Cathy Young on GamerGate and Feminism

The saga continues, with front-page coverage for
threats against feminist gaming critics—notably feminist media
critic Anita Sarkeesian, who canceled a lecture on a Utah campus
due to an email threat of a massacre—and with female GamerGaters
taking to the online airwaves to give their side. Amidst the
charges and countercharges of harassment, thought policing, and
unethical conduct, the GamerGate debate always comes back to gender
issues. There are valid concerns, shared by at least some GamerGate
supporters, about sex-based harassment in gaming groups and
stereotypical portrayal of female characters in videogames.
Unfortunately, writes Cathy Young, critics of sexism in videogame
culture tend to embrace a toxic brand of feminism that promotes
antagonism, grievance, and intolerance of dissent, not equality or
empowerment.

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