Two months after Burnaby police showed up at Ashley Lynch’s door, she’s still getting over the instability caused by online harassment.
Police showed up about midnight on her birthday in January to see if she was storing any weapons or explosives in her house.
She immediately knew what had happened.
Lynch doesn’t have a criminal record. She alleges the anonymous tip police received has its roots in a sexist gender divide which sprung out of the video game community.
“This messes with the sense of stability and day-to-day,” the designer said. “When I leave my house, I started looking both ways to make sure no one was hanging out.”
Lynch’s experience comes from the Gamergate phenomenon.
Gamergate was created out of backlash against several female video game designers in the summer of 2014. The unfolding drama resulted in threats of rape, murder and the threat of revealing personal information such as where a person lived or worked.
The name “Gamergate” comes from the hashtag used on Twitter to discuss the issue.
It soon spread to encompass targeting people on the basis of gender, sexual orientation or differing viewpoints.
Gamergate itself is a new way of expressing old hostilities towards minority groups both online and in the real world, says a university instructor.
“It’s not unique to online, it’s just reflecting hostilities in the larger culture. However, the Internet sort of allows people to organize in different ways and gives them social permission and anonymity to act on it,” said Devon Greyson, an instructor with Capilano University’s school of women’s and gender studies, who organized a panel discussion on gender in the online world with a focus on Gamergate.
With more of a person’s life being stored online, it is becoming increasingly important to understand how personal information can be shared with the world and used against you, Greyson added, citing the nude photo scandal that targeted several Hollywood celebrities last year.
The panel brought four speakers, including Lynch, from a range of backgrounds to discuss gender harassment they have seen or experienced in the online world.
Lynch and Lucas J.W. Johnson discussed being targeted in Gamergate while Cap student Taylor Smith discussed a student’s perspective on social media and the dominant role it plays in campus life.
Lynch’s personal information was released to the world all because of someone she followed on Twitter.
She followed someone on Twitter who had angered Gamergate supporters. When they failed to unearth that person’s private information, they turned their collective attention to the Twitter followers.
Since then, Lynch says she’s been targeted for standing up for other writers and people in the video game community.
Lynch says she still receives several tweets a week mocking her appearance and her views from people who identify themselves as Gamergate supporters.
She receives magazine subscriptions and mail addressed to her which anonymous online users signed her up for.
The 40-year-old maintains that what she experienced is a form of terrorism that people are just starting to understand.
Johnson was also exposed to the wrath of online users due to Gamergate.
Johnson is co-owner of Silverstring Media, a media and design production company based in Vancouver that was the victim of several viral attacks.
Johnson had his home address, phone number and other personal information posted to Twitter.
Designers he worked with were also targeted; with the companies they work day jobs for being told about their work for the game design company.
Then the conspiracy theories started.
Johnson says people online accused his company of resembling a cult, holding retreats focused on promoting a feminist agenda and in one bizarre situation controlling various media publications such as Gawker.
He says the intentions of the movement are apparent.
“Gamergate makes it clear (it has) straight, white, misogynistic intentions,” he said.
His tactic was to go silent on social media feeds and implement stricter security features on emails and online accounts to stop the leak of personal information.
Now every time he logs on to Twitter he has to use a two-step process to confirm his identity.
All of the panellists spoke of their troubles in the online world and the role their gender has played in defining their interactions.
Smith spoke of her continuing concerns about the hold social media has on campus and students.
She says there remains a fear amongst people in both genders of having their personal secrets being “outed on social media” causing public embarrassment.
One student had an embarrassing photo unknowingly taken of her while at the library. The photo was shared on Facebook with students posting derogatory comments about her appearance, while the subject of the photo was helpless to have it removed.
In a more personal case, Smith says she had pushed for help for homeless students on campus while she herself was homeless.
The fear of having her secret spread to the outside world dominated her life for a period, with worries about people changing their opinion on her because of it.
All of them spoke about the battle being waged to make people aware of how people are judged on their gender alone.
According to Greyson, Gamergate could be over within a year, but the underlying issues of being mistreated and insulted because of gender, race or sexual orientation have deep roots.
“It’s important for educational institutions to be in touch with what is happening outside of academia,” she said. “Although our students experience gendered online harassment, many faculty and staff are personally insulated from, and unaware of, things like Gamergate.”
As for Lynch, she says she will continue to talk about the issue and raise awareness.
“It’s dedicated me towards a path of anti-harassment and anti-bullying. It’s taken over my life in a way,” she said. “There was a moment when I talked about the (plan) and how (Gamergate supporters) try to get trans-women to commit suicide and I saw everyone’s eyes widen. Most people are blissfully ignorant of this.”
