women's hearts are lethal weapons

hey don’t cry. endless fluctuations of self forgiveness offering new flavors of relief ok?

Revealing the ignorance of my youth here, but who is this and what is she known for?

Anita Sarkeesian, feminist who interpreted media under a feminist lens. She did a series about video games and she was the subject of targeted harassment. That was the start of gamergate

Minor correction, the start of gamergate was based around a different reporter, Zoe Quinn, but they were both absolutely violently threatened over their involvement in video game criticism and development. A hate campaign was started by Quinn's ex-boyfriend when he wrote a post falsely accusing them of dating video game journalists in order to receive positive reviews on their own game, Depression Quest, which led other bad actors to accuse all women in the industry (Zoe identified as female at the time) of perceived sexual immorality. Anita Sarkeesian's brilliant Youtube series Tropes vs Women in Video Games (which everyone should watch, right now) sparked a particular nerve for criticizing popular games of killing and/or victimizing any important female character (there is a CHILLING bit that borders on ludicrous where she describes the plots of a seemingly endless parades of games as "In [title], [male player character's] wife dies, and you then have to rescue [his] daughter."). That series did actually make a huge change in the industry, especially when touted by progressive legacy developers like Tim Schafer (Monkey Island, Psychonauts), who went on to expand hiring in his company to front women and minority voices, but the shift didn't really show for a long time and echoes of the sexism that plagues the industry at its core are still rampant.

Thanks for the correction! I was like 8-10 years old when this all went down (2014-2016) so I only know vaguely about it. I’m still learning about this.

@hotvintagepoll

back then i swore i was gonna marry him someday but i realized some bigger dreams of mine (WOMEN!)

there’s a phenomenon when it comes to enjoying a male character in a piece of media where it’s so much fun and i love my blorbo and i want to talk about my blorbo and read analysis of my blorbo but i realize very fast and very hard that the majority of fans made up a version of him that appeals to their horniness and it’s become the popular and standard interpretation and i do not care for that guy at all like i’d beat him with hammers actually

new tags game: what taylor swift song have you cried the hardest to

I think I might be about to send a deranged email

just watched the new dan and phil video and my takeaway impression is mainly that they are so, so generous and forgiving towards their fans. they would be completely justified in clamming up and never saying jack shit to anyone and i think the thoughtfulness and kindness in saying “we know that even for many of the people who were shipping us more aggressively and violating our privacy were just very excited young people who didn’t know the impact they were having on us, and we don’t want anyone to feel bad, so take this as a clean slate” is utterly remarkable

also, the way dan talks about how phil lit up his life about halfway through is one of the most loving things i’ve ever seen. truly. i am so happy for the two of them—that they found each other in the first place, and that they now are at a point where they feel comfortable sharing this