Sexist 37-Year-Old Man Verbally Abuses Female Video Game Critic Online, So She Forwards His Messages To His Mom

What do you do when you read something that challenges your beliefs? Enter a healthy debate to re-evaluate your position? Maybe. But what if you’re a sexist middle-aged person who feels threatened by everyone who disagrees with you? Whatever it is, don’t abuse them with every swear word you know. Or else you might end up like this poor guy. Getting manhandled by your mom.

More info: Twitter

Image credits: inkydojikko

Working in the video game industry, Kallie Plagge is used to getting harassed by men. However, one recent encounter was so over the line, the GameSpot.com writer went out looking for allies. And found one: the harasser’s mother.

Kallie sent her a screenshot of her son’s vulgar message and, to her surprise, received a response the next morning. The mom was so nice about it, Kallie celebrated their exchange by sharing it on her Twitter account. Her tweet has already received over 205K likes, and people are applauding the way Kallie took care of this situation.

Image credits: inkydojikko

It all started when Plagge reviewed a popular game called Days Gone. “Most aspects of Days Gone lack purpose,” Plagge wrote. “Its many narrative threads flirt with being meaningful and interesting but never quite commit, with characters whose actions and motivations don’t make sense.” The verdict: 5 out of 10.

Many disagreed with Kallie. The average player score, based on ratings from GameSpot users, was 8.4. In addition to over 950 comments her article has received, Plagge said she got more than two dozen personal Facebook messages and countless tweets from disappointed fans of the game. “It was very clear [from] very early on that it had nothing to do with the content of our review,” Plagge told The Daily Beast. “It was very much just that guys wanted to find an excuse to say sexist things to women.”

“I don’t know any women in the industry who haven’t experienced something like this,” she said. “It varies by how outspoken you are on Twitter, for example, but I think we all get demoralizing comments, whether it’s about our appearance or about the things we say.”

Plagge decided she wouldn’t reveal the identities of both the harasser and his mother. She believes that people should celebrate this case for raising awareness about harassment.

“There needs to be less of a rhetoric about, ‘Don’t feed the trolls,’ because they will come no matter what,” Kallie said. “And my philosophy on it is I’m not going to just lie down and be silent. I don’t want anyone to forget that this is what we have to do to do our jobs.”