GTFO

“Is your computer in the kitchen?” This question is one of the mildest forms of online harassment faced by women who play video games such as Call of Duty, the multiplayer first-person shooter that pits teams against one another. A stronger comment might be something like, “I'm going to stick an egg in your vaginal canal and punch it.” As viewers will learn in Shannon Sun-Higginson's eye-opening documentary GTFO (the popular acronym for “get the fuck out”), there's even a website created by interviewee Grace Gtz called “Fat, Ugly, or Slutty” that archives a wide variety of stupid and hateful remarks made by male gamers. Noting that 42% of gamers are female (without, somewhat disingenuously, admitting that women are far more likely to play RPGs and social games like Candy Crush Saga than Call of Duty), GTFO is divided into relevant sections: “Marketing” (most games are targeted towards straight white men in their 20s), “Characters” (as one interviewee puts it, many games feature female characters that are essentially big-bosomed girls in panties), “Boy's Club” (which notes how women are starting to create their own spaces to enjoy and discuss games and gaming issues, such as GeekGirlCon), and “Online Harassment” (being “raped” is a common term for a kill in Call of Duty). GTFO convincingly argues that women gamers are often faced with the choice of staying quiet and preserving the misogynist cycle or speaking out and becoming a target. The latter is precisely what happened in 2014 when game developers Brianna Wu and Zoe Quinn, along with cultural critic Anita Sarkeesian, were the focus of a vicious semi-coordinated campaign that included death threats and would eventually make national headlines as Gamergate. Wu and Sarkeesian are among the well-spoken interviewees here who make a compelling argument that an ugly misogynist streak infects certain aspects of gamer culture. Extras include a panel discussion. Recommended. [Note: this is also available with public performance rights for $125 for public libraries and $295 for colleges and universities from Collective Eye, www.collectiveeye.org.] Aud: C, P. (R. Pitman)