Alexander Anderson
Alexander is a lifelong gamer who used to play video games competitively. He has a bachelor's degree in psychology which gives him a unique insight in the world of gaming. You can follow him on twitter
On Feb 8, someone made a greenlight thread asking everyone if Brianna Wu is a terrible person. The username is “spacekatgal.” That’s Brianna Wu’s account. What’s going on?
It appears that Wu forgot to log off her main account as she attempted to harasses herself. She immediately deleted the thread upon realizing her grave mistake. The event went unreported by the mainstream media.
Life is at risk
Fast forward four days later and Brianna Wu is back in the headline as he continues the false narrative of #gamergate as a misogynist movement. His latest article I’m Brianna Wu, And I’m Risking My Life Standing Up To Gamergate went viral on Facebook and Twitter.
Wu starts the article with his latest death threat. This time it’s a man wearing a skull mask who sent him a video outlining the plan to murder him. Wu discovered the guy’s real name and sent his information to the authority. So far so good. However, his next line of the article is where things begin to get fishy. Wu wrote “I have received these death threats and 43 others in the last five months.” I wondered how many of those threats were actually from himself.
I clicked the link expecting some form of documentation about these so called 43 death threats. Instead, I was linked to an outdated anti-gg article written 5 months ago. It was your typical mainstream propaganda piece (I stopped reading at “Zoe Quinn, the developer of the critically acclaimed game Depression Quest”). I ctrl+f the article to search for Brianna Wu and I couldn’t find him. I scanned the whole article and I couldn’t find any mention of him. Why the hell is this article linked under “death threats and 43 others” to begin with? What was the game plan there? Did Wu attempt to gain more credibility by assuming that the readers would also assume that the link would lead to his documentation of threats and not click them?
Wu then talks about the #gamergate Law & Order episode and then claims it was based partly on him. Next, he claimed to be leading “one of the largest professional game-development teams of women in the field” while “speaking out on women in tech issues.” Are you kidding me? I was skeptical about the claim, but since Brianna Wu is held in such high regard by the mainstream media, I have no choice but to believe that it’s true.
It’s the patriarchy’s fault
Later in his story he details another threat from two weeks ago that appears to be real. However, I don’t think the guys threatening him have anything to do with #gamergate. These people are clearly dumb asses who operate independently. What kind of idiot makes a threat to someone’s life and then leave traces where he can be tracked? Compared to Lizzyf620‘s vicious doxxing harassment, these threats are a fucking joke. Speaking of Lizzy, where was the media coverage on her harassment and threats? Furthermore, why didn’t her article go viral on Facebook and Twitter?
Wu continues his article by pulling the female victim card.
I must use Twitter, as it’s a crucial networking tool for a software engineer, yet I must also suffer constant harassment. Women’s needs are not heard, our truth is never spoken. These systems are the next frontier of human evolution, and they’re increasingly dangerous for us.
What is this definition of harassment? Disagreeing = harassment?
When Twitter is completely ineffectual at handling harassment — it’s because women don’t truly have a seat at the table in running it. We don’t have a voice. They tell us they’re going to do better.
You don’t have a voice yet you have 35k followers on Twitter and your article went viral. Your game won game of the year awards not because the game is good but because you have friends in the industry.
When Wikipedia’s highest ruling board chooses to discipline only feminists — it’s because nine out of 10 of its editors are men. They tell us they’re going to do better.
Anyone can volunteer to be an editor. It’s not men’s fault that women choose not to volunteer. Construction workers are mostly men and I don’t see anyone complaining about it.
When a Silicon Valley founder sends a woman reporter a gift basket with a dildo and K-Y jelly, then doesn’t understand why it might be offensive, it’s because most of the venture capital system and the tech entrepreneurs are men. We don’t have a voice. They tell us they’re going to do better.
That man did what he did because he’s an idiot, not because most of the venture capitalist system and tech entrepreneurs are men. Furthermore, Wu’s argument doesn’t factor the differences in men’s innate motivation and women’s motivation. His logic is extremely flawed.
Using Wu’s logic, this show is misogynistic because 99% of cast members are male
Amazingly, the field of video games is the most misogynistic area in all of tech. The lead writer of Ubisoft’s hit franchise Watch Dogsangrily denied that Gamergate was a hate group, calling such statements a “smear tactic” and an “obvious lie.” During the reign of terror of Gamergate, I have had hundreds of conversations with other women. We’re exhausted, we’re terrified we’ll be next, we’re all thinking of quitting.
You can’t make a ridiculous claim and then offer no valid proofs unless your name is Brianna Wu. The field of video games is the most misogynistic area in all of tech because REASONS. Conversation with Zoe and Anitas count as “hundreds of conversations with other women.” You’re all so terrified because people will give you money and support your shitty games and projects because you’re all so terrified.”
Anita Sarkeesian’s Feminist Frequency profited heavily from #gamergate
The rest of the article continues the theme of harassment against women and the tactic of linking to biased sources. He called KIA a “hategroup” without anything to back up her statement. If I am an average person who didn’t know anything about #gamergate and just simply read the article without clicking links or doing more research, I would’ve believed the narrative. Even as an informed person, it required me hours to decode all his bullshit.
Conclusion
Brianna Wu’s newest article was written specifically to scare the uninformed public to support his narrative of first-world women as the ultimate victims of harassment. It is simply too difficult and required too much time for an average person to comprehend that what he is seeing in front of his eyes are lies and manipulation on the grandest scale, and it doesn’t matter that Wu was caught harassing himself red-handed days before.
What Wu managed to accomplish is an equivalent of Brian Williams being back on the anchor’s desk on NBC after news came out that he wasn’t on a helicopter that was hit by a missile. As a punishment for his action, Williams was suspended without pay for 6 months. Why is Wu still here talking about harassment as if the incident of him harassing himself never happened? Why is Wu given the license to claim whatever she wants regarding the gaming industry? There is no system of checks and balances in place because the media is playing on the same team he is.
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