My take is that part of reason the article comes off as more than a rehash of someone else's thoughts is that the author uses their story to establish credible experience with the subject and for the reader to evaluate their own experience relative to the author's. That scale provides some readers insight into Sarkeesian's experience that would not have been possible with a simple binary representation.

Creating a better understanding the potential scale of the problem is, in my opinion, a key supporting element for the author's argument that developers should treat the potential for "evil" very seriously. It makes the list of strategies, not just another list of strategies on the internet. It anchors them viscerally.

YMMV.