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Anita Sarkeesian ( ; born 1983) is a Canadian-American
feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...
media critic and public speaker. She is the founder of '' Feminist Frequency'', a website that hosts videos and commentary analyzing portrayals of women in popular culture. She has received particular attention for her video series ''
Tropes vs. Women in Video Games ''Tropes vs. Women in Video Games'' is a YouTube video series created by Anita Sarkeesian examining gender representation in video games. The series was financed via crowdfunding, and came to widespread attention when its Kickstarter campaign tri ...
'', which examines tropes in the depiction of female video game characters. In 2012, Sarkeesian was targeted by an online harassment campaign following her launch of a
Kickstarter Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, ...
project to fund the ''Tropes vs. Women in Video Games'' series. Supporters donated almost $160,000 to the project, far beyond the $6,000 she had sought. The situation was covered extensively in the media, placing Sarkeesian at the center of discussions about misogyny in
video game culture Video game culture is a worldwide new media subculture formed by video gamers. As video games have exponentially increased in popularity over time, they have had a significant influence on popular culture. Video game culture has also evolved with ...
and online harassment. She has spoken to TEDxWomen,
XOXO Festival XOXO is an annual festival and conference held in Portland, Oregon, that describes itself as "an experimental festival for independent artists who live and work online". XOXO was founded in 2012 by Andy Baio and Andy McMillan with funding from p ...
, and the
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmonizi ...
' Broadband Working Group on Gender, and appeared on '' The Colbert Report'' discussing her experiences of harassment and the challenge of attempting to improve gender inclusivity in gaming culture and the media.


Early life and education

Sarkeesian was born in Canada and grew up near Toronto. Her parents were
Iraqi Armenians Iraqi Armenians ( ar, أرمنيون عراقيون ''’Armanion Iraqion''; Armenian: իրաքահայեր ''irakahayer'') are Iraqi citizens and residents of Armenian ethnicity. Many Armenians settled in Iraq after fleeing the 1915 Armenian gen ...
who emigrated to Canada in the 1970s. She later moved to California and identifies as
Canadian-American Canadian Americans is a term that can be applied to American citizens whose ancestry is wholly or partly Canadian, or citizens of either country that hold dual citizenship. The term ''Canadian'' can mean a nationality or an ethnicity. Canadian ...
. She received a
bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six y ...
in
communication studies Communication studies or communication science is an academic discipline that deals with processes of human communication and behavior, patterns of communication in interpersonal relationships, social interactions and communication in different ...
from
California State University, Northridge California State University, Northridge (CSUN or Cal State Northridge) is a public university in the Northridge neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. With a total enrollment of 38,551 students (as of Fall 2021), it has the second largest u ...
, in 2007 and then earned a master's degree in social and political thought from York University in 2010. Her master's thesis is titled ''I'll Make a Man Out of You: Strong Women in Science Fiction and Fantasy Television''.


Career


''Feminist Frequency''

Sarkeesian launched her website ''Feminist Frequency'' in 2009, while a student at York University. She created the site in an effort to create accessible feminist media criticism. Videos created for the site analyzed social and cultural gender structure and popular culture from a feminist standpoint, such as applying the
Bechdel test The Bechdel test ( ) is a measure of the representation of women in film (and, by extension, in fiction in general). The test asks whether a film features at least two women talking to each other about something other than a man. The measure som ...
to pictures nominated for the
84th Academy Awards The 84th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best 2011 in film, films of 2011 in the United States and took place on February 26, 2012, at the Dolby Theatre, Hollywood and H ...
in 2012 and highlighting Lego's role in reinforcing cultural norms. In 2011, Sarkeesian partnered with '' Bitch'' magazine to create the video series ''Tropes vs. Women''. The series examined common
trope Trope or tropes may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Trope (cinema), a cinematic convention for conveying a concept * Trope (literature), a figure of speech or common literary device * Trope (music), any of a variety of different things ...
s in the depiction of women in media with a particular focus on
science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel univers ...
. The series comprises six videos dedicated to tropes such as the
Manic Pixie Dream Girl A Manic Pixie Dream Girl (MPDG) is a stock character type in films. Film critic Nathan Rabin, who coined the term after observing Kirsten Dunst's character in '' Elizabethtown'' (2005), said that the MPDG "exists solely in the fevered imaginations ...
,
Women in Refrigerators Women in Refrigerators (or WiR) is a website created in 1999 by a group of feminist comic-book fans that lists examples of the superhero comic-book trope whereby female characters are injured, raped, killed, or depowered (an event colloquially ...
and the Smurfette Principle. In 2011, Sarkeesian co-authored the essay " Buffy vs.
Bella Bella is a feminine given name. It is a diminutive form of names ending in -bella. ''Bella'' is related to the Italian, Spanish, Greek, Portuguese and Latin words for beautiful, to the name Belle, meaning ''beautiful'' in French. It increased in ...
: The Re-Emergence of the Archetypal Feminine in Vampire Stories" for the anthology ''Fanpires: Audience Consumption of the Modern Vampire''. She spoke at conferences and workshops about media criticism and
video blog A video blog or video log, sometimes shortened to vlog (), is a form of blog for which the medium is video. Vlog entries often combine embedded video (or a video link) with supporting text, images, and other metadata. Entries can be recorded i ...
ging, and was interviewed by UK Sunday newspaper '' The Observer'' in March 2012 about modern media culture, stating: "I think to the extent that it could be creating authentic, human female characters, it is a push towards a more feminist media." In March 2012, Sarkeesian and her blog were listed in the journal ''Feminist Collections''s quarterly column on "E-Sources on Women & Gender". Her blog has been utilized as material for university-level
women's studies Women's studies is an academic field that draws on feminist and interdisciplinary methods to place women's lives and experiences at the center of study, while examining social and cultural constructs of gender; systems of privilege and oppressi ...
courses, and she has spoken at universities on the topic of female characters in pop culture. Sarkeesian was inspired to start a video series on female representation in video games after she was invited to speak to developers at
Bungie Bungie, Inc. is an American video game company based in Bellevue, Washington. It is a studio owned by Sony Interactive Entertainment. The company was established in May 1991 by Alex Seropian, who later brought in programmer Jason Jones afte ...
. On May 17, 2012, she began a
Kickstarter Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, ...
campaign to fund a series of short videos that would examine gender tropes in video games that was featured as a campaign of note on the official Kickstarter blog. The threats and harassment she received in response generated widespread media attention, and resulted in her ultimately far exceeding her funding goal of $6,000. The final amount raised was $158,922 from 6,968 backers. While stating that the support Sarkeesian has received "stands at a counter" to the harassment, Sal Humphreys and Karen Orr Vered, writing in '' Television & New Media'', suggest that the harassment Sarkeesian received may ultimately serve to discourage other women from following Sarkeesian's lead for fear of being subjected to similar attacks. Sarkeesian initially planned to release the ''
Tropes vs. Women in Video Games ''Tropes vs. Women in Video Games'' is a YouTube video series created by Anita Sarkeesian examining gender representation in video games. The series was financed via crowdfunding, and came to widespread attention when its Kickstarter campaign tri ...
'' series in 2012 but pushed it back explaining that the additional funding allowed her to expand the scope and scale of the project. The first video in the ''Tropes vs Women in Video Games'' series was released on March 7, 2013. The first three videos discuss examples of the "
Damsels in Distress The damsel in distress is a recurring narrative device in which one or more men must rescue a woman who has either been kidnapped or placed in general peril. Kinship, love, or lust (or a combination of those) gives the male protagonist the motiv ...
" trope, in which passive and often helpless female characters must be rescued by the male hero. Chris Suellentrop of '' The New York Times'' referred to the first four videos of the series as "essential viewing for anyone interested in video games", and cites it as the reason why he asked Nintendo producer Shigeru Miyamoto about the themes of damsels present in his games, to which he responded "I haven't given it a lot of deep thought over the years". Colin Campbell writes at '' Polygon'' that ''Feminist Frequency'' has had a demonstrable effect on the games industry, stating, "video games have seen a rise in the number of positive women and minority protagonists and a decrease in the tropes arkeesiandiscusses" since the launch of the project. In January 2015, as part of a $300 million effort to increase diversity and inclusivity in the technology sphere, Intel announced it would partner with ''Feminist Frequency'' and other groups to help promote increased career opportunities, engagement and positive representation for women and minorities in technology and gaming. On January 23, 2015, ''Feminist Frequency'' issued its first annual report and announced they were planning two new video series tackling the "positive" portrayal of women in video games, as well as the "portrayal of masculine identities in games". On March 8, 2016, ''Feminist Frequency'' launched a crowdfunding campaign for an animated video series called ''Ordinary Women: Daring to Defy History''. The planned 5-episode series will explore the lives of historical women such as
Ida B. Wells Ida B. Wells (full name: Ida Bell Wells-Barnett) (July 16, 1862 – March 25, 1931) was an American investigative journalist, educator, and early leader in the civil rights movement. She was one of the founders of the National Association for ...
and Emma Goldman. The video series was released in 2017. In March 2016, ''Feminist Frequency'' began a formal partnership with the Crash Override Network, agreeing to serve as its fiscal sponsor. Crash Override is a support group for victims of large scale online abuse formed by game developers
Zoë Quinn Zoë Tiberius Quinn (born 1987) is an American video game developer, programmer, and writer. Quinn developed the interactive fiction game '' Depression Quest'', which was released in 2013. In 2014, a defamatory blog post by their ex-boyfriend ...
and Alex Lifschitz in the wake of the Gamergate controversy. The ''Tropes vs. Women in Video Games'' series ended with its final episode, "The Lady Sidekick", posted on April 27, 2017. Sarkeesian announced that ''Feminist Frequency'' would produce another series. In March 2019, ''Feminist Frequency'' returned with a three part miniseries on Queer Tropes in Video Games that is similar to ''Tropes vs. Women in Video Games''. According to '' Axios'' in March 2022, "Reflecting on her work and its impact during a Game Developers Conference talk ... Sarkeesian says that making
ropes A rope is a group of yarns, plies, fibres, or strands that are twisted or braided together into a larger and stronger form. Ropes have tensile strength and so can be used for dragging and lifting. Rope is thicker and stronger than similarly c ...
videos today might be 'not impossible, but harder,' as there are fewer examples and 'the pattern is less egregious.'" In October 2022, Sarkeesian began a new video series on online streaming service
Nebula A nebula ('cloud' or 'fog' in Latin; pl. nebulae, nebulæ or nebulas) is a distinct luminescent part of interstellar medium, which can consist of ionized, neutral or molecular hydrogen and also cosmic dust. Nebulae are often star-forming region ...
called ''That Time When'', which "looks at the moments when pop culture and politics collide in modern history". Media scholar Soraya Murray calls Sarkeesian emblematic of "a burgeoning organized feminist critique" of stereotyped and objectified portrayals of women in video games.


As a target of harassment

The ''Tropes vs Women'' project triggered a campaign of sexist harassment against Sarkeesian that included rape and death threats, hacking of her webpages and social media, and
doxing Doxing or doxxing is the act of publicly providing personally identifiable information about an individual or organization, usually via the internet. Historically, the term has been used interchangeably to refer to both the aggregation of this in ...
. Attackers posted disparaging comments online, vandalized Sarkeesian's article on Wikipedia with racial slurs and sexual images, and sent Sarkeesian drawings of herself being raped by video game characters. One attacker created the computer game ''Beat Up Anita Sarkeesian'', which prompted players to bloody a picture of Sarkeesian by clicking the mouse. Toronto feminist Stephanie Guthrie received death and rape threats for criticizing the ''Beat Up Anita Sarkeesian'' game. The resulting criminal trial against critic Gregory Alan Elliott is regarded as having significant implications for online freedom of speech in Canada. Sarkeesian responded to the threats against Guthrie in a statement to the ''Toronto Standard'', condemning the widespread harassment she and other women have faced online. In March 2014, Sarkeesian was scheduled to speak and receive an award at the 2014 Game Developers Choice Awards. The organizers later revealed that they had received an anonymous bomb threat and that San Francisco police had swept the
Moscone Center The George R. Moscone Convention Center (pronounced ), popularly known as the Moscone Center, is the largest convention and exhibition complex in San Francisco, California. The complex consists of three main halls spread out across three block ...
hall before the event proceeded. In August 2014, ''Feminist Frequency'' issued a new ''Tropes vs Women in Games'' episode. This coincided with the ongoing harassment of
Zoë Quinn Zoë Tiberius Quinn (born 1987) is an American video game developer, programmer, and writer. Quinn developed the interactive fiction game '' Depression Quest'', which was released in 2013. In 2014, a defamatory blog post by their ex-boyfriend ...
as part of the Gamergate controversy. The increased volume and specificity of the harassment (including death threats) prompted Sarkeesian to leave her home. San Francisco Police confirmed that they had passed the case file to the
FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, t ...
for investigation. On October 14, 2014, Sarkeesian and Utah State University received terrorist threats pertaining to her planned lecture at the university the following day. The threats, one of which was issued by a person who claimed to be affiliated with
Gamergate Gamergate may refer to: * Gamergate (ant), a worker ant that can store sperm and reproduce sexually * Gamergate (harassment campaign), targeting women in the video game industry * Lt. Gamergate, a character in the ''Adventure Time'' episode "Dent ...
, specifically cited the 1989 École Polytechnique massacre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada as inspiration. The university and police did not believe the threats were credible inasmuch as they were consistent with others Sarkeesian had received, but scheduled enhanced security measures nonetheless. Sarkeesian canceled the event, however, feeling the planned security measures were insufficient given that the university could not prohibit handguns in the venue per Utah state law. The threats resulted in public attention to misogynistic and violent harassment on the Internet, along with the propriety of concealed weapons on university campuses. In an editorial, ''
The Salt Lake Tribune ''The Salt Lake Tribune'' is a newspaper published in the city of Salt Lake City, Utah. The ''Tribune'' is owned by The Salt Lake Tribune, Inc., a non-profit corporation. The newspaper's motto is "Utah's Independent Voice Since 1871." History A ...
'' wrote that the threats "would seem to support Sarkeesian's point about a link between some video games and violent attitudes toward females" and called on the state to allow universities "to ban firearms from venues where they are not just inappropriate, but destructive of the mission of an institution of higher learning". In an August 2015 interview with '' The Guardian'', Sarkeesian remarked of dealing with the pervasive harassment (her "new normal") that older mentors and feminists told her "We were dealing with that, but they were throwing rocks at us." Soraya Murray describes the attack as a "watershed moment" in the "culture war" being fought over representations of women and minorities in video games. At VidCon 2017, Sarkeesian appeared on a panel discussing online harassment directed towards women. A group of
YouTuber A YouTuber is an online personality and/or influencer who produces videos on the video-sharing platform YouTube, typically posting to their personal YouTube channel. The term was first used in the English language in 2006. Influence Influen ...
s and bloggers who produce content critical of feminism and
political correctness ''Political correctness'' (adjectivally: ''politically correct''; commonly abbreviated ''PC'') is a term used to describe language, policies, or measures that are intended to avoid offense or disadvantage to members of particular groups in socie ...
sat directly in front of the stage and filmed Sarkeesian as part of a targeted harassment campaign against her. Sarkeesian singled out British YouTuber
Carl Benjamin Carl Benjamin (born 1979), also known by his online pseudonym Sargon of Akkad, is a British far-right anti-feminist YouTuber and political commentator. A former member of the Eurosceptic right-wing UK Independence Party (UKIP), he was one of ...
, seated in the first row, as a serial harasser of hers. Speaking directly to Benjamin, she said, "I hate to give you attention because you're a garbage human." The event went viral among both critics and supporters of Sarkeesian. Benjamin accused Sarkeesian of abuse and
cyberbullying Cyberbullying or cyberharassment is a form of bullying or harassment using electronic means. Cyberbullying and cyberharassment are also known as online bullying. It has become increasingly common, especially among teenagers, as the digital ...
; in a blog post, Sarkeesian wrote: VidCon founder Hank Green issued a statement that the group's actions were clear "intimidating behaviour" and apologised for the situation "which resulted in arkeesianbeing subjected to a hostile environment that she had not signed up for". In a retrospective for '' Polygon'' in December 2019, Sarkeesian said that "GamerGate's real goals were expressed in the explicit racism, sexism, and transphobia of the memes the movement generated, and the posts its supporters wrote on the message boards where they organized and strategized. Later, the flimsiness of the 'ethics in games journalism' pretense would become a mocking meme signifying a bad faith argument. It would almost be funny, if GamerGate hadn't done so much harm, and caused so much lasting trauma." Sarkeesian also criticized the video game industry's response to Gamergate, saying "the game industry's silence was shameful". On August 3, 2020, Sarkeesian launched the Game and Online Harassment Hotline, a free non-profit service that started development in August 2019.


Media appearances

Sarkeesian and her work have come to much greater public attention following the announcement of ''Tropes vs. Women in Video Games'' and the harassment she subsequently faced. These events helped bring the issue of pervasive
sexual harassment Sexual harassment is a type of harassment involving the use of explicit or implicit sexual overtones, including the unwelcome and inappropriate promises of rewards in exchange for sexual favors. Sexual harassment includes a range of actions fro ...
in
video game culture Video game culture is a worldwide new media subculture formed by video gamers. As video games have exponentially increased in popularity over time, they have had a significant influence on popular culture. Video game culture has also evolved with ...
to mainstream media attention. Discussions occurred in a range of publications and outlets, including '' The New York Times'', '' The Guardian'' and '' New Statesman''. Sarkeesian's elevated profile led to speaking engagements on sexual harassment and online communities at the TEDxWomen conference and several universities. Speaking at the
XOXO Festival XOXO is an annual festival and conference held in Portland, Oregon, that describes itself as "an experimental festival for independent artists who live and work online". XOXO was founded in 2012 by Andy Baio and Andy McMillan with funding from p ...
in September 2014, Sarkeesian described the allegation that she and other women fabricated harassment as itself being a form of harassment. "Harassment is the background radiation of my life," she later remarked in a ''
Bloomberg Businessweek ''Bloomberg Businessweek'', previously known as ''BusinessWeek'', is an American weekly business magazine published fifty times a year. Since 2009, the magazine is owned by New York City-based Bloomberg L.P. The magazine debuted in New York City ...
'' cover story on her work and the video game industry. On October 29, 2014, Sarkeesian was interviewed on '' The Colbert Report'' where she discussed the harassment she suffered at the hands of GamerGate and her views on making video games more inclusive. She told Colbert that video games often portray women in a manner which "reinforces the cultural myth that women are sexual objects" and that her goal is not to censor video games, but to raise awareness of how women can be portrayed in more realistic, less stereotypical ways. The harassment of Sarkeesian and other women in gaming was featured in the January 14, 2015, edition of '' Nightline''. When asked by
ABC News ABC News is the news division of the American broadcast network ABC. Its flagship program is the daily evening newscast '' ABC World News Tonight with David Muir''; other programs include morning news-talk show ''Good Morning America'', ''Ni ...
why there was so much anger, she responded "I think it comes from this idea that gaming is a male-dominated space, and that games are for men by men... it's a very misogynist backlash". She appears in the 2015 documentary ''
GTFO GTFO is an acronym for "Get the fuck out", commonly used in SMS language Short Message Service ( SMS) language, textism, or textese is the abbreviated language and slang commonly used in the late 1990s and early 2000s with mobile phone text m ...
''. On February 11, 2019, Sarkeesian appeared at the
University of Alberta The University of Alberta, also known as U of A or UAlberta, is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford,"A Gentleman of Strathcona – Alexander Cameron Rutherf ...
's Myer Horowitz Theatre with the presentation "I Am Tired: The Costs of Online Harassment" during the Level Up: Gender Based Violence Prevention Week.


Awards and nominations

Sarkeesian's ''Feminist Frequency'' blog was highlighted by ''Feminist Collections'' and '' Media Report to Women''. In 2012, Gamasutra considered the harassment and success of ''Feminist Frequency'' a catalyst that led to new attention on the importance of diversity and inclusion in the gaming culture and industry. They named this call for inclusion one of the "5 trends that defined the game industry in 2012". In 2013, '' Newsweek'' magazine and '' The Daily Beast'' named Sarkeesian one of their "125 Women of Impact". In 2014, Sarkeesian received the Ambassador Award at the 14th Annual Game Developers Choice Awards for her work on the representation of women in video games, becoming the first woman to receive the award. She was also nominated for the Ambassador Award at Microsoft's 2014 Women in Gaming Awards for her work. After the Utah State University death threats, '' Rolling Stone'' called her "pop culture's most valuable critic," saying that "the backlash has only made her point for her: Gaming has a problem". In December 2014, ''
The Verge ''The Verge'' is an American technology news website operated by Vox Media, publishing news, feature stories, guidebooks, product reviews, consumer electronics news, and podcasts. The website launched on November 1, 2011, and uses Vox Media' ...
'' named her as one of "the 50 most important people at the intersection of technology, art, science, and culture". In March 2015, '' Time'' magazine included Sarkeesian in its list of the thirty "Most Influential People on the Internet", and in April of that year, chose her for the ''Time'' 100, the magazine's annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world. In May 2015, ''
Cosmopolitan Cosmopolitan may refer to: Food and drink * Cosmopolitan (cocktail), also known as a "Cosmo" History * Rootless cosmopolitan, a Soviet derogatory epithet during Joseph Stalin's anti-Semitic campaign of 1949–1953 Hotels and resorts * Cosmopoli ...
'' included her in its list of the "50 Most Fascinating People on the Internet". ''Feminist Frequency'' won a
Peabody Award The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program, named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Peabody, honor the most powerful, enlightening, and invigorating stories in television, radio, and ...
in the category of "Digital and Interactive Storytelling" in 2022.


Selected publications

* *


References


Further reading

* * *


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sarkeesian, Anita 1983 births American feminists Canadian feminists American bloggers Canadian bloggers American media critics Video bloggers Video game critics Third-wave feminism Victims of cyberbullying 21st-century American non-fiction writers Game Developers Conference Ambassador Award recipients California State University, Northridge alumni York University alumni Women video bloggers American women bloggers Women video game critics Canadian people of Armenian descent Canadian people of Iraqi descent Canadian emigrants to the United States American people of Armenian descent American people of Iraqi descent Date of birth missing (living people) Living people Commentary YouTubers American female YouTubers American YouTubers Canadian YouTubers 21st-century American women writers American women critics Canadian female YouTubers