Sarkeesian The Damsel?
It’s been tough finding something new to discuss. I realize I could just copy/paste a bunch of my 1up blogs but there’s an inner masochist in me that never likes “the easy way out” so here I am trying to come up with something more fresh.
I originally made it known I wanted to avoid the whole Anita Sarkeesian mess but since I’m kind of out of material I figure I’d give my two cents.
First of all, I’m glad Anita finally put out something after making a ridiculous amount of money off donations. I think she owes it to her fans and supporters to at least do that at the bare minimum. However, I am pessimistic it would take that much revenue to produce a decent web series to begin with. (On you tube I see many people do wonderful work without donations or heaps of trust funds)
Honestly, it’s ironic Anita’s first video is about “Damsels In Distress” because she sort of portrayed herself as the very same thing to drum up sympathy.
Before I get attacked, I don’t agree with the trolls who spammed her kick-starter. Threatening a woman with rape or violence online is not only stepping over the line but it’s insipidly unoriginal. These are the same types of lame responses that fall in with “Make me a sandwich” or “Back to the kitchen”. At the very least Anita proved there is a problem and that problem is people are inclined to become mean spirited jerks when they can hide behind the veil of anonymity!
Yet it always seemed to me Anita was smart enough to know trolls do in fact exist and most of them are in fact just trying to get a reaction. As asinine and cruel as many trolls come off, all they have are their words. A troll can threaten to anal rape me with a clown balloon filled with goat’s milk but chances are if we met face to face said troll would feign politeness and act like anyone else. Why? Because in the case of trolls they’re all bark and no bite. Aka, Anita wasn’t truly dealing with deeply disturbed misogynists, killers, and rapists. She was dealing with a bunch of immature sods online who are more or less harmless in real life.
Of course Anita also knew how easy it would be to sensationalize this and blow it way out of proportion. She can be cited as saying she was “threatened online”. While I can agree she was “slandered with text” I’m hesitant to say she was threatened. Again, most idiots who talk smack online have no means to back up what they’re saying. “A true threat” is given with the actual intent to carry it out. Yes, it is annoying to be trolled relentlessly. (I've been there and done that!) Even those whom handle it gracefully aren’t immune to the distress cyber bullying can cause. Be that as it may, there is a simultaneous unwritten rule in play. It is that after someone has garnered enough attention online they are going to run into haters and fakers. I’m sure Anita is not oblivious to this which is why I question her exaggerated “shock and dismay” over the negative reactions she received. (Aka, it’s my hypothesis she knew full damn well she’d attract trolls and that was her coup de gras from the very beginning)
I’m not saying Anita doesn’t have a good point. Yes, there are any number of tropes which have a negative flip-side aspect to them. Yet whereas the damsel is captured and portrayed as “helpless” she’s also the prize the heroes are fighting to save. She’s the illuminated goddess on the pedestal the heroes are sacrificing their lives for time and time again as desperate gamers select “continue” or slam more quarters into the coin slots. It’s ironic many of the people flocking to Anita’s defense were putting themselves into the roles of “Mario” and “Luigi” to save their princess . While I approve of them combating the actual trolls who were being nasty beyond reason, they also seemed to go after the posters who were merely “politely disagreeing” with Sarkeesian as well. Like it or not, many pro-feminists fell into the oldest kind of chauvinism in the book. “Oh poor Anita, she can’t defend herself so let’s do it for her!” Certainly it’s okay to offer aid to a friend in need. We all do it at some point. However, we have to question ourselves and ask if we’re defending another person because it’s truly the right thing to do or if we are doing it merely because our personal vanity is demanding a dog & pony show. Personally I believe most people who donated to Anita’s cause didn’t do so to benefit feminism or help her with her personal cause. They did so to feel better about themselves. May haps that’s the saddest revelation of all.
Before I’ll go I’ll leave you all with a question “Is it better to be perceived as a precious treasure who armies will fight & die for or is it better to be seen as a disposable soldier whose only value comes from a supposed noble death on the battlefield?” From where I’m standing I rather be the princess! Someone fetch me a dress quickly before I’m drafted into the plumber army! 
PS: And Anita, if you want to encourage discussion it might help to allow ratings & comments. True, you’ll have trolls but you’ll also get positive feedback and helpful criticism to boot!
I still haven't watched the video and I don't plan to. I am enjoying reading all the responses to it though. I agree that she needs to enable comments. How can you ask for all that money and then take away your viewers means for feedback?
That's what makes me draw a blank,Kev. I understand Anita might feel negative pressure from trolls but that should not dissuade her from gving others the chance to praise & critique her.
Btw, can you read my "whole blog"? I'm seeing it run into the cluttered info on the side!
Broken, you have to make your images smaller, they're stretching out your blog, and that's why the text is like that. 
That top image is going beyond the table on the right and stretching everything....
Gotcha Matt, thanks! Where would I be without my tech support homies and home sistas!
it looks like it's still a little crinkled. maybe because of that Klinger (Clinger?) pic? If not I don't know what the problem is.... I think the size limit is 500 or 600 something and you can adjust it in the "appearance" tab when you post an image in Pixlbit.
Thanks,bro! I resposted a smaller picture of Klinger too. Hope that helps. For the record her "Damsels in distress" video is "better" than her previous works. It would be nice to see her reference games "beyond" the 70's,80's,and 90's though. (This first entry also seems very nintendo-centric. Where's the love for Sega, Sony,and Microsoft?)
well, I'm trying to avoid getting into this war because it's so complex, and nobody wins except for the extremists, but I think that she picks games that prove her right, just as anyone would do. She's not going to include games that counter her argument.
Maybe she has some good points, but I think the whole thing is just left to others, not me. Everyone has an opinion, and that's cool, cause this is America. Are women second class citizens? In some ways... but this isn't restricted to video games. Anyway, I think it's good that people like Sarkeesian can speak their mind even though I don't agree with it all.
I actually think the damsel trope started in literature,theater, and film. If I attacked it in particular I'd have to start from much further back in time and work my way up to videogames which by that point have been influenced by everything else.
You're right, it is a very complex layered issue.
I do think she played up the very trope she criticized to get more support though. I wouldn't call that "evil" but I would call it a tad hypocritical.
But either way she succeeded.
I tell you this though, I haven't watched the video, only looked at it, but -- and I know it's lame to say this, but I just have to be honest -- she's wearing too much makeup. I mean, maybe it's her age, or the idea that she's being put out there in front of all these people to be judged, but I just think she should be more natural in her look, because it looks like she's trying too hard. But I don't know maybe that's just how she rolls, what do I know? It just rings of insecurity to me, in a way.
I know that's a shallow response to a complex argument, but that's what I've got.
Hmmm, didn't notice her excess makeup but maybe she feels more stress with a camera recording her. I can't go there because I would want to look my best too. Granted, I wouldn't go to extremes but I wouldn't want to be seen as a complete slob either. lol.
As for her examples, I just wish they were a tad more relevant "today". "The captive princess" isn't as common now and when it is used it's almost always a parody of itself.
yeah Princess Peach and Daisy are a lot more complex characters now, even when Peach is captured. In Thousand Year Door, you could be Peach and it was quite cute. And now, if a girl wants a girl character in Mario Kart, she has many options. But the damsel in distress thing is everywhere in our media, I mean, you do the same with Cortana in Halo 4, and that's what Bioshock Infinite seems to be about as well, you know?
It's just such a part of our culture, I don't think you can attack video games without attacking the roots of it in movies, literature, and poetry, which all have it and which all came first.
Those are good points. I also don't see the trope entirely as negative either. One of my driving ambitions in Bioshock was to save all the little sisters because I genuinely cared about them. I saw them as abused and neglected children thus I wanted to better their lives somehow.
Another aspect of the trope not explored is simply someone who loves someone else doing whatever they can to save that person. I wouldn't call that "objectifying".
Lastly I concur these themes also run throughout literature,poetry,films,and theater. This is something that's been around for hundreds or even thousands of years.
I also don't think it's a "male-centric fantasy" because there are women who fantasize about being saved by a hero or they fantasize about saving the man (or woman) they love.
I'm really curious to see how skinny this "reply" comment will get. 
Me too! Let's break the comments section!
Seems pretty broken already. Let's see if Nick notices.
Either it needs a fix or I changed some sort of weird preference on my blog,Travis!
Real nice guys, thanks for breaking the site! Oh, hey, wait, what have I just done here?
I'd like to see if we can get down to one character per line. We all need goals.
Well since I'm not going to provide a solution, I may as well be part of the problem...
We're well off into the right bar now. I wonder what happens when we go over into the background area. Only one way to know for sure.
OK, that's pretty cool. Down to one word per line at least.
Ha ha ha! It's getting tight in here!
LOL! It's a comment stalactite! 
We're breaching the perimeter!
Hold on tight!!!
Warp 10 engaged.
I saw that the border can handle up to 600 width without stretching anything. The s t a l a c t i t e s I can't help with lol.
Coolsetzer did it!! He's gone to red!! Now we can all push through. Let's go, guys!!!
Heave! Ho! Heave! Ho! Damn it, I'm too fat! Go on without me! I'll make the noble sacrifice to create a gap with my muffin top!
It's too late! We've given her all she's got! She cannae take any more! Abandon ship, Cap'n! *big time explos ion*
Damn it Scotty, why NOW?!!!
Guys... guys... guuyyyyyyyyyyyyyyssss!!!
Don't come over. Nick tricked us all....
I must say, this is rather weird. It's like we're breaking the fourth wall.
Reality breach in 5...4...3....2....1....
My God, it's beautiful!
I'm not really interested in Sarkeesian. I'll just say I agree with most of your points, and that I really don't care, to be honest. If I want feminist views on media, I'll go watch Nostalgia Chick, who is funny and not incredibly bland.
Yeah, I rather watch females on youtube that have "true geek/gamer cred". So far it seems like Sarkeesian only picked up games to use them for her rants. I kind of doubt she's ever been a "true gamer" before that. However, she seems to be taken with Joss Whedon so maybe she's half geek! (I feel like a purist asshole for throwing these labels around,Joe. lol.)
Cut it out you two! no breaking of the website that gave us refuge!
I think she's be better off going after the Twilight franchise, myself. She has some valid points, but the way she goes about it just annoys the living shit out of me. I want to tell her to put up or shut up, but that's just me.
Twilight really is a series where every contrived sexist trope known to humanity resides. I can understand why it's popular amongst teens but I shudder to think of anyone interpreting Twilight as a lifestyle as opposed to vapid fantasy fulfillment. (Which is what it really is.)
What 's ironic about Twilight is it's written by a woman. lol.
As for Anita, she doing a disservice by only focusing on videogames. (And mostly outdated ones at that) Many tropes started way before entertainment went digital and became interactive,Tami.
This is a touchy subject. I don't think she should disable comments though since so many people funded her. Wasn't the whole point of this project to bring these kind of issues to light and encourage discussion? It's unfortunate that most of the discussion surrounding her videos turned out to be trolls attacking her. That kind of immature behaviour gives us gamers a bed rep.
It does. However I don't think "trolls" should always be lumped in with gamers. Certainly there are trolls who are gamers but there are trolls from every other walk of life too.
There are rumors Anita and her followers "trolled 4 chan first" to drum up extra controversy but as I've seen no direct evidence of this, I'm going to assume her Kickstarter started out innocent enough.
However, she definitely benefited from the trolls and had she not been trolled so heinously she wouldn't have gotten so much support.
I don't have a problem with her addressing these things but I do wish she would use better examples and allow people to give her feedback. Other famous you-tube celebrities put up with trolling as well but at least they keep their comment and rating sections open to the public. I understand not wanting to deal with nasty comments but Sarkeesian is outright doing away with "freedom of speech" on her channel.
Also, did she really "need" that much money?
I didn't even watch this video or follow this whole story. I don't really worry about stuff like that, even though I probably should. I just like to play video games and have fun with them.
I wish more gamers would embrce your philosophy Cary. lol.
Where"s my tiara? I wanna be a princess,too. Trolls amaze me sometimes. You summed up their motivation nicely. They don't intend to harm others,just irritate the living crap out of them! The trolls on XBOX Live are the worst I have ever encountered. The racist,mysoginistic,ignorant ramblings of teenage morons is everywhere it seems. That's the future of our country you are hearing speak. Anita is quite odd to me. I just want to know one thing. Do plaid shirts really cost a lot of money? They must be very expensive to need that much cash.
That's my point of contention too,Celt. I think Sarkeesian could have done a web series on these things without $6,000. (Her original asking price) As a matter of fact, she had done videos "before" starting her Kick-Starter.
Maybe it's just because I feel "guilty" about asking folks for cash myself. We're in a recession and I know most people are struggling.
As for plaid shirts, as far as I know they're rather inexpensive. lol.
There may be many problems with the damsel in distress trope, but one of them is not that it's a man doing the saving. I'm confident in saying that in the history of mankind, there have been even less women cut out for heroic adventure and violent action than the minority among men who have been capable of it. A princess, pampered her whole life, even less so.
The problem with the trope, in my eyes, is that it is a trope. It's tired', it's been exhausted ad nauseum, just like the Campbellian Hero's Journey, 'chosen one' stories, and stories with prophecies about the one true evil/true hero.
I agree. The biggest problem with the trope is it is tired and uninteresting, Chris. I think the 80's and 90's totally burnt me out on the captive girlfriend angle.
I prefer the "tomboy trope" or the "action-girl trope" personally. It's not wrong for a character to be a trope on the surface so long as they have more complex layers underneath.
However, I think I'll be waiting a little while longer before video-games evolve in the story telling department as much as a good book! (I'm still somewhat of a literature snob)
I'm comfortable with the idea that writing may not evolve. Even when we get it, it's mostly ignored or not noticed if it's not in your face (Planescape, Dark Souls, Grim Fandango).
I think one thing we need to get away from is the dependency on fantasy and science-fiction to be interesting. It's like the sugar used to help the medicine go down. It's kind of childish in a way, because it's usually more about monsters and cool swords than saying anything about culture or politics or behavior, etc.
Admittedly I'm a big man-child when it comes to sci fi, horror, and fantasy! For me it really is the sugar to help the medicine go down! However, I have enjoyed movies like Chasing Amy,Juno, and Mall-Rats. While they are drenched in juvenile pop culture dribble they are also very "real" too. Just a bunch of people shooting the spit and going through life's mundane misadventures!
I also read a good coming of age book but for the life of me I can't remember the author. It was kind of like "Stand By Me" by Stephen King but I thought it was better.
PS: I got it! Boy's Life by Robert McCammon. I loved that book!
So the equivalent ot Mall-Rats or Juno would be...Bully? Aren't you one of the people always praising that underrated game? I think that's why Rockstar games are so popular: settings that are familiar and relevant to the average person. Harder to relate to a made up fantasy world than the Old West or de-facto New York City.
I praise underrated games and appreciate them but I'm not "above" appreciating mainstream games. Don't see why having a hand in each of those cookie jars is a problem. People can't be categorized so easily,Chris. A fact which I'm sure you are keen on.
For the record, I enjoyed Bully and San Andreas. However, I couldn't get as much into other Rock Star games. I realized I was given only a thin illusion of choice and realism. Gamers in such worlds are always cast as a larger than life hero,outlaw, or villain. Yes, "real drug dealers" and "real undercover cops" exist but most of us don't live those exciting lifestyles so it's still a type of escapism & power fantasy.
I also wouldn't call Mallrats or Juno the same. Those films usually revolve around average smoes who only brush with true danger briefly if at all. Besides, I don't recall a game casting us as a pregnant teenaged girl who has to deal with her consequences. Could such a premise even work? It's possible.
However, at least for me games need some sort of motivational factor. Aka, giving me a reason to get of my ass and investigate something that's not entirely normal. Certainly a developer could make "Real Life The Game" but as innovative as that might be I don't think I could personally enjoy it. (Unless it was presented in a really special way)
Then again, I love Terraria which when stripped of its' combat and sparkly items is pretty much just a building,gathering, and mining sim. I imagine many gamers see it as such and wonder why guys like me "dig" that sort of thing.
She said pornographic in the first minute. Then I knew that I couldn't take her fake journalism seriously and stopped watching. Just another attention grabber on the internet. Staying out of the convo on this one.
Probably the best thing to do,Setz. lol. I also feel sorry for the word "pornographic". Everyone always uses it in a negative connotation. lol. I dunno, I like porn sometimes. (Waits for waves of anti-sex feminists to descend upon me and loose their arrows!)
It's been nice knowing you,guy!
R.I.P BrokenH. :killed by reverse sexist arrows:
I'm already dead! (Lame FOTNS reference)
yet another aspect of gaming I've overlooked. didn't realize this was still a hot button issue when brought up. I'ms ure it can be brought up the wrong way but never knew it got that far to begin with.
At the very least Anita is keeping her word. That counts for something. However, I think she's treading on ground others have way before her. (While doing a better job to boot) Something about her comes off as naive and narrow-minded to me. (And no, it's not just because she's a "woman". lol.)