Felicia Day broke her silence on GamerGate last night in a moving Tumblr post confronting her fear of harassment and urging other women in gaming not to be scared away from the community they love.
But Day’s post also served as a brutal reminder of how toxic and frightening Gamergate has become, and why Day had every right to be afraid. Shortly after writing about her fear of being doxed, a commenter on the post doxed her.
Day’s Tumblr post, “The Only Thing I Have to Say About Gamergate,” was a long and honest look at her own fear about being seen to be supporting Gamergate. “I have tried to retweet a few of the articles I’ve seen dissecting the issue in support, but personally I am terrified to be doxxed for even typing the words ‘Gamer Gate’,” she wrote.
“I have had stalkers and restraining orders issued in the past, I have had people show up on my doorstep when my personal information was HARD to get. To have my location revealed to the world would give a entry point for a few mentally ill people who have fixated on me, and allow them to show up and make good on the kind of threats I’ve received that make me paranoid to walk around a convention alone. I haven’t been able to stomach the risk of being afraid to get out of my car in my own driveway because I’ve expressed an opinion that someone on the internet didn’t agree with.
HOW SICK IS THAT?
Day wrote of realizing after crossing the street to avoid two gamers she saw in Vancouver that she had allowed Gamergate to enhance her fear of other people within her community. Her post was an attempt to conquer that fear and to urge other women to do the same.
But less than an hour after describing her past experiences with stalkers in the post, a commenter showed up to do the one thing she feared would happen.