Feminist Cyber-resistance to Digital Violence: Surviving Gamergate

Abstract

Women who inhabit cyberspace do not escape patriarchal violence and are subject to strict social control exercised through technological means. Cyberviolence especially affects women with an explicitly feminist presence in virtual spaces. Their participation and their advocacy for feminist values are considered a transgression of the patriarchal mandate that dictates the exclusion or marginalization of women from public spaces. That is why they are the targets of intimidation, harassment and threats of great magnitude. At the same time, digital networks have multiplied the spaces forcollective, political and social action available to women. Thus, online activity has played a fundamental role in the resurgence and revitalization of feminist communities and debates. The objective of this paper is to analyze the projects launched by Zoë Quinn and Anita Sarkeesian, two of the main targets of the Gamergate movement. We will study Crash Override and Speak Up & Stay Safe(r), a helpline and a resource platform for cyberviolence victims, respectively; insofar as feminist cyberresistance projects, within the framework of cyberfeminisms and the current paradigm shift of the culture of protest and feminist organization.