Feminist Frequency's Tropes vs. Women

[Kelthaz]

Anita Sarkeesian is the creator of the website Feminist Frequency. Feminist Frequency is a video webseries that explores the representations of women in pop culture narratives. In May 2012, she started a kickstarter campaign to raise money to create a new series looking into the roles that women play in video games. She asked for $6,000. She ended up receiving more than $150,000.

Unfortunately, despite overwhelming support for this project, gamers haven't responded very well to what they perceive as attacks on their hobby. She has received disgusting, misogynist abuse, had a flash game created where players get to beat the shit out of her, and had her Wikipedia page vandalized with pornographic images.

List of Episodes

Episode 01 - Damsel in Distress (March 2013)
Episode 02 - The Fighting Fuck Toy
Episode 03 - The Sexy Sidekick
Episode 04 - The Sexy Villainess
Episode 05 - Background Decoration
Episode 06 - Voodoo Priestess / Tribal Sorceress
Episode 07 - Women as Reward
Episode 08 - Mrs. Male Character
Episode 09 - Unattractive Equals Evil
Episode 10 - Man with Boobs
Episode 11 - Positive Female Characters
Episode 12 - Top 10 Common Defenses of Sexism in Games

I'll update this post as new episodes are released. I'll give my thoughts on the episode soon, but I wanted to get this up first.

 

[Lonemagpie]

I feel a kick-misogynist-ass crusade coming on...

 

[Kelthaz]

I just watched the episode and it was as to be expected for a first episode. She describes the Damsel in Distress trope and then provides examples of this trope in many famous video games. Zelda, Pauline, and Peach get the most focus for obvious reasons.

She did her research and presented the information well, but seeing as how the episode was more or less a list of examples that I already knew about there isn't much for me to say about it. Regardless, it was a good episode and I look forward to the later episodes when she will most likely go more in-depth.

 

[FPAlpha]

Color me shocked that male teenagers see girls/women as sex objects!

And that games companies intentionally support this by having female characters with overtly sexual aspects!!

Seriously.. this is nothing new, it will remain like that until we have achieved true Star Trek type human enlightenment (which is never) and see women as equals and not something to jerk off to.

I applaud her for putting in so much work and maybe she will reach a teenager or two and the occasional adult videogamer and get them to think but the vast majority will see her as that "dyke bitch who gets upset over nothing.. needs to get laid more often probably!!"

Some of those gamers will wisen up for themselves as they get older and will realize that girls are not just a set of boobs, legs and what's between them. It's a natural maturation process but unfortunately it will not happen for everybody so there will always be adults who are still mysogynistic and see women as objects to satisfy their desires.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

I just watched the episode and it was as to be expected for a first episode. She describes the Damsel in Distress trope and then provides examples of this trope in many famous video games. Zelda, Pauline, and Peach get the most focus for obvious reasons.

She did her research and presented the information well, but seeing as how the episode was more or less a list of examples that I already knew about there isn't much for me to say about it. Regardless, it was a good episode and I look forward to the later episodes when she will most likely go more in-depth.

I would not expect a lot of depth from these. Her videos are generally Feminist 101 stuff, and they are directed at people who may know little or nothing of women's issues. If you expect them to get into, say, intersectionality and so forth, you will probably be disappointed. She is trying to reach people who either don't think about this stuff or know very little about it, not those already aware of the issues.

Of course, the response she gets from the people she's trying to reach might make her efforts seem futile.

 

[mos6507]

I think essaying on pop-culture like this can get very dull because it's someone just getting on the soap-box and telling us this or that is bad. And obviously tons of people are going to disagree, which is why so many of her videos have comments disabled. She's got a right to express her opinion but I think the problem these days is that everybody's got a venue in which to spout off but nobody ever listens to each other. People come across either self-righteous or insensitive depending on whether they're issuing the rant or acting as the hater in the comments.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

I think essaying on pop-culture like this can get very dull because it's someone just getting on the soap-box and telling us this or that is bad. And obviously tons of people are going to disagree, which is why so many of her videos have comments disabled. She's got a right to express her opinion but I think the problem these days is that everybody's got a venue in which to spout off but nobody ever listens to each other. People come across either self-righteous or insensitive depending on whether they're issuing the rant or acting as the hater in the comments.

That would be an interesting comment if it had anything to do with the subject at hand.

 

[Cutter John]

All of which is why I have a hard time considering myself a gamer, and feel as if I've outgrown gaming in general. I'm a huge fan of female characters in fiction, and will always create a female character when given a choice in a game. So I honestly consider the whole damsel and big-boobed babes in tiny outfits syndromes to be pretty tiresome.

I'm not one to rage about it, I just can't be bothered with these kinds of games anymore.

 

[The Mirrorball Man]

Color me shocked that male teenagers see girls/women as sex objects!

And that games companies intentionally support this by having female characters with overtly sexual aspects!!

Seriously.. this is nothing new, it will remain like that until we have achieved true Star Trek type human enlightenment (which is never) and see women as equals and not something to jerk off to.

Sexual attraction and equality are perfectly compatible and should not be seen as opposing propositions. Yes, lots of male teenagers seen girls/women as sex objects, and yes, it is a problem. They should see them as sex partners.

 

[ThunderAeroI]

It all depends. I hardly ever play as a male in a video game if provided a choice. Especially if the game is 3rd person as I don't want or need to look at a guys butt for the duration of the game. I'd be a lier if I said boobs didn't matter either. Like my wife says, their pixels, their not real and real women don't look like that...

But many games for different age groups have strong female characters and not just pixel fodder. The new Tomb Raider is a good example of a female lead who is attractive, but not weak. You don't have to look long in the M category to find strong females.

 

[Avon]

i know it's wrong but i kept getting distracted by her eyebrows

 

[Lt. Cheka Wey]

In which category does Red Sonja from the movie fit in?

 

[mos6507]

That would be an interesting comment if it had anything to do with the subject at hand.

Sure it does. People like to argue in comments and forums like a sport and not think. If you go out there looking for controversy, it doesn't take long to find some. The internet is fueled on it, and oftentimes those who scream the loudest are doing it just to get attention.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

That would be an interesting comment if it had anything to do with the subject at hand.

Sure it does. People like to argue in comments and forums like a sport and not think. If you go out there looking for controversy, it doesn't take long to find some. The internet is fueled on it, and oftentimes those who scream the loudest are doing it just to get attention.

Do you have anything other than tangential generalizations to offer here?

 

[Harvey]

Not much to say about the series thus far except that the first episode was extremely well-produced. She provides a landslide of examples, many of which, as a casual gamer, I was unfamiliar with. Video games have a long way to go.

 

[Greylock Crescent]

I agree that this video doesn't really cover any new ground and I would have liked her to highlight the few exceptions to the rule, but you know ... good on her. Sometimes it's necessary (and worthwhile) to state the obvious - kind of like acknowledging the elephant in the room. I don't see any real harm in the video (she seems rather reasonable and rational in her commentary - acknowledging that the trope, in isolation, isn't necessarily problematic but that its ubiquitous nature, is), so really, there's only an upside to having it out there to begin with.

 

[Jeyl]

I'm still surprised at how many gamers don't even know that the US version of Super Mario Bros. 2 is actually a re-skinned version of Doki Doki Panic, and the point she made about how she's a playable character was by chance and not intent.

 

[firehawk12]

I just watched the episode and it was as to be expected for a first episode. She describes the Damsel in Distress trope and then provides examples of this trope in many famous video games. Zelda, Pauline, and Peach get the most focus for obvious reasons.

She did her research and presented the information well, but seeing as how the episode was more or less a list of examples that I already knew about there isn't much for me to say about it. Regardless, it was a good episode and I look forward to the later episodes when she will most likely go more in-depth.

I would not expect a lot of depth from these. Her videos are generally Feminist 101 stuff, and they are directed at people who may know little or nothing of women's issues. If you expect them to get into, say, intersectionality and so forth, you will probably be disappointed. She is trying to reach people who either don't think about this stuff or know very little about it, not those already aware of the issues.

Of course, the response she gets from the people she's trying to reach might make her efforts seem futile.

Yeah, I don't know who this is for. The guys who hate her because they don't want their hobby questioned won't listen to her and the people who would like this material aren't served by the fact that there's very little depth to her discussion (at least the first episode).

The fact that her Bayonetta video was poorly researched and used as "evidence" against her doesn't help matters either.