Here's how I see the whole affair:

4chan and Reddit, by mass deletions/censorship of the topic in the beginning did more to create this mess than anything else. These are supposed to be THE places for free speech on the internet and both seemed to be acting in concert in suppressing discussion.

Are there major ethical lapses in game journalism? Yes.

Are there misogyny in video games? Yes.

These two sides will never agree because they are arguing about two different things.

However, there is more to it than that. I think it was Gawker in the very beginning that laid out what was really at stake: The two biggest groups of cyberbullies on the internet, denizens of 4chan and Tumblr SJW's, were both about to take the gloves off and go after each other. (you should also look at raids conducted by both sides in the months leading up to the Zoe Post which, in retrospect, were like proxy wars).

The Fappening also plays into this in a small way. The Fappening and the Zoe Post occurred within weeks of each other and in both instances 4chan and Reddit were like Ground Zero in the mainstream press. The uproar over both sites (temporarily) allowing then banning the pictures from The Fappening and the talk about privacy, I believe, led directly to the way both sites handled discussion of the Zoe Post (which quickly included the nudes Zoe had professionally modeled for).

Make no mistake - as much as pro-GGers like to talk about ethics in games journalism (and the Zoe Post gave them the smoking gun they'd been craving for several years), the immediate discussion and the "5 Guys Burgers and Fries" video blew every overt and subliminal misogyny dog whistle SJWs had learned about in their Women's Studies classes.

The "5 guys" video also deserves special recognition. It was about as perfect a video as the internet generation could ever hope for: Part introductory lesson on the topic, part TMZ style salaciousness, and all rant. IMO, it had as great of an impact on the subject as the 4chan and Reddit mass deletions.