Anita Sarkeesian

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Anita Sarkeesian (2011)

Anita Sarkeesian (* around 1984 near Toronto ) is a Canadian - American feminist media critic and video blogger . It deals with the representation and role of women in popular culture , especially in computer games . She received international attention in the media after the Tropes vs. Women in Video Games caused a shit storm with sexist and racist abuse.

Life

Anita Sarkeesian says of herself that she was shaped by "traditional Armenian culture, the immigration experiences of her parents and their liberal values". She earned her bachelor's degree in communications from California State University, Northridge . In 2010, she completed her master's degree in Social and Political Thought at York University , Toronto, with a study entitled "I'll make a man out of you." Strong women in Science Fiction and Fantasy Television .

Anita Sarkeesian focuses her work on the deconstruction of stereotypes and role clichés that women are associated with in popular culture.

Anita Sarkeesian, Media Evolutions The Conference (2013)

Sarkeesian lectures at universities, at conferences, and for computer game developers. In 2012 she appeared as a speaker at the TED conference TEDxWomen . Media such as Forbes , Wired , The Guardian and the New York Times have interviewed or reported on them.

Video blog "Feminist Frequency"

Sarkeesian became known with her vlog Feminist Frequency on YouTube , in which she has been critical of current pop culture phenomena from a feminist perspective and explains the basics of this approach, for example by explaining her adaptation of the Bechdel test . Her goal is to "bring the topic of feminism out of the lecture halls and academic circles into the internet world and to create a new space for discussion".

In 2011, she posted the first series of web videos entitled Tropes vs. Women a. In this video series, she critically examines stereotypical representations of women in the media of narrative pop culture (e.g. the Damsel in distress , see Persecuted Innocence ).

“A trope is a common pattern in a story or a recognizable attribute in a character that conveys information to the audience. A trope becomes a cliche when it's overused. Sadly, some of these tropes often perpetuate offensive stereotypes. "

“A trope is a common pattern in a story or a recognizable trait of a character that conveys information to the audience. A trope becomes a cliché if it is used too often. Unfortunately, some of these tropes often allow offensive stereotypes to persist. "

- Anita Sarkeesian

Feminist-Frequency videos are used in schools and by educational organizations in the US and Canada and have been shown at various conferences and festivals such as the Open Video Conference, the Athena Film Festival (both in New York) and the "Festival International du Film Lesbien & Féministe de Paris". In 2014 the channel reached almost 5.8 million views. In 2019, the YouTube channel still had around 200,000 subscribers and several thousand views per post

Project "Tropes vs. Women in Video Games "

Tropes vs. Women in Video Games (Logo)

Sarkeesian started a crowdfunding campaign on the Kickstarter.com website on May 17th, 2012 for her project, a five-part video series entitled Tropes vs. Women , which should address women-related stereotypes in video games. Examples of such stereotypes are the woman as a black widow, as a demonic seductress who devours the man after the completed sexual act, or the portrayal as a woman in distress, the half-naked fighter, the good-looking enemy, the woman as background decoration and the woman as' sexy Sidekick '. The campaign's goal of raising US $ 6,000 was far exceeded. In total, an amount of nearly $ 160,000 was reached.

Hate campaign

Then there was a hate campaign against Anita Sarkeesian with sexist and racist abuse, threats of violence and rape and sexist agitation. Melanie Mühl said in the FAZ that "She needs a good dicking" is one of the friendlier formulations. The attacks are so massive that Anita Sarkeesian can rightly assume that it was a coordinated action behind which various game forums are hidden. Your announcement to examine computer games for sexism had helped through this campaign months before the publication to shed light on sexism in the Internet and computer game culture. The extent of the shitstorm was seen by many observers as evidence that the problem area was even bigger than they had assumed. Sarkeesian posted examples of this campaign on her blog. One user developed an interactive flash game entitled Beat up Anita Sarkeesian , which he published on the Newgrounds website, in which a photo of Sarkeesian could be covered with increasing traces of abuse with a click of the mouse. DDoS attacks were carried out on the website operated by her and the article created about her in the English language Wikipedia was defaced with pornographic images and other disparaging representations. Their activities have been linked to their supposedly Jewish and African origins. Dealing with Sarkeesian has been discussed around the world. The British political weekly New Statesman reported on these attacks and quoted Anita Sarkeesian's comment:

“I am certainly not the first woman to suffer this kind of harassment and sadly, I won't be the last. But I'd just like to reiterate that this is not a trivial issue. It can not and should not be brushed off by saying, […] “trolls will be trolls” or “it's to be expected on the internet”. These are serious threats of violence, harassment and slander across many online platforms meant to intimidate and silence. And its not okay. Again, don't worry, this harassment will never stop me from making my videos! "

“I am certainly not the first woman to suffer such harassment; and sadly I won't be the last However, I keep repeating that this is not a trivial matter. You can't brush it aside with words like [...] 'Trolls are trolls' or, that's to be expected on the Internet.' Rather, it is serious threats of violence, harassment and insults on many online platforms with the aim of intimidating and silencing. And it's not okay. But don't worry, this won't stop me from making my videos! "

- Anita Sarkeesian

In her blog, Feminist Frequency, Anita Sarkeesian commented on the aggressive use of symbols and communication strategies on the Internet, which is legitimate to criticize powerful institutions or repressive social norms, but which is also used as a tool to suppress marginalized groups. This form of harassment is best classified as a cyber mob attack , as it is a hate campaign, loosely organized by several internet forums.

Like Anita Sarkeesian, female players are increasingly documenting their experiences of sexual harassment , homophobic , sexist or racist attacks on other players on platforms and wikis such as "Fat, Ugly or Slutty" (the name comes from a typical insult that women receive from other players) which they network.

Ordinary Women

Sarkeesian started a crowdfunding campaign on March 8, 2016 on the Seed & Spark website for a series of web animations entitled "Ordinary Women". According to Sarkeesian, her project aims to inscribe women like Zheng Yisao and Emma Goldman , whose achievements are not or barely appreciated and about whom the history books tell far too seldom, in history.

Reception and reactions

In a 2013 study, communication scientist Carlen Lavigne described the Sarkeesians case as an example of widespread misogyny in cyberpunk , science fiction and internet culture as a whole. The lawyer Andrea Weckerle takes up the case in her book Civility in the Digital Age as a model for action against hate campaigns on the Internet.

The success of their Kickstarter campaign shows, said Pascal Paukner in the Süddeutsche Zeitung , that their concern is not a niche topic, but that there are bloggers, developers and players who have had enough of Lara Croft , Princess Peach , Bayonetta and the same portrayals of women .

With support from several thousands, the Kickstarter balance rose to over $ 150,000. Instead of five videos, Anita Sarkeesian planned to produce a series of twelve episodes. Since March 7, 2013, the series has been published on Sarkeesian's YouTube channel and on her website feministfrequency.com. In the first episode she deals with the female role cliché of the Damsel in Distress in computer games, a young woman in need who cannot help herself but has to be saved by a man first. A well-known example of this is Super Mario , the hero who regularly rescues Princess Peach from the clutches of his archenemy. Erik Kain praised the episode as an excellent and important review. In his article about Sarkeesian and the consequences under the title Attack on Young Culture , Rainer Sigl attests to her that she has meticulously documented with innumerable examples that video games operate with sexist motives. Not only in the games themselves, according to Sigl, but also in the associated industry and in some of the gaming community, “problematic, often aggressive sexism is the norm”, which is doggedly defended in a wrong understanding of “gaming culture”. In his Cyberculture study, published in 2013, Todd Harper addresses the backlash against Anita Sarkeesian as symptomatic of the way women are treated in the game communities.

In September 2015, Sarkeesian, among others, spoke at a panel discussion in front of a United Nations working group on Internet violence against women. Sarkeesian reported there on the complex online harassment that she had experienced in the past three years.

Death threats

In the run-up to the Game Developers Conference 2014, several organizers had received anonymous bomb threats demanding that Sarkeesian should not be recognized.

After the publication of the second part of "Women as Background Decoration", Anita Sarkeesian reported in August 2014 on specific death threats that she had received via Twitter. Because of this, she left her home for security reasons. As a result, more than 2000 representatives of the games industry wrote an open letter to gamers calling on them to take action against hatred and threats of violence on the Internet. In response to the threats against Anita Sarkeesian, the Berlin game developer waza games developed a news game entitled “No Male Heroes”, which takes up the gender issue as a game theme.

In October 2014, Sarkeesian had to cancel a lecture for the first time after Utah State University had received the threat of a rampage on the occasion of Sarkeesian's lecture and the campus police had no way under state law to prevent the carrying of weapons there.

Awards

In March 2014, Anita Sarkeesian received the Ambassador Award of the annual Game Developers Choice Awards from the International Game Developers Association . This honors people who have helped to improve the level of the computer game industry. Sarkeesian is the first woman to receive this award. She was honored for her series Tropes vs. Women in Video Games raised awareness of the portrayal of women in video games. She was also nominated for Microsoft's Women in Gaming Awards in 2014 .

Time named Sarkeesian one of the 100 Most Influential People in 2015 in the Pioneers category. In May 2015 she was listed by Cosmopolitan in the list of “50 Most Fascinating Personalities on the Internet”.

literature

Fonts

  • "I'll Make a Man Out of You": Strong Women in Science Fiction and Fantasy Television. Master thesis by Anita Sarkeesian. York University, Toronto, 2010.
  • Jennifer Jenson, Anita Sarkeesian: Buffy vs. Bella: The Re-Emergence of the Archetypal Feminine in Vampire Stories , in: Gareth Schott, Kirstine Moffat (Eds.): Fanpires: Audience Consumption of the Modern Vampire , New Academia Publishing 2011, ISBN 978-0-9845832-1-8 , P. 55 ff.
  • With Katherine Cross: Your Humanity is in Another Castle: Terror Dreams and the Harassment of Women. In: Daniel Goldberg, Linus Larsson (Ed.): The state of play: creators and critics on video game culture. Seven Stories Press, New York 2015, ISBN 978-1-60980-639-2 , pp. 103-126
  • Mit Ebony Adams: History vs Women: The Defiant Lives that They Don't Want You to Know. Feiwel & Friends, New York 2018, ISBN 978-1250146731

Web links

Commons : Anita Sarkeesian  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Angela Watercutter: Feminist Take on Games Draws Crude Ridicule, Massive Support. In: Wired Magazine. June 14, 2012, accessed December 20, 2013 .
  2. ↑ Melanie Mühl: Women in Computer Games: Barbies with Super Breasts. In: faz.net. June 17, 2012, accessed on October 14, 2017 : “The 'Shitstorm' that is currently pouring over Anita Sarkeesian online is breathtaking. [...] The sexual and racist insults, the threats of violence are so massive that Anita Sarkeesian probably rightly assumes that it is a coordinated action behind which various gaming forums are hidden. "
  3. ↑ Pascal Paukner: Sexism in Video Games: Where Feminism is "Terrorism". In: sueddeutsche.de. June 23, 2012, accessed on October 15, 2017 : “What appeared on your website, on YouTube and in forums was not a ridiculous shit storm, but hate. Hundreds of sexist, racist and anti-Semitic comments came up. "
  4. ↑ Katalina Precelt: Sexism in the Gamer Scene: When Strong Women Come. In: taz.de. July 16, 2012, accessed on February 9, 2018 : “Sarkeesian's Twitter account was accused of terrorism, her Wikipedia entry was covered with slander, and her YouTube videos contained a potpourri of racist and anti-Semitic comments, death threats and announcements of rape , sexual leanings and harassment. "
  5. ↑ […] her Kickstarter and Youtube pages were flooded with beating, rape and death threads… Quotation in: Carlen Lavigne: Cyberpunk Women, Feminism and Science Fiction. A Critical Study , McFarland 2013, ISBN 978-0-7864-6653-5 , p. 184.
  6. ↑ Clementine Ford: There's nothing funny about misogyny , in: Jane Caro: Destroying The Joint , Univ. of Queensland Press, 2013, ISBN 0-7022-5177-1 , p. 196.
  7. ↑ […] the backlash against Anita Sarkeesian's crowd-funding campaign for […] her "Tropes vs. Women in Video Games" video series was so intense, widespread and vicious, that it attracted media attention worldwide . Quoted in: Todd Harper: The Culture of Digital Fighting Games. Performance and Practice , Routledge Studies in New Media and Cyberculture, 2013, ISBN 978-0-415-82130-8 , p. 115.
  8. ↑ a b c Susanne Dickel: Sexism in video games. Frau in Not , Süddeutsche Zeitung, March 25, 2014
  9. ^ A b Sophie Perrault: My Interview with Feminist Frequency's Anita Sarkeesian. In: Text Appeal. January 17, 2011, accessed July 13, 2012 .
  10. ↑ a b I'll Make a Man Out of You: Redefining Strong Female Characters (Social Science Matters Speaker Series on Resistance) | College of Social and Behavioral Sciences | UMass Amherst. In: www.umass.edu. Retrieved November 13, 2015 .
  11. ↑ Anita Sarkeesian at TEDxWomen 2012
  12. ^ Catherine Bailey Kyle: No Girls allowed: Why Gender Equality in Geek Culture matters , in: Norma Jones et al. (Ed.): Heroines of Film and Television. Portrayals in Popular Culture , Rowman & Littlefield Publisher 2014, ISBN 978-1-4422-3149-8 , pp. 131 f.
  13. ↑ Anita Sarkeesian, a feminist pop culture media critic and the editor of Feminist Frequency, has produced a video putting the 2012 best picture nominees to the so-called Bechdel test. In: Michael Barthel: The Oscars' woman problem , Salon, February 25, 2012
  14. ^ Feminist Frequency comes to SOU; Anita Sarkeesian Talks about Feminism in Popular Culture , The Siskiyou (Southern Oregon University), March 4, 2012
  15. ↑ Anita Sarkeesian, a pop culture critic who runs the blog Feminist Frequency, in: Hermione Hoby: The slacker is back - and this time she's female , The Guardian, March 25, 2012
  16. ↑ dailynebraskan.com on archive.org ( Memento from August 29, 2012 in the Internet Archive ): ROOT: Gaming culture bullies betray geek camaraderie, openness to new ideas from June 17, 2012 (English, archived copy, first of two pages, accessed on December 20, 2013)
  17. ↑ FemFreq on KUOW's The Conversation. In: KUOW.org. July 1, 2011, accessed July 13, 2012 .
  18. ↑ a b c Melanie Mühl: Women in computer games. Barbies with superb breasts. FAZ June 17, 2012
  19. ↑ Engl. Original quote in: Anita Sarkeesian: Tropes vs. Women: # 1 The Manic Pixie Dream Girl. In: Feminist Frequency. March 24, 2011, accessed June 8, 2015 .
  20. ^ “I'll Make a Man Out of You”: Redefining Strong Female Characters ( Memento from March 25, 2012 in the Internet Archive ), event announcement of Sewanee University of the South (February 15, 2011), accessed on July 18, 2013.
  21. ↑ theguardian.com : Anita Sarkeesian launching new video series focused on masculinity in games from January 27, 2015 (English, accessed October 15, 2017)
  22. ↑ https://hotair.com/archives/2019/06/22/anita-sarkeesians-feminist-frequency-nonprofit-broke/
  23. ^ Esther MacCallum-Stewart: Online Games, Social Narratives , Routledge (= Routledge Studies in New Media and Cyberculture, Volume 21) 2014, ISBN 978-0-415-89190-5 , p. 140
  24. ↑ Michael Kunczik: Violence - Media - Addiction: Computerspiele , Lit Verlag, 2013, ISBN 978-3-643-12258-2 , p. 86.
  25. ↑ Matt Maguire: Sexism in games series debuts this week. In: stuff.co.nz. March 6, 2013, accessed May 11, 2015 .
  26. ^ Carlen Lavigne: Cyberpunk Women, Feminism and Science Fiction. A Critical Study , McFarland 2013, ISBN 978-0-7864-6653-5 , p. 184
  27. ↑ a b c Rainer Sigl: Attack on the young culture. FM4 / ORF, March 8, 2013, accessed on July 21, 2013 .
  28. ↑ a b Katalina Precelt: Sexism in the gamer scene. When the strong women come , taz July 17th, 2012
  29. ↑ a b Andrea Weckerle: Civility in the Digital Age , Que Publishing 2013, ISBN 978-0-7897-5024-2 , pp. 1-3.
  30. ↑ Feminist Blogger Is a Victim of a Vicious Videogame Retaliation , Forbes, July 9, 2012
  31. ↑ Toronto Tweeter Causes Uproar Over Violent "Beat Up Anita Sarkeesian" Game . Toronto Standard, July 7, 2012
  32. ^ Sarah O'Meara: Internet Trolls Up Their Harassment Game With 'Beat Up Anita Sarkeesian' , The Huffington Post 06/07/2012
  33. ^ A b Carlen Lavigne: Cyberpunk Women, Feminism and Science Fiction. A Critical Study , McFarland 2013, ISBN 978-0-7864-6653-5 , p. 184
  34. ↑ Marcus Hammerschmitt: They just want to play. In: Telepolis. July 13, 2012, accessed July 13, 2012 .
  35. ^ Daniel Nye Griffiths: Winning Without Cheat Codes: Jay Smooth On Gaming And Harassment. In: Forbes.com. June 15, 2012, accessed July 13, 2012 .
  36. ↑ Engl. Original quotation in: Helen Lewis: Dear The Internet, This Is Why You Can't Have Anything Nice. In: New Statesman. June 12, 2012. Retrieved July 13, 2012 .
  37. ↑ Marcyliena H. Morgan: Speech communities , Cambridge University Press 2014, ISBN 978-1-107-67814-9 , page 110
  38. ↑ a b Amy O'Leary: In Virtual Play, Sex Harassment Is All Too Real. In: The New York Times. August 1, 2012, accessed July 21, 2013 .
  39. ↑ Where to Report Sexist Gamer Dudes , Bitch Magazine June 17, 2013
  40. ^ Anita Sarkeesian's new video series is a feminist take on history. In: The Verge. Retrieved March 27, 2016 .
  41. ↑ Alyssa Rosenberg: Act FourOpinion Anita Sarkeesian's next Feminist Frequency project tackles women's history. In: The Washington Post . Nash Holdings LLC, March 8, 2016, accessed January 4, 2017 .
  42. ↑ Pascal Paukner: Where feminism counts as "terrorism". In: Sueddeutsche.de. June 23, 2012. Retrieved July 13, 2012 .
  43. ↑ 'Tropes vs. Women In Video Games' Tackles Sexism And Misogyny In Gaming. In: The Huffington Post. June 14, 2012, accessed December 20, 2013 .
  44. ↑ Rachel Weber: If you think sexism's OK in games, you may be in the wrong century. In: The Guardian. June 14, 2012, accessed July 13, 2012 .
  45. ↑ Paul Tassi: Damsel in Distress: Anita Sarkeesian Releases Her First Video at Last , Forbes , March 8, 2013
  46. ↑ Philippa Warr: Watch Anita Sarkeesian's first Tropes vs Women episode ( Memento from March 13, 2013 in the Internet Archive ), Wired Magazine March 8, 2013
  47. ↑ Erik Kain: Anita Sarkeesian's 'Damsel In Distress' Feminist Frequency Video Is Excellent And Important - Here's Why , Forbes , March 9, 2013
  48. ^ Todd Harper: The Culture of Digital Fighting Games. Performance and Practice (= Routledge Studies in New Media and Cyberculture), Routledge 2013, ISBN 978-0-415-82130-8 , p. 115.
  49. ↑ polygon.com : Anita Sarkeesian, Zoe Quinn and more take aim at cyber harassment against women in new report from September 25, 2015 (English, accessed November 29, 2015)
  50. ↑ mcvuk.com ( Memento from September 20, 2014 in the Internet Archive ): GDC faced bomb threat for granting Anita Sarkeesian an award from September 19, 2014 (English, accessed on September 19, 2014)
  51. ↑ Gaming vlogger Anita Sarkeesian is forced from home after receiving harrowing death threats , The Washington Post, August 29, 2014
  52. ^ Anna North: Why a Video Game Critic Was Forced to Flee Her Home , International New York Times, August 29, 2014
  53. ↑ Paula Mejia: Feminist Video Game Critic Receives Bomb Threats at Award Ceremony , Newsweek , September 18, 2014
  54. ↑ a b nytimes.com : Feminist Critics of Video Games Facing Threats in 'GamerGate' Campaign from October 15, 2014 (English, accessed October 16, 2014)
  55. ↑ Gamers take a stand against misogyny after death threats , BBC, September 2, 2014
  56. ↑ heise.de : Game developers turn against hate with an open letter , September 2, 2014 (accessed on September 2, 2014)
  57. ↑ Martin Spiess: "It's not a game against the trolls" , cover culture magazine , September 27, 2014.
  58. Jump up ↑ 'Gamergate': Feminist video game critic Anita Sarkeesian cancels Utah lecture after threat , The Washington Post, October 15, 2014
  59. ↑ Hakan Tanriverdi: Death and Games , Süddeutsche Zeitung, October 16, 2014
  60. ↑ Gamergate: Man threatened video game feminist with massacre at university , derStandard.at , October 15, 2014: "After renewed death threats, video game feminist Anita Sarkeesian had to cancel a planned speech to visitors to Utah State University on Tuesday."
  61. ↑ 14th annual Game Developers Choice Awards (2014), Anita Sarkeesian , Ambassador Award Archive
  62. ^ Anita Sarkeesian, Riot co-founders win GDCA 2014 Special Awards, Game Developers Conference
  63. ↑ Chris Sullentrop: The Last of Us Claims a Top Video Game Prize , International New Times, March 20, 2014
  64. ↑ Dennis Scimeca: The 2014 Game Developers Choice Awards convey a message of hope , VentureBeat, March 20, 2014
  65. ^ A b Laura Parker: A Day of Honors for Women in the Video Game Industry . The New York Times. March 20, 2014.
  66. ↑ Kris Ligman: Anita Sarkeesian, more up for nominations at Women in Gaming Awards , Gamasutra , March 19, 2014
  67. ↑ Anita Sarkeesian
  68. ^ The 50 Most Fascinating People on the Internet . In: Cosmopolitan , accessed June 12, 2015.
  69. ↑ Full text of Anita Sarkeesian's Master's thesis at scribd.com (registration required)
personal data
SURNAME Sarkeesian, Anita
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American blogger
DATE OF BIRTH around 1984
PLACE OF BIRTH near Toronto