On Nerd Entitlement. A few people have forwarded me MIT professor Scott Aaronson’s post about nerd trauma and male privilege (link here) It's part of a larger discussion about sexism in STEM subjects, and its essence is simple.
Aaronson's position on feminism is supportive, but he can’t get entirely behind it because of his experiences growing up, which he details with painful honesty. He describes how mathematics was an escape, for him, from the misery of growing up in a culture of toxic masculinity and extreme isolation - a misery which drove him to depression, anxiety and suicidal thoughts. The key quote is this: “Much as I try to understand other people’s perspectives, the first reference to my 'male privilege' — my privilege! — is approximately where I get off the train, because it’s so alien to my actual lived experience . . . Why nerd culture must die. Photo by Attila Acs My first girlfriend was someone I met through a MUD, and I had to fly 7,000 miles to see her in person.
I read a paper version of the Jargon File at 15 and it became my bible. Just reading its descriptions of the internet I knew it was world-changing, even before the web, and as soon as I could I snuck into the local university computer labs with a borrowed account to experience the wonder of Usenet, FTP, and Gopher. I chose my college because Turing had once taught there, and the designer of the ARM chip would be one of my lecturers. My first job out of college was helping port the original Diablo to the first Playstation, and I spent five years writing games. Rape and death threats are terrorizing female gamers. Why haven’t men in tech spoken out? By Brianna WuOctober 20 Brianna Wu is a software engineer and founder of Giant Spacekat, a company that makes games with female protagonists.
She hosts the Isometric podcast on the 5by5 network. (David Leather/Flickr) They’ve taken down women I care about one by one. Now, the vicious mob of the Gamergate movement is coming after me. This angry horde has been allowed to wage its misogynistic war without penalty for too long. Adobe, Mercedes-Benz are Latest to Pull Ads at the Behest of GamerGate. You might be wondering what kind of doublespeak inanity is going on when tech giant Adobe’s announcement that they’re acquiescing to GamerGate requests is accompanied by an anti-bullying graphic, so allow us to explain.
It’s a series of unfortunate events. Last week Gawker contributor Sam Biddle cracked some poor jokes about GamerGate on Twitter, suggesting (or jokingly suggesting) that the perpetuators of the so-called movement, linked throughout its existence with harassment and threats of violence toward women, deserved to be bullied themselves. As a statement of any level of humor, “two wrongs make a right” is never particularly defensible.
Meet the Most Unlucky Schmucks In the World Right Now: The Guys At @GamersGate. Felicia Day Writes About Her #GamerGate Fears and Unlike Chris Kluwe, Is Immediately Doxxed. Felicia Day Writes About Her #GamerGate Fears and Unlike Chris Kluwe, Is Immediately Doxxed By Cindy Davis | Celebrities Are Better than You | October 23, 2014 | Comments (87 View Hey, remember the other night, we posted that fantabulous Chris Kluwe piece?
He got an *earful* on his Twitter in response, but you know what he didn’t get? He didn’t get “doxxed.” Anita Sarkeesian Cancels Speaking Engagement After Threats Of Campus Shooting. Well, it’s finally happened.
Feminist Frequency’s Anita Sarkeesian, who’s long been a target of harassment and abuse for her work on how women are portrayed in video games, was forced to cancel a public appearance due to safety concerns in light of a threat against her and the institution where she was scheduled to speak. Trigger warning for violence, particularly violence against women. Sarkeesian was expected to give a speech today at the Center for Women and Gender at Utah State University in Logan, Utah. #Gamergate’s Harassment Of Women Hits The Front Page Of The New York Times. In recent days, #Gamergate has gone from being covered mostly by niche sites to gaining full cultural awareness by the mainstream media.
Yesterday, Anita Sarkeesian’s story of harassment hit the front page of The New York Times. You can read the story in full here, in which they also speak with the man who coined the term #Gamergate, Adam Baldwin. Sarkeesian, like game developer Brianna Wu, is still calling for major players in the gaming industry to speak up against harassment. “Game studios, developers and major publishers need to vocally speak up against the harassment of women and say this behavior is unacceptable,” Ms. Sarkeesian said in an interview. Additionally, the New York Times has put out a call for any women who have experienced sexism in gaming to come forward and speak with them about their experiences “related to gender.”
And Wu is still standing up to her harassers on national media. I can’t deny my letter was the spark. Previously in GG. GamerGate Death Threats - Business Insider. Wikimedia, CCZoe Quinn, a female game developer who has become a target of death threats from video game players.
To anyone who is not a hardcore video gamer, the "GamerGate" controversy is completely baffling. Some video game fans claim that game developers and journalists have relationhips with each other that are too close, breaching ethical guidelines for writers reviewing video games. The GamerGate movement has resulted in widespread outrage — at least on Twitter — among game fans. Anita Sarkeesian Cancels Speaking Engagement After Threats Of Campus Shooting. Gaming’s summer of rage - Television. Katherine streeter for the boston globe Those who don’t follow gaming closely missed a big, loud, embarrassing controversy that ate up a big chunk of this summer.
But it’s worth acquainting oneself with it, because it tells an important story about gaming’s awkward, tumultuous adolescence as an art form. The controversy in question is called either GamerGate (often presented as a Twitter hashtag: #gamergate) or the Quinnspiracy. It surrounds Zoe Quinn, a game developer who created “Depression Quest,” a well-regarded indie title that, as the title suggests, is about what it’s like to be depressed. Continue reading below One of them was a writer for the popular blog Kotaku, and when this came out a certain subset of the gaming community erupted with videos and blog posts and other rants how she had seduced him for favorable coverage (the wench!). Joss Whedon, Boston Globe Journalist Smack Down “But GamerGate Is About Journalistic Ethics!” Argument. And GamerGate just keeps on churning.
The last time we wrote about it, mainstream news organizations like CBS, PBS, and The New York Times were starting to get in on the action. Joss Whedon, Boston Globe Journalist Smack Down “But GamerGate Is About Journalistic Ethics!” Argument. The Only Thing I Have To Say About Gamer Gate. Why #Gamergaters Piss Me The F*** Off — The Cauldron. Dear #Gamergaters, Do you know why you piss me the fuck off?
Because you’re lazy. You’re ignorant. Felicia Day Writes About Her #GamerGate Fears and Unlike Chris Kluwe, Is Immediately Doxxed. Gamergate Roundup: IGN & Occupy Wall Street Comment On GG, Internet Makes Hella Memes.