Anita Sarkeesian, the feminist critic at the center of the Gamergate controversy, appeared on The Colbert Report last night to explain the sexual harassment issues rampant in the gaming world and why women aren’t going to just accept a “separate but equal” community.
“Women are perceived as threatening because we are asking for games to be more inclusive,” Sarkeesian said. “We are asking for games to acknowledge that we exist and that we love games.”
But as recent disturbing events have shown, many gamers are not pleased with Sarkeesian’s work and have been launching extremely violent messages against her and her supporters via social media. Earlier this month, Sarkeesian was forced to cancel a speaking engagement after an anonymous email threatened to stage the “deadliest mass shooting in American history” if she spoke.
Speaking to Colbert on Wednesday, she went on to reject the defense that Gamergate is actually about ethics in video game journalism.
“That is sort of a compelling way to reframe the fact that this is actually an attack on women,” she said.”Ethics in journalism is not what’s happening in any way. It’s actually men going after women in really hostile, aggressive ways. That’s what Gamergate is about. it’s about terrorizing women for being involved in this industry.”
For more a deeper dive into the Gamergate controversy, check out our excellent explainer.
Correction: A previous version of this story erroneously quoted Sarkeesian in the headline. This has since been corrected.
