Adam Savage talks to Indre Viskontas for Inquiring Minds. In the final segment he talks about GamerGate and what Indre (rightly) calls “so much rage against women in these fields.”
Rebecca Watson tells us that he is a for-real feminist, and one who gives a shit.
The full interview is great, but my favorite part was when Adam weighed in on the issue of #Gamergate and harassment of women online. I know this is an issue he feels passionately about, and I also know that there are a lot of people in his audience who he can help educate and motivate. I hope he gets more opportunities to speak out about it – it’s unfortunate but true that a man will have more of an impact saying the same thing women have been saying for years. Adam knows this and takes great pains to make sure he is helping without speaking over women. He’s one of the best, most thoughtful male feminists I know, and I’m glad that other people are now seeing that side of him as well.
Here’s the full interview:
Which is sorta the point to all this, sadly.
and now to enjoy the sweet “whine” of misogynists who will insist that one their heroes have betrayed them.
@Crimson Clupeidae
And which is why it’s sort of sad that people like TotalBiscuit (who has actually been talking about actual ethics in videogames/journalism issues for years) don’t get the women’s-issues/misogyny side of things and takes male GamerGaters’ claims and concerns at face value. He did apologise for a minor point some while ago and said he’s continuing to learn, but the power of prominent male voices to direct the discourse over a miriad of female/non-male ones (who’ve actually spent a lot longer considering their issues) is rather depressing.
There is quite a large supply of whine. Will it run out?
What happens when the leaders of “the movement” are only a few throwbacks of no real significance? Will the rank and file all slink off to hoggle under the stairs?
Good to know more about Savage, and see that he can think/speak with so much clarity. I wish he could have included more about the sexual nature of the violence and hatred. That we’ve produced a generation that feel that the perks of the 1% are within their grasp is well put. But the expectation of some kind of sexual candy-shop, cultivated in men who don’t seem to have actually SPOKEN with a woman in real life….
He’s fairly recently joined the board of the JREF. Hope he can do some good there.
Trebuchet @6,
Is he still on the board there? I’ve heard conflicting reports. The JREF web site doesn’t list the board members as far as I can see. Wikipedia doesn’t include him, but I’m not sure how recent that article is (though it’s updated to reflect Grothe’s departure).
@7: As you say, board members aren’t listed on the JREF site, so I don’t know. For a while, the only staff member listed was Randi himself. Now they’ve added Sharon Hill.
Usernames! @4,
Considering the fact that every time misogynists stoop to a new low I mutter “Jesus Christ”, I’m sure there will be plenty of whine.
For someone who mostly works in creative fields, yes – it’s real work to get past people who say “no”; for a larger segment of us working stiffs – saying “yes” isn’t a power…it’s a requirement, no matter what’s being asked.
We went into this interview expecting to hear some mansplaining, but we were pleasantly surprised by his thoughtful response and tone. He seems to be one of the ones who believes that women are people too and don’t deserve death and rape threats and harassment.
You do realize that associating all online harassment of women to gamergate will do nothing to solve the actual problem right? It even makes it worse when you blame the entire revolt as it allows those who actually do want to harass for any reason, free reign to do so with no consequences. I know it’s easier to point at a group of people and say they’re the entirety of the problem, but all you end up doing is inadvertently targeting a bunch of innocent people who never have and never would threaten or harass. To them people like you look like they don’t actually take it seriously if you’re really willing to do that. Sorry to break your circle jerk. I’ll let you get back to it.
Jon Snow
WTF are you on about?
You know nothing, Jon Snow.