Feminist Frequency gives me headaches

 

 

Anita Sarkeesian has infamously become the male gamers number one enemy. Although I'm fine with people stating their opinions, an opinion means nothing without supporting facts. The research Anita did for her web series, Tropes vs. Women in Games was fairly vague with her examples of over sexualization  of women in video games. I watched the video with my eyes rolling so far back into my head, but I had to see what startled the gaming community. She seems to be convinced that every single game is misogynistic and degrades women for their appearance and overall ability to defend themselves.

     Just like story telling, a story about a hero always seem to follow a pattern of an awakening, adventure, and revenge. Just like in Joseph Campbell's Power of the Myth, the Hero's Journey is centered around following the path to saving someone. Adventure doesn't just appear in a person's boring life without something leading to danger for a loved one. From a male's point of view (being the majority of the gamer population), the man is glorified to save his wife, girlfriend or sister in order to define himself as a hero. In the fantasy world, men strive to be greater than who they really are in real life. There can be so many theories to why women are damsels in distresses in video games, I prefer just to keep it short.

The next thing I want to discuss is the sexualization of women in video games. Yes the body proportions of many characters are so off, but in my opinion that's the point. Lara Croft was known for her bodacious figure, but she needed those features so she wouldn't be characterized as Indiana Jones. In comparison to how the women were built, the men were designed to look like they were taking steroids from a young age. Video games feature big macho muscle men with huge biceps, corn shaped abs and thick legs. Men who play video games, live in the fantasy that they can be the video game character. Trust me, its just as degrading for the real nerds at comic con who dress up those super hero costumes as well.
The overall reaction Anita has received is definitely very degrading to how some gamers are opposed to hearing women's opinions. I get it. She is being bullied for this for all the wrong reasons, but in my opinion, she isn't letting other people state their theories and opinions and that's why she appears as one sided to her research. The rule of sharing opinions if to hear out others and form new theories. Discussions on theories can only be more pronounced when more people are involved with the research. If Anita was brave enough, she could have enabled the comments on her YouTube videos and if anything hire an assistant to manage the comments.