I'd argue that gamergate marked the beginning of a broader culture war movement and the conversion of a bunch of chauvinist libertines who were previously politically disengaged succdems into frothing fascists over the suggestion that women and minorities want to take away their shiny fun time treats.

I'm kind of struck by how similar that is to how fascist movements develop in general, just in an even more alienated and pathetic form. Like at the basic level you have the whole "real freedom is subjugating others so they serve me and cannot refuse any desire I have" shit that's been a cornerstone of reactionary ideology forever from slavers to fascists, but then there's also the sort of direct material conditions that lead the middle class of moderately privileged people to become fascists: historically these were small landowners and patriarchs who feared losing their land, their status as a privileged class, and their control over women, whereas the modern culture war (in addition to leveraging the classic fears) also focuses on the media being consumed as something that's endangered by some nebulous threat from the left so you have people who don't own land or have much status in general becoming reactionary culture warriors over the suggestion that someone out there wants to take away their loli hentai.