Feminist Frequency

Right as most of you probably know, the founder of this website http://www.feministfrequency.com recently raised roughly $160000 to do her project which is basically examining female tropes in gaming.
As a fellow feminist I have a couple of major issues with her doing this.

What she is doing isn't revolutionary. There are statistics, information, blogs, whatever dedicated to this issue already. http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2013/01/27/women-remain-outsiders-video-game-industry/275JKqy3rFylT7TxgPmO3K/story.html being one of the examples. Plus anyone who has ever played a video knows that yes - there is an issue. Women are hyper-sexualised, rarely portrayed as anything other than damsel in distress, etc. But basically my point is that we already know all of this.

If you have such an issue with the video game industry that 'exploits' women - why are you pumping thousands of dollars into it by buying the said games? There is plenty of in dept information regarding the games you've discussed AND videos of game play available online.

And lastly my biggest issue with this project is the fact that instead of celebrating strong female characters and empowering women you keep going on and on about how weak and pathetic we are as women, thus enforcing the point made my video games. Yes you raise an issue - but then (like a damsel in distress) wait for others to sort out the mess for you.

Whilst she raises some legitimate points about the gaming industry, they aren't anything new. Also she does not provide any solutions as how we should tackle the issues. I really think of her as a faux-feminist or even a 'keyboard' warrior.
There are so many bigger issues in the world than the portrayal of women in video games. For example literacy rates of women in war zones - $160 000 would be enough to sponsor 44 women for a period of 10 years (this includes school fees for their children, money to set up small businesses, regular access to food and water). Now think about the difference that would make.
So I'm just interested in what other people think of this project - is it beneficial for the women's rights movement, or doesn't it just makes us come across as whiny and picking fault at things that don't matter?

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Reply 1

Carecup

I find her to be really rather annoying, and honestly I see no evidence of where all that money went since she had all the video hardware and editing programs from her pitch video on kickstarter.

Don't get me wrong I'm all in favor of having better women and men characters in video games, and while what she's saying is nothing new it is something that needs to be addressed.

I'd much rather play characters who feel like real people rather than Damsels in distress or battle vixens for women or 'badass' space marines for men.

I feel this video does a good job expressing what is wrong with women in video games right now.

Reply 2

Snagprophet

It's so biased, she doesn't even mention Perfect Dark as a credible example and instead complains that there isn't the same amount of female protagonists as males. Now I'm no scientist but when your market is mostly male why would you not make your protagonists mostly male? There's plenty of examples of sexualised men, i.e. muscles is everything. She even did an episode criticising the Powerpuff Girls for featuring what she calls a straw feminist, I assume this was clearly a serious message the makers were going for along with hiding the mayor's secretary's face.

Hell she even complained that Mulan was sexist because it said women could only be successful if they showed masculine traits, juxtaposed with 'equality to men' this makes no sense.

Not to mention her exploiting the comments section. She locked comments in all her videos, so anyone watching them would only be able to comment on the kickstarter one, then when the kickstarter was up, she locked it because it had no more profitability. She regularly makes a big thing about it rather than talking about the content of her videos because her videos are lazily made, use no counter examples from the other side and literally contains what she wants. That's the thing with people like that, she tells people what she wants them to think and doesn't leave room for any discussion.

Reply 3

Steevee

All of her 'analysis' is so superficial it's laughable.

Also, since when has 'pop culture critic' been a legitimate credential? She's a glorified blogger. And there's nothing wrong with that, but she says 'pop culture critic' with the same gravity as one might say lawyer or historian.

I really can't stand her, you should check out Thunderf00t's videos on 'feminism', the last few have been pretty good.

Reply 4

Pedd

I would be surprised if she actually cared at all about sexism in gaming.

She probably made this goading video to draw more people towards her channel. She doesn't seem to get many views otherwise. At the very least, I'd expect her to allow a credible discussion of her 'findings' in the comment section of her video.

The general point of sexism in gaming is correct. However, her presentation of such issue is dubious and flawed.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 5

Kiss

Does this mean I can't play The Legend of Zelda anymore?

Reply 6

uktotalgamer

Feminists like this who seem to want to "go the extra mile" in showing that they are the same as men tend to be butt ugly. Just saying.

Reply 7

Chief Wiggum

Some guy on youtube made a really long response to the video in opposition to it:

(I haven't watched it all though, so the response could be complete nonsense, who knows...)

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 8

dartanoir

Original post by uktotalgamer

Feminists like this who seem to want to "go the extra mile" in showing that they are the same as men tend to be butt ugly. Just saying.

Thank you for that wonderful, opinionated and insightful contribution of yours.

Reply 9

uktotalgamer

Original post by dartanoir

Thank you for that wonderful, opinionated and insightful contribution of yours.

Well they are. Women that have a bee in their bonnet because they're either out of shape or butt ugly, therefore they feel annoyed at society for looking down on them and try to make a lot of noise about nothing.

Edit: 3 angry feminists proving my point.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 10

dartanoir

Original post by uktotalgamer

If I am so 'butt ugly' and 'out of shape' how would you explain constant cat calling, threats of rape, and groping?
EDIT: I live in a really horrible place. I realise that the threats aren't serious most of the time and are made to just make me feel uncomfortable.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 11

uktotalgamer

Original post by dartanoir

If I am so 'butt ugly' and 'out of shape' how would you explain constant cat calling, threats of rape, and groping?

I would explain it with the notion that standards are lower. Looking at your DP, your a 6/10 at best.

Reply 12

dartanoir

Original post by uktotalgamer

I would explain it with the notion that standards are lower. Looking at your DP, your a 6/10 at best.

I don't really understand what exactly you are attempting to achieve by 'insulting' me? My worth as a person is not defined by my looks but rather by my intelligence, wits and personality - none of which you can comment on.
Anyway what I look like has nothing to do with the discussion of why on earth anyone would want to fund 'research' into a topic that has already been covered. Do you feel like you can contribute to this or are you going to keep wasting your time trying to offend me?

Reply 13

uktotalgamer

Original post by dartanoir

I was simply responding to your statement.

Reply 14

Robbie242

This woman is a complete idiot, what about games like Tomb Raider, Final Fantasy, some sonic games, some mario games, etcetc. Why is it such a problem that male characters are used in video games? Do they actually think I look at princess peach and then say, yup that's what women should do, no of course not. I absolutely hate feminism

Reply 15

jreid1994

Original post by dartanoir

What subjects are you studying?? Compsci or gtfo.

Posted from TSR Mobile

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 16

dartanoir

Original post by Robbie242

That is not feminism! Not even close.
Not all of us are misinformed radical misandrists you know :tongue:

But it just so happens that those who are, are the loudest and bring a bad name to the rest of us.

Reply 17

dartanoir

Original post by jreid1994

What subjects are you studying??

Posted from TSR Mobile

You mean at school?
If you do - English lit, history and french

Reply 18

Robbie242

Original post by dartanoir

That is not feminism! Not even close.
Not all of us are misinformed radical misandrists you know :tongue:

But it just so happens that those who are, are the loudest and bring a bad name to the rest of us.

Ok maybe I was quick to reach a judgement but seriously this happens all the time in mainstream feminism, I think people should abandon feminism completely and leave those desperate losers with it, and seek something more on the lines of granting equal opportunities