Being Pissed: Anger and Privilege in the Gaming Community

If you live in the United States, this will probably come as no shock: people are angry. People everywhere feel oppressed, targeted, slighted, and unheard. What’s particularly interesting is that people who are in power, who have always been heard, who have not been oppressed as a group are the ones who are loudest in claiming that they are persecuted. It seems that the more those in the groups who actually are persecuted speak up, those in power take it as a personal affront. (Ie. White people saying they are being attacked when someone points out that they benefit from systemic racism).

Salon recently posted an article about why right wing Christians honestly believe they are the most persecuted group in the the United States, when objectively they are some of the most privileged. The author writes, “If claiming to be a victim is powerful, believing you are a victim is far more so, again regardless of the actual facts—which, at any rate, we all are prone to interpret through a self-serving lens.” The problem with constantly only seeing your own victimhood, she argues, is that when you cast yourself as a victim you don’t see the harm you are doing to others.

This happens constantly, but it hits hard for me when talking about feminism in particular. White Feminism was (is?) so focused on the oppression/persecution of women that they ignored they way their theories, rallies, conversations, and so on were hurting and excluding women of color. We still haven’t come back from that entirely, though I choose to believe that intersectional feminism is becoming widespread. It is hard to see, because you know first hand how shitty it feels and we always like to see ourselves as “the good guy.” Right wing Christians are not being persecuted en mass by America. Voices that have been oppressed (whether religiously, racially, or pertaining to sexuality and gender) by those in power are becoming louder and being heard. So for those in power, if feels like something is being taken away from them. But it simply is not true.

Screen Shot 2016-07-06 at 9.27.47 AMThis is an enormous problem with gamers right now, and we see the exact same patterns emerging constantly. Take for example Minecraft creator, Markus Persson’s (@notch), tempter tantrum on Twitter. Honestly I shouldn’t call it that, as it is much more serious. Someone tweeted out that mansplaining is funny, but is a real issue. Persson replies “No, manspalining is a sexist term designed to silence men via gender shaming.” The conversation continues back and forth a bit, then Persson replies again, “Step #cuntfusing the issue by dismissing my words with a derogatory term about my gender.” (Full exchange here). You can actually feel the anger dripping off Persson’s tweets. He really does believe he is targeted and attacked. He really believes that pointing out a very problematic and widespread issue is the same as being attacked for your sex (BTW women can mansplain too). Further, he seems to think the words man and cunt have the same cultural cache, only something someone who is deeply, deeply privileged could think.

Do men have to fight for sexual equality as Persson seems to think? As with the example of the right wing Christians above, I would say no. Laws, governance, history, norms, and so on are built on a patriarchal framework. Men—white men in particular—have always have the most power in American society, industry, government, and so on. I feel like this isn’t a point that has to even be made. Yes, we want gender equality, but you can’t act as if there is an equal playing field right now. A single man might be discriminated against, yes, but that in no universe means that there is systemic and institutionalized discrimination against men. Again, I feel like I shouldn’t have to cuntsplain this, but obviously I do if someone like Markus Persson really believes that manplaining is a concept that oppresses men.

The anger fueling trolls, GG, and MRAs follows the same pattern. Who we listen to as a society is changing, and for those in power that is very scary. Many gamers care about having good representation in games for multiple genders, sexualities, and races. People care about the harassment of women online. #1reasonwhy brought women together and exposed some of the terrible things that happen to women at the hands of the men (like Persson) who are powerful in the gaming industry. I’m sure that was hard to hear. But it does not make people like Persson the victim of gender discrimination. We all love video games, but we all haven’t held privileged positions within the community. Pointing out how the system keeps some in and others out does not oppress the people inside, it just attempts to widen the circle and help those inside reflect on their role within it.

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