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New Feminist Frequency video dissects 'Women are too hard to animate'
After shifting its schedule to release shorter, more rapid entries in its series Tropes vs. Women in Video Games earlier this year, the cultural criticism web channel Feminist Frequency posted its latest episode today. It tackles the excuse game studios have given when they don't include female playable characters: that women are too hard to animate. (Spoiler: they're not.) When one sex is treated differently in games, the video argues, negative and predatory attitudes proliferate.
Anita Sarkeesian dissects the hoaxes, campaigns against her
Anita Sarkeesian is in a special position. Not only does she publicly and academically dissect video games from a feminist perspective, but she is able to transfer that magnifying glass onto herself, since her work has made her a well-known figure within the industry. In a talk at XOXO in Portland, Sarkeesian breaks down the violent response to her Tropes vs. Women in Video Games series. As the Joystiq comments section will attest, the Tropes vs. Women videos incite heightened emotions from seemingly long-time gaming fans – emotions including anger, disgust and outrage at any attempt to point out that video games have historically been marketed toward a heterosexual male audience, even while the gaming consumer base has shifted to include more diverse voices. As she discusses, these reactions are even more extreme when directed at Sarkeesian personally, ranging from fake Twitter accounts and fabricated speeches, to death and rape threats that include her home address alongside violent imagery.
Tropes vs Women further examines misogynist decoration in games
In the second part of Anita Sarkeesian's examination of women as decoration in games, the Feminist Frequency founder examines games in which female characters exist purely as sexual objects to advance the plot. Brief scenes of sexual assault in Metro 2033 and BioShock, for example, offer no discernable gameplay benefit and seemingly exist purely to paint certain male characters as a predatory evil. [Image: Tropes Vs Women]
New 'Tropes vs. Women' discusses the dark side of decoration
Feminist Frequency founder Anita Sarkeesian has launched the first video in her "Women as Background Decoration" series, dissecting how women are portrayed as non-playable sex objects in video games and the real-world effects these images have on players. Women as Background Decoration is the second series in Sarkeesian's Tropes vs. Women video campaign, which raised $158,922 on Kickstarter in 2012. In part one, Sarkeesian breaks down how women are hyper-sexualized and transformed into objects in many games, allowing players to use, abuse and dispose of female sex workers as if they were things, rather than people. She covers series such as Grand Theft Auto, Fable, Fallout, Sleeping Dogs, Watch Dogs, Hitman, Red Dead Redemption, Duke Nukem, Dishonored and The Godfather. "These games systematize sexuality in ways that dehumanize women, essentially turning them into vending machines dispensing sex, along with other goods and services. Their worth as characters is measured entirely in terms of what they can give to the player .... When men are depicted using female NPCs as tools or commodities, their actions are portrayed as part of what makes them powerful, which is by extension part of what makes the player then feel powerful."
Damsel in Distress: Part 3 of Tropes series discusses 'dude in distress'
The third installment of Anita Sarkeesian's Damsel in Distress video series explores the "dude in distress" mechanic, the use of ironic sexism in retro-inspired games and wraps up with a look at games that subvert the damsel in distress idea. Sarkeesian notes that games featuring female heroes saving male counterparts – the dude in distress – are rare, with only 4 percent of games placing a woman in a leading role. Even then, the damsel in distress trope perpetuates a longstanding notion that women are inherently helpless and need saving, but the few dudes in distress don't negatively impact society's view of men, since there is no preconceived belief that men are powerless to save themselves because of their gender, she says. This is the final Damsel in Distress video, and the first completed video mini-series in Sarkeesian's Tropes Vs. Women in Video Games project. Tropes was funded via Kickstarter, raising $159,000 of a $6,000 goal, and expanding the series to 12 videos. Next up, according to the Kickstarter, is a section called "The Fighting F#@k Toy." Sarkeesian prefaces each of her videos with the same guiding principle: "It is both possible (and even necessary) to simultaneously enjoy media while also being critical of its more problematic or pernicious aspects." Note that it doesn't say, "while also violently cussing out people who disagree with your views." Please, enjoy your critical analyses.
Tropes vs. Women in Video Games digs into the damsel in distress idea
Damsel in Distress: Part 2 of Anita Sarkeesian's Tropes vs. Women in Video Games series discusses three "trope cocktails" that she says developers use to spice up the bland "save the girl" plotline: the woman in the rerigerator, the disposable woman and the mercy killing. Sarkeesian introduced the issue of the damsel in distress throughout the history of video games in her first video; the second installment notes that some modern developers recognize this trend and try to make the narrative "edgier" with graphic depictions of violence against women. Each trope cocktail has the effect of victimizing female characters, and using them only as motivation for the real story – the male character's quest, Sarkeesian argues. Damsel in Distress: Part 2 went live at 1 p.m. PT today, but by 2:30 p.m. the video was pulled from YouTube. It was restored within the hour, though Sarkeesian's official Feminist Frequency Twitter account said the removal was from an influx of bogus reports of YouTube terms of service violations. "An hour after our video went live I got an email saying, 'The YouTube Community has flagged one or more of your videos as inappropriate,'" Feminist Frequency said. Sarkeesian does note that the video contains "some depictions of violence against women" and advises viewer discretion. This wouldn't be the first time Sarkeesian was the subject of internet harassment, following a high-profile Kickstarter that drew ire from a vocal group of people online. Damsel in Distress: Part 2 is live now, available for anyone and everyone to view and discuss. Civilly, if we have anything to say about it.
'Tropes vs. Women' series launches with Damsels in Distress
The first episode of Anita Sarkeesian's Tropes vs. Women in Video Games series examines the oft-used "damsel in distress" story element with examples from games, and traced back through art, literature, movies, and even Popeye. Over the course of twelve videos, Sarkeesian will turn a critical eye toward five such tropes, offering an academic introduction to the sexism inherent in the storytelling of many games.Tropes vs. Women was designed to "explore, analyze and deconstruct some of the most common tropes and stereotypes of female characters in games," according to the Kickstarter description. It raised $158,922 in June, having started with a modest $6,000 goal.
