For All Feminist Cyborgs: An Exploratory Research on Feminist Organizing Online

WD 221 Feminist Perspectives and Strategies in Organizing

Professor Rowena Laguilles

Student Anna Belle Sanchez

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction

A Gendered Internet A Brief Herstory of Women Who Made the Internet

Ctrl + F: Women in Technology Statistics showing the non-representation of women in the field of information and communications technology (ICT).

Ctrl + F: “Women in Technology” Industrialization and the unjust situation of women in electronics factories.

Cyberaggressions on Women Examples of cyberaggressions committed on women online.

Awesomesauce List of feminist organizations and examples of feminist activism online.

#Cyberactivism Data and analysis of feminist activism online.

AFK (Away From Keyboard) Offline efforts that affect feminist activists and activism online.

What Makes Online Activism Feminist? Feminist critique and analysis of online activism.

Thank You Internet Index of references INTRODUCTION

Before this research paper, my Internet was into the rabbit hole, the part where there is waiting for the next translated chapter of Saint avatar and non-consent porn. Oniisan, a manga about the (mis)adventures of Where there are games that simulate (even Jesus and Buddha living together in modern day romanticize) abduction, violence, and rape of Japan. Or getting my adrenaline on playing Five women and young girls. Where there are trolls Minutes to Kill Yourself, of course, Wedding harassing women online until they start to fear Day edition. Sometimes, I'll just go link hopping for their safety offline. The part that can only be for hours, convinced that it's productive explained by: Because Internet. procrastination to know useless information like the proper plural form of octopus. But it was also the part where feminist cyberactivists are fighting violence against Now, it feels like I've taken the red pill and women with mapping technology. Where seeing how far the rabbit hole goes in the mobile apps guided by feminist values of Matrix. sisterhood and solidarity are created to combat . Where mobile phones do more This research paper started to be about feminist than send emojis but actually empower women organizing in the competitive gaming sector. through education. Where herstory can exist Post-binge watching 's Tropes with a few Wikipedia edits. Where tweets and vs Women in Video Games YouTube series and hashtags can end years of riot s and civil wars. right just when Gamergate was starting to flood The part that can only be explained by: Because my feed, I believed a research paper Internet. was possible. The feels was strong and only a quote from Even though I only had one documentary that Hellboy will do. barely mentioned female (Free to Play: The Movie), one article on sexist local In the absence of light, darkness competitive gaming rules (Pro-gaming prevails. There are things that go tournament attempts to limit gay and bump in the night, Agent Myers. transgender players), one short post by a Make no mistake about that. And we local female (I'm No Myth: The Girl are the ones who bump back. Gamer Experience in the Philippines) and all my faith in and the power of search Professor Trevor 'Broom' keyword variations. Bruttenholm

But after being considered too niche a topic at initial consultations, I decided, for no other reason than to sound smart, to make a comparative analysis on the non-representation And this research paper is how I bump back. of women in the field of technology vis-a-vis the dominance of female labor in factories manufacturing electronics through a feminist critique on the ways the two divisions of “women in tech” organize. Annabs Sanchez May 2015 However, with each click I found myself deeper

A GENDERED INTERNET A Brief Herstory of Women Who Made the Internet

Far from the gender-neutral cyber-playground advancement of her career as a mathematician. that we imagine it to be, the Internet largely remains a male domain. When she met Charles Babbage who was then working on the Analytical Engine, she was only Gender stereotyping has greatly contributed to supposed to translate Luigi Menabrea's paper the masculinization of technology and the for him, but he was so impressed with her Internet. For example, “most people associate understanding of the machine, that he asked her science and math fields with 'male' and to expand the original. humanities and arts fields with 'female'”i, which creates implicit bias towards women in the field The two eventually ended up working together of science and technology. on the Analytical Engine. Although the machine was never built, Lovelace's pioneering the idea These societal beliefs that men are naturally that it can do more than calculate numbers, better than women when it comes to inspired Alan Turing with his work at Bletchley technologies such as the Internet, has Park during World War II. discouraged women's participation online. As noted in a report by No Ceilingsii, there is “an Her visionary legacy is perfectly summed up by estimated 200 million fewer women than men Walter Isaacson: “Her appreciation for poetical are online in developing countries.” science led her to celebrate a proposed calculating machine that was dismissed by the This lack of female voices online, in turn scientific establishment of her day, and she invisibilize the Internet's herstory “even though perceived how the processing power of such a women throughout history have been active in device could be used on any form of developing new technologies, feminists have information. Thus did Ada, Countess of argued that technology has still been looked Lovelace, help sow the seeds for a digital age upon as a masculine creation.”iii that would blossom a hundred years later.”vi

Ada Lovelace: First Computer Programmer After she wrote and published “a full set of instructions that a computing device could use All of Ada Lovelace's life has been about gender to reach an end result that had not been stereotyping and how she broke all of them. calculated in advance,”vii Lovelace became known as the first computer programmer. Daughter to the turbulent of Anne Isabella Milbanke and the poet Lord Byron, her Until now, there are still a lot of contentions mother “fearing that Ada would inherit her regarding Lovelace's work and contribution in father's volatile 'poetic' temperament...raised her modern computing. “It is something that many under a strict regimen of science, logic, and women working in tech are only too familiar mathematics.”iv with. We can look at Ada and recognize that our own challenges are similar to hers, and her She impressed one of her earliest tutors, achievements are the sorts of things that we Augustus de Morgan, with her maths skills, who strive towards,”viii says Suw Charman- said that she had the potential to become “an Anderson, founder of Ada Lovelace Day. original mathematical investigator, perhaps of first-rate eminence.”v But, was also quick to recognize that her gender is an obstacle to the

Hedy Lamarr: Paved the Way for WiFi frequency would only hear a blip, and would be unable to intercept the message.xiv” Hailed as the most beautiful girl in film, Hedy Lamarr's life is like the plot of a Hollywood The spread spectrum technology used in the blockbuster come to life. Secret Communications System is regarded as the “technical backbone that makes cellular She made headlines for the film Ecstasy, which phones, fax machines and other wireless came into much criticism for its passionate operationsxv” as well as the precursor to wireless portrayal of female sexuality. It was the first communication technology such as WiFi and non-pornograhic film that featured full frontal LTE. nudes as well as the first onscreen female orgasmix. Although Lamarr and Antheil turned over their invention to the US Navy, it was never put to More than the critics, it was her husband, use. Author Stephen Michael Shearer speculates armaments manufacturer Friedric Mandl that that “the invention was shelved because Lamarr was enraged by the movie. Often described as was considered the most beautiful girl in the possessive and extremely controlling, he world and we must keep in mind that, at the reportedly bought all copies of Ecstasy to time, nobody took a beautiful woman seriously prevent other people from seeing his wife's regarding intellectual matters.xvi” controversial scene. Mandl also allegedly “forbade her from pursuing her film career and kept her a virtual prisoner in their home.x”

As Mandl insisted that she accompany him during his meetings, Lamar became privy to matters of military technology during World War II. Among those that were discussed in one of these meetings was the “research was indicating that radio waves were better than wire for controlling weapons such as torpedoesxi.”

After escaping from her husband – some reports say she disguisedxii herself as her maid, while others say she druggedxiii her maid to make her escape – Lamarr moved to Hollywood to continue her acting career. It was during this time that she met pianist and composer George Antheil.

Both shared a deep sense of patriotism and an interest in inventing which led them to collaborate on the Secret Communications System. It has the ability to “guide torpedoes to their target without being intercepted by the enemy, by sending messages between transmitter and receiver over multiple radio frequencies in a random pattern” and “the message would move so quickly across the radio waves that anyone tuning in to a particular

Grace Hopper: of Code about Grace Hopper still highlights the inequality experienced by women in tech fields. In an interview with David Lettermanxvii, the In an interview, The Queen of Code director and talk show host asked Grace Hopper what Community actress, Gillian Jacobs says “The interested her of going into the US Navy at 37- erasure of women was happening in real years old to which she wittily answered, “Well, timexix,” referring to the lack of recognition of World War II to begin with.” women in tech history. While Born with Curiosity director Melissa Pierce says,"Steve She continued to charm Letterman and the Jobs and Bill Gates had over 12 films made audience with her wit and spunk when she took about them, but their legacies are built on out a bundle of wire, each representing a Grace's. Who knows, without Grace Hopper, “nanosecond” and explained what she uses them they might have been door to door calculator for. “When an admiral asks you what takes it salesmen! Even with that fact, there isn't one damn long to send a message via satellite, you documentary about Grace and her legacy. It's point out to him that between here (pointing to time to change that.xx" the strand wire she's holding) and the satellite, there are very large number or nanoseconds (illustrating the distance with the strand of wire).” Her work on the Mark I in Harvard – which she referred to as the prettiest gadget she ever saw - got her assigned to the Manhattan Project. Here she worked on one of the most difficult calculations given to her by John Von Neumann on how to make a sphere collapse upon itself as well as the location of the force points that will make it do so. It took her and her team three months to solve. According to the documentary The Queen of Codexviii, it would only be later that Hopper will find out that it was for the implosion problem on the atomic bomb that was dropped on Japan, which caused the war to end six days later.

However, even with her contributions to her country, Hopper wasn't allowed to teach at Harvard (there were no such thing as female professors at Harvard) nor continue serving at the US Navy (all the recruited ladies were being sent home after the war). So instead, she worked for Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation, where she worked on the first compiler for computer languages, which allowed computers to talk to each other in plain English rather than through numbers and symbols. This would eventually become the precursor to COBOL (Common Business Oriented Language).

But despite her contributions to modern computing, two of the documentaries made

CTRL + F: WOMEN IN TECHNOLOGY Statistics showing the non-representation of women in the field of information and communications technology (ICT).

When cyberfeminism first came out in the 90s, say the least. And more troubling is that one of its original objective was to critique the according to a 2014 study, men are twice as masculinization of technology because of likely to be hired in mathematics and computing gender stereotyping. It “argued that technology jobs more than women. According to the study, needed to be continually interrogated and re- “without any information other than a conceptualized, and that women needed to candidate’s appearance (which makes sex clear), become more active in technological areas as both male and female subjects are twice more well.xxi” likely to hire a man than a woman.xxii” The team attributed the results to gender-based But, even after 25 years, women are still stereotypes on women in maths- and science- underrepresented in tech. Statistics of women based fields. working in the top tech companies are dismal to

Men Women Non Tech Non Tech Workforce Tech Jobs Leadership Workforce Tech Jobs Leadership Jobs Jobs Googlexxiii 70% 82% 53% 78% 30 % 18% 47% 22% Facebookxxiv 69% 85% 53% 77% 31% 15% 47% 23% Twitterxxv 70% 90% 50% 79% 30% 10% 50% 21% Yahooxxvi 62% 85% 47% 77% 37% 15% 52% 23% Applexxvii 70% 80% N/A 72% 30% 20% N/A 28%

As per Wikipedia, the 7th ranking website in the transsexual or transgenderxxix. world, various studies (oddly enough, all uploaded in Wikipedia) show the gender This underrepresentation on women editors in diversity problem lies in its lack of women would probably explain the findings of a recent editors. In the Wikipedia: Systemic Bias project study on gender inequality across all versions of page, the number one characteristic of the Wikipedia. Using computational linguistics, “average Wikipedian” on the English Wikipedia results suggest that male is the “null gender” on is malexxviii. But what's important to note is that Wikipedia as “articles about women tend to Wikipedia admits that this (along with their emphasize the fact that they are about women common characteristics) affect the content of by overusing words like 'woman,' 'female,' or Wikipedia. 'lady' while articles about men tend not to contain words like 'man,' 'masculine,' or The gender gap in Wikipedia editors is further 'gentleman.' Words like 'married,' 'divorced,' highlighted in a 2011 Wikipedia Editors Study, 'children,' or 'family' are also much more which shows that 91% of editors are male, while frequently used in articles about women.xxx” only 9% female and less than 1% identifying as But this also affects which pages are created and cannot be notable because she doesn’t updated, which results in an imbalance of have a proper Wikipedia page, so the information and how it's accessed. To illustrate, marginalisation becomes circular and self-perpetuating. The biographies here's a quote from the New Statesman article that do exist often put a woman’s titled “The Wikipedia wars: does it matter if our status as a wife, mother or daughter biggest source of knowledge is written by in the first paragraph, before or next men?”: to her notable achievements. These personal details are more often an afterthought in biographies of men. Take its “List of Pornographic Conventionally female interests are also neglected: there’s a single page Actresses”; it is meticulously for all six series of Sex and the City, referenced, with clear sections whereas there are 43 separate articles according to decade. The page is on Top Gear. And when it comes to organised, clean and easy to use. articles on topics such as rape and abortion, the gender gap among Compare it to the “List of Female xxxi Poets”: a sprawling dumping editors really begins to matter . ground, organised by name rather than date, unreferenced and of little use to anyone unless they want to In 2011, Sue Gardner, then executive director of know whose name might come after Wikimedia Foundation, “has set a goal to raise the share of female contributors to 25 percent by Sylvia Plath in an enormous xxxii alphabetical list. The list of poets 2015 ” and probably as an effort to reach has been edited 600 times, by nearly those goals, Wikimedia has decided, through an 300 editors. The list of female porn ongoing series of feature stories, “to show how stars is a newer page but over 1,000 women around the world are contributing to editors have edited it more than Wikimedia projects today, to invite more 2,500 times. women to participate, and to identify best practices for increasing gender diversity in our Female poets at least get their own communities, as well as in the content we create xxxiii list. In areas such as science and together ” in celebration of this year's technology, women are severely International Women's Day. However, in 2014 under-represented. If there is not a Gardner was quoted as saying, “I didn’t solve it. decent biography of a given woman We didn’t solve it. The Wikimedia Foundation on Wikipedia, users will assume she didn’t solve it.xxxiv” CTRL + F: “WOMEN IN TECHNOLOGY” Industrialization and the unjust situation of women in electronics factories.

The underrepresentation of women in Silicon following passage in a Malaysian investment Valley and the overwhelming number of women brochure, designed to attract foreign firms: The employed in factories manufacturing manual dexterity of the oriental female is electronics, shows the dichotomy within the famous the world over. Her hands are small and category “women in tech.” she works fast with extreme care. Who, therefore, could be better qualified by nature Industrialization, as often the debate among and inheritance to contribute to the efficiency of feminists, may have the capacity to liberate a bench-assembly production line than the women through empowerment by employment. oriental girl (emphasis added).xxxviii” However, others argue that these opportunities for women in factory work are simply Following this emphasis on essentialism, “patriarchal restrictions on women's capacity to women are also deemed “to be naturally more control their own lives being merely docile and willing to accept tough work modernized, not overturned.xxxv” discipline, and naturally less inclined to join unions, than menxxxix” leaving them more Given this context, under the framework of vulnerable to exploitation. capitalism, gender division of labor remains the source of women workers' oppression in the Major tech companies such as Microsoft, workplace. Because of women's second class Hewlett-Packard, Samsung, Acer, Kingston, and status, the “jobs that are available to women are Apple, among others, who outsource their usually only unskilled and poorly paid; assembly line work to factories in China, have technical and managerial jobs are either tacitly been accused of actively neglecting the or explicitly reserved for men.xxxvi” They are inhumane condition workers – predominantly also often paid less and work longer hours than women – are subjected in. Accusations of men. exploitation include low wages, long working hours (minimum of 12-hours with little to no Businesses also consider hiring women as an breaks), grave living conditions in its advantageous business practice, given that they dormitories, and . often agree to become casual workers instead of regular employees because of household In some cases, some workers are literally being responsibilities, or naturally leave the factory worked to death. Just recently, it was reported when they marry. Also, “the fact that only young that a 26-year old Chinese worker died due to women work in world market factories is also exhaustion from being overworked in Pegatron, rationalized as an effect of their capacity to a company that produces Apple's iPhone. children - this naturally means they will be either unwilling or unable to continue in According to his family, Tian Fulei, reportedly employment much beyond their early died in the morning of but his body was not twenties.xxxvii” discovered until the evening. Documents provided for the family shows cause of death as Essentialist ideals of women also affect their “sudden death.xl” Fulei was working on iPhone role in the labor market. “A good example is the 6 models when he died. This is not the first time Apple has been linked (Pegatron), expressed their sentiments towards in controversies regarding inhumane and the undercover report “in an email to around abusive employment practices of their suppliers. 5,000 staff across the UK, Apple senior vice From 2010 to 2013, Foxconn employees have president of operations Jeff Williams said both been using “mass suicides” as a form of protest himself and the chief executive [Tim Cook] against the company's exploitative labor were 'deeply offended' by the suggestion that practices. Several employees have died and Apple would break a promise to the workers in many have been left with debilitating injuries our supply chain or mislead our customers in from falling from Foxconn sites. In response to any way.xliii” the protests, Foxconn have set up “suicide nets.xli” In their website, Apple claims that they are “striving to eliminate unethical hiring and There are some suicides however wherein excessive work hours for the people who build Foxconn employees are accused of stealing our products. Apple is also dedicated to the closely guarded prototypes and then later found ethical sourcing of minerals like tin, tantalum, dead. Sun Dayong, an employee of Foxconn, tungsten, and gold, so we can improve was accused of stealing an Apple iPhone conditions for workers at the deepest levels of prototype and was later found dead, having fell our supply chain.xliv” from the 12th floor a building. Foxconn says his death was a suicidexlii. However, it's been years and there are still cases like Tian Fulei and there are still illegal miners Apple, after an expose by BBC Panorama on the recruiting children to mine tin used in Apple working conditions in one of its suppliers productsxlv.

CYBERAGGRESSIONS ON WOMEN Examples of cyberaggressions committed on women online.

Feminine usernames incurred an average of 100 sexually explicit or threatening messages a day. Masculine names received 3.7.xlvi

GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE note that Grayson nor did anyone in Kotaku review Quinn's game Depression Quest. #Gamergate Quinn became a victim of doxxing, a term By most accounts, #Gamergate started when which means that all her information was details of the very bad break up between female gathered and posted online. Her online developer, Zoe Quinn, and harassment quickly became offline as she programmer, Eron Gjoni, went public through received death and rape threats through her Gjoni's blog post. Among other things, he home phone number. The harassment was too accused Quinn of cheating on him with Nathan extreme that she had to leave her home for fear Grayson, a video game reviewer at Kotaku, to of her safety. get favorable reviews for her games. Another female game developer, Brianna Wu, Quinn gets quickly attacked online by trolls who also fell victim to online and offline harassment justifies their harassment under the banner of and was forced to leave her home with her ethics in games . But it's important to husband. She reported the death threat sent to her home address to the police and is now under outspoken. In her Vanity Fair interview, her first investigation. after the photo leak, she says,“It is not a scandal. It is a sex crime. It is a sexual violation. It’s Around this time, Anita Sarkeesian released disgusting. The law needs to be changed, and Tropes vs Women in Video Games on her we need to change. That’s why these Web sites YouTube channel Feminist Frequency. She also are responsible. Just the fact that somebody can gets attacked by online trolls. As a way of be sexually exploited and violated, and the first fighting back, she posted a week's worth of thought that crosses somebody’s mind is to harassment on her Tumblrxlvii. Tweets make a profit from it. It’s so beyond me. I just contained incitement to suicide, rape and death can’t imagine being that detached from threats, and misogynist comments towards humanity. I can’t imagine being that thoughtless Sarkeesian. and careless and so empty inside.lii”

Recently, Utah State University received an Since then, Reddit has banned the “Fappening” email with threats of mass murder if they subreddit, exposing the thread's creator in the allowed Sarkeesian to give her speech on process, who was none to pleased about the sexism and video games at the school's Center banliii. An artist planning to use the nude photos for Women and Gender. of Lawrence and Upton for his exhibition was thwarted by a Change.org petitionliv. The email read: “This will be the deadliest school shooting in American history, and I’m Following The Fappening were The Snappening giving you a chance to stop it. I have at my (hacking Snapchat accounts) and just recently, disposal a semiautomatic rifle, multiple pistols, Photofucket, wherein hackers target individual and a collection of pipe bombs. I will write my Photobucket accounts in search of photos meant manifesto in her spilled blood, and you will all to be hidden with a method known as fusking. bear witness to what feminist lies and poison Regarding the incident, Brandon Bourret and have done to the men of America.” Athanasios Andrianakis are not facing up to 15 years in prison “after they were arrested for As of this writing, Brianna Wu has seeked the allegedly developing and selling software help of Congresswoman Katherine Clarkxlviii designed to hack nude photos from the because the FBI is not taking her case seriously. Photobucket accounts of thousands of women. Anita Sarkeesian has been named by Time The software is able to hack on a previously Magazine as one of their 100 most influentialxlix. unimaginable scale.lv” Zoe Quinn founded Crash Override, a private network of experts to assist victims of online Non-Con harassmentl. Law & Order: SVU comes up with a #Gamergate-inspired episode titled I have previously written about non-con in a Intimidation Gameli. blog post for Isis Internationallvi. Short for non- consent, it's a pornography using The Fappening popular video games and video game characters.

In 2014, users from 4chan's /b/ and Reddit's StudioFOW, the most well-known studio “Fappening” subreddit posted countless nude creating non-con porn, has produced titles such photographs of A-List Hollywood celebrities as Lara in Trouble, Kunoichi, and Arena of like Jennifer Lawrence, Kim Kardashian, Kate Depravity. In their most popular, Lara in Upton, Rihanna, Cara Delevigne, Selena Trouble, Tomb Raider's Lara Croft gets Gomez, and Kirsten Dunst among many others, abducted, tortured and brutally raped over and hacked from Apple's iCloud. over. While in Arena of Depravity, set in the World of Warcraft, a slave girl is raped by orcs Actress Jennifer Lawrence has been the most to mentally break her. between the game and the player is clicking the But make no mistake, StudioFOW next button, changing camera angles, and productions are brutal. In any given clicking the “cum with” option. StudioFOW movie, you can count on the camera closing up on Apps women's faces, so the viewer can see just how much the sex is hurting Titstare them. After sex scenes, the women gush or vomit semen Created by Jethro Batts and David Boulton from endlessly, from just about every Australia and presented at the TechCrunch orifice at once. Occasionally, scenes Disrupt 2013 startup conference, Titstare is an emphasize the damage the rape is app where users can upload and like photos of causing by letting you see inside men looking at women's . bodies, X-Ray style. TechCrunch later tweeted an apology saying: The women might protest, and they We apologize for two inappropriate hackathon might cry, but the action doesn't presentations earlier today. We will more stop. Instead, the films intensify as carefully screen from now onlx. they go on: many of the films build up to gangbangs, and increasingly Their website for Titstare is no longer live but rougher sex. In one particularly their Twitter and Facebook accounts are still up gruesome scene in Kunoichi, a giant but remain inactive. demon penetrates Kasumi so deeply Circle Shake that every thrust by the demon lifts Kasumi's ribcage up. Kasumi Presented by sotopless.com at the TechCrunch screams in pain—the demon is Disrupt 2013 startup conference, Circle Shake is tearing her up inside. Eventually, a mobile sensor app that measures how many she gets hurt so badly, she collapses times you can shake your smartphone up and into a "mindbreak" state. The demon down. pulls out, and Kasumi crawls after him, asking for more. From that It became controversial after the presenter point forward, the men no longer simulated on stage to demo the have to force Kasumi into app. It was reported that there was a 9-year old submission—she enthusiastically girl at the audience that timelxi. participates in the gangbangslvii. After Titstare and Circle Shake received major Still, StudioFOW claims that their medium is flak online, TechCrunch issued a longer apology actually the safest way to express rape fantasies, on their blog. "as there isn’t even a real actress involved – all the models are digital and nobody is being Normally our hackathons are a exploited.lviii" showcase for developers of all stripes to create and share something Through crowdfunding, with fans donating as cool. But earlier today, the spirit of much as $6,000, StudioFOW has managed to our event was marred by two continually produce more movies and short misogynistic presentations. films. They have also forayed into creating their own game. But calling Zoey: Cum Harvestlix a Sexism is a major problem in the game is a bit of a stretch as it doesn't involve tech industry, and we’ve worked any gameplay but only a supercut of the female hard to counteract it in our coverage character giving . The only interaction and in our own hiring. Today’s issues resulted from a and . RapeLay also has failure to properly screen our a nakadashi (internal ) hackathons for inappropriate content counter, which carries a danger of ahead of time and establish clear . guidelines for these submissions. After completing the storyline and Trust us, that changed as soon as we "breaking" the girls, there are six modes saw what happened at our show. of gameplay: Every presentation is getting a thorough screening from this • Nozoki mode, where the player hackathon onward. Any type of watches the girl wait in the sexism or other discriminatory subway station, and upon saying and/or derogatory speech will not be a prayer, can blow their skirts up allowed. with the wind, exposing their underwear. After certain You expect more from us, and we expect more achievements have been made, from ourselves. We are sorrylxii. the player has the option of removing the girl's clothing as Games well as inserting vibrators, but no touching is involved. Custer's Revenge is a video game made for the • Chikan mode is similar Atari 2600 console by Mystique. The gameplay to Nozoki mode, except the includes controlling Custer (who has nothing on player goes into the train with the except a cowboy hat, boots, and an ) and girl and fondles them with the avoiding arrow attacks to reach an indigenous ability to remove their clothing. woman tied to a pole and have sex with her. • Two player or "2P" mode, in this option, the player can have sex A remake was released by game developer with any one of the three girls. Mysticca Games, “a small group of Game The main character is in danger Design students in the university of Anhembi of being killed under certain Morumbi in São Paulo, Brazil.lxiii” It has been circumstances, but there are no met by opposition from indigenous game level restrictions. There is also an designer Elizabeth LaPenséelxiv, whose tweet option of different sex positions about the game caused several gameplay including oral sex. footage to be taken down. • Five player or "5P" mode, where the player is restricted to one sex RapeLay is a 3D eroge (Japanese slang for position, with three other males erotic game) made by Illusion Soft. The game is raping one girl during gang rape. played in a first person POV of the character The level restrictions for this Masaya Kimura, a chikan (Japanese word for mode include locations with groper. Usually on crowded trains.) who follows small space. a mother and her two daughters home and • Shippo, also known as "3P" or them. "4P" mode. In this mode, the main character is able to have sex As per its Wikipedia entry, gameplay includes with two or three of the girls at the following: once. • Neko-Kappa mode is not The player has a variety of sexual playable, and can be only viewed positions to choose from such as woman in the Botuplay Extra CD. But on top, forced (irrumatio), the original idea is that Neko- Kappa mode allows the player to related items (i.e. fully-functioning ) to have one or two girls tied up sex-related activities (e.g. blowjob, BDSM, in bondage. bestiality). But most disturbing is that, there are places where you can buy rape. Residents can According to a review of the game, dialogues buy rape fantasies with an option to "Rape such as "Sniff... sniff... I w-w-want to die..." is victim," "Get raped," or "Hold victim.lxviii" uttered by the women characters after being raped.The game also allows for the girls to get There are also places like Rape City where pregnant and then be forced to have an “Nude avatars ran free, sporting bizarrely abortionlxv. oversized genitals. The local police station was flanked by people straight out of a YMCA Regarding the issue of normalizing sexual music video, and featured a sex crucifix.lxix” It's violence on games and cartoons, the United also here that some residents participate in rape Nations' Committee on the Elimination of tracking or “where users pay real world money Discrimination against Women has already for special software that allows them to track called on Japan “to ban the sale of video games other users, and rape their avatars.lxx” or cartoons involving rape and against women which normalize and promote In 2007, Belgian newspapers De Morgen and sexual violence against women and girls.lxvi" Het Lasstste Nieuws released a report that “the Brussels public prosecutor has asked patrol Stockholm: An Exploration of True Love is detectives of the Federal Computer Crime Unit an interactive DVD (all characters are played by to go on Second Life to investigate a 'virtual live actors) by RMD Global. “In this game, you rape' involving a Belgian user of Second kidnap and sexually and psychologically assault Life.lxxi” This has sparked debate on whether a young women, with the explicit goal of virtual rape can be considered as rape at all. manipulating her into developing Stockholm syndrome. In other words, the goal is to get a A blogger posted that virtual or synthetic rape woman to fall in love with you through does not have real-life effects or consequences, kidnapping, abusing and manipulating her.lxvii” stating that “[E]ven for the most devoted player, Sale of the game has already been banned on the synthetic rape of an avatar seems unlikely to Amazon, but RMD has started an online petition cause the player to be fearful or feel out of to change that decision. control in their real life. The virtual world is a separate environment from the real world, and Second Life is an online virtual world very the avatars body is not actually the player’s similar to a Massively Multiplayer Online Role body. Therefore most of the harmful Playing Games (MMORPG) but without any psychological damage caused by real rape other objective other than to exist in its virtual (including post-traumatic stress disorder) will landscape. Players or Residents, can interact not result from synthetic rape.lxxii” with each other and the objects in Second Life's universe or the Grid via their avatars. Residents However, in a post by digital culture critic, also have the ability to create their own object Julian Dibbell, he wrote, “posttraumatic tears via a three-dimensional modelling tool software were streaming down her face - a real-life fact available in the game. They can also add that should suffice to prove that the words' interactivity to these objects via the Linden emotional content was no mere playactinglxxiii” Scripting Language. about how a virtual rape of an avatar affected the real life woman behind it. Second Life received a lot of criticism when avatars with childlike appearance were found is no stranger to controversy inhabiting its Adult-rated grid. In this part of regarding the game's misogynistic attitude Second Life, there are marketplaces selling sex- towards women. Upon the release of , no one was the least bit surprised Quite literally, I and a couple friends of at the amount of violence in the game as well as mine encountered a stranger and we the misogynistic portrayal of women. were raped and forced to strip dance in GTA online. It was like a "traumatic life" The gameplay on GTA V include hiring simulator. prostitutes to get information and then killing her after she's given it to you. As one of the To re-iterate: playable characters, you are encouraged to • He and the animation was grope , so the security guards won't modeled after the male character spot you. Regarding the gameplay, one male having sex in the Franklin game reviewer wrote, “But what I do know is mission Paparazzo - The Sex how wretched I felt as the game often coerced Tape. me into actions that degraded women. I felt • We never have seen the player dirty driving around that paparazzo; the idea of before, nor were we in a party of a mini-game that effectively asks you to grope a any kind. repels me, I began to feel suffocated by • It was online on the PS3. a testosterone-addled life of deviancy.lxxiv” • The player who took advantage of us was invincible. He also has One game reviewer expressed disappointment in trillions or quadrillions of dollars not having a playable female character, and says based on some online searches of that “GTA V has little room for women except his PSN user name. to portray them as strippers, prostitutes, long- • He would run up to you, get suffering wives, humorless girlfriends and stuck to your back side—chest to goofy, new-age feminists we’re meant to laugh back. You would then lose at.lxxv” control and would proceed with the animation. Once finished, he However, that one game reviewer - who gave would continue being stuck to GTA V a 9/10 score – is a transsexual. Carolyn you chest to back. You have the Petit's game review of GTA V was quickly ability to "back-elbow" him as an trolled with hate messages particularly aimed at attack, though it did nothing due her gender. A petition to fire Petit was put up, to his invincibility. You would but was quickly pulled down by Change.orglxxvi. then be forced in to performing a stripper pole dance animation, The online version of GTA V also suffers from then you were free to go. gross violence against women. A rape has been created by some users that allow rape in- This is not the first case of virtual rape in Grand game. A user named mrerikmattilalxxvii, described Theft Auto. Back in 2005, the “Hot Coffee” what the mod does to other players. mod for the online version of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas allowed “players to a sexually How it initially began is my friend was graphic minigame of CJ fornicating with his being taken advantage of in a more girlfriend.” claims that it “is remote part of the map, which I was the work of a determined group of hackers who unaware of. I went to his area to find out have gone to significant trouble to alter scenes he was not alone. There was this other in the official version of the game." user, the user in question, in the area. I have never played with this modder, nor However, gaming site Gamespot decided to am I friends with him, nor were we in a investigate Rockstar Games' claims of hacking party. This guy was a total random by doing a cheat code test on the PS2 version of stranger who just dropped in the free the game which comes “on an unmoddable mode session. DVD.lxxviii” Sure enough, “the next screen proved that the PlayStation 2 edition of the meter' on the right of the screen. Fill the meter game does indeed include a sexually graphic and Denise becomes very excited, telling CJ he minigame, which plays almost exactly the same is "the man" before the game congratulates you as the Hot Coffee mod.lxxix” with the words 'Nice guys finish last!' Let the What's more disturbing is that, “[T]o win, meter drop to empty and the game admonishes players must maintain a steady rhythm with the you with 'Failure to satisfy a woman is a lxxx left analog stick to build up an 'excitement CRIME!' ”

iHill, C., & Corbett, C. (2010). Why so few?: Women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Washington, D.C.: AAUW. iiNo Ceilings, (2015): No Ceilings: The Full Participation Report. iiiConsalvo, Mia. "Cyberfeminism." Encyclopedia of New Media. Ed. . Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE, 2002. 109-10. SAGE Reference Online. Web. 4 Apr. 2012. ivAda Lovelace: Victorian computing visionary. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://findingada.com/book/ada-lovelace-victorian-computing-visionary/ vAda Lovelace: Victorian computing visionary. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://findingada.com/book/ada-lovelace-victorian-computing-visionary/ viHow Ada Lovelace, Lord Byron’s Daughter, Became the World’s First Computer Programmer. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.brainpickings.org/2014/12/10/ada-lovelace-walter-isaacson- innovators/ viiAda Lovelace: Victorian computing visionary. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://findingada.com/book/ada-lovelace-victorian-computing-visionary/ viiiAda Lovelace, the First Tech Visionary - The New Yorker. (2013, October 15). Retrieved from http://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/ada-lovelace-the-first-tech-visionary ixMeet the Actress Who Performed the First Onscreen . (n.d.). Retrieved from http://time.com/3669302/hedy-lamarr/ xHappy 100th birthday, Hedy Lamarr, movie star who paved way for Wi-Fi - CNET. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.cnet.com/news/happy-100th-birthday-hedy-lamarr-movie-star-and-wi- fi-inventor/ xiCouey, A. (n.d.). MicroTimes: The Birth Of Spread Spectrum. Retrieved from http://people.seas.harvard.edu/~jones/cscie129/nu_lectures/lecture7/hedy/lemarr.htm xiiHedy Lamarr. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedy_Lamarr xiiiCouey, A. (n.d.). MicroTimes: The Birth Of Spread Spectrum. Retrieved from http://people.seas.harvard.edu/~jones/cscie129/nu_lectures/lecture7/hedy/lemarr.htm xivCouey, A. (n.d.). MicroTimes: The Birth Of Spread Spectrum. Retrieved from http://people.seas.harvard.edu/~jones/cscie129/nu_lectures/lecture7/hedy/lemarr.htm xvHedy Lamarr. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.women-inventors.com/Hedy-Lammar.asp xviHedy Lamarr: The Actress who Invented Wireless Communication - OpenMind. (2014, November 12). Retrieved from https://www.bbvaopenmind.com/en/hedy-lamarr-the-actress-who- invented-wireless-communication/ xviiGrace Hopper on Letterman. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1- vcErOPofQ xviiiThe Queen Of Code. (2015, January 28). Retrieved from http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the- queen-of-code/ xix'The Erasure Was Happening in Real Time': Grace Hopper Documentary Comes Out Today. (2015, January 28). Retrieved from http://recode.net/2015/01/28/the-erasure-was-happening-in-real- time-grace-hopper-documentary-comes-out-today/ xxBorn with Curiosity. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://gracehopperfilm.com/ xxiConsalvo, Mia. "Cyberfeminism." Encyclopedia of New Media. Ed. . Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE, 2002. 109-10. SAGE Reference Online. Web. 4 Apr. 2012. xxiiReuben, E., Sapienza, P., & Zingales, L. (2014). How stereotypes impair women's careers in science. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 4403-4408. xxiiiDiversity - Google. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.google.com/diversity/ xxivBuilding a More Diverse Facebook | Facebook Newsroom. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://newsroom.fb.com/news/2014/06/building-a-more-diverse-facebook/ xxvBuilding a Twitter we can be proud of | Twitter . (n.d.). Retrieved from https://blog.twitter.com/2014/building-a-twitter-we-can-be-proud-of xxviWorkforce Diversity at Yahoo. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://yahoo.tumblr.com/post/89085398949/workforce-diversity-at-yahoo xxviiApple - Diversity - Inclusion inspires innovation. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.apple.com/diversity/ xxviiiWikipedia:Systemic bias. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Systemic_bias#The_.22average_Wikipedian.22 xxixFile:Editor Survey Report - April 2011.pdf. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Editor_Survey_Report_- _April_2011.pdf&page=3 xxxArXiv, E. (n.d.). Computational Linguistics Reveals How Wikipedia Articles Are Biased Against Women. Retrieved from http://www.technologyreview.com/view/534616/computational- linguistics-reveals-how-wikipedia-articles-are-biased-against-women/ xxxiKleeman, J. (2015, May 26). New Statesman. Retrieved from http://www.newstatesman.com/lifestyle/2015/05/wikipedia-has-colossal-problem-women-dont-edit- it xxxiiCohen, N. (2011, January 30). Define Gender Gap? Look Up Wikipedia’s Contributor List. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/31/business/media/31link.html xxxiiiFlorin, F. (2015, April 3). Women and gender diversity on Wikimedia: Our top stories « Wikimedia blog. Retrieved from http://blog.wikimedia.org/2015/04/03/women-and-gender-top- stories/ xxxivKleeman, J. (2015, May 26). New Statesman. Retrieved from http://www.newstatesman.com/lifestyle/2015/05/wikipedia-has-colossal-problem-women-dont-edit- it xxxvEnloe, C. (n.d.). Third World Women in Factories. Retrieved from http://www.culturalsurvival.org/ourpublications/csq/article/third-world-women-factories xxxviLeung, W. (n.d.). The Dark Side of Industrialization. Retrieved from http://www.multinationalmonitor.org/hyper/issues/1986/10/yue.html xxxviiElson, D., & Pearson, R. (n.d.). 'Nimble Fingers Make Cheap Workers': An Analysis of Women's Employment in Third World Export Manufacturing. Retrieved from http://www.palgrave- journals.com/fr/journal/v7/n1/full/fr19816a.html xxxviiiElson, D., & Pearson, R. (n.d.). 'Nimble Fingers Make Cheap Workers': An Analysis of Women's Employment in Third World Export Manufacturing. Retrieved from http://www.palgrave- journals.com/fr/journal/v7/n1/full/fr19816a.html xxxixElson, D., & Pearson, R. (n.d.). 'Nimble Fingers Make Cheap Workers': An Analysis of Women's Employment in Third World Export Manufacturing. Retrieved from http://www.palgrave- journals.com/fr/journal/v7/n1/full/fr19816a.html xl Fullerton, J., & Chen, J. (2015, March 11). EXCLUSIVE: Chinese worker, 26, making Apple died after enduring 12 hour shifts, seven days a week, family claim. Retrieved from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2979531/Chinese-worker-26-making-Apple-iPhones-died- enduring-12-hour-shifts-seven-days-week-two-months-bosses-vowed-clean-expose-factory- conditions-family-claim.html xliCooper, R. (2013, January 25). Inside Apple's Chinese 'sweatshop' factory where workers are paid just £1.12 per hour to produce iPhones and iPads for the West. Retrieved from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2103798/Revealed-Inside-Apples-Chinese-sweatshop- factory-workers-paid-just-1-12-hour.html xliiBarboza, D. (2009, July 26). IPhone Maker in China Is Under Fire After a Suicide. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/27/technology/companies/27apple.html? _r=2&scp=1&sq=foxconn&st=cse xliiiWilliams, R. (2014, December 19). Apple goes to war with the BBC. Retrieved from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/apple/11303052/Apple-working-conditions-Tim-Cook.html xlivLabor & Human Rights. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.apple.com/supplier- responsibility/labor-and-human-rights/ xlvWorstall, T. (2014, December 19). BBC's Panorama Attacks Apple Over Indonesian Tin. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2014/12/19/bbcs-panorama-attacks-apple- over-indonesian-tin/ xlviHess, A. (2014, January 6). Why Women Aren't Welcome on the Internet. Retrieved from http://www.psmag.com/health-and-behavior/women-arent-welcome-internet-72170 xlviiSarkeesian, A. (2015, January 27). One Week of Harassment on Twitter. Retrieved from http://femfreq.tumblr.com/post/109319269825/one-week-of-harassment-on-twitter xlviiiBernstein, D. (2015, June 1). GamerGate; Susan Collins And Joe Kennedy, Together At Last; And . Retrieved from http://wgbhnews.org/post/gamergate-susan-collins-and-joe- kennedy-together-last-and-birth-control xlixBeschizza, R. (2015, April 17). Anita Sarkeesian in Time's Top 100 most influential. Retrieved from http://boingboing.net/2015/04/17/anita-sarkeesian-in-times-to.html lBennett, A. (2015, January 17). Zoë Quinn Has Launched A Network to Help Fight GamerGate Harassment & Other Online Abuse. Retrieved from http://www.themarysue.com/crash-override- network/ liSubbaraman, N. (2015, February 12). Brianna Wu dissects ‘Law and Order SVU’s’ #GamerGate episode. Retrieved from http://www.betaboston.com/news/2015/02/12/brianna-wu-dissects-law- and-order-svus-gamergate-episode/ liiCover Preview: Jennifer Lawrence Calls Photo Hacking a. (2014, November). Retrieved from http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2014/10/jennifer-lawrence-cover liiiStone, J. (2014, September 8). Reddit Fappening Ban Triggers Outraged Response From Nude Photo Distributor. Retrieved from http://www.ibtimes.com/reddit-fappening-ban-triggers-outraged- response-nude-photo-distributor-1681708 livSilver, L. (2014, September 4). An Artist Plans to Exhibit Jennifer Lawrence's and Kate Upton's Leaked Nude Photos. Retrieved from http://www.complex.com/style/2014/09/an-artist-plans-to- exhibit-jennifer-lawrences-and-kate-uptons-nude-photos lvLang, I. (2015, May 13). Two Hackers Face 15 Years After Stealing Thousands Of Nudes. Retrieved from http://www.askmen.com/news/tech/hackers-face-charges-after-selling-nude-photo- hacking-software.html lviSanchez, A. (2015, March 19). What is a "Real" Woman? Retrieved from http://www.isiswomen.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1759:what-is-a-real- woman&catid=196&Itemid=449 lviiHernandez, P. (2015, March 11). The People Who Make Brutal Video Game Porn. Retrieved from http://kotaku.com/the-people-who-make-brutal-video-game-porn-1690892332 lviiiInterview with Studio FOW - LewdGamer.com. (2015, January 24). Retrieved from https://www.lewdgamer.com/2015/01/24/interview-with-studio-fow/ lixZoey: Cum Harvest. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/657832 lxTechCrunch (2013, September 9). Retrieved from https://twitter.com/TechCrunch/statuses/376817869280931840 lxiOhlheiser, A. (2013, September 8). Meet 'Titstare,' the Tech World's Latest 'Joke' from the Minds of Brogrammers. Retrieved from http://www.thewire.com/technology/2013/09/titstare-tech-worlds- latest-brogrammer-joke-techcrunch-disrupt/69171/ lxiiTsotsis, A., & Eldon, E. (2013, September 8). An Apology From TechCrunch. Retrieved from http://techcrunch.com/2013/09/08/an-apology-from-techcrunch/ lxiiiAlf, P. (2008, October 18). Custer's Revenge - Remake. Retrieved from http://curlysworld.com/viewtopic.php?t=2097 lxivWheeler, K. (2014, November 27). Indigenous video game designer takes stand against Custer's Revenge - Aboriginal - CBC. Retrieved from http://www.cbc.ca/news/aboriginal/indigenous-video- game-designer-takes-stand-against-custer-s-revenge-1.2851104 lxvLah, K. (2010, March 31). 'RapeLay' video game goes viral amid outrage. Retrieved from http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/03/30/japan.video.game.rape/ lxviUnited Nations Group Urges Japan to Ban Explicit Games, Manga. (2009, August 28). Retrieved from http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2009-08-28/united-nations-group-urges- japan-to-ban-explicit-games-manga lxviiDill-Shackleford, K. (2010, March 21). Making a (Video) Game Out of Rape. Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/how-fantasy-becomes-reality/201003/making-video-game- out-rape lxviiiMohney, C. (2012, June 15). Second Life: Rape for Sale. Retrieved from http://gawker.com/222099/second-life-rape-for-sale lxixCook, J. (2013, August 12). Second Life: What went wrong? Retrieved from http://kernelmag.dailydot.com/features/report/4285/second-life-what-went-wrong/ lxxCook, J. (2013, August 12). Second Life: What went wrong? Retrieved from http://kernelmag.dailydot.com/features/report/4285/second-life-what-went-wrong/ lxxiLynn, R. (2007, May 4). Virtual Rape Is Traumatic, but Is It a Crime? Retrieved from http://archive.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/commentary/sexdrive/2007/05/sexdrive_0504 lxxiiInfoTech & Public Policy. (2007, March 28). Retrieved from http://courseblog.cs.princeton.edu/spring07/wws528f/?p=122 lxxiiiDibbell, J. (1993, December 23). A Rape in Cyberspace. Retrieved from http://www.juliandibbell.com/texts/bungle_vv.html lxxivHoggins, T. (2013, October 4). Grand Theft Auto V is designed deliberately to degrade women. Retrieved from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/womens-life/10355275/Grand-Theft- Auto-V-is-designed-deliberately-to-degrade-women.html lxxvPetit, C. (2013, September 16). Grand Theft Auto V Review. Retrieved from http://www.gamespot.com/reviews/grand-theft-auto-v-review/1900-6414475/ lxxviParfitt, B. (2013, September 18). Gamers petition for sacking of GameSpot writer who criticised GTAV for misogyny. Retrieved from http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/gamers-petition- for-sacking-of-gamespot-writer-who-criticised-gtav-for-misogyny/0121238 lxxviiHernandez, P. (2014, August 8). GTA Online Mods Let People "Rape" Other Players. Retrieved from http://kotaku.com/gta-online-mods-let-people-rape-other-players-1618417938 lxxviiiThorsen, T. (2005, July 15). Confirmed: Sex minigame in PS2 San Andreas. Retrieved from http://www.gamespot.com/articles/confirmed-sex-minigame-in-ps2-san-andreas/1100-6129301/ lxxixThorsen, T. (2005, July 15). Confirmed: Sex minigame in PS2 San Andreas. Retrieved from http://www.gamespot.com/articles/confirmed-sex-minigame-in-ps2-san-andreas/1100-6129301/ lxxxThorsen, T. (2005, July 15). Confirmed: Sex minigame in PS2 San Andreas. Retrieved from http://www.gamespot.com/articles/confirmed-sex-minigame-in-ps2-san-andreas/1100-6129301/