Sarkeesian sets sights on miniseries showing positive female characters in games
Anita Sarkeesian, via Anita Sarkeesian/Flickr
Feminist media critic Anita Sarkeesian has announced a whole raft of projects that Feminist Frequency will undertake in 2015.
Feminist Frequency is a non-profit educational group that looks to use the power of media to promote positive female influences on gaming.
Its YouTube channel received 5.7m views in 2014, primarily through Sarkeesian’s ‘Tropes v Women’ projects which “examine the plot devices and patterns most often associated with female characters in gaming from a systemic, big-picture perspective.”
This year, Feminist Frequency is looking to begin a miniseries presenting examples of positive female characters in video games.
Elsewhere, Sarkeesian will start a video series examining the representations of men and masculinity in video games, expand its work surrounding gendered online harassment and even expand Feminist Frequency by hiring more staff.
Last October, Sarkeesian cancelled an appearance at Utah State University due to security’s inability to prevent attendees carrying weapons following a violent threat.
This all stemmed from threats made to Sarkeesian from people allegedly claiming affiliation to Gamergate – an online ‘movement’ of sorts that emerged last year and harassed women in the gaming industry.
The subsequent fall-out strengthened Feminist Frequency’s media presence, culminating in Sarkeesian’s appearance on The Colbert Report late last year. Clearly going from strength to strength, these upcoming projects show Feminist Frequency’s growing relevance in the modern online community.
“From the parents who use our videos to teach their children media literacy tools, to the game developers who accepted our criticism and promised to improve in the future, to the little boy who came up to me at XOXO and said, ‘Hi, I’m a feminist gamer,’ you are the reason we continue in the face of such opposition,” says Sarkeesian.
“I cannot express enough how much hope you give me. My whole team is committed to this work and we are not going anywhere.”
Sarkeesian sets sights on miniseries showing positive female characters in games
Anita Sarkeesian, via Anita Sarkeesian/Flickr
Feminist media critic Anita Sarkeesian has announced a whole raft of projects that Feminist Frequency will undertake in 2015.
Feminist Frequency is a non-profit educational group that looks to use the power of media to promote positive female influences on gaming.
Its YouTube channel received 5.7m views in 2014, primarily through Sarkeesian’s ‘Tropes v Women’ projects which “examine the plot devices and patterns most often associated with female characters in gaming from a systemic, big-picture perspective.”
This year, Feminist Frequency is looking to begin a miniseries presenting examples of positive female characters in video games.
Elsewhere, Sarkeesian will start a video series examining the representations of men and masculinity in video games, expand its work surrounding gendered online harassment and even expand Feminist Frequency by hiring more staff.
Last October, Sarkeesian cancelled an appearance at Utah State University due to security’s inability to prevent attendees carrying weapons following a violent threat.
This all stemmed from threats made to Sarkeesian from people allegedly claiming affiliation to Gamergate – an online ‘movement’ of sorts that emerged last year and harassed women in the gaming industry.
The subsequent fall-out strengthened Feminist Frequency’s media presence, culminating in Sarkeesian’s appearance on The Colbert Report late last year. Clearly going from strength to strength, these upcoming projects show Feminist Frequency’s growing relevance in the modern online community.
“From the parents who use our videos to teach their children media literacy tools, to the game developers who accepted our criticism and promised to improve in the future, to the little boy who came up to me at XOXO and said, ‘Hi, I’m a feminist gamer,’ you are the reason we continue in the face of such opposition,” says Sarkeesian.
“I cannot express enough how much hope you give me. My whole team is committed to this work and we are not going anywhere.”