Shakesville: Fat Princess

Showing posts with label Fat Princess. Show all posts

Showing posts with label Fat Princess. Show all posts

GOOD MORNING!

[Content Note: Fat hatred; misogyny.]

@shakestweetz The PS2 was the best console you fat fucking cunt.
— Sodlid Nogard Dab (@SodlidNogardDab) August 9, 2012

I got this tweet this morning. I wrote the Fat Princess post, to the post-script of which it is a response ("P.S. The PS2 sucked."), four years ago.

I still get emails about that post, too.

Which I find pretty hilarious considering that gamer dudez showed up in droves to tell me to "get over it" when I criticized the game.

Troll Math and Teaspoons

[Trigger warning for violence and misogyny.]

Because Penny Arcade is the new Fat Princess, and thus following the same sad trajectory, I am naturally getting inundated with emails from irate fanboys who MUST DESTROY ME LULZ. Or at least tell me I'm fat and ugly and hysterical, which represents a creative vitality I've not witnessed since the glory days of the Dave Matthews tribute band, Trippin' Billies.

Of the impotent flailing in my inbox, many are of the "dumm bith variety, and some of the unrapable bitch variety. And then there are the ones helpfully trying to educate me through the cunning deployment of mansplaining and/or engage me in dialogue about what a silly, misguided lady I am:

Throughout your writings you make reference to a need to redefine manhood; I wonder if you might explain how or why this might be necessary? You frequently allude to men's boorish behavior toward women - to be sure, the examples you give are just ludicrously offensive. I have nothing but scorn for men who would grab a woman on a train, for example, or whistle at them. I have very rarely seen such behavior, though, and I know a large number of men who would never even consider acting so obnoxiously. I wonder if perhaps you are not projecting a couple of semi-civilized idiots' misogyny onto about half the world.

And then there are the ones from men who presume to speak for their female partners who are survivors of assault, all of whom have a sense of humor about rape, natch:

Like many women the victim of a rape, my partner has a sense of humor about rape. Not a "normal" sense of humor, often an uncomfortable sense of humor, but a sense of humor nonetheless. … We are not paternalist functionaries. We are familiar with the sacred, with reverence. We are both at the keyboard, and we know that when one loses one's sense of humor about something, when it becomes a sacred cow, then it's well on its way to becoming a dogma or a fascism.

And then there are the ones who just want me dead:

Grow the fuck up or get the hell off the Internet, because you're only going to continually get offended, be triggered, or whatever it is that you in particular do. And no one beyond your close-minded bootlicks give half a shit what you think, you ignorant bonehead. People can say what they want - shock, horror - and you need to deal. On the flip-side, I guess you can continue screeching about whatever sets you off, too, but just remember that no one with half a brain cares. Because nothing you have said in regards to this issue was at all new, insightful, meaningful, or relevant. The only thing anyone will get out of this is, "God damn there are a lot more humorless cunts in the world than I thought there were."

In short, I hope something pushes you far enough that you kill yourself. I'm tired of assholes breathing my air.

So, for those keeping score at home, the calculation appears to be:

Writing on one's personal blog an objection to a diminishment of concerns of survivors of sexual violence—overreacting.

Emailing that person to tell her you hope she has violence done to her and/or dies—sound, reasonable behavior.

(I am also enchanted by the concept of someone taking time to write to me only to tell me that "no one with half a brain cares" what I have to say. Without a trace of irony.)

Again, I will note that filling my inbox (and comments sections) with violent rhetoric, much of which includes allusions or overt references to sexual violence, merely proves my point. If it were, as my correspondents claim, so innocuous, it would hardly be the first thing for which they reach every time they want to lash out at someone.

But for every person who takes time out of their busy day to write a thousand-word thesis about how they don't care what I have to say, there are people who take time to write to me to say they value such critiques, or to say they've been given something to think about, or to tell me thank you for voicing what they don't have the security or words or platform to say. More people than ever before are showing up in my inbox to say they've begun to realize how fucked-up using rape as a punchline, or a metaphor, or a threat, really is. And a noticeably larger number of the people who are beginning to reexamine their use of violent rhetoric are men.

Among the emailers who contacted me along these lines was eBay seller thefremen10191, who has put up for auction his collection of Penny Arcade merchandise, 100% of the proceeds for which will be donated to Men Can Stop Rape.

The jack-booted defenders of the rape culture have nothing new to offer, nothing convincing in their arsenal—it's just the same yawn-inducing shit as always, intended to silence or intimidate, but ineffective at either because I'm a hard-headed, thick-skinned, determined-ass bitch.

But people who decide to take a stand against sexual violence, who expect more, never cease to surprise and delight and inspire me. They must be innovative, in opposition to such long- and deeply-entrenched malice—and so they are. Huzzah for teaspoons, and the champions who wield them.

I Get Letters

Fat Princess. Still.

Thank You. I'd just like to sincerely thank you for providing my friends and I with a good laugh with your article(s) about Fat Princess. I think you're pretty much the reason nobody takes feminism seriously.

I had no idea "nobody takes feminism seriously." I'm so stupid I actually thought feminists took feminism seriously.

But it turns out, according to my helpful correspondent, no one, including the millions of women and men all over the world who identify as feminists, takes it seriously. And it's all because of me!

I am powerful. Rrrrooowwaaarrr.

[Fat Princess: Parts One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten, Eleven, Twelve, Thirteen, Fourteen.]

Mods Get To See The Darnedest Things

Archaic verb forms, for example. Now, it's never occurred to me to use "concrete" as a verb. But "concrete" is a perfectly cromulent, though archaic, verb. You learn something every day. After reading the following comment from the moderation queue of today's Conniving and Sinister, I looked up "concrete" to confirm that it can in fact be used to mean "to make real or concrete instead of abstract". My Webster's widget lists this as an "archaic" usage and gives this example: "concreting God into actual form of man". Here is the context from my mod queue:

Fat Princess (the game) Please understand that a game is a game. I have played it and for me, playing it does not make me dislike fat people, in fact, I have many friends who are bigger than me. By condemning the game, you are helping concrete the unspoken idea that fat people are disliked and also that being unhealthy is -okay. I do not support either view, with greater emphasis against obesity. Thanks. P.S. Since this is a feminist site I must make my concern known: I suggest you lobby for male prison terms to be applied to women. I find it unfair how some women get off the hook at a lesser sentence.

My concerned, well-meaning language professor gets bonus points for bringing Fat Princess up out of nowhere. Fat Princess is truly the Gift of Trollery that Keeps on Giving. Further bonus points for concern trolling that actually uses the word "concern". Fie on subtlety! Yet more points for evoking "I have some friends who are fat", and even more still for the dollop of "we can't have fatty-boom-balatties thinking they might actually be healthy the way they are!"

Also rich: suggesting that the dislike of fat folks is an "unspoken" idea, and that there are special, harsher "male" prison terms. The FAIL is strong with this one, my friends.

But thanks for the verbular education, trollio.

A Fat Princess Speaks

by Shaker Sunnyhello

"And if having a skinny princess pack on pounds during the game is laughable ... it hardly seems malicious."

"Millar points out that the princesses are in no way objects of ridicule within the game as critics had suggested. Whether they are skinny or fat, they are venerated ladies for whom all characters will lay down their virtual lives to save."

—From this review of Fat Princess, in which the writer dismisses criticisms as so much insular, pseudo-feminist handwringing.

According to the quoted review, the creators of the Fat Princess game were surprised at the negative reaction from bloggers.

They'd expected a negative reaction to the game's violence. And perhaps they would have seen one if anyone thought that gamers would be tempted to transfer fantasy bloodshed into their real lives. On the other hand, malicious attitudes toward fat people easily make the leap back and forth between game and life.

I'm not worried that a gamer might want to give me a potion to turn me into a chicken. But I'm troubled that a gamer might be a professional peer who is reinforced in seeing fat female colleagues as out-of-control burdens, liabilities.

I'm troubled that a gamer might be a T-for-Teen with the beginnings of an eating disorder that, as mine did, looks and feels sickeningly similar to the captive life of the Fat Princess. I want to ask the creators: Do you know how hard it is to shake the idea that you have no choice, no control over your disordered eating? How terrifying to have your mind and body become a prison? How horrifying to see yourself, day after day, eat all the cake, even when it makes you sick?

And then how devastating to have people, both those who love you and those who want you for target practice, pick apart your body's changes as undesirable failures? When you know that not everybody who's fat has a compulsive eating disorder, but you do, there's no relief from the shame of being an undesirable failure.

It's monumentally difficult to learn how to make choices in disordered eating. It's impossible if you don't believe it can be done.

I dearly wish you would have given the Fat Princess some choice, some strength of her own. Why did you have to turn her into a zoo animal, unable to refuse food, unable even to walk, unable to help in her own rescue? Why did she have to be a brainless lump of flesh?

Do you not know how many young girls are just learning to see themselves that way?

I speak to groups of women who live with eating disorders and to professionals who help women with eating disorders. One of the hardest ideas to get past in recovering from the disorder is that your own body is nothing but a miserable, swollen mass that you are sentenced to carry through life.

So yes, it's unpleasant when a game gives its players practice rounds for this particular malformed thought toward themselves or toward fat women.

As Millar points out above, the princesses are not objects of ridicule within the game. They are objects of ridicule outside the game.

Outside the game, male and female gamers are in actual relationships with actual fat women — their mothers, sisters, classmates, co-workers, partners, and acquaintances. Whatever gamers say and think about fat characters affects real people.

And what of the fat girl gamer? To whom must she be a traitor? To herself, by remaining silent when gamers spew cruel, humiliating comments toward fat women? Or to the gaming community where she wants to belong?

To have been unaware of the capacity for a charmingly drawn, colorful game to help unleash vitriolic, devastating insults, threats, and death wishes out loud in real life may have been naive, careless, or disingenuous.

To ignore it now — to ignore the T-for-Teens who secretly and with the growing, paralyzing shame that fuels an eating disorder, identify with the Fat Princess, not with her rescuers — would be callously negligent.

I would challenge this talented, creative team of game designers to create Fat Princess 2: a game in which the Fat Princess has power, some agency in her life, no matter whether she is fat or slender. Create for her a world where her body does not reduce her to merely a burden — where those girls who look at the Fat Princess and see themselves, see someone that the gamers talk about as well worth saving.

[Fat Princess: Parts One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten, Eleven, Twelve.]

I Get Letters

The Fat Princess mail is still—yes, still—coming in, including an angry emails from a dude whose email I published, telling me I missed the point of his thoughtful missive.

In your post, "More Fat Princess Mail", you quote me, and ridicule the fact that I said "It did seem to boost you into the blogosphere", and go on to talk about the more important issues you have covered. Now, while I do appreciate your sense of professionalism displayed by not sharing my name or email, I find this to be an asinine remark to throw my way. You yourself said "The original "Fat Princess" post is probably my most linked post of all time." in your blog post, "Saddest Thing Ever", so why does my statement deserve ridicule when you previously admitted that it was your most linked to article?

Was it simply to show off to your readers that everyone that emails you is an insensitive man who is completely against all of your ideals.

Um, no. It was not. And, considering that lots of "my readers" email me on a fairly regular basis, I'm sure they already know that everyone who emails me is not "an insensitive man who is completely against all of [my] ideals," since they don't live on Planet My Perspective Dictates Reality.

As an aside, it's really amazing how many of my gamer correspondents, despite the large amounts of time they brag about spending on the internetz, don't seem to have the foggiest idea how blogs actually work. "Most linked" does not necessarily mean "most traffic." A link from a dozen gaming forums on the same day still frequently yields fewer hits than one link from, say, Feministing or Crooks and Liars.

None of which has anything to do with the fact that Shakesville was already a well-known blog long before my first post on Fat Princess last year, anyway. Being a dude who never heard of Shakesville before that doesn't change that fact, at least on Planet Earth. Although you wouldn't know it based on my emails from men who assert that feminism is pointless, stupid, irrelevant, etc., even as they totally diminish my work (and the work of the other contributors), or, worse yet, claiming responsibility for Shakesville's success, because they'd never heard of Shakesville before a random link in a gaming forum brought them here. Hmm, men deeming (primarily) women's work unimportant and/or claiming ownership of a woman's success? Now where have I heard that before? Oh, yes, that's right—filed under: A primary reason feminism exists. Ironic, no?

You ridiculed me, and missed the entire point of my email. You are obviously a lot younger than i thought to display said behavior, and it is apparent that you do not display the amount of professionalism that I had thought you would.

Oh, dearie me. I just feel terrible about being called immature and unprofessional by someone who doesn't even have a basic understanding of how blogging works. Anyway...

My favorite long-ass rant from over the weekend, care of yet another Dude Who Sends This Stuff Using His Real Name, is below. Enjoy!

Hi. I stumbled across your blog whilst googling Fat Princess, and read your articles.

I don't see how you can think it promotes fat-hating JUST because there is a fat character in the game. I guess by that logic it means that every episode of Seinfeld featuring Newman is totally trying to get you to hate fat people. The only real explanation for feeling this way would be if you somehow found some hidden mode in the game where you brutally murder all the fat princesses but leave the other ones unscathed.

Now re-read the above paragraph but replace 'fat' with 'female' and Newman with Elaine.

You hadn't played the game at the time of writing and part of me thinks you just wrote that article for the hits. If you actually wrote it in anger then your anger is laughably misplaced. Sure the princess is sometimes chubby (not always) but even so the Male and Female combatants still fight and die to bring her back.

Demanding some kind of 'political perfection' is a terrible thing. Please take a step back and try to see the situation here without your biased eyes that search for any reason to cry about why everything's offensive.

Also, your letter about fat princess shouldn't be addressed to Sony as the developer is Titan Studios, an offshoot of Epic Games. Do your wikipedia-ing first next time.

and then I read your feminist pages....

I really enjoyed reading this page (http://dneiwert.blogspot.com/2006/10/theres-something-about-men.html), but your pages are written in such an accusatory tone of hatred that I can't take any potentially valid point you make seriously.

"[Males never] have his ass grabbed on a train by another commuter"

There are so many things I hate in this sentence. First off, I am a male. I have never grabbed a woman's ass outside of make out situations, and my male friends are all the chivalrous type. I have had my ass grabbed, slapped and commented about by females many times, even by the girls I think of as good people. I have 4 incidences I can think right off the top of my head.

"...or have his boss stare at his breasts instead of looking him in the eye."

People oggle each other. By people I mean males and I mean females. If my boss was zoning out on my crouch or my biceps I wouldn't think that she was somehow objectifying me at all, I would think that my arm happened to enter her gaze of zoning and I wouldnt be offended.

I hate how some anti-male females always resort to the same fucking concept: Males are all sex-crazed, testosterone fueled assholes who we would all be better off without.

Don't you understand that its these sorts of blanket statements and accusations that fuel the remaining inter-gender hatred?

I honestly believe, with my whole heart that it's feminists themselves that make women seem less than 'equal'. Feminists were featured on Fox news to talk about how awful Fat Princess is and all that appearance did was reinforce some people's thoughts that women are easily offended and never satisfied.

I really hope you are able to read this email with an open mind to my opinion and not instinctively get defensive and dismiss it as something written by another testosterone fueled jerk.

I have a ton of respect for alot of women outside of highschool, but most highschool girls are ab-so-fucking-lutely fucked in the head.

The juxtaposition of those last three paragraphs may be the greatest thing I've ever read in my life. Perfection.

[Fat Princess: Parts One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten, Eleven.]

Why Fat Princess is better than feminism!!1!1!!

I feel so chastened, as a feminist. I didn't realize there were such acute, keen-edged minds out there, so ready to outshine my poor ladybranez.

Liss pointed me, with deep respect and sadness, to this post, wherein the purpose of feminism is pointed out to be completely false, and Fat Princess is shown to be just a cruelly accurate portrayal of reality.

Apparently, the only reason we deluded feminists don't like it is because, yes, we're jealous. We only wish we could be as cool as Fat Princess, and have all the ~~douchehounds~~ boys like us.

There's a cruel picture of me, as a feminist, right there in the post, too - but to be fair, I had just woken up, and hadn't had a chance to make myself attractive to men yet. I can't do a thing with my giant horns when I've just gotten out of bed.

Silly me, thinking morning tea was more important than my appearance. On the other hand, at least I know that I'll always have friends in rocks.

But I guess I shouldn't keep all the joy to myself, at having finally found out the true way of things. I'll give you a small taste (yes, just a little taste of that old, computer-generated swagger - sorry, listening to Art of Noise, stuff leaks over). Actually, since I'm just so, so impressed by the astonishing logic skills of the writer, I'll just sum it up here for you. For the whole brilliance, you'll have to go over there and read it yourself - but prepare to be skooled old-style, feminists, because this guy's TOTES got our number (which I'm having changed to something unlisted as soon as I hit post).

Fat Princess, compared to feminism:

does more for women than Feminism does!
is honest about fat people!
doesn't use words like "heteronormative"!
looks better!
promotes equality!
doesn't want to take my delicious pornography away!
has a sense of humor!!

I think the summary says it best, though:

The team at Titan Studios made a fun, funny game without worrying about whether or not some hypersensitive retards would get upset and look for evidence of misogyny that simply isn't there.

Nope. No misogyny there, nope. Glad we cleared that up.

Stay tuned for more endless explanations of why Fat Princess really isn't a bad thing at all, nope, it's really making our poor womanly lives better. Thank Maud for Fat Princess - else, what would we entertain ourselves with? How could we learn the Awful Truth from a troll without Fat Princess for guidance?

I feel (ho ho, I feel a jolly fat joke coming on!) enlightened. Geddit? Geddit? I'm fat, so it's funny, amirite?

More Fat Princess Mail

They're still coming in fast and furious. Here are a couple of recent favorites:

You are entitled to your opinion, as I am mine. All I really want to know is if you're going to try this game or not. It did seem to boost you into the blogosphere, so are you going to give it an actual chance, or not?

Huh. And here I thought all those years of writing and community-building and Big Brass Alliancing and working on presidential campaigns before I mentioned a video game in passing and piqued the ire of a bunch of misogynist, fat-hating dipshits is what "boosted me into the blogosphere." I guess that's just one of the many, many things I'm totes wrong about! You'd think after all the times random assholes informed me I was nobody before they heard of me, it would penetrate my BIG FAT HEAD, but I still doggedly insist on valuing both reality and my perception of it more than theirs.

Your article would garner more respect from the community if it weren't placed astride the saddle of that manatee. What a disgruntled creature she is.

As I see it you're a bitter fat kid in an older bitter fat woman's body, lamenting your youth as the outcast and pushing your views onto others. The world at large views fat people the way you described because fat people in general believe they're entitled to some sort of respect for living their lives that way. They whine and complain and never do a damn thing to help themselves out (by and large.. very large that is.)

P.S. Enjoy censoring your fat female circlejerk. Sony is so evil because they made a funny little game about rescuing a princess who has been fattened up to make recovery of said princess difficult.

P.P.S. Don't you think calling yourself "Shakespeare's Sister" is just a bit self-serving, by the way? Your ten-dollar words aren't exactly soliloquy, or even relative understudy.

Uh-oh! Looks like someone doesn't know how to use Google! On the other hand, he's very good at proving my point that Fat Princess appeals to fat-haters.

And now the pièce de résistance, reproduced with original spelling, spacing, and emphasis:

Hey!
You are no doubt a (in the words of my dearly beloved Island Nation) clever bastard.
I thought the headline "Blog note" (Which you have used on several marvelous occations was brilliant for your blog starting with:

"Hey, Shakers. I've just come home from the emergency room yet again. This time however..."

"Why was it brilliant?" You ask, and point at me accusingly.
Wel here's the deal:

Most bloggers would say "OMG I'm dying!" or "I can't feel my legs!" or something at that level, but you...
...You are a true master of blogging, and you need to substain your reputation as a blogger that cares most for your fellow human beings.
By calling your blog "A blog note" discretly, you are clever enough to gain extra sympathy, since let's face it, just as many people read this blog as always.
So by being so discretly the crowd, or perhaps "your crowd", that naive flock of sheeps immediately thinks what springs to mind.

For example, somebody posted something like this:
"Calling this post a blog note tells us just what kind of fantastic person you are"

The naive and thoughtless creature fell right in the sympathy trap! Thinking that you just wanted to explain things and didn't want sympathy!
WRONG!
Oh, dear lord how wrong weren't that ignorant minion, as so many others!

They didn't realise that if you were discret you would have said something like "I can't blog to much, health issues" or something, or perhaps not have blogged at all.

So when a person. No, when a soul, a bright and enlightened soul points out the fact that you're all about attention just like any other blogger, then your sheep covers their ears.
And posts:

"Can't she even be sick in peace?" (Or something like that)
This mindless, dumb and ignorant minion sheep does of course not think about the fact that if you have wanted peace, then you would have removed your hands from blogging.

So using your own form of sarcasm (The sarcasm you get from any blogger that have read "sarcasm for dummies") I will like to congratulate you with your success, and hope this message is never posted for your sake. Well, even though it's posted in any of your blogs you don't have to worry.
The pathetic, brainless, undead sheep you possess will shut their ears and wait for you to tell them when to open their eyes to another constructed truth you have created with your talentfull manipulation and blogging skills.

P.S. (Pro Sarcasm)

Don't attack PS2, just because it's slim.

I'm going to hurry over to my PS3 now, I need to rescue the princess before she gets fat. (wouldn't want a FAT princess... eeew...)

- Cheers from the UK!

In case you're wondering what the hell he's talking about, it's this post, from July of last year.

Now, accusations (frequently wild and rambling, always made by people whom I could never convince otherwise) that I'm being manipulative and attention-seeking and a generally horrid person after a post a blog note explaining my absence due to illness, being triggered, a family emergency, or, well, pretty much any other reason, are totally common. But it's pretty unusual to get one a full year after posting it.

I guess my thoughtful correspondent merely felt compelled to comment after making his way via one of the many new links (!) to the original Fat Princess thread, hitting the "forward" link at the bottom of the post a few times, and finding my dastardly Blog Note.

I'm honestly not sure what pisses off these blokes (and they're always blokes) more: My unapologetic and shameless public fatness, a woman with unapologetic and shameless contempt for a piece of what they regard as a male dominion, or the closeness of this community, so evident in every Fat Princess thread, such a marked contrast to any and every community from which they've come.

Bullies are always the most vocal detractors of the safe space, even as they evidently covet what it offers.

[If you made your way to Shakesville after the Fat Princess Debacle of 2008-9, here's the whole ~~sordid~~ pathetic affair, in nine parts: One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine.]

Saddest Thing Ever

Fully one year later now, there are gamerz still obsessed with my Fat Princess post.

In case you don't want to bother wading through the muck (and multiple repostings of this classic) for the gems over there, here are my personal favorites:

"You're fat! Nobody wants you, fattie!"

"Fat people are so defensive. Go eat some cake and cry."

"i know people these days are such pussies the get but hurt over anything"

"SHE IS FAT UGLY SON OF A FUCKING WHORE BITCH WHO SUCK WEINERS ATTACHED TO WEINER DOGS THINKING ITS A FUCKING HOT DOG!!! she is a fucking loser"

Yeah, fat people—why are you so defensive?! Go eat some cake and cry, because nobody wants you! LOL.

And while I do, truly, appreciate the irony of being called a loser by someone who misspells "wiener," my favorite of them all really is: "You're fat!"

I know! Well done pointing out the obvious! By the way! That is not an insult! It is merely a fact! I am also brunette! And blue-eyed! And specs-wearing! For the record!

But I digress!

The original "Fat Princess" post is probably my most linked post of all time. It's been linked from here to Hyrule and back again in dozens and dozens of gaming communities, and each associated discussion that I've read is littered with the most vitriolic fat hatred and misogyny imaginable.

Which, literally, couldn't have more proved my point that the game plays to and on entrenched stereotypes.

Thanks for the assist, dipshits!

[If you made your way to Shakesville after the Fat Princess Debacle of 2008-9, here's the whole ~~sordid~~ pathetic affair, in seven parts: One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight.]

Today in "Seriously?"

People are still linking to the original Fat Princess post, as evidence that "feminists" are hysterical fat bitchez or wev.

Lawdy. Let it go, dudez.

[If you made your way to Shakesville after the Fat Princess Debacle of 2008, here's the whole ~~sordid~~ pathetic affair, in seven parts: One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven.]

OMFG

I know I said that this was the Best. Email. Ever.—but I was wrong, Shakers. As my fan mail keeps pouring in from every corner of the globe, we have a new winner:

Sent, no doubt, without a trace of irony.

In case you happen to stop by again, Mr. Coolidge, here's why your email is so funny: See, you're asking me what happened to freedom of expression in an email you wrote in anger because I…wait for it…expressed my opinion. I didn't call for censorship, or a boycott, or suggest the game shouldn't be sold.

I merely expressed my opinion of it.

And you deemed that "the root cause of many problems in America" while also bemoaning the alleged death of freedom of expression.

And then you called me an idiot.

LOL.

[Previous Fat Princess: One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six.]

This Is Why I Don't Do Interviews

MSNBC's Games Editor Kristin Kalning emailed me to ask if I'd speak to her about the Fat Princess controversy. My exact reply by email, after reading some of her other columns, was: "I'd be happy to speak with you—as long as I'm not going to be playing the part of the 'feminist hysteric.' Based on your previous columns, that doesn't strike me as your style, but I just want to make sure there's no agenda going in." She assured me there wasn't.

This is the result. (Spot the hilarious fat joke/pun right in the headline.)

I'll just note that I spoke to Kalning for probably about an hour, about feminism, misogyny, fat acceptance, why this game wouldn't be acceptable if it were Anorexic Princess, being a gamer myself, safe spaces online, and, among other things, the pernicious lie that the entirety of the internet is populated by insufferably rude idiots looking for a flamewar.

I got a 25-word quote in the piece, despite being (mis)used as a spokeswoman for the entirety of the feminist community. ("Feminists argue…" and "Feminist bloggers say…")

An anonymous commenter from Kotaku got a 33-word quote, in which objectors to the game, such as myself, were called "foul-mouthed fatties."

Fair and balanced, bitchez.

For the record, it's not just a disservice to feminists; it's a disservice to gamers. Where are the quotes from gamers who share my opinion? (Or don't gamers in the threads at Shakesville count?) For that matter, where are the quotes from gamers who disagreed with me without sounding like total assholes? It's also just flatly inaccurate to treat feminists and gamers as mutually exclusive groups, because, clearly (refer to comments thread), they're not.

[Previous Fat Princess: One, Two, Three, Four, Five.]

More Fat Princess

This is currently on Yahoo's front page:

It links to this article, in which they just nicked a quote from my original post. I'd be a lot happier if I made the front page of Yahoo as a feminist "outraged" by the treatment of Kobra Najjar, or any one of about a thousand other things about which I write. Sigh.

I continue to be amazed by the response to my raising objections to this game, and how few people can discern the difference between offended and contemptuous. An administration that makes torture the official policy of this nation offends me. A video game that uses a fat woman as a punchline arouses nothing but contempt.

A British gaming magazine interviewed me yesterday about my objections to the game. My responses are below, for anyone interested. I've no idea whether they'll ever get printed, given that I had a couple of conditions—namely, not being cast as the Feminist Hysteric^TM. Included is one response is an explanation of why I won't be "eating crow" anytime in the near future.

[H/T to everyone in the multiverse. Previous Fat Princess: One, Two, Three, Four.]

Could you explain what you find so offensive about Fat Princess?

There are a few things I find objectionable about Fat Princess, but I'll stick with the obvious: The concept is hostile to fat women. The eponymous Fat Princess is an object of ridicule, and the source of her fatness—being fed endless amounts of food by her captors, which she cannot refuse because she has no agency—reinforces the myth that the singular cause of fatness is overeating. Whole books have been written debunking this myth. Of course there are people for whom compulsive overeating is the source of their fatness, which is as serious a psychological issue as compulsive undereating, despite our cultural failure to regard it thus. Anyone who understands why Anorexic Princess would not be considered an appropriate game should understand my objection to this one.

How do you respond to the common argument "it's just a game, and it's not meant to be taken seriously"?

It's a common criticism of feminism (or any similar social critique) that focusing on the "little things" is a waste of energy or resources, as if feminism could run out. The idea that feminism should be kept under glass, broken only in case of a "big" emergency, is predicated on the erroneous assumption that "the little things," like video games, happen in a void, but they don't. Fat Princess is part of the same culture in which the "big things" exist, like fat women making less money or being given sub-standard attention by healthcare providers. And, in a very real way, ignoring "the little things" makes the big ones that much harder to eradicate, because it is the pervasive, ubiquitous, inescapable little things that create the foundation of the culture on which the big stuff is dependent for its survival. It's the little things, the constant drumbeat of inequality and objectification, that inure us to increasingly horrible acts and attitudes toward fat women.

FP's developer recently said the concept art for the game was designed by a female. Does that change your views at all?

No. And the fact that it's being offered as a defense of the game is telling—the suggestion being that if a woman did the concept art for the game, that must mean other women shouldn't have reason to object. "Women" are hardly a monolithic group.

Do you think video games trail behind other mediums when it comes to sexist portrayals of females? If so why?

No—they're about on par with popular film and television, for example. The general lag is attributable in large part, as with other media, with insularity and lack of diversity in production. Genuine diversity necessitates actively recruiting women, LGBTQIs, and people of color who have a problem with the way women, LGBTQIs, and POC have been traditionally represented (or underrepresented) in games and want to infuse them with new visions, not just serve as tokens who put a new face on the same old shit.

Do you have a negative view of gamers who play video games containing sexist portrayals of women, even if they're playing the game in spite of such portrayals?

That's not really a yes or no question, because "sexist portrayals of women" is such an inexact phrase. There's clearly a fundamental difference between a game which merely fails to offer a comprehensive selection of female body types and a game in which only a male character can be played and the storyline tacitly or overtly encourages sexual violence against female characters.

Do you think it's possible to be a gamer and a feminist at the same time, given how hard it is to avoid games that sexualize their female characters?

Yes. I'm a gamer. My husband is a gamer. Many of our friends are gamers. I know plenty of other feminist gamers—women and men. But our choices are pretty limited—and no wonder, given the response to my original post on Fat Princess.

Fat Princess Greatest Hits

The Fat Princess Flypaper Post, aka Shakesville Trollwarz 2008, is still going strong at almost 2,000 comments. At least 24 hours ago, it reached the point where even the Disqus community page for the thread was becoming a browser-crasher if your computer is more than 5 minutes old, and I know there are some Shakers who're sad they're missing out on all the fun.

But you know I'm nothing if not accommodating, so here, for your amusement, amazement, and edification, are:

The Top 10 Fat Princess Troll Droppings
10. Why is heteronormativity part of your post? Why is there? I think I know why its there. Its there for reason and that reason is 'Intelligence'. […] Lady....who gave you permission to use the internet?

9. It's a fucking video game, are you going to complain anytime they have girls in videogames? If they're not fat, they're too sexy, if they're ugly, than their womanizing.

8. Gamers who buy games with racism (you could even mark Call of Duty 4 racist) are not racists. They just like racist jokes.

7. You have been programmed by the matriarchy to regard all gamers as anti-women and shallow.

6. With all pretence of being at all polite pushed aside everything said just comes across as pathetic anger bread of a dissatisfied life.

[Mmm…pathetic anger bread. Can we feature that recipe in Shaker Gourmet, Misty?—MM.]

5. You eat, you get fat. It's a good message.

4. It's people like you who ruin women.

3. lol your fat.

2. I decided anything I posted on this blog would be brushed off as me being a fat hating, homophobic misogynist, so I got my mom to post here instead. She is an overweight woman who has a different opinion than your own, and you call her a fuckneck and ban her.

1. Seriously, learn to logic.

* * *
Yeah, Shakers, seriously—learn to logic. And please drop your own faves from the thread of the damned into comments.

And, btw, Shakers—you're totally fooking awesome.

Best. Email. Ever.

The Fat Princess thread has proven enormously amusing, as the fat-hating, homophobic, misogynist dancing monkeys have boogied to the sound of my organ grinding [insert your own double entendre here] without a hint of irony or self-awareness all day, but my email has been providing me with lots of treats, too. This one was too good not to share:

Thanks, Sean. Not only was I enormously worried, but I totally give a shit what you think—so your email came just in time.

And I'll be sure to pass on the good word to my husband, too.

Fat Princess Update

First: Holly takes the time in a great post to patiently explain exactly what's problematic about "Fat Princess," since my contempt was so absolute I couldn't be arsed.

Secondly, there are about eight zillion pathetic rejects who are insistently emailing links to this picture and this picture, both fine examples of both the superb cleverness and mad Photoshoppin' skillz endemic to the fanboyz madly forwarding my Fat Princess post as fast as their wee fingers can fly. So, note to my new penpals: I've seen 'em. Congrats; you're awesome. And I don't care what the haterz say—spending the past 24 hours feverishly dropping links into emails and comments threads totally doesn't make you pitiable losers.

Finally, the brilliant Jim Sterling of Destructoid manages to exemplify the perfect, hilarious irony of most of the responses to my original post:

Even worse is a writer at Shakesville, who took time out of doing her husband's laundry to write this: "Congrats on your awesome new game, Sony. I'm positively thrilled to see such unyielding dedication to creating a new generation of fat-hating, heteronormative assholes." As you can see, she uses "words" like "heteronormative" to sound clever and informed, a tactic which invariably fails and makes one look presumptuous and pretentious. ... Word to the wise: Sarcastic fat girls don't go to the prom!

Genius. If there's one way to counter my charge that this game will reinforce fat-hating and heteronormativity, it's to mock me for being fat and note I "took time out of doing [my] husband's laundry" to write the post. Boy, was I ever wrong, huh? Consider me sufficiently chastened!

Ditto the plethoric comments calling me a "fat lesbo bitch." Love it. Anyone who thinks I consider "fat," "lesbo," or "bitch" an insult obviously hasn't spent much time at Shakesville. And anyone who uses those terms as insults is saying a lot more about themselves than they are about me. Namely, that they're fat-hating, homophobic misogynists...and now we're back to my original post again! Wheeeeeeee!

Way to prove me wrong, dudez.

[Note to moderators: Just leave up the idiotic comments. Let them prove the point even more. Ergo: Trigger warning in effect for comments.]

I Write Letters

Dear Sony:

My friend Erica emailed me about the hottt new PlayStation game you've got in production, Fat Princess. It looks and sounds just adorable—

Frantic and fun, Fat Princess pits two hordes of players against each other in comic medieval battle royale. Your goal is to rescue your beloved princess from the enemy dungeon. There's a catch though: your adversary has been stuffing her with food to fatten her up and it's going to take most of your army working together to carry her back across the battlefield.

—but the only thing I can't figure out is why anyone would want to rescue a fat princess in the first place, since everyone knows that fat girls are unlovable human garbage at whom any sensible bloke would sooner hurl invective than cast a longing glance.

I sure hope there's a clever dénouement like the Fat Princess magically becoming thin once she's rescued! 'Cuz that would rock, yo!

Anyway, congrats on your awesome new game, Sony. I'm positively thrilled to see such unyielding dedication to creating a new generation of fat-hating, heteronormative assholes. It's not often I have the opportunity to congratulate a cutting-edge tech company on such splendiferous retrofuck jackholery. Way to go! The Fat Princess of Shakes Manor salutes you.

Love,
Liss

P.S. The PS2 sucked.

P.P.S. There's an update here.