“You can’t (take degrading and misogynistic language) from
gaming. You can’t because they’re one
and the same thing. This is a community that’s, you know, between 15 and 20
years old, and sexual harassment is part of the culture, and if you remove that
from the fighting game community it’s not the fighting game community.” Of all the shouts and tweets and statements
that came from this this tiny story that became huge- this is the most
telling. During a Street Fighter vs.
Tekken promotional event on Cross Assault Reality Show various slurs were
shouted by competitors, some of the worst being a chant of “Bitch, bitch, bitch”
when a player chose Phoenix as their fighter and later when she was defeated to
a roar of, “Rape that bitch!” Bakhtanians
attempted to justify that behavior in an unfortunate statements defending misogyny. Patrick Klepek of Giant Bomb reported this story
and it spread quickly around twitter and the internet. Why the blow up when this thing goes on
constantly in any multiplayer game and has been reported on again and
again? This time an “expert” said out
load what most already knew, that they know what they are doing, they are
remorseless about it and they feel it is their right, and the biggest mistake,
saying that THIS is the community, and THESE folks are the community, and
implying the rest of us are not real members.
Bakhtanians claims that he and these others are the real community. Oh no he din’t.
The problem is he’s not the community and they are not the
community; people with the highest score do not get to make the rules and the
peasants do not have to bow and scrape and avoid master’s eyes or else they are
a bitch that needs to be raped. The
community is not just nerdy white guys, women are there too, and gay guys, and
straight guys with a modicum of modesty and a hint of decorum. Being the loudest doesn’t make one right, and
while many of us turn off the sound or do our best to play with folks we know
instead of adolescents practicing their swear words it doesn’t mean we’re not
there, and now that someone who claims to represent the community has stepped
forward and basically said this is how we talk and it is alright and if you
have a problem with go play something else like StarCraft the rest of us can
say that it’s not alright and it’s not just a few misguided kids who are not
representative- a representative has said that this is the community and ,”sexual
harassment is part of the fighting game community and if you remove that it’s
not the fighting game community.” A
light has been shone on the reality of entitlement and that if you are a women
or a minority or not dedicated to playing a game 8-10 hours a day you’re not
part of the club and you have no say.
Yes, it is the good ol’ US of A and we do have freedom of
speech, and people can, for the most part, speak however they like, but when a
company represents itself publicly with folks like this it just underlines and
condones this kind of talk which they seem to think is part of how things are
done and really just a big joke which losers don’t get and those losers should
just lighten up. What can we do? Speak up.
When someone talks like that, call them out as matter-of-factly as
possible. If they scoff or grow louder
bombard them with “Sunshine, lollipops, and rainbows/ Everything that’s wonderful
is what I feel when we’re together!” Even
if we are not female or a fag or whatever minority they feel like debasing, we
as a gaming community need to be heard, and I think that is why these little
stories became so large, so thank you Patrick Klepek and Tiny Dancer and Kotaku
for bringing this to our attention and calling them out. Let’s keep doing that.
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