From #1reasonwhy to #1reasontobe, and 1,600 Comments In-Between

Wow, calling a user out like that. That's something else.

@Milkman: There is not a LBGT match every other week as there are Patrick sexism articles. Just saiyan.

@dr_mantas said:

For all you holier-than-thou types in these comments, why do you feel that insulting people, making gross generalizations and throwing buzzwords around helps your point get across better? Making fun of MRAs and calling everyone that has any issue with what you say sexist just seems childish and inappropriate.

Now you're the one who's generalizing, "holier-than-thou" types,. What does that mean? It seems that phrase is used for people who won't dismiss the issue out of hand.

"What if...Giant Bomb in the '60s?" Marvel should get on that.

@iAmJohn said:

@Brodehouse said:

I long for the day when 'entitled' and 'privileged' used as insults against men are viewed as disgusting as 'emotional' and 'hysterical' are for women. What an incredibly disingenuous way of labeling a human being completely irrelevant. If you call someone 'privileged' on account of their gender, you label their thoughts and feelings completely worthless because of how they were born. I wonder how you would feel if the same happened to you.

Acting like it's not a problem because it doesn't personally affect you, as many people in these comments and the comments from the last story have done and continue to do, is pretty much the definition of being "privileged." Or, to put it another way, an out-of-touch asshole.

Actually, no. That's the definition of narcissism. Narcissism is a negative personality trait that can affect men and women. 'Privilege' is defined here is a negative personality trait that only men can suffer from. Since privilege is assigned by gender, all men are privileged, and thus all cannot speak with any genuinity on ethical fairness or equality. They can never be less privileged unless they stop being men. The only options given to these useless, privileged men is to either agree with every single thing they're told, or be bigots.

'Privileged' is as grave an insult as 'hysterical' and it robs the victim in the same way; there's no use listening to what this person has to say.

@Trainer_Red said:

@Turambar said:

If this was a forum thread made by a user, the mods would lock this thread and direct all discussion to the original one, if it wasn't already locked due to the comments getting out of hand.

EXACTLY.

I'm flagging this because it should be flagged.

I'd prefer if other threads that end up getting locked due to out of control comments wouldn't honestly, particularly ones that makes some attempt at discussing issues that inherently results impassioned debate.

@TDot said:

@haggis said:

Come on everyone, we all know why it caused the mess it did. It's not even complicated: it's politics. Bringing it up was political, and the backlash was completely predictable. What's really irritating is that the backlash was probably exactly the point of the campaign--if no one was snarky about it and everyone agreed, then there would be no point in the campaign to begin with. They brought it up this way because they knew it would cause an argument and publicity.

Duh.

It's caused precisely zero worthwhile discussion, and just pissed a bunch of people off. Yay. Victory.

Oh wow, it's politics!? That's certainly not a blanket nondescript statement that totally invalidates any argument. Politics!

I'm not trying to invalidate anything. I'm just saying why everyone is so incensed. Including, it seems, you.

Everyone seems so SHOCKED! SHOCKED I SAY! about the controversy when it was precisely the point of the whole thing. Not a difficult point to understand.

This is great and all but meaningless platitudes from Patrick and other people in the industry won't change a thing.

@dr_mantas said:

@depecheload: Stop insulting people.

@EnduranceFun: Keep fighting the good fight.

And for everyone else, they keyword is egalitarian. Feminism is for equal rights with a certain emphasis on women, whichever doctrine you follow, even moderate feminism.

Hoo boy.

@jbuchan76 said:

Sexism = Bad

Twitter = Bad

News story based on tweet = Bad

2nd News story based on tweet = Even more - Bad

Not talking about video games on a video game site = oh so Bad

= Brad

@thealexray: I am nowhere near a state of panic, I've quite enjoyed talking about how terrible these articles are, otherwise I wouldn't be so active. I'm sorry if you have a problem but I'm confident I've not made a fool of myself, other than to people like yourself who think anyone who disagrees is a clown.

@Terramagi: 'Giant Bomb Gamez Journalist Patrick Klepek Arrested on Suspicion of Murdering "Cis Scum" Over Online Comments'

While I agree that I don't come to Giant Bomb to read about this kind of material, I think it was too big a deal to ignore. I like Giant Bomb a lot for many reasons, and one is that they stay away from politics and certain topics, but the occasional piece like this is alright. You don't have to read twitter. You don't have to read these articles. Brad Muir was on the site! Go watch that. There is a fantastic scene in the movie "Orgazmo" that sums up how I feel about portrayal of women in games. This doesn't touch on women in the workplace, I don't think, but it works for the sexual nature of women in games. They are talking about porn.

---

Lisa: [to Maxxx] You pig, you're responsible for degrading all of those women.

Clark: Equally degradable in pornographic films.

Lisa: Men are always in a position of power.

Rodgers: They're the ones who want the product so bad, they're the victims.

Lisa: Well, it exploits men by exploiting women.

Clark: Hence, it exploits people.

---

@Cianyx said:

The same thing could have been said for the African-American civil rights movement

I'm just going to warn you right now, comparing Women's Rights to mid century American racism was just another of the giant clusterfucks in yesterday's comments.

@EnduranceFun said:

@Milkman: There is not a LBGT match every other week as there are Patrick sexism articles. Just saiyan.

Well besides the fact that is not even close to true, there are awareness causes all the fucking time...

I'll bite anyway. There are sexism articles on Giant Bomb every other week? For real? Because besides these two the last couple days, I can count like...two? Three?

@depecheload said:

This has made The Guardian, Huff Post, Forbes and NBCNews. So all you misogynist creeps who don't want "sensationalist" stories like this (also, read what that actually means), shut the hell up. This is actual, real news now. So grow up a bit and listen, you're sexist little brains might learn something.

So your a sexist/misogynist for not wanting to hear about this on a gaming site? I understand this is the off-topic section, but you have to understand that this isn't going over so well (as seen in the last post) and that it's really not necessary at all.

When you throw those two words around when they are not correctly used you make yourself look like a jackass. Most users who have been opposed to both the article and the actual "movement" have been for the most part fair, reasonable and even descriptive as to why it's dumb. Not once have I seen a derogatory comment against women themselves here. I have seen comments against race, sex and class but none whatsoever about women.

@pbhawks45: right? good thing we have the media to make that term become a negative thing when what it really means is quite simple.

Why don't you go out and interview these women, @patrickklepek ? Get their side of the whole story. If they're too afraid to confront these issues internally or are being blocked from doing so, doing so publicly might give them some ground. Then interview the men in question. Label them specifically as the evil villains in all of this instead of generalizing an entire gender.

"We can do better." Stop saying it and actually do something. Be better. I already do what I can with the women in my life and the ones I love (I ain't perfect, but I try to be better). I even try to confront my colleagues if I feel they're misrepresenting the opposite sex, but I don't have a fucking pulpit to preach my fucking bullshit out to hundreds of thousands if not millions. You're an investigative journalist with one of the most popular websites on the Internet. Investigate for fucks sake instead of being a sensationalist and then reveling in that sensationalism by blithely calling it out for the records your breaking with it.

Also don't be so damn dismissive, yourself. @EnduranceFun summed it up for you:

@EnduranceFun said:

Most of the discussion from the comment section ignored. Thanks for the misinformation, because the discussion you perpetuated was 'discouraging.' Yes, yes, sexism bad, Patrick good.

You also posted the same tweet twice...?

To sum up the comment section:

• Faith is not a memorable character at all and it's insulting the way you talk about her female writer
• Virtual boobies in Dead or Alive DLC is not equatable to real world problems
• Secretaries are largely female and gamers are largely male, thus the stereotypes
• Twitter is not a good sole sample for a 'news story'
• How about some coverage on social issues in games other than sexism?

A lot of people were picking apart your arguments due to the irrelevance of your examples. Maybe these are insignificant, but your poor choices lead to a poor argument. This doesn't matter that much to me, however, as sexism is in fact a world-wide issue and we do need to touch base on it.

And I am okay with touching base on this shit. I am of course bothered that a source of entertainment and escapism for me is being occupied by real-world problems, but I'm a fucking adult so I've got to deal with it. I should deal with it, and I try my hardest to. But I'm tired of hearing the same damn thing over and over and over from this place, and I'll bet you are tired of saying the same damn thing too.

You can do something Patrick. You have all this fucking power. You're reveling in those 1600+ comments, right now. Quit hoisting your platitudes on me, dude. There may be people out there who just don't fucking know or get it, but the problem is not them so much as it is ignorance. Use your fucking talent for investigation to dig up hard truths and facts about this industry instead of doing the same regurgatory opinion articles that every other me-too website scrapes together in a few minutes. This site is better than that. You, I believe, are better than that.

Every month, it's the same damn thing. Well DO SOMETHING ABOUT. You proclaim that you started an original Game Jam. Make good on all that pomposity and start a new movement by breaking this industry wide open, and thus breaking the whole societal world as we know it open.

I'll put your own damn onus on you, Patrick:

YOU CAN DO BETTER

So do.

@thealexray said:

@EnduranceFun: No, they're laughing at you for running around like a chicken with your head cut off and generally posting dumb panicked things.

Check his post history, he's nothing but a troll, ignore him.

@Milkman: Two or three in a couple of days and you're really questioning one every other week? That's like, second grade mathematics, dude.

@ghostNPC said:

Constantly disappointed in so many users on this site. Most of you people are really that horrible, aren't you? It really makes me sad.

^This...unfortunately. :(

We want and need more women in the gaming industry-- to be reviewers, playtesters, writers, concept artists, animators, composers, and just plain fans. And I'm sick of others responding to allegations of sexism, racism, and homophobia that unfortunately happens to so many people who enjoy and work hard to make games with "suck it up" or "get over it". This is a serious problem, and even if it's not happening to you, it's still an issue you should stand up against. The gaming industry should not be a hostile or unwelcoming place for anyone who truely loves it.

I'm all for #1reasontobe. Thank you so much, Ms. Pratchett.

The only problem with this article is that Patrick wrote it. That instantly brings out the crowd who simply hate his guts for whatever reason. It is impossible to bring about a proper discussion with that backdrop behind the thread.

The other important factor is the incredible cynicism of the internet. This would be a much different discussion if it was in person with consequences. Would someone stomp their feet and cry out "I JUST WANT VIDEO GAMES" in person? Of course not.

Do what you feel is right Patrick because you have more of a chance to change things than we do. It is probably better that this article exists than it not existing, but... well see what it has brought. I guess there is a cost for everything.

Pulling out two of the worst comments from 1,600 just so that you can tut at them (or perhaps 'be seen to be tutting at them') is not worthwhile journalism. 'Look at how much I disagree!' This needs covering, but it doesn't need covering badly. How about address some of the shitty advertising that appears on Giant Bomb? Or the complete absence of a female voice on the Giant Bomb staff? Change starts by looking at ourselves after all.

If you are in a first world country odds are you have some form of an "equal protection act" in place and a government agency to enforce it. If it is as bad as these twitter comments claim make a formal accusation. Only problem is that those are investigated and both sides get to present their views, unlike an online pity party where only one side is heard and exaggerated stories aren't challenged. I really doubt secrecy is the reason few formal accusations are being reported on, as it wouldn't take much work for a software company to figure out who those twitter accounts belong to.

@Neurotic: Even if he blanked the guy's name out, it wouldn't take much effort to look at the other thread and find out who said it. Singling out a single user's comment is a complete dick move.

This whole #1Reasonwhy thing seems fucking pointless anyway, about as useful as putting Kony2012 on your Facebook status.

@ZeForgotten said:

@HellBound said:

Articles like these really bring out peoples true colors. I held the community to high standards and now I just shake my head. Oh well.

That was your first mistake. People are disgusting when it comes down to it.

I blame gamespot

:)

@Goldanas Post of the day.

When the new site rolls out, can I permanently disable comments?

'Waaah how dare you bring your rational discussion of sexism in the videogame industry into the place where I watch all the vidya games and laff at the funnies '

Grow the fuck up and don't read the articles if you seriously can't handle hearing someone's opinion of a topic nearly every major figure in the videogame industry has weighed in on in recent days because it might force you to think outside the comfortable little worldview you've somehow maintained for yourself.

If you think sexism isn't a major issue in the workplace and you'd seriously be happy for your girlfriend, wife or daughter to be belittled and disregarded because of their gender then you are either deluded or just a first rate asshole.

I do think the bulk of the idiotic comments probably stem from guys who haven't probably had a single adult relationship or even conversation with, you know an actual real life girl and no, your mom doesn't count.

@Goldanas said:

A lot of people were picking apart your arguments due to the irrelevance of your examples. Maybe these are insignificant, but your poor choices lead to a poor argument. This doesn't matter that much to me, however, as sexism is in fact a world-wide issue and we do need to touch base on it.

Quite insulting and doesn't even acknowledge anything I said, then claims I am presenting 'irrelevant examples.' Something sure smells fishy here...

@Xeirus said:

@thealexray said:

@EnduranceFun: No, they're laughing at you for running around like a chicken with your head cut off and generally posting dumb panicked things.

Check his post history, he's nothing but a troll, ignore him.

If you disagree but cannot argue, call it trolling. Classic.

I'm not very good at articulating what I think, so I'll keep this short. I think that people here are more upset at bigger problems within the social medium than over what a few idiots who cannot handle the opposite gender, and are too incapable for social respect for others in general. I would guarantee its probably people who cannot hold a conversation regardless, or are a bit of a social reject anyways. I say who cares what those bullies think. Flat out acknowledging the hardships some females get will get dismissed because we've all been there within our own contexts. The world is cruel out there, and as much as I wish some people treated others with either an apathetic (err.. what I mean about is is like mind your own business, see the person as an equal way) or just swallow your distaste for that individual until you get off work or whatever. I think the problem is a bit beyond video games, which is why I understand a few salty people here. I think media in general should probably push for a bit of professionalism, because everyone seems to have their own jaded and cynical views of a few bad examples, that then somehow overlaps everything as a whole. Push for equality, I suppose but in a subtle, almost with more 'wit' I'd say. I dunno I'm pretty bad at opinions, due to the fact that it really gets nowhere and I'm just an anonymous being. But I like video games, and it shouldn't matter who or what you are to do to enjoy them. But keep the status quo cool, and adapt to your surroundings I say, or just play them at their own game. Yeah, not very helpful. But I did my part by reading this article.

If we're gonna follow up a bit more, I'd say it would be nice to see you commenting and replying to things you want to in the comment section, as opposed to on an article. Oh hell I don't know, I came here for games.

1) Females need to call out the males more often and if it doesn't stop play the name and shame game, it's the Internet, it's easy.

2) Websites need to stop producing content or spouting "THE LAYDEES OF <insert publication>"

3) Uhh, accept that some people are just going to do this shit anyway? It's too big a social issue to iron out entirely, a lot of people are still racist, that's a bigger issue than this.

4) A lot of women in the industry are annoyingly ditsy which puts a negative connotation on women overall as there's so few of them compared to men. It's true isn't it? I find a lot of the women in gaming really quite irritating, that's not to say I hate women as plenty of them really know their shit in male dominated sectors, just look at the lady who runs Heels and Tech.

@Enigma777 said:

Man, these articles are dumb.

Then don't read them.

@Jimbo said:

Pulling out two of the worst comments from 1,600 just so that you can tut at them (or perhaps 'be seen to be tutting at them') is not worthwhile journalism. 'Look at how much I disagree!' This needs covering, but it doesn't need covering badly. How about address some of the shitty advertising that appears on Giant Bomb? Or the complete absence of a female voice on the Giant Bomb staff? Change starts by looking at ourselves after all.

QFT

@EnduranceFun said:

@Goldanas said:

A lot of people were picking apart your arguments due to the irrelevance of your examples. Maybe these are insignificant, but your poor choices lead to a poor argument. This doesn't matter that much to me, however, as sexism is in fact a world-wide issue and we do need to touch base on it.

Quite insulting and doesn't even acknowledge anything I said, then claims I am presenting 'irrelevant examples.' Something sure smells fishy here...

He was referring to Patrick, not you. Or at least the rest of his post makes a whole lot more sense that way. Patrick's examples, i.e. Mirror's Edge, were irrelevant. Not what you posted.

@EnduranceFun said:

@Milkman: Two or three in a couple of days and you're really questioning one every other week? That's like, second grade mathematics, dude.

Wow, I guess you really schooled me because what you just said makes absolutely no sense.

Figured as much. Carry on then.

I love this article, Patrick, but one part really troubled me: "I do not consider myself a feminist or particularly aligned with the feminist movement." Meriam-Webster defnines "feminism" this way: 1: the theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes. EQUALITY. That is what the larger discussion on gender rights is missing. The conservative right (and men in general) have managed to spin feminists into a group of ball-busting estrogen junkies who believe that their sex is far superior to males, the end-all-be-all of the human race. THAT IS NOT THE CASE. So despite your fantastic article, I think this one small part almost derails it completely. It is completely endemic to the larger problem at hand. You ARE a feminist, Patrick, if you believe women are and should be treated equal to men. Other fellow male users on GB are probably feminists, too, but just unsure or afraid to label themselves as such. You don't have to have a Master's Degree from a liberal college. You don't have you be a lesbian. You don't even have to be a woman. Let's all be feminists, duders.

While this is a worthy cause I think that Patrick does sound a little pretentious in his opening statement:

A tweet alone cannot change anything, but enough tweets can become a movement, a movement can raise awareness, and awareness can lead to action. That’s the potential power behind #1reasonwhy, a hashtag from this weekend encouraging women members of the games industry to speak up with stories of their own difficulties, and raise needed awareness about industry sexism.

I doubt very much that this will be a beginning of a movement. People on internet like to bitch about stuff. Doing something about it is actually a different thing.

I think Shakespeare kinda described the nature of most internet discussions (my own bit of pretentious quoting) with this slightly modified sentence:

it is full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

Trying to work this one for as many hits as possible eh?

How painfully ironic that Giant Bomb doesn't have a single female on staff.

@Grimluck343: Wow, now I feel dumb. My apologies in that case. I rushed reading that comment in trying to keep up with the storm of other replies.

@Milkman: Wait, what? You said that you'd counted 'two or three sexism articles in a couple days,' I was paraphrasing something you said just minutes ago. I'll try to be completely direct next time.

@Goldanas: How do you not know that Patrick isn't in the middle of doing something like this already? This sort of thing takes time. Interviews take time.

While these articles certainly have their heart in the right place, I just don't really see the point on this site. This site is about a few dudes doing stupid shit on camera, these ideas aren't new and they aren't solving anything. Its easy for journalists to sit here and point fingers, saying whats wrong with games. In the end developers make these games to earn money, if the audience wants male dominated war games then so be it. There is a reason Call of Duty sells millions of copies despite having, correct me if I am wrong, no female characters whatsoever. Wave that 47% stats around as much as you want, sales don't lie.  People buy the bondage costumes for Dead or Alive 5, that is why they exist! Not because Namco thinks all women are nothing but pieces of meat. I am sure women even worked on those costumes. 

I love Patrick's articles. The movement thing is great.

I'm seriously disappointed in him for pointing a finger at a user. He could have quoted the user without showing his screen name.

I get it; I get really, really frustrated at asshole on the internet all the time, and I have fantasies about hanging them out to dry for the whole world to see, but I'm not in the position to do that. If I were in the position to do that I wouldn't necessarily want to be associated with doing that. This entire article feels like a thinly veiled attempt to "get back at" the community for disappointing him, and all it's going to do is make them more upset and more determined to discredit his work.

@fallen_rock2: Sadly, this doesn't change the culture. That is the point of raising social awareness. So it doesn't happen again.

@Goldanas: After actually reading this post (._.) I agree wholeheartedly, fantastic comment.

Augh, I hate twitter! Something happening like this needs context, well thought-out arguments, and a cohesive voice. Twitter is great for #YOLO and not much more than that. I'm glad Patrick is at least giving this issue some breathing room in this article.

@ZeForgotten said:

@HellBound said:

Articles like these really bring out peoples true colors. I held the community to high standards and now I just shake my head. Oh well.

That was your first mistake. People are disgusting when it comes down to it.

I blame gamespot

:)