A few days ago, I had the audacity to publish an article by Wes Copeland which earned me the ire of fans of KSI—a Z-list YouTube celebrity with an “army” of followers. The article in question related to a video KSI had produced and uploaded involving the harassment of women at the Eurogamer Expo gaming convention. You can read it here.
To paraphrase a Gotye song, I walked the plank with my eyes wide open.
I expected to receive nothing less than the vitriolic torrent of hate I’ve tolerated over the past three days. It tells me I’m doing something right, and it gives me all the more reason to keep fighting this fight.
Here's a small sampling:
Given the near-endless stream of hateful remarks I—and several others—received, I believe it’s important to change attitudes towards sexual harassment, and to not accept the assaults of women both verbal and physical. It’s a legitimate cause, and the threats I’ve received over the past few days show me just how important it is to stand behind the article and not back down.
It’s not okay to harass anyone for standing up for their principles any more than it’s acceptable to sexually harass women for “dressing sexily” or for taking on work in public relations. The fact that women offer a service and are paid to interact with people at conventions doesn’t give anyone the right to treat them like objects.
Frankly speaking, it’s disappointing that people still need to be taught how to behave in civil society.
The on-going situation is a repeat of when my friend Steph Guthrie was harassed and threatened with rape and death for highlighting the development of a "game" that promoted violence towards feminist personality and Tropes vs. Women creator Anita Sarkeesian a few months ago.
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Ultimately, all of this shows that it’s more important than ever for us to speak up and expose sexism for what it is—and to create safe spaces for feminism in our environment. It’s in our power to do so, and the support I received from you shows that we’re not alone in this fight.
