Don't be silent. Speak up. Defend the freedoms and rights of others

I thought about this rather intently before stepping into the war zone...

This brings more of what I've been subjected to, back to the front burner.

You see, the issue of #gamergate isn't Anita Sarkeesian or any of the bullshit diatribe about journalism ethos. It's not just about the lack of women in programming, science or the gaming industry. It's certainly got to do with males.

First, I strongly recommend reading this article. I read many before settling on this one to speak of. The author goes to incredible length to discuss this issue better than many. I've seen some that just report this current affairs. I've seen many that bend the facts. This and a few others, gives an objective rebuttal.

Second, when I say males, I mean those who I wouldn't even consider insulting the word man by use to define these creatures. There are many men who don't ascribe to misogynistic views. Sure, we can joke about with each other's stereotypes, but there is a line and no one dares cross it intentionally. At least, we trust not.

Third, of those such as in the article attacking these women, many are here on /g+/. I recognized a couple by way of photos in my research. They're also part of the group that thought it funny to call women catfish for not:

• Posting shitloads of selfies with timestamps, objects on heads, no clothing, masturbation, etc...
• Being a good little girl and not talk back, defend oneself, be submissive, or otherwise CryQuit/RageQuit/Suicide...
• Being easily Dox'd (some of us womenfolk know how to be stealthy... after all, it was us women who damn well set up the underground railroads while ya'll menfolk were slavin, killin and rapin folk.)
• Being camwhores, voice-verifying, snapchatting, chaturbating, or otherwise going out with you on a date or fucking...

Among other points, these are exactly the same males who are attacking these women for speaking their minds. They've attacked me for several years, incessantly in much the same way. The vile comments about me, my sexuality, my vocal nature, all come from males taught that it's ok to rage against women, insult them, and further the mystic world of misogyny. Worse, some actually believe women really do belong in kitchens, breeding, and are subject to being driven into submission when they aren't. It's no joke to them.

I've received death threats. I've been attacked with the intent to victimize me. And whether I'm perceived as strong for maintaining my resolve or for laying the butthurt, it does take a toll on my emotional health. Whether it's the spike in anger or the aftermath of just wanting to curl up and fight my depressingly annoying, sense of exploding into tears of pain and frustration, I can sympathize with these women for taking the flight instinct to avoid physical confrontation.

What it is, is rape. It's victimization of a woman with the intent to harm and take from her whatever they want, than it is for sexual gratification. That is literally what rape meant. We assign the sexual undertone to the word, but one could rape villages just as much as another human's dignity without sex. Still, this isn't a semantics or history lesson.

Truth of the matter, the males lashing out at these women, they're only proving the points being made. This has nothing to do with gaming, journalism ethos or anything of the sort, as I had said in the beginning...

It has everything to do with male chauvinism, sexism and misogyny.

Do I like everything Anita says about games? Mostly. I think that there are reasons for such tropes to exist in stories whether in games, novels, television and film. Women and men as equals in every way except that we're different genders, is not true. We are equals in a great many ways, except for those that make us different. We can do the same things in many cases, but men can't carry a child to term or birth it. Very few women can lift as much, kilo per kilo, as a man with equal height, bone mass, muscle to fat body mass and average build. Our centers of gravity are different, so we move differently. We think differently as a whole. We express emotions differently. But it's in no way saying that we can't be more similar or different in different ways, even within our own genders.

So we have strong women, effeminate men. We have the reverse. We have equals. There's no templates anymore because society says that dominance over anyone for any reason that violates our freedoms, is unacceptable. We work as a team or we fail as a species. It's that simple. Frankly, we're specialized in our differences that it's foolish not to work together and accept each other regardless of gender, orientation, ethnicity, whatever...

Yet why are there so many people willing to attack others in the sake of anger or self-proclaimed superiority?

It's because we're coming out of the trees again. The Internet is showing us that we're all not in the same page. That's fine. Educate yourselves. Realize that these feminists are not attacking gamers. They're pointing out the idiosyncrasies where a vastly male dominated industry just doesn't understand what it's like to be a woman. A man might understand, but excluding genetic quirks and whatnot, a majority of straight and gay men just aren't physically equipped to understand exactly what a woman does. The feeling is mutual toward women understanding what a man does.

Really. Our physical construction is vastly different, even if genetics bends you one way or another just enough. Nervous systems are slightly different... etc. 

I digress. My point is that there's nothing wrong with these women pointing out these tropes. Little hints that shine a light into male thoughts about how a woman is like. Typically stereotypical, but only brief. The work as a whole may be totally absent of any other problems, that's why is called a trope. Yet again, a woman writing a man world likely trout out similar tropes about men too.

There's a show on ABC (not Selfie, I love that show) about this frail, dainty, innocent lamb of a girl working in marketing (:::cough::: BULLSHIT :::cough:::) in Manhattan. All her female friends are varying degrees of strong women in their own ways. All the men? They're all varying degrees of bros/jackasses and each are some level of misogynistic cock. Even the gay male friend... The show is clearly written by a woman. She's taken shards of her personality and formed them into her perceptions of her friends. She's then taken every man she knows and warped them into cocks. It's a trope, but it's clearly a bad show to begin with as there's little to no realism in it.

That's a case in point. Maybe I'm wrong, but we're all guilty of it. So in close, I just want to say that the reason why men hear us fighting for better treatment and equality is because we're not done. There is inequality. There is hatred. There is bigotry. Until we all grow up as a species and educate ourselves sufficiently, and work together past our differences, we will still behave as a bunch of petulant children fighting over who gets to sit in the front seat.

Go ahead and call shotgun. I'm driving.

Don't be silent. Speak up. Defend the freedoms and rights of others. Be nice to each other and above all else: Grow up.

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