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Boom. Hi there my empowerful third wave friends. Let’s grab our learning hats and listen to Anita describing what, to my ears, sounds a lot like crusty old second wave feminism. You know, the variety that gets shit done.
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12 comments
April 1, 2015 at 8:11 am
robert browning
Thanks for the post. Lots to think about. It looks like the continuing process of building awareness of (any) inequality can be long and difficult. I clicked on through to the “busted” video and don’t get why the strip club in the video couldn’t , shouldn’t, have been challenged as the premise when the “game” could have been situated in a classroom or an office w real mainstream females?
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April 1, 2015 at 2:15 pm
Elektra Kenway
There’s a little detail that caught my attention… and it’s rather obvious, but still.
As she mentions herself, she has to carefully pick every word on Twitter and everywhere because everything she says eventually gets distorted and turned against her.
Now, notice how she has to read everything she wrote carefully, to try to keep that from happening.
It’s like she’s not even allowed to be spontaneous or anything anymore, because she has to pick every word to give @ssholes less chances of manipulating her words.
As she also states herself, she also can’t even be humorous anymore, because she would be taking a risk too. All from people who seek to take seriousness away from her ideas while claiming it has something to do with ethics.
That’s a lot of pressure on her.
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April 1, 2015 at 3:47 pm
Reneta Scian
And lets not forget, she gets shit from other self-proclaimed feminists either in gaming, or other editorial writing claiming that her approach to what’s wrong in gaming produces a culture of bullying regarding anyone who disagrees with Anita Sarkeesian. So, apparently, feminists are silencing people in ways that someone needs to write an op-ed about? Really. Because… Getting death and rape threats on a daily basis makes Anita the bad guy? Is people getting bullied for disagreeing with Anita Sarkeesian even a thing?
Certainly, not everyone who champions a message is going to do it in a responsible, or intellectually sound manner. This mostly relates to backlash she’s gotten from women in the industry who for the most part, benefit from patriarchy in their particular roles, who ignore all the other women they throw under the bus, (especially women of color, disabled women, and trans women). And while I know that Google has been doing some rather sketchy things regarding what information their search engine brings up, when your article comes up as being defended by MRAs, I think it’s time to reevaluate yourself.
Sigh… And people still wonder why I don’t do Google searches for feminism or Anita Sarkeesian anymore, because I often find more garbage and complaints about Feminist Frequency and Anita’s work than what I’m actually looking for. And the sad thing that makes me angry about most of the critiques, even the respectful-ish ones, is that the all accuse people who actually follow Anita’s work and agree of “being spoon feed information, but not taking the time, nor critical analysis to think for themselves”, while the very people making those remarks are doing the same thing in the opposite direction, in favor of patriarchy, and dudes having their brothels with their mass murdering game titles…. WTF… UGH…
I still often wonder why feminists (self proclaimed or otherwise), would fail to see that if MRAs are on your side, at all, why you should re-evaluate your perspective. Hopefully, I’m sound and coherent today. I stopped taking a pain/anxiety medication that has really nasty withdrawal, until I can start a new one and it really packs a nasty punch. Makes it hard to concentrate, makes my vision blur a lot, and causes a lot of other really nasty stuff. As a result, sometimes, I struggle to articulate stuff I feel about various subjects in a way that makes as much sense as I want it to, to other people.
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April 1, 2015 at 3:53 pm
Reneta Scian
Not to mention, I have to wade through scathing, and insulting content about Anita just to find her videos to even watch her videos… Sigh.
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April 1, 2015 at 8:01 pm
jasonjshaw
Before watching these, my impression of her was that she was something along the lines of being the Stephen Harper of feminism: suppressing criticism, knee jerk condemnations, and a hardened ideology with her fingers in her ears as she rakes in the $$.
I have to say now, while she may have been a bit misguided in some of her approaches previously, I get the impression that she is trying to improve. That is good to see.
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April 1, 2015 at 8:20 pm
Reneta Scian
I made some slight commentary errors in my writing due to my medication withdrawal. I guess what I was saying before, is that people who are critiquing the way Anita goes about it are committing the same logical fallacies she is. And if she’s guilty of anything, it’s saying things how it is. And I really don’t give a fuck about people’s hurt feels when you tell them the games they love are sexist power trips that use raped women as plot devices instead of as people. It’s funny to actually see people complaining that they’re being bullied for supporting misogynistic bullshit, because… I’m sorry… that’s not actually a thing. If you don’t like being reminded that your games are full of unsolicited and unnecessary violence against women, then maybe you should actually speak up and do something about it being there in the first place. And honestly, how does watching women get stabbed to death actually meaningfully improve your gameplay? If you defend the indefensible, regardless of how Sarkeesian words it, you’re in the wrong.
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April 1, 2015 at 8:23 pm
Reneta Scian
“Same logical fallacies or mistakes they claim she is”, I made more errors. The fact that she’s calling it out is not wrong. Her tone should not be the first thing you call out when she shows you repeat, after repeat of women being brutalized in the same fashion as mere plot devices. If you’re doing that, then you’re wrong. If you’re defending the indefensible and feel like people are “bullying you” then you really need to take a look in the mirror.
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April 1, 2015 at 9:47 pm
VR Kaine
@Arb,
Although I’ve read the definitions I’m not entirely clear on what you mean when you say “crusty, old” 2nd wave feminism. Are you supporting in a la A.S. saying that women making individual choices finding success in the current system can actually be harming the cause as a whole for all women if it doesn’t affect/change the entire system? I’m detecting some sarcasm but wanted to make sure that was correct. I’m also curious as to who Anita felt she might be “ruffling the feathers” of with her words at a feminism conference. I suppose anyone can chime in on that one of they so choose.
Re: the second video, referencing the vile verbal attacks Ms. Sarkeesian endured with her feminism & gaming project, I really like what Monica Lewinsky had to say in (indirect) reference to this about (cyber)bullying and our culture today in her TED Talk – that we’ve become a culture of humiliation with the Internet as a venue unlike anything we’ve ever had or seen.
Lewinsky tries to appeal to the Internet world’s compassion in order to change things. Most bloggers seem to try and appeal to education or intellect. Personally I think both are futile and almost ridiculous endeavors.
With that thought and both Lewinsky’s TED Talk and Anita’s experiences in mind, I’d rather see this: that any man threatening physical violence against women should instantly lose their anonymity privileges and have their names exposed.
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April 2, 2015 at 10:07 am
The Arbourist
@Elektra Kenway
Consider it could be an analogue for life as a woman in general. Women spend much more time minding their appearance, minding the feelings of others and minding the higher level of accomplishment necessary to get ahead in a patriarchal world.
It is nice seeing Anita remark on how many more ‘brain cycles’ are required to be successful and female in society.
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April 2, 2015 at 10:18 am
The Arbourist
@Reneta
Not here at least. Our small corner of the web that is fairly awesome. :)
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April 2, 2015 at 10:46 am
The Arbourist
@Vern
Second wave feminism is a uses a class based lens to critique society and advocates for the dismantling of patriarchal structures in said society that hurt both women and men. The peak of 2nd wave feminism was in the late 60’s and early 70’s.
I am. Third Wave feminism has embraced some of the atomizing and dis-empowering notions of neo-liberal ideology. The ability for an individual to make a choice, while ignoring the context of said choices in society, is faux-empowerment – because the underlying systemic problems are not addressed.
Change of any sort, without violent revolution, is almost always moves at a glacial pace.
I would agree with this, but with the slight change of any person threatening physical violence would have their anonymity revoked. Women are also capable of threats of physical violence, just at rate significantly lower then men.
I think applying such a dictate would be difficult to do in all except the most clear cut of cases.
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April 2, 2015 at 1:01 pm
VR Kaine
Thanks for the clarification, Arb. I agree somewhat with your thoughts on the effects of certain types of revolution – I just think it needs to have true leadership and be directed towards the right people to be truly effective, which to me when you take situations like Ferguson or Occupy, they’ve lacked in this regard and thus, at least to me, have been largely ineffective.
Re: your comment re: choice and faux-empowerment, I’m reminded of George Carlin’s quote that just because we get a choice between paper and plastic at the grocery store, that we stupidly think we have freedom or choice (I’m paraphrasing, of course).
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