A little tolerance might not seem like too much to ask for.
However, the “Gamer Girl Manifesto” is getting attention for all the wrong reasons. The YouTube video aimed at combating sexism has inadvertently spurred thousands of hateful comments.
Produced by SexyNerdGirlPresents, the video depicts more than 20 women of various ethnicities speaking about their identities as gamers.
“No, I won’t tell you what I’m wearing. And no, I won’t take off my top. … I’m here to game,” several of the women in the video say.
Somehow, innocuous statements like that one have prompted comments like “tits or GTFO” and “get in the kitchen.” Out of 5,000 votes, the video has more than 4,000 dislikes.
It’s also prompted a parody, the “Gamurr Boy Manifesto,” in which a teenage boy mocks the original video’s content.
“No I don’t need you to make me a sandwich, and no I don’t need to ‘plunder your castle’ … perhaps later,” he jokes.
“You good sir have all my respect and love. Silly females think they’re worth something cause they game,” wrote one commenter in a sadly typical response.
Beyond the trolls of YouTube, however, commenters on Boing Boing and feminist geek blog The Mary Sue had a more intelligent take on why the video was so poorly received.
“The name ‘SexyNerdGirlPresents’ is actually so close to being a joke name, well out of context it could be considered one,” wrote slippyo. “As an example, often when people try to justify making fun of girl gamers, they usually focus on the ‘grrrl’ gamer, and give them usernames like ‘sexygamergrrl’or something like that.”
As Holleyx wrote though, YouTube trolls might be an indicator that the video truly did encourage viewers to have a paradigm shift.
“It’s a well put together, well thought out video. If anything, the comments show that it’s valid, otherwise the trolls would have stayed under their rocks.”
