Monday, March 2, 2015: Surviving GamerGate

Warning: The following program contains frightening and disturbing dialogue.

Revolution 60

Brianna Wu is one of many women who have been viciously harassed and threatened by men who believe women have no right to be video game developers or commentators. Wu's experiences are part of the inspiration for a recent episode of Law & Order SVU. Wu talks about her experiences and what we need to do to change tech culture.

The introduction of the I-phone Wu says created an explosion of women gamers. There has been disgust and contempt toward women gamers from the beginning. "It's a systematic problem where women do not have a seat at the table. [the gaming industry] crushes women every step of the way. Men in this field have to learn to start listening."

Wu has described herself as, “barely a feminist” when she started the company in 2010. She wanted to create games with strong female characters, but believed it was best to “just do a good job and don’t make a big deal out of it.”

Working in the game industry, Wu found herself frequently frustrated by what she described as the “boys club” mentality in games, which was much worse than any of the other industries she’d worked in. This was reflected in the tone of their first game Revolution 60, which featured an all-female cast of special operatives, in a game many describe as having strong feminist overtones. Revolution 60 shipped in July of 2014 to critically acclaimed reviews from Macworld, Kotaku, Gamebreaker, 148Apps, and others. A sequel is currently in the works.

Five months ago Wu started receiving death threats through Twitter and email. She has received 46 death threats in that time. She describes in detail the devastating effect this is having on her life and business. Unlike the story portrayed on Law and Order, Wu has received very little response from law enforcement for these destructive threats.

Listen now or Get MP3. 27:11 min.






Listen to entire show. 59:50 min.

Also on today's show:
Las Almas
Golden Thread Productions

February 24, 2014 - "Toxic Twitter" or Toxic Racism?

Prison abolitionist and feminist blogger Mariame Kaba, co-author of "Interlopers on Social Media: Feminism, Women of Color and Oppression" responds to anti-Black assumptions in Michelle Goldberg's article, "Feminism’s Toxic Twitter Wars".  Goldberg's article unleashed a firestorm of critique and counter-critique after its publication in The Nation in January.

 

"In many cultures, it's a sign of respect for someone to call you out directly on your crap," Kaba says.  Rather than seeing women of color, and particularly Black women, as interlopers into a formerly safe space, she suggests, white feminists need to recognize that "the good old days for white folks were bad old days for us."  Kaba sees the intensity and passion of the debate as a positive development, indicating that feminism is more vibrant and including more voices than ever before.

Listen now (33:16)

Also on this show, Maria Guillen: A Life in Labor

Listen to the full show, including a sneak peek at Pratibha Parmar's film, "Alice Walker: Beauty in Truth", available through the end of February from PBS's American Masters series.