why do people hate Anita Sarkeesian so much?
i need someone to explain this to me like i’m 5
1. She’s a woman talking about feminism and dudes are awful.
2. She’s supposedly not a gamer or something.
3. Dudes are just awful for real. Like there’s this video series that just hurls insults at Anita and the people that support her.
For a second I thought it was because she might have actually been problematic.
Damn, people really suck. I can not.
Like, there are legitimate criticisms to be made about how she’s done things for sure but you practically never see that. the vast majority of the hate thrown her way is reactionary misogyny. She’s smart, capable and I think she’s actually done a pretty real job outside of her Tropes v. Women project as well.
It fucking sucks that a lot of standard-issue dudes (read: a lot of, not all) have an instinctive reaction to be defensive in response to criticism rather than to think on it and then act on it, if appropriate.
Just because you don’t LIKE the criticism someone’s giving you (or a demographic you’re a part of) doesn’t mean you have to lash out, regardless if the criticism is valid or not.no. real talk. here’s why, if you hate Anita Sarkeesian, you hsould actually hate Anita Sarkeesian:
1. she has no scientific methodology for her analysis, she just finds games that perpetuate the stereotypes she’s looking at for her series. here’s a couple examples of how this could be handled better: 1) an analysis of the top 50 [arbitrary number] games in US, EU, and JP [top three countries for gaming releases] and how the tropes are perpetuated in the CURRENT gaming scene, 2) a comparison of mainstream vs. indie games as determined by thorough research on the popularity of games in each field, 3) the application of qualitative and/or quantitative analysis of hypersexuality and sexism in gaming. basically, ANYTHING THAT PROVIDES AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS THAT ISN’T “I ripped some Let’s Play videos off YouTube for some games people said were sexist.”
2. she discourages discussion about feminism in gaming. she has comments turned off on all of her Fem!Frequency videos. some would argue that this is to prevent negative comments, but as someone who is trying to make a comment about sexism in the gaming industry and gaming community, showing the negative responses to a project that, at heart, is a good intention [though executed poorly] is a GREAT way to show exactly what you’re talking about. however, she had no qualms with turning comments on for her Kickstarter video during the duration of her Kickstarter so she could complain on her blog about boohoo woman harassment, ps go fund my project and then immediately turning comments off again once her Kickstarter campaign [the videos, for which, were supposed to be completed by December 2012] was over.
3. she has not given any actual suggested change in the gaming industry or a direction for people to look to as far as a more gender equal gaming community. her game idea, presented with her last YouTube video in the Tropes vs. Women series, was the perfect example of a generic female character in a nondescript world with no development, no compelling narrative, and no unique gameplay elements. meanwhile, she attacks games like Spelunky which give you the option to change the “damsel in distress” to a male character or even a dog as still sexist because omfg you can use the woman as a weapon and throw her unconscious body. [spoiler alert: this mechanic is the same if you are saving a dog or a dude.] she has no clearly defined goals for women in games other than “they should be treated equally,” but even her game suggestion is only narratively driven by the fact that the damsel in distress wasn’t saved by a dude.
she is an extremely poor representation of feminist gamers, and it’s a shame that she is getting so much publicity for a completely useless [in execution, not idea] project. that is why I, and many others, hate Anita Sarkeesian.
(Source: danceswithtoons)
