Month: April 2015

It’s everyone’s most favoritest example of rank hypocrisy on the net nowadays: a group of GamerGate sympathists lie about their organizations motives to get floor space at the Calgary Expo, hide the fact that they belong to an organization that sells T-shirts with rape jokes and that they’re affiliated with one of the scummiest MRA websites on the web, immediately start selling paraphenalia related to a hashtag that many gamers, especially women, feel is threatening or offensive due largely to the hashtag’s origins in harassing female professionals to the point of national notoriety, and then start going to panels on Feminism in order to grab the mic time in order to talk about how they feel feminism is a sham. Just as a note – if you do one of these things, maybe you’re fine.  Two, you’re on thin ice.  All five, and you’re way beyond the hat trick of being misogynistic jerks.  People who run conventions have shit to do, and they don’t have time to worry if whether or not MAYBE you’re going to cross the line.  Good for the Calgary Expo for trying to keep that shit clean.

You can read the widely cited account on the Mary Sue, but for my druthers the best writeup is the frequently excellent Amanda Marcotte.

Here’s a question: If geeks and nerds are fantastic as they are and should be allowed to carry on, why would you deliberately lie about who you are in an effort to disrupt a convention? Disrupting the convention and trying to ruin it for the participants shows that they do not believe that geeks and nerds are fine and should be left alone. On the contrary, they are clearly offended that geeks are having geeky discussions about feminism and representation in comics and other nerdy endeavors, and they want to shut that discussion down. Harassing people, by definition, is not leaving them alone.

Silly Amanda.  It’s the OLD geeks and nerds – you know the ones who are mad at Mortal Kombat for getting female body types to be down to the point where they’d at least be reasonable for playboy models.  All those new ones – you know the ones who have lady parts, would like slightly fewer half-baked rape references – these are the ones who aren’t TRUE geeks and nerds, those are a problem.  Clearly, despite the fact that comic book stores are still dominated by male heroes and male-leaning entertainment by about a 9 to 1 ratio, attempts to have a panel that talks about correcting this MUST BE STOPPED.

If you want to commemorate this historic moment in the march towards the rights of reactionary internet goons to harass the fuck out of women online so severely they flee geekdom, YOU TOO can purchase a t-shirt and express your pride!  And if you believe in these standards, I hope you wear it, as it makes it much easier to figure out who to avoid at cons.

But of course, the real thing that amuses is that, according to the Mary Sue article, the Honey Badgers fully expected to get kicked out.  They got kicked out  Then started merchandising that shit ASAP.  This is, for those not paying attention, exactly the sort of ‘professional victimhood’ that they like to claim feminists they disagree with, such as Zoe Quinn and Anita Sarkeesian, are up to.

As for the GooberGrape masses who have reached Lot’s Wife levels of saltiness about the topic in the last week, feel free to start up your own convention, because clearly GDC and CalgaryExpo will not be the first who will ask you to at the very least keep your very crappy attitudes towards other con goers to yourself.  Feel free to include blackjack and hookers.  Because you’ll need some sort of entertainment, as most game companies and press will choose to maintain a wide berth.  Hey, that might be why your previous attempts to create your own outlets didn’t pan out.

Jenn of Hardwire is more sympathetic to the kicked out, and tries to go more in-depth into the allegations.

That isn’t the type of behavior one would expect from an entity touting to be for equality under an #ExpoEquality campaign.

Yeah, it sure is a mystery.  Look, there’s no shortage of jerks and assholes with unconventional politics – on ALL sides of the spectrum – at a major con.  And let’s face it, no comic con is going to be a beacon of feminism – hell, the artist signing areas of these things typically is one massive cheesecake factory for eager nerds wanting half-naked harley quinns to plaster on the wall (man, do con-goers love harley quinn).  To get kicked out, you have to be percieved to be a major risk of disruption.  People who raise red flags are going to be on a short leash.

And if you proudly fly the GG banner, that’s a big ass red flag.