Supernatural actress Felicia Day has been an avowed gamer her whole life, but that is all changing due to GamerGate. Now, she is the subject of harassment and death threats, and she now eyes with suspicion the people she once thought were her allies.
For those who don’t know, GamerGate is a movement among a small group of avid games who have taken to harassing female critics, programmers, and bloggers alike with graphic and horrible threats of rape and death. It makes no sense whatsoever, but its insidious nature has profoundly impacted the lives of many women.
Day is just the latest example; after posting an indictment of GamerGate on her Tumblr, she was “doxxed” (i.e., having personal information hacked and released) just hours after her piece went live.
The harassment she has faced is part of a very troubling trend in the industry, where tech companies have faced criticism for not protecting their female employees enough. Twitter, too, has been under fire for not taking threats as seriously as they perhaps should.
The GamerGate movement serves as the latest reminder that even a very small subset of voices on the Internet can make life very difficult for a lot of innocent women.
[via ThinkProgress]
