Ishtar Madigan has taken to sleeping in her office, in the adjoining copier room to be exact. She’s been hounded there by a legion of online trolls, Reddit bros and incels, subject to their relentless doxing. Her crime? Besides daring to be a woman online, she’s also a feminist academic whose area of study is video games, “literally the most hated creature on the earth”.

Amber McMahon and Michelle Lim Davidson. Photo © Prudence Upton

Her hideout is one day invaded by Jake Newhouse, who promises her a princely sum if she’ll only agree to teach him, in a feminist way, how to “land” a librarian called Anne. All his usual tricks, straight out of the pickup artist’s playbook, have failed. Women have caught on to The Game, he laments. Little does Ishtar know that Jake also goes by Guy DeWitt, a misogynistic dating guru and host of a seduction community podcast called Santa Claus … Is Coming! He’s also the man responsible for her reduced circumstances, having sued her for defamation which she settled outside of court. Though she’s repulsed by Jake’s proposal, Ishtar eventually caves.