Joss Whedon tweeted in response to Sarkeesian’s story, w” There is truth in
Whedon’s words, and it seems that only the ignorant could support these hate
crimes under the guise of protecting freedoms and ethics.

If someone feels that terrorizing people into censoring

themselves from speaking is being done for the good

of true and ethical journalism, they either do not

understand the group they belong to or do not care.

Some involved with this movement also joined to
defend it from the overwhelming and damning claims
of criminal misogyny. A voice of the less extreme
#Gamergate-rs, Youtube personality Boogie2988

has been vocal throughout the unfolding events. In
his video “I’m Not a Bigot, Are You?” he described a
very different scenario, suggesting that he is tired of
being accused of misogyny and homophobia simply
for playing games. However, the only reasonable
explanation for the non-extremists supporting this
demonstrably extreme movement is a violently
misunderstanding of #Gamergate at its core.

The backlash against it is a response to violent
criminals within the group, not just people who like
video games. Unless Boogie is making death threats,
he is not even the focus of this conversation.

#Gamergaters accuse their critics of blaming all

gamers for humanity’s full run of misogyny, and

have started #NotYourShield, where supporters

can post to show the diversity of the movement.

This tactic is oddly reminiscent of the Men Right’s

Activist movement #NotAllMen, which intended

to diffuse feminist discourse by suggesting that not

committing violence against women was somehow

noteworthy. Furthermore, Casey Johnston, in her article

“Chat Logs Show How 4chan Users Created #Gamergate

Controversy”, shows multiple screenshots of the campaign being created
in its infancy specifically to rile up support. The premeditated movement went
public on 4chan when an anonymous poster demanded that readers “stop
using you as a shield to deflect genuine criticism.” This is a common tactic to
confuse people into supporting a movement that they just don’t understand.
One look at the frequently posted hashtag shows how well it’s working.

*3 Mike Cernovich y ame \

| @PlayDangerously
Have you guys ever tried "raping" a girl without using

force? Try it. It's basically impossible. Date rape
does not exist.

\ 52 PM - 11 Aug 2012 /

Matt Binder recently began retweeting one of the movement’s biggest members and
defenders, lawyer Mike Cernovich. This was an attempt to out one of the biggest pillars
of the movement as a hatemonger, and give some insight into a real person, instead of

a faceless, seedy-dealing chat name. In Ian Miles Chong’s review of Cernovich’s tweets,
even the rare gems without profanity speak for themselves. The more polite ones
include the reprehensible: “A woman over 40 is indistinguishable from a tranny.” and
“have you guys ever tried ‘raping’ a girl without force? Try it. It’s basically impossible.
Date rape does not exist.” The nature of these tweets, while disturbing, puts to light an
uncomfortable hatred towards women that underlies much of the group’s message.

It’s clear that misogyny is rampant in (at least) this one lynchpin of the organization,
but VanDerWerff reports that award winning games journalist Jenn Frank
will never write on the subject again after her involvement in it.

Bullying a writer out of doing her job hardly seems like the behavior of a
group dedicated to ethics in journalism—or, really, ethics in anything.
This is worth noting even in the shadow of threats of mass murder,
because while many #Gamergaters might be able to dismiss these
actions as those of a small, demented few, the force used to make
critics of the movement quit or change their job is an unerring
theme present in even the group’s most mild actions.

To finally get to the bottom of it all, can this movement-
-so deeply rooted in hate and anti-feminism and
proven to have cabals scheming behind closed chat
room doors--really be about ethics in journalism?
Any gamer can tell you that journalism is corrupt,
and that reviews are bought, but does anyone really
feel like the biggest threat to the culture is a crowd-
sourced, indie game developer like Zoe Quinn? If
wild accusations by a bitter ex-boyfriend that she
had obtained good reviews in exchange for sex (which
hardly seems likely) are true, that should not be the one
thing that threatens the identity of a gamer as a whole.

This group is trying to terrorize and control women through
new tools provided by social media. These kinds of attacks
simply aren’t happening to men with the same frequency or
intensity. The blip on the radar that a small, artistic developer
like Quinn has on the massive culture of gaming as a whole should
barely register. The #Gamergate outrage seems to be focused on
women like Quinn and Sarkeesian, scheming against them personally, while
ignoring larger companies as a whole. This movement is a loud and outspoken rally against
feminists and feminism, as seen in much of its rhetoric, discourse, and the tweets of
supporters like Mike Cernovich. That their main targets are women--particularly feminist
women speaking their minds--implies much about the motives of the group at its core.

The reprehensible nature of this movement, their deplorable actions, and their insidious
motives are beyond defending without derailing the conversation entirely. The movement
seems to have begun as orchestrated abuse of a woman through social media, and later
adopted the theme of journalistic integrity to swell into the massive topic it is today.

Times like these remind one of journalist Helen Lewis’ words: “The comments on
any article about feminism justify feminism.” This group has done one good thing;
it has taken terrible people who hide behind anonymity, and thrown them into the
spotlight, forcing us into a hard conversation about gender, violence, and identity
in one of the largest subcultures in North America and the world: gamers.