Poll: Do Gamers Need Anita Sarkeesian's Feminism?

[IronMit]

?I can relate to a lot of fellow female gamers who did not get into this game due to its difficult controls?
Anita Sarkeesian talking to Mirror's Edge 2 Dev's.

Anita Sarkeesian is part of the problem for me. Just another loud voice on the internet digging into their corner (yes I see the irony).... blaming every trope and limited writing cliché on some inherent sexism.

She's become the face of video game feminism and now is just saying anything to make noise, a huge disservice to feminism and reasonable discussion.

Posting those angry messages that troll send her make her correct in her eyes. I could deny the holocaust and people would send me awful messages...doesn't mean I'm right.

 

[Denamic]

Not Sarkeesian's particular brand, no. When men and women are represented equally topless in games, I shall be happy.

 

[Silverfox99]

I think that some games would benefit from a stronger sense of feminism while others wouldn't. This is not something to try to apply to ever game or gaming as a whole. A character driven game should have a strong sense of feminism in it, or show a rounded view of women in it instead of the stereotypes.

A game like dead or alive volleyball, where the obvious intent of the game is to show tits and ass, doesn't need it applied to it. I know that some would argue that games like this are exactly why we need it, but to me that is false. Not every form of entertainment needs to have a specific set of PC rules it follows. Some of the most popular and well liked entertainment is that way specifically because it is not PC. Does every game need to show off unrealistic personalities and figures? No. I think there is room for both in gaming.

The problem I have is when someone states that every game should be pro-feminism or this is what needs to happen for gaming. Many games should be better in how they represent women, but I still like my adolescence male version of sex and violence and I don't want those types of games to stop being produced.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

Nope. Even feminists don't like her. Real feminist. Because she isn't one. She's an actual feminazi. And she can't even do that right because of her hypocrisy.

 

[ImmortalDrifter]

Trick question.

Nobody needs her feminism.

 

[Blue Hero]

Nobody needs her or her particular brand of feminism.

 

[Souther Thorn]

Not hers, hell no. I cannot stand gender warriors of either stripe any longer. They serve to mend and unite nothing, and serve to divide and devalue anything that isn't in their specific camp.

 

[Artemicion]

I encourage everyone who still thinks Sarkeesian's arguments have merit to review Thunderf00t's Feminism versus FACTS [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJeX6F-Q63I&list=PLQJW3WMsx1q3BAZh3XsK1cSwCiaqjSulc] series, Inuitlnua's three [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cj29-hepBiA] part [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07keXDCPXtw] review [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OLdWrVjILg] of the Tropes versus Women series, Instig8iveJournalism's two part evaluation of Sarkeesian's work (here [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6gLmcS3-NI] and here [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpFk5F-S_hI]), MrRepzion's breakdown of her videos (here [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=la9i2np0WTU] and here [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCsfXkbzRI4]), and lastly, but most importantly, the recent video revealing that Sarkeesian is, by her own admission and contrary to her statements for the last two years, not a real gamer [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcPIu3sDkEw].

Sarkeesian goes out of her way to find the touch of the patriarchy in absolutely any game that has a women under any form of duress. I mean, she calls out Mario for chrissake. If there's a woman in a videogame, there's some reason why she's being oppressed, objectified and generally mistreated by men.

It's frequently said that Sarkeesian just hates men, but after watching all of her videos to date, as well as the responses I've linked above, I think it's more accurate to say that Sarkeesian actually hates women.

 

[Thr33X]

SNIP

Allosaurus is in my opinion the best game "commentary" out there. Always straight to the point, I love his blatant anonymity and that shrill, monotone delivery, and much like the dinosaur he likens himself to, he bites. Not in the slang "bad" way, but in the good "I just ripped your head off with logical reasoning" way. Awesomely enough we follow each other on Twitter as well. He holds fairly intelligent conversation, and knows his stuff.

Unlike "she who will not be named".

OT: We need feminism in games like we need a knife to the gut. As Trivea pointed out, Anita is NOT the de-facto face of a "revolution" as this white knight PBS pegs her to be, and veering off topic once again, his comparison of her to gay rights or even worse civil rights is the most hyperbolical, insulting bullshit I've ever heard in my life. People lost lives for those causes, Sarkeesian gained money for hers which we STILL don't know where it went.

Back on topic again, she doesn't speak for every woman who plays games, not even in the slightest sense. She self-serving at best and destructive at worse, because now because of her anything that doesn't instantly cater to a woman's taste is "misogynistic", and things such as sexuality in MATURE games (read: kids shouldn't be playing these anyway) are being vilified as are the creators of these games and the players as well.

So suddenly I'm a mysogynist pig for playing Dragon's Crown as the Sorceress or DLing Girlfight or playing the Gigolo missions in Killer Is Dead, and the makers of these games are morally corrupt, juvenile perverts? When did it become a thing where sexualization suddenly is a blight to the gaming industry? It has it's place and purpose, be it implied or intentional, and those who take offense to it need only to look the other way rather than trying to whistle blow it away. We're talking games here, designed to entertain and have fun playing. One person's idea of fun might not be the same as anothers. Everything's NOT going to cater to everyone, point blank.

 

[Alvren]

(Sigh).
I really wish people (gamers particularly) would stop demonizing Sarkeesian, Feminist Frequency or any reviewers bloggers or gamers that happen to be women. The anger and rage is so...pointless. Personally I believe games belong to everyone, like lego in old days when it was marketed towards girls and boys. But its not hard to see that modern gaming is selling a more male focus than female, or not even allowing choice of what gender to play as.

Personally I enjoy the videos. Enlightenment and understanding is refreshing water for the soul and allows growth into a better human being. Its hard not to notice the small amount if bias present, but its a nice healthy discussion about common female tropes and their meaning in society. There's nothing wrong with that.

 

[CommanderL]

we need more female charcter's and we need better charcter's overall but anita aint the one to do it

 

[MysticSlayer]

Much of what Anita has to say was already being discussed prior to her entry into the discussion. In one of my English classes I had to analyze an old IGN article (I think from 2005-2006) that discussed the issue and brought up pretty much every point Anita has ever made, and it was far better written and thought provoking than anything she has ever come up with. While she certainly has helped really bring forward an unprecedentedly massive discussion of the issues, something tells me we were going to be headed in this direction anyways.

As for whether or not her brand of feminism is needed...no, I don't think so. So much of what she has brought, outside of a massive discussion, is a lot of extreme positions that say you are a misogynist for playing Mario, that sparks the obsession with swapping Link and Zelda's roles, that you must have a playable female character or you're sexist (looking at GTA V or some article on The Last of Us--I believe it was the New York Times), or pretty much any other extreme position that makes any gamer who takes a critical look at the issues shake their heads in despair. It's an overblown reaction to a problem, no matter how serious that problem is.

Do gamers need to have a discussion on the issues? Yes, we do, and we should probably add in the issues affecting characters in general and how developers can create better characters. And while I appreciate how Anita has helped spark a higher level of discussion, I'm personally put off a lot by the excessive nastiness she has also brought into it, especially when I consider that we would have been having these discussions anyway, just in a more civilized, thought-provoking manner.

 

[Miyenne]

I've said it a million times, but growing up as a female with video games through the 80's and 90's and now, I've never been offended by a woman's portrayal in a video game.

I never cared about gender as a child. I was raised with the idea that gender/race/whatever never mattered, that a person's choices made them who they were. My parents let me come to my own conclusions and immersed me in everything.

All I cared about what the character's choices, be them male, female, alien, monster, whatever. It was never an issue for me, my parents never made it an issue.



Our issue shouldn't be with games. It should be with people's attitudes - people on both sides of this argument as well as those who refuse to get involved.

Once we stop making things an issue, they won't be an issue. Kids playing these games don't think of gender roles until they're taught to. And that's on the parents and society.

 

[Silvanus]

Do people ever tire of vicious hyperbole, whenever Anita Sarkeesian is mentioned?

OT: We need feminism in games like we need a knife to the gut.

Get some perspective. Literature & film were both left better off for their recognition that white men were not the sole possible heroes. Why do you believe games to be so much more limited as an art form?

 

[verdant monkai]

I think that she has proved that she is filth. We can all move on now yes?

 

[Erttheking]

I feel like we could use some feminism, but as much as I don't like the hatred towards Anita...her videos and arguments just aren't very good.

 

[Smeatza]

No, gaming/gamers do not need Anita's brand of feminism.
They do not need any brand of feminism.
The presence of a political ideology is not beneficial to discussion regarding exploitative characters in fiction. In this case it's actively detrimental.

 

[IceForce]

How about no.

The last thing gamers need is a "feminist agenda" from a lying hypocritical extremist like Anita Sarkeesian.