0:00:21.885,0:00:25.975
I'd like to share with you a story[br]about how I accidently became the villain

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of a massively online game in real life.

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For the past four years, I've been running

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a video web series on Youtube[br]called Feminist Frequency,

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where I deconstruct the representations[br]of women in the media.

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I try to provide the tools[br]to give people the language to talk about

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sexism and issues of gender

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using accessible language[br]from popular culture

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such as TV shows, movies,[br]comic books and video games.

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Video games are really interesting

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because it's actually[br]the fastest growing form

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of mass media today.

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This is a photo of me at age 10,

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playing Super Mario World[br]on a Super Nintendo.

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So I've been playing games[br]for quite a while.

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And, in addition[br]to being a lot of fun to play,

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games have lots of positive[br]benefits as well.

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So again, I've been playing games[br]for a while,

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but there's someting that always[br]kind of bothered me.

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It is no secret[br]that the video game industry

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boasts some of the most sexually[br]objectified, stereotyped

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and downright oppressive portrayals[br]of women in any medium.

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So, with that in mind, I decided to launch

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a fundraising campaign on the crowdfunding[br]website Kickstarter,

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where I would create a series of videos

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to look specifically at the way women[br]are represented in video games.

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The idea being that if you're interested[br]in the project, you could donate

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and if you weren't interested,[br]you could choose not to donate.

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It's pretty straightforward, right?

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I mean, what could possibly go wrong?

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Yeah.

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Turns out, that there were a bunch[br]of male gamers out there

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who were, shall we say,[br]not too excited about this project.

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Now, I'm a pop culture critic,[br]I'm a feminist and I'm a woman.

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And I'm all of these things[br]openly on the Internet.

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So I'm no stranger to some level[br]of sexist backlash.

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I've sadly gotten used to sexist slurs[br]and sexist insults

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usually involving kitchens and sandwiches.

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But what happened this time[br]was a little bit different.

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I found myself the target[br]of a massive online hate campaign.

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Now, the next couple of slides[br]represent just a tiny fraction

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of the harassment I received

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and they come[br]with a very large trigger warning.

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All of my social media sites were flooded

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with threats of rape, violence,[br]sexual assault, death.

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And you'll notice[br]that these threats and comments

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were all specifically targeting my gender.

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The Wikipedia article about me[br]was vandalized

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with sexism, racism[br]and pornographic images.

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There was a campaign to report[br]all of my social media accounts

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including my Kickstarter,[br]my Youtube, my Twitter

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and they would report them as fraud,[br]as spam, even as terrorism,

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in an effort to get them suspended.

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They attempted to knock[br]my website offline,

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hack into my e-mail and other accounts,

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they attempted to collect and distribute[br]my personal information,

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including my home address[br]and phone number.

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There were images made,[br]pornographic images made,

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in my likeness being raped[br]by video games characters

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and sent to me again and again.

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There was even a game made,[br]where players were

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invited to "beat the bitch out", in which,

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upon clicking on the screen,[br]an image of me would become

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increasingly battled and bruised.

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You get the point, we'll move on.

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What's even more disturbing,[br]if that's even possible,

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in this overt display[br]of misogyny on a grand scale,

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is that the perpetrators openly referred

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to this harassment campaign[br]and their abuse as a “Game”.

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They referred to their abuse as a game.

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So, in their minds,[br]they concocted this grand fiction

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in which they're the heroic players[br]of a massively multiplayer online game

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working together to take down an enemy

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and apparently they casted me[br]in the role of the villain.

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And what was my big diabolical masterplan?

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To make a series of videos on YouTube[br]about women's representations in games.

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Yeah. So, if they think[br]of their abuse as a "fun game",

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then let's examine this.

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Who are the players?

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Well, often when we talk[br]about online harassment,

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we think of teenage boys[br]in their parents' basements.

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And while I was attacked[br]by some teenage boys,

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I was also attacked[br]by thousands of grown men.

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And this isn't entirely surprising[br]considering the average age

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of a male gamer in the US is about 30.

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Where is this game played?

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Well, the perpetrators turned[br]the entire Internet into a battlefield.

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So in my case they came after[br]everything and anything

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that I possibly have ever had online.

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They also have a homebase,[br]where they coordinate their raids

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and work together and communicate.

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And this usually takes place[br]on largely unmoderated,

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largely anonymous message[br]boards and forums.

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And these are places with no[br]real mechanisms for accountability.

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So what is the goal?

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Well, the immediate exclusive goal[br]is to stop the villain

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and save video games from me,

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and my crazy feminist schemes.

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And they try to do this by silencing[br]and discrediting me and my project.

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But the larger implicit goal here[br]is that they're actually trying

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to maintain the status quo[br]of video games as a male dominated space

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and all of the privileges and entitlements[br]that come with an unquestioned boys club.

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So what type of game is this?

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Well, it's fundamentally a social one.

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We don't usually think[br]of online harassment as a social activity,

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but we do know from the strategies[br]and tactics that they used

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that they were not working alone,

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that they were actually loosely[br]coordinating with one another.

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And this social component[br]is a powerful motivating factor

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that works to provide incentives[br]for players to participate,

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for perpetrators, rather, to participate,

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and to actually escalate the attacks

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by earning the praise[br]and approval of their peers.

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It's kind of like... we kind of think[br]as an informal reward system

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where players earn "Internet points"

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for increasingly brazen[br]and abusive attacks.

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Then they would document these attacks,

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and they would bring them back[br]to the message boards

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as evidence to show off to each other,

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kind of like trophies or achievements.

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So, we have this general structure[br]of a social game, right?

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We have players, we have the villain.

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We have the battlefield.

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We have, you know,[br]this informal reward system.

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But the thing is –

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it's not a game.

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It's an overt display of angry misogyny[br]on a massive scale.

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Its not just "boys being boys".[br]It's not just "how the internet works".

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And it’s not just going to go away[br]if we ignore it.

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It's really not a game.

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So what is it then?

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Well, the usual terms that we use[br]to describe online harassment

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such as cyberbullying, cyberstalking,[br]even trolling

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don't adequately describe[br]a hate campaign of this scale.

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What happened to me,[br]and sadly to other women as well,

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can best be described as a cybermob.

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And whether it's a cybermob[br]or a handful of hateful comments,

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the end result is maintaining[br]and reinforcing

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and normalizing a culture of sexism –

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where men who harass[br]are supported by their peers

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and rewarded for their sexist[br]attitudes and behaviors

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and where women are silenced, marginalized[br]and excluded from full participation.

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A "boys club" means no girls allowed.

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And how do they keep women and girls out?[br]Just like this.

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By creating an environment[br]that is too toxic and hostile to endure.

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Now, this is pretty grim[br]and depressing stuff, I know,

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but there is another side of all of this.

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Do you want to know what happened[br]to my fundraiser after all of that?

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Well, first, the cybermob[br]failed to silence me,

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as is evidence by me being here today.

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(Applause)

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Thank you.

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And it turns out that quite a few people[br]are actually interested in a project

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that would deconstruct the representations[br]of women in games,

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and who were totally outraged[br]at the harassment

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that too often plagues[br]our gaming communities.

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I actually raised 25 times[br]what I initially asked for.

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(Applause) (Cheers)

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Nearly seven thousands individuals[br]contributed to make my Tropes vs. Women

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in video games project[br]bigger and better and more expansive

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than I could ever had imagined.

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Instead of just being 5 videos,[br]it's now 13 videos

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plus a classroom curriculum[br]that educators can use for free.

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(Applause)

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Feminist Frequency went[br]from a part-time side project

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to a full time endeavor.

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I received countless messages of support[br]and words of encouragement.

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People expressed their solidarity with me[br]and my project publicly

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through videos, through fanart,[br]through comics and blog posts.

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I've even been invited to speak[br]at video game studios internationally.

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The overwhelming support that I received

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is just a small manifestation

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of a larger cultural shift[br]looming on the horizon.

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A growing cross-section of gamers[br]and game developers of all genders

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are fed up with the way that women[br]are being treated in gaming culture

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and they’re speaking up to demand change.

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Now, this change is happening slowly[br]and kind of painfully, but it's happening.

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Everyday I'm encouraged by the women[br]who persevere, who continue to engage

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and who refuse to be silenced.

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I truly believe that if we work together,[br]we can create a cultural shift

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where women, without fear of intimidation,[br]without fear of threats or harassment,

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can be full and active participants[br]in our digital world.

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Thank you.

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(Applause)