries with others and yourself

Let people know when they've done something that hurt you; ask them to change their behavior or wording

Feel free to give people chances to change, but if they continue not to make changes, don't put yourself through the extra work of keeping them around

Release things that no longer serve you

Work on accepting constructive criticism; try not to take criticism too personally

Get to know yourself better; feel confident in the fact that you know yourself better than others

Keep a self-growth journal; write down things relating to self improvement, how you're feeling, goals you're working towards, etc.

Learn any discreet form of divination; cartomancy, carromancy, pyromancy, tea leaves, etc.

Hold onto family heirlooms

Practice family traditions or create new ones c:

Learn self-defense; learn how to properly use weapons; pepper spray, pocket knife, etc.

Clean up after yourself; don't litter in the environment; pick up litter you come across

Try your best to take the advice you give to others (easier said than done, I know)

Practice patience and mindfulness; release control over the things that you can't control

Ground yourself if you're feeling anxious or stressed over an issue; learn about healthy coping skills for stress or anxiety if you don't know any

Take regular breaks from screens; walk around outside, and enjoy yourself; get some fresh air

Take a walk/hike outside; connect with nature

Drink a calming, soothing, or grounding tea

Take care of yourself after a hard day; be kind and gentle with yourself; engage in comforting activities

-

I'll likely add more going forward, but for the time being, this is my list of discreet ways to worship Themis. I hope others find this helpful! Take care, everyone. 🧡

Link to Subtle Worship Master list

[phan-meme-trash]

On political divides

I see a lot of people panicking about the election.

I see phannies claiming it’s impossible to be a dnp fan and conservative (bc conservative must equeal homophobe/bigot)

I see people worried about their rights being taken away.

I got a call from one of my very close lgbt friends who is voting for Harris. He and I disagree on a lot politically. he asked if I’m as stressed and scared about a potential Harris win as he is about a potential Trump win.

I said yeah probably. And we both talked about how nervous we are (for different reasons.)

Just a reminder that the people voting opposite to you are not your enemy. That friend is one of my best friends. We are voting for two different candidates. America is split almost 50/50. And 1 in 2 people in the US are simply not evil, mean spirited, bigoted, or crazy.

It often feels to me like people on the left hate me and my people. and that our physical safety and our rights will be at risk if the Democratic Party wins the election. That life as we know it will end. That the world will descend into chaos.

I know that many minority groups like women and members of the lgbt+ community feel the same way about the potential of the Republican Party winning.

just a reminder that most liberals I know in real life don’t actually want me dead and most conservatives I know (including myself) don’t want to take rights away from members of the lgbt+ community/poc/women (I’m 2/3 of these categories actually so I’m pretty strongly anti removing anyone’s rights please and thank you) .

most people want a safe country. A prosperous country. And a country where everyone is treated with respect and humanity. I know I want equality, a better economy, a peaceful end to the current wars (and deterrence against any new ones).

The set of policies that help us get there is where we differ. Ultimately, things can get worse in different ways over the next 4 years. But it will likely not be the end of the world. Or life as you know it. scare tactics work. They get you out to vote and you should vote. but most of what you’re being told in the media and even by people you know is exaggerated and often completely distorted or untrue.

I do worry about worst case scenarios if the candidate I vote for loses. But I think ultimately no matter who wins we will make it through the next 4 years and be okay. if you need someone to talk to feel free to message me.

(I am voting republican but democrat voters are welcome. I’m here for you too. This is a stressful time for all)

[uncloseted]

Do you think Taylor Swifts political activism is genuine?

,I mean, does Taylor Swift really engage in "political activism" at all? The most we've seen from her are PR-team written statements that aim to be as uncontroversial as possible while publicly aligning her with the political views of the majority of her fanbase (78% of whom identify as Democrats or independents, and 56% of which are Millennials or Gen Z). And even that was something she didn't really start doing until around 2018. For example, she didn't endorse a candidate for president in 2016 (saying that, "I don’t talk about politics because it might influence other people"), and there was a period of time in the early to mid 2010s where the alt-right was hailing her as an "Aryan goddess" and she straight up didn't say anything about it for fear of being controversial or alienating her audience. She has said as much herself; in 2018, she wrote that, "In the past I've been reluctant to publicly voice my political opinions, but due to several events in my life and in the world in the past two years, I feel very differently about that now. I always have and always will cast my vote based on which candidate will protect and fight for the human rights I believe we all deserve in this country." But even her newfound "feeling very differently about [voicing her political opinions] now" has been tepid. She's made three political endorsements (Phil Bredesen and Jim Cooper in 2018, Joe Biden in 2020), and posted in support of LGBT rights, BLM, the Women's March, March for Our Lives, and gun control, which is all great. But it's not like she's attending protests or meeting with politicians or taking actions to use her influence to change policy. It's not really activism so much as it is acknowledgement that a problem exists.

That's not to say that I think the times she does comment on politics are self-serving or fake. I think she does probably believe in feminism and support rights for POC and the LGBT community and think increased gun control would be a good idea. I don't think she's like, a covert Nazi or a closet conservative. But I do think her political comments have historically been a carefully considered business decision, and that she would never say or do anything that her team perceives as damaging her brand.

However, the Matty Healy of it all has changed this calculus in kind of an interesting way, because (from what I've seen online) he seems to be terrible for her brand. It will be interesting to see if she's now in an era of caring less about the ramifications of her actions, or if it's limited to the person that she's dating.

ETA: I think this Guardian article from 2019 is the more forthcoming I've seen her be about her views on politics and her own role in the political space. It's worth a read if you're curious about this.

[iminsomanyfandomsitscrazy]

But also, with country music today, if it’s “political” it’s far-right. Not only do you get songs about how you love trucks more than anything, but also how patriotic you are - and not because the US is a melting pot and it’s (kinda) becoming more progressive for women, POC, and the LGBT community, but because it has a long history of b*gotry.

And that shift happened after 9/11, which is part of why the Chicks got essentially kicked out of country music and didn’t chart on country music charts ever again - because they publicly were against the war in Iraq.

When looking at country music today, you have people like Morgan Wallen who was doing ok, but then it was made public that he’s sexist and racist and then his music blew up. It had done pretty well, but then one of his songs skyrocketed to the top of the fucking Billboard 100 for weeks, and his album skyrocketed to the top of the Billboard 200 for weeks and sold like more than 400,000 copies in the first week (making it the fourth or fifth album to do so last year) solely because he was sexist and racist.

The kids on TikTok think that just because he was a classic country singer, Johnny Cash was conservative??? My babies he covered a Nine Inch Nails song in his seventies.

Classic country singers (the majority of which came from poor roots) were always talking about how much The Man sucked because they were taking money from poor rural folk. You’re gonna tell me that’s conservative?? Get outta here.

[mediapoliticsandcitizenship]

BLOG POST 2: TAYLOR SWIFT

This particular post was an Instagram story posted by Taylor Swift on her account a while back. It depicts the wording as so; “Are you registered to vote?” I've been so lucky to see so many of you guys at my US shows recently. I’ve heard you raise your voices, and I know how powerful they are. Make sure you’re ready to use them in our elections this year! Register to vote in less than 2 minutes at “VOTE.ORG/NVRD”.

The particular stance I want to make of this post is rather more on the cynical end, with some critical deliberation of why I feel like this is an interesting incorporation of politics by a well-known celebrity.

Celebrities in the media are having a rather more prevalent influence than ever before i must say. In one article posted by Newport Academy, they state “A survey found that 80 percent of teen girls compare themselves to images they see of celebrities. Almost half of those reported that celebrity images make them feel dissatisfied with the way they look.” In regards to mega superstar Taylor Swift, a lot of her audience consists of young teenage girls or rather more feminine-presenting people who resonate with her music and art as a whole. If we look at the plenty of imagery that makes up Taylor Swift’s discography, it mostly consists of seemingly harmless lyrics and content, mostly consisting of music and songs detailing heartbreak, relationships, and womanhood. All seemingly harmless stuff right? Yet this isn’t a critique of Taylor Swift’s discography, but rather the extent of the power over her “fandom” she has, and to what length.

Taylor Swift has been one of several celebrities who has been lumped in several “purple-washing” controversies; a term that has been tossed around in the media as meaning a type of “woke neo-liberal propaganda” used by the liberals to promote “feminism” - or something along the lines that your average Republican or Conservative politician would say. The term “purple-washing” can be defined in this article by Ishika Aggarwal as “colour washing the ‘not so feminist stuff’ by sugar coating things with feminist values. It is basic to hide one’s inherent anti-feminist and anti-women opinions with some other feminist values (because society likes inclusion and they want society’s support) (Aggarwal, 2023).” At times, many of Taylor Swift’s music comes off as a back-handed perspective and narrow minded view of a universal experience of womanhood and femininity as a whole piece; it seems her music is more so catered to “white feminists'' who mostly feel empowered by content that speaks to a rather dissonant image of their experiences. So it seems somewhat backhanded at times that she would want to venture into the world of politics as a whole. 

In terms of the voting process, was Miss Swift aware of such disadvantages to openly voting the party you want due to other factors? Gentrification? Gerrymandering, perhaps? Gerrymandering is a political tactic that is created due to something in the US political system known as “redistricting”; this can be seen as problematic for a number of reasons. The whole process can only be described as a way for a specific political party to gain more votes by using the redistribution of smaller districts towards their own registered areas, thus making it oftentimes impossible for a normal individual living in the United States to vote for the party they want. This is even harder for those in gentrified areas, where predominantly POC or minorities reside; in an article published by Brennan Center for Justice, it can only be defined as “rather than voters choosing their representatives, gerrymandering empowers politicians to choose their voters.  But of course, Miss Swift would probably not be aware of that, would she?

However, I will not want to leave the critique on a purely cynical route; Taylor Swift, I must admit, has been known for advocacy for women and the queer LGBT community. She also has been known for speaking against homophobia and sexism within and outside her fandom, which she should address as an artist. She, as a mega superstar, is at least using her voice to speak on issues that she feels attached towards, which many celebrities in the public refuse to do at times due to their own inclinations to stay out of political discussion without having their own opinions used against them. Here, Taylor Swift is obviously more on the liberal side of the discussion, with her extensive resume and record of donating towards notable charities and organizations. Her outspokenness on issues she is passionate about is at least something to be commended.

I would like to go back to the point I had made on Taylor Swift entering the political realm; in an article posted in Cosmopolitan, they had reinstated that “A 2021 survey from Pipslay, found that 63% of Americans said they believed celebrities made good politicians, with 58% saying they would support Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson or Matthew McConaughey if either actor decided to run for president (Hall, 2023).” This phenomenon of celebrities entering the political realm is reserved with the term, “celebrity politics.” Many notable celebrities such as Kanye West or Caitlynn Jenner have been known to have ventured into politics while having had the status of celebrity beforehand, although both the latter have had the notoriety for being openly Republican and Conservative in their opinions. On one hand it seems at times Taylor Swift’s oftentimes “tone-deaf liberalism” comes off as a barrier in recognizing her actual stance in this example of political product placement. On the contrary it is rather a good mechanism for her to be able to gain more respect from her fanbase, while also being able to introduce the process of voting to her younger generation of fans. In doing so creating a way for “most” of them to gain access; emphasis on those who can even have access to these resources.

[mysharona1987]

[naturalcrwn]

Some photos from the Women's March in Miami 2018

[useless-englandfacts]

A few years back I read that the boards of failing companies often put women and people of colour into key positions, because it was a cheap way of seeming diverse whilst maintaining the status quo idea that white dudes are best in leadership positions (because look how many companies went down after appointing a woman/person of colour as CEO! Just ignore the fact it was teetering anyway.)

And like, I'm not that much of a conspiracy theorist, but I can't help but notice that the Tories, a notoriously racist and sexist party, have also put a fair number of women and POC into prominent roles during their various fuckdowns.

interesting...

though i would also argue the opposite for the tories? having a diverse front bench works in their favour because they can then say "racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia, etc. doesn't exist because look! we have a south asian prime minister!" and that reinforces their individualist ethos. there are no systems of oppression, it's down to the individual to get one and forge their own path - with no help from the government. thatcher is the other obvious example of this mindset.

this is more tangential, but there is also a long-standing argument on the (economic) right that in order for capitalism is to truly flourish, we need to get rid of any form of discrimination. or, to put it another way, people should be able to participate in the market and consumption regardless of their race, gender, age, disability status, sexuality, or what have you.

racism, sexism, ageism, etc. acting as barriers to spending s actually bad for the expansion of unfettered capitalism. for example if a company doesn't want to be associated with the lgbt+ community, or if african americans aren't allowed in certain public spaces as was the case during jim crow, that then takes those groups out of the market and restricts capitalism - which, in the minds of most conservatives, is a bad thing.

i know the political reality of this is a lot more complicated because we're adding human beings with all their inconsistencies, biases, and bigotry into the equation, but i'm not going to sit here and write a nuanced 5000 word politics essay with footnotes. hopefully you get the idea anyway.

at any rate it will be interesting (and probably awful!) to see how the conservative party grass roots in particular respond to having a leader who is at once very right-wing but also symbolic of everything they supposedly hate about modern britain.

[oatmealaddiction]

Ok, I understand you're coming at this from a place of concern about children being radicalized by creeps online, and you feel like the Left is unwelcoming to those small boys, and I understand that. I really worry about it as well. The way fascists target children is really upsetting to me too which is why I wish racists and fascists were being de-platformed because that's what's going to put a stop to the Pewdipie to Nazi pipeline. Where I disagree is this idea that The Left isn't making space for boys or isn't being nice enough to them, because to me that's not an argument based in reality. First of all, the left is continuing to try to bring identity politics and critical race theory into schools only to be shut down by conservatives. We advocate for trans children constantly and that is going to help break down gendered roles in schools and help cis children just as much as trans children. We talk a lot about toxic masculinity and the ways it hurts men mentally. Outside of that, when we talk about prominent leftists, they're majority white and male. Leftist white men make up most of the democratic party. Leftist white men have written a lot of our books. When we move into internet spaces, yes there are Terfs who like to scream "kill all men" (though it should be noted they're really talking about trans women) but I've found tons of love and empathy for white men on our platforms, way more than women of color get. Yes, there are people here on the left who use their politics to justify harassing children, because we have a problem in our community of harassing everyone and justifying it with politics. We've harassed just as many trans kids off the internet for having different pronouns as we have twelve year old boys for using racial slurs. If being bullied by twitter leftists turned you into a Nazi, then all of the LGBT community would be fascists at this point. ((That's a larger conversation about online harassment in general.)) The reason fascists are making gains with white boys is because they're telling them that they're the most important person in the room. They're smarter and more special than any other group and when they abuse others, they're right too. The best analogy I can make is Pleasure Island from "Pinocchio". If you promise kids candy and no bed time and the ability to run around smashing whatever they like with no consequences, they're going to come flocking no matter how nice and understanding their families are. That's why bad actors need to be de-platformed, and this isn't an issue of the Left not being nice enough. The people I've seen pushing this point, like Vaush, are arguing that the way to bring boys (and by boys he's talking about the grown men who watch his channel) over to the Left and make them feel welcome in our community is The Pleasure Island approach. It's to ignore it when they make racist and sexist comments. It's to tell homophobic jokes that they'll laugh at. It's to not mention the ways they benefit off of white and male privilege because that's alienating. It's to turn a blind eye to slurs. It's to pretend that they're smarter than all the other people in the room because their politics are guided by logic and not silly emotions. It's the exact same argument conservatives are making right now about not allowing CRT in schools because it's going to make white kids "feel bad about themselves." But those conversations are super necessary to maintaining our community. We have to tell white boys that it's wrong to use racial slurs, and to harass women, even if that makes them feel bad, in the same way we need kids to eat their vegetables and go to bed on time.

But that's what the people who are making this argument want, they want women and poc and queer and trans people to shut up about harassment so we're not hurting straight cis white men's feelings. That's because in reality, their goal with this "think of the children" argument is to recenter the Left on cis straight white men, and allow them to dominate the conversation without push back. They're not worried about children, they're worried that they're no longer the most special boy in the room. Obviously, do not harass children no matter what they're saying. That should be a given. But the solution to radicalization is not to stop talking about bigotry and how white men continue to use bigotry as a tool to maintain power, it's to de-platform Nazi's and to fight back against conservatives who don't want trans acceptance and rape culture and anti-racism taught in schools. That's what's going to make the difference.

"you shouldnt expect a woman to tolerate being patient with misogynists" doesnt really apply if said misogynists are like 11 ans 12 year old boys are you guys fucking insane. those are children. you cant fucking treat children like theyre destined to grow into monsters thats not how combatting bigotry fucking works

[richardsondavis]

This post will NOT cover everything that took place in GamerGate. That simply isn't possible here. GamerGate wasn't one drama, it was many small and large events that unfolded and built upon each other over a period of years, and took place in every part of the internet at once. My aim here is to lay out the key figures, and give a general understanding of what happened and why. There are resources linked throughout the post which can expand on events I mentioned, but there are many more that I left out.

Come with me as we explore the dark corridors of the internet that gave birth to the modern alt-right. I'm going to try and keep this gaming related, because this isn't a political discussion board, but references to greater political movements are unavoidable.

Be warned, this post contains basically every ism and phobia that you could possible imagine. Tread with care.

Also, when I refer to 'gamers' with a lowercase G, I just mean normal gamers as a whole. When I say 'Gamers', I mean Gamergate supporters.

Anita Sarkeesian - Sexism in Gaming

This shitstorm began in 2013, though its roots trace back far earlier, and while it would come to suck in thousands of pundits, politicians and thinkers from around the world, it began with one woman: Anita Sarkeesian.

Anita is a Canadian-American media critic. She started her Youtube Channel Feminist Frequency in 2009, analysing portrayals of women in pop culture. In 2011 she worked with feminist magazine Bitch to create a series of videos titled 'Tropes vs Women', which examined the damaging cliches and stereotypes against women in film and tv. It did pretty well, but she was still a small voice in a small circle. The natural next step was to talk about games, and that's what she did in 2012. 'Tropes vs Women in Video Games' criticised the sexualisation of women in games, the way they are treated as helpless damsels in distress, or given to the player as a reward. As Sarkeesian herself points out in her first episode:

"It's both possible and necessary to simultaneously enjoy media, while also being critical of its problematic or pernicious aspects'.

The videos were pretty even handed, and never really took the 'rabid angry feminist' tone that people have come to portray. I recommend taking a look. Anita was clearly not much of a 'gamer' herself, but she saw the positives that could be drawn from them.

In order to fund the project, Anita created a Kickstarter - which was all the rage back then. The kickstarter drew attention from every corner. Some of it was positive - she asked for $6000, but ended up with almost 7000 backers and $160,000 pledged. However a lot of it was bad.

Keep in mind that this all took place at a very critical moment in the feminist movement. Tumblr and Twitter were at their height, and a lot of positive momentum was being made. The video game industry was gradually becoming more inclusive too. Games at the time were - to much controversy - including more POC, women, and LGBT characters. But at the same time, a push began against this. A lot of men were feeling alienated by the rapid change, and this negative stance on feminism tended to look past the majority (who were pretty reasonable) and focus only on the minority of feminists who were explicitly anti-male. And in time, the progressive community would make the same mistake with gamers. But for now, it was these anti-feminists who saw the premise of Sarkeesian's videos as a threat toward 'their territory' - the male oriented video game industry. Anita became the poster child for everything these men hated. There was a coordinated effort on 4chan to destroy her Kickstarter, to DDOS the site, to report her twitter accounts, and otherwise eliminate her. It got pretty nasty. At the time it was a bit of a shocker just how nasty it got, but little did we know it was just the start.

A number of articles started to surface on various sites documenting the bizarre outrage, and that only lent it more momentum. Kotaku, Polygon, and other more left-leaning gaming news sites headed the exposure.

Anita received enormous harassment on social media, including vast numbers of rape and death threats, and she was doxxed multiple times (a practice in which a person's home address is posted online). Her wikipedia articles were vandalised with racial and sexual slurs, and she was sent drawings of herself being raped. A video game was created, 'Beat Up Anita Sarkeesian', in which players cover a photo of her in blood by clicking on it. Critics who disparaged the 'game' received death threats themselves. The creator of the game, Gregory Alan Elliot, was taken to court. The case had significant implications for online freedom of speech in Canada. She was accused of being Jewish, and received enormous amounts of antisemitism dubbing her Jewkeesian, until it came to light that her heritage was actually Armenian - and the harassment switched to an Armenian theme without skipping a beat.

Anita capitalised on her infamy, and used it to speak out on sexual harassment at TEDxWomen, as well as several universities. She was scheduled to speak at the 2014 Game Developer's Choice Awards, and would receive an accolade herself, but an anonymous bomb threat was called in to try and get the event cancelled. It really is hard to overstate the sheer level of vitriol this woman had thrown at her. But she would not be the only one.

"I don't get to publicly express sadness or rage or exhaustion or anxiety or depression, I can't say that sometimes the harassment really gets to me, or conversely that the harassment has become so normal that sometimes I don't feel anything at all. I don't get to express feelings of fear or how tiring it is to be constantly vigilant of my physical or digital surroundings. How I don't go to certain events because I don't feel safe. Or how I sit in the more secluded areas of coffee shops and restaurants so the least amount of people can recognise me."

Zoe Quinn - Ethics in Journalism

Zoe Quinn is an American video game developer and writer. In 2013, she released the game 'Depression Quest', a text-based game in which the player roleplays as themselves and is taken through a number of scenarios relating to depression. The game was based on her own experiences, and was received positively by critics. It's a raw and heartfelt project, and I really recommend it. However, there was a contingent who insisted that Depression Quest couldn't really be called a game, and it's true that it blurred the lines between a book, a visual novel, and a game.

This began a broad - and still ongoing - conversation within the gaming community. What is a game? People tried to come up with a clear cut definition, but there was always something that fell outside it. Does it need a failure state? That rules out Animal Crossing, which is definitely a game. Does it need an end point? That rules out Tetris. Does it need violence? Does it need characters? Does it need interactivity? Does it need choice? Does it need goals? Does it need visuals or sound? It's easy to look at most games and say 'yes, that's a game'. It's easy to look at a book or film and say it isn't. But when projects approach the line, things get a bit confusing. There are those who looked at Depression Quest and saw a book with extra steps, and there are those who insisted it was a game, but with all the extraneous stuff taken away. This is a massive philosophical debate, but we're here for drama, so let's move on. All you need to know is - it got great reviews, and some players were unhappy.

Zoe was added to the list of persona non grata. She received her own wave of death and rape threats, but rather than backing away, she documented them and spoke out about them to the media. This earned her even more hatred, which steadily grew more and more intense, to the point where she fled her home out of fear for her own safety.

But it wasn't until August 2014 that 'GamerGate' as we know it would officially begin. And it started at the hands of a relative unknown name, even now. Zoe's former boyfriend Eron Gjoni published a long and sprawling blog post about their relationship in which he levelled a number of accusations against her, the most inflammatory of which was that she had been given positive coverage (of Depression Quest, among other things) by a Kotaku journalist with whom she was sexually involved. This was a false accusation. It later came out that this journalist, Nathan Grayson, had barely ever mentioned Quinn or her work, and when he did, they hadn't been together. But never let the truth get in the way of a good story. The letter included copies of chat logs, text messages, and emails, and for all the world appeared to be legit.

The Gamers in question accused Zoe of exchanging sexual favours for positive press and professional advancement in what they called the 'Quinnspiracy'. Of course, Zoe Quinn stood to gain nothing from the praise Depression Quest received. Contrary to the claims that she was using her status as a woman to gain money... the game was free. And always had been. But this spawned one 'debate' which would go on to define GamerGate - that of ethics in game journalism. Video game press came under enormous scrutiny, especially the left-leaning Kotaku. The idea was that if a pundit/reviewer/critic was left leaning, their views could not be relied upon, because according to GamerGate, they were biased. Large lists were created to map out the various 'SJW Journalists', which boiled down to a blacklist of public figures who spoke out against GamerGate.

But for Zoe, it just meant abuse.

A lot of this began on 4chan - because of course it did - and users leapt at the chance to renew their attacks on Zoe Quinn and Depression Quest. Adam Baldwin (yes that one) coined the term GamerGate on Twitter, and his followers sent it trending. GamerGate gradually developed into a movement which would viciously attack anyone it saw as a target, and had its base in 4chan and Reddit.

Within four months of the blog post, Quinn's record of threats had exceeded a thousand. Around that time she is quoted as saying:

"I used to go to game events and feel like I was going home [...] Now it's just like... are any of the people I'm currently in the room with ones that said they wanted to beat me to death?".

I would go into detail on the exact content of these threats but frankly, I don't want to. All you need to know is that they contain the worst possible things that some very creative people could come up with. Quinn's Tumblr, Dropbox and Skype accounts were hacked, and she once again fled to live with friends. Everyone even tangentially connected to her got showered with hatred. It was a full on witch hunt.

In a BBC interview, Zoe summed up her experience.

"To me, GamerGate will always be glorified revenge porn by my angry ex. Before it had a name, it was nothing but trying to get me to kill myself, trying to hurt me, going after my family. GamerGate will always be that to me. There was no mention of ethics in journalism at all, besides making the same accusation everybody makes toward any successful women, that clearly she got to where she is because she had sex with someone".

EDIT: There was a section here in which I covered the Alec Holowka scandal in 2019, but commenters pointed out that it isn't really relevant to GamerGate, and I agree with them, so I removed it.

Brianna Wu - Taking Action

Wu is an American video game developer and the founder of Giant Spacekat, a small game studio. In October 2014, she began monitoring 8chan (think 4chan's even worse cousin), and began tweeting about GamerGate, ridiculing them for:

"...fighting an apocalyptic future where women are 8 percent of programmers and not 3 percent".

In the process, she placed herself in the sights of the mob. Anonymous details about her, including her address, were leaked on 8chan, and of course she got the standard death and rape threats, and had to flee her home. If this seems like it's becoming a pattern, that's because it is. The pattern would repeat itself over and over going forward. A minor figure speaks out about something, right wingers try to shut them up with abuse, they use that abuse to increase their platform (thereby becoming a minor left wing celebrity), they become an even bigger target, and they soon end up plastered across the internet.

But to the fury of many Gamers everywhere, none of these women were backing down. In February 2015, Wu declared:

"By attacking me so viciously, they're helping give me the visibility to usher in the very game industry they're terrified about".

Wu created a legal defence fund for women targeted by GamerGate, offered cash for information leading to the prosecution of its worst members, and became heavily involved with the FBI. She exclusively attended events with a security detail. As of today, she and her husband continue to live under aliases.

In 2017, the FBI closed their investigation and declined to prosecute any of the men who sent threats (even though two had confessed). Wu went to the media, campaigning for dedicated FBI agents who understand and monitor the dark corners of the internet like 8chan.

While Wu, Sarkeesian and Quinn would become the three horsewomen of the GamerGate apocalypse, they were not alone. Other women who became major targets include Jenni Goodchild, Liana Kerzner, Devi Ever, Leigh Alexander, Felicia Day, and more. It simply isn't possible to cover every single victim of this movement.

At the time, most people who played video games had no idea this was even going on. And often it was getting swept up in generalisations that turned regular gamers into Gamers. There were those who felt like they were being unfairly portrayed as sexist/racist/whatever else, and responded indignantly. This became heavily involved with the #notallmen and #yesallmen movements (and then #notallgamers). But sometimes those generalisations were right. There was a lot of anger going around in general.

Vivian James - Politics in Gaming

Of course, to the 4channer, the ideal woman doesn't exist. She has to be created. And so Vivian was born. Vivian James (chosen because it sounds like Video Games) was created as a mascot for GamerGaters on 4chan, and her portrayal tells us a lot about what Gamers wanted women to be. She was an anthropomorphized avatar of the /v/ (Vidya) community on 4chan, created in response to a totally separate Zoe Quinn controversy surrounding game jams (events in which developers race to make weird and wacky games). She was used in propaganda as a champion of ‘free speech’.

You see, one of the many debates (and we must use this term loosely) that GamerGate created was that of 'politics' in gaming. Representation was increasing of LGBT people, POC and women in games, and some players insisted that these inclusions were politically motivated. They claimed that games as a medium were not meant to be 'political', and forcing 'politics' into the games was a negative thing. They wanted a return to the 'non-political' status quo - and it just so happened that the status quo was white straight American men (usually with guns). Because they themselves were mostly white straight American men, it never struck them as political for a game to feature a white straight American man, it was simply normal. The default. And any deviation from this was labelled as 'political'.

Of course, any intelligent person can see through this to its deeper meaning - these players didn't want gays, women, and non white characters in their games because they were prejudiced. All media is political in some way. Even games which try not to be political.

This is what GamerGate boils down to - a war over the status quo. One side pushing for change, the other pushing to stop that change.

Vivian never mentioned her gender, her ideas or her politics when she played a game - you could play against her and mistake her for a guy. Rather than disrupt the status quo by existing, she allowed it to absorb her. And that's what Gamers wanted from all minorities - they were welcome as long as they didn't disrupt games as a haven where everything is catered to the default player, a white straight American man. Vivian was a 'real gamer' because she embraced the default. Anyone who rejected that default was a fake gamer, whose love of games was a lie, and whose real purpose was sabotage.

This links in pretty heavily to the #NotYourShield movement, basically a platform for women, POC and LGBT Gamers who supported GamerGate and saw its opponents as exploiting them as a shield to deflect criticism. Ironically, GamerGate used these people as evidence that they were not prejudiced at all, in a very 'I'm not racist, my best friend is black' kind of way.

Penning the Playbook

GamerGate had found an effective way of tearing down its targets, and its playbook would come to include strategies like gaslighting, dogpiling, sea lioning, gish galloping, and dogwhistling - and would inform the strategies of the alt right. By creating a state of fear, where people are too scared to even speak against GamerGate, they were able to silence opposition. And unlike its opposition, who were very real and public figures, GamerGate was decentralised and anonymous, akin to a swarm with no individual leader or face, and which therefore was incredibly hard to defeat. This was never a two way street. Of course, GamerGate had its open and public supporters. Let's go through a few of these colourful characters now!

Carl Benjamin (Sargon of Akkad)

Sargon is your standard basement dweller youtuber, the kind of guy who DESTROYS libs with FACTS and REASON. He gained a lot of traction from GamerGate, and he explains why here. You can kind of imagine him as a more extreme Ben Shapiro.

Richard Spencer

Another Nazi. Richard Spencer was a big supporter of GamerGate. You can look into himself if you like but frankly I don't want to do the research into him because that means I have to watch and read shit he has said. His main claim to fame is being the man who coined the term 'Alt Right'

John Bain (Totalbiscuit)

Totalbiscuit was a popular game critic who died of bowel cancer in 2018. He is widely credited with being the man who legitimised GamerGate. It should be pointed out that Bain was never a white supremacist or abuser or anything like that - and he is often wrongly characterised as being more extreme than he really is. He was conservative, aggressive and thin skinned, but he wasn't evil. To him, GamerGate was always about ethics in journalism, what defines a game, and politics in gaming. He had been an ethical crusader long before GamerGate, and so none of this is truly surprising. He was either incredibly naive or just wilfully ignored the fact that these online movements were just fronts. It is somewhat ironic how much he had in common with James Stephanie Sterling (once known as Jim Sterling before transitioning), another British pro-consumer activist and long-time collaborator, who was always on the total opposite end of the GamerGate spectrum. Indeed, most of John's closest associates were anti-GamerGate.

I met TB once at a convention and he seemed nice enough.

Milo Yiannopoulos

During his time working at Breitbart, Milo was an outspoken supporter of GamerGate. His big thing was that he was a gay right-winger, and he used his homosexuality to deflect criticism for his views. He has since been banned from basically every site possible. Like many others, he seemed somewhat right leaning at first, but gradually unveiled himself as a full on nazi.

Steven Jay Williams (Boogue2988)

Boogie is a youtuber who came to fame through the persona of 'Francis', in which he would put on a funny voice and rage about minor things. But gradually he became more popular just for being himself, and his own views. When GamerGate first emerged, Boogie tried to stay moderate, but his views got more and more extreme as time went on. In 2017, Boogie had a gastric bypass surgery, which made him lose weight. But after that, he revealed himself to be quite a nasty person.

Christina Hoff Sommers

Sommers is an author and philosopher of ethics, and a resident scholar of the American Enterprise Institute. She is probably the most 'legit' of GamerGate's supporters, and has carved out a niche in making right wing talking points palatable to the average person, before they move on to the more extreme online figures.

EDIT: Steve Bannon

As a commenter pointed out to me, I've left out someone important. While Steve Bannon himself was not very strongly linked to GamerGate, he was the founder of the heavily right wing site Breitbart, which gave a platform to Milo Yiannopoulos and many others. Bannon would go on to play a pivotal role in the Trump presidency.

Sexism in Gaming Studios

While this is far removed from GamerGate, it's a case of 'the birds coming home to roost'. The movements that GamerGate helped to start have returned and taken many large game developers by storm in recent years. I thought I would go over some of them.

Part 1: The Fellowship of the Rats

The first big publisher to go under the magnifying glass was Ubisoft. In mid 2020 they came under fire for sexual harassment allegations.

Last month the company, one of the world’s largest video game publishers with a portfolio including Assassin’s Creed and Far Cry, launched a probe after allegations of sexual misconduct were shared online. Serge Hascoet, chief creative officer and the company’s second-in-command, has resigned, as has the human resources director, Cecile Cornet, and the managing director of the Canadian branch, Yannis Mallat, Ubisoft said on Sunday.

MANY of Ubisoft's executives were forced to stand down.

This video goes into a lot of detail on exactly how much of this abuse was covered up at Ubisoft.

Unfortunately a year later, Ubisoft had made minimal changes. Luckily for them, the spotlight would soon be stolen away.

Part 2: The Two Lawsuits

This particular controversy concerns Activision Blizzard. After a two year investigation, the company was found to have extreme harassment against women and minorities, and has discrimination baked into its terms and conditions of employment. Everything from compensation, assignment, promotion and termination is affected by gender. The entire company is governed by a 'Frat Boy Culture'. California's Department of Fair Employment and Housing filed a lawsuit against them..

At first, Blizzard's president Allen Brack claimed no knowledge of this. But then numerous former and current Blizzard employees spoke up to support the accusations. They insisted that almost nothing was being done within the company to fix it. On 26 June, more than 800 employees (eventually as many as 2000) signed an open letter too their leadership demanding that Blizzard recognise the seriousness and show compassion for victims. When that didn't work, employees held a meeting and on 28 July, organised the Activision Blizzard Walk Out For Equality. Turnout exceeded two hundred.

Renowned scumbag Bobby Kotick released a statement describing Blizzard's earlier statement as 'tone deaf' and promised 'swift action'.

An article by Kotaku went into more detail on the infamous 'Cosby Suite', and revealed that Ghostcrawler (one a high-up on World of Warcraft) was on the list of guests.

Numerous developers left the company, either in protest or due to allegations against them. More and more horrible stories began to emerge, far worse than the original lawsuit had uncovered. Sponsors pulled out, investors filed a class action lawsuit toward the company, and Brack stepped down.

You can read more about it here

Hilariously, Blizzard also completely neutered any remotely sexual or flirtatious lines, emotes and jokes out of WoW.

Part 3: The Return of the Gamers

Since then, numerous other companies have been accused of similar problems. Paradox Interactive, SCUF, Insomniac Games, Bethesda. In fact, it might be easier to list the gaming companies that haven't had any allegations.

It turns out that the people who worked in these companies were often just as nasty as the fans.

Luckily, the reaction has been a far cry from GamerGate. On that, at least, we seem to have made some progress. And I suppose that's something to be optimistic about.

A Troubled Legacy

So what is the legacy of GamerGate? It never really 'concluded' or 'finished'. But if we zoom out on our scope a little, we see that it was just a tributary which flowed into the greater river of the alt-right. And from that river would spill forth Donald Trump, Pizzagate, Qanon, the Manosphere, and Incels. GamerGate was arguably just a microcosm of a much greater societal movement, not its cause, but it was the moment that young online conservatives began to push back against progressivism, and collectively organise. It was the moment where their techniques for censorship, propaganda and recruitment would be rewritten for the internet era. And it was the moment when thousands of online fascists looked around and realised their views weren't that rare after all.

The positive effects have been there too, however. The push back against Gamergate has definitely helped us recognise the dark corners of the internet, and also led to widespread changes in the industry. But the consequences of GamerGate have not yet fully shown themselves.

It's hard to say where it will all lead.