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Anita Sarkeesian "Tropes vs. Women" Video will come out today [out now, link in OP]

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Tropes-vs-videogames.jpg


Sometime today, the 7th. March 2013, Anita Sarkeesian will finally release her first Video from the series "Tropes vs. Women", that was kickstartered on June 16, 2012.
I will update the OP when the Video-Link is available.

The first video will be called

Damsel in Distress - Video #1

followed up by:

The Fighting F#@k Toy - Video #2
The Sexy Sidekick - Video #3
The Sexy Villainess - Video #4
Background Decoration - Video #5
Voodoo Priestess/Tribal Sorceress - Video #6
Women as Reward - Video #7
Mrs. Male Character - Video #8
Unattractive Equals Evil - Video #9
Man with Boobs - Video #10
Positive Female Characters! - Video #11
Top 10 Most Common Defenses of Sexism in Games - Video #12


And it is up. Here you can watch it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6p5AZp7r_Q
 

jgminto

Member
I don't think I'm going to get much out of this. It seems she's just focusing on "bad" character tropes. I'd prefer it if she focused more on how we can create characters that rely less on these tropes, but she's not really a fictional writer so maybe I'm asking it from the wrong person. Could still be good though.
 

rvy

Banned
Oh, joy. What would we ever do without Miss Sarkeesian's contributions to gaming. Can't wait to see how much shit she gets wrong this time.

Is Bayonetta still a single mother?
 
Oh, joy. What would we ever do without Miss Sarkeesian's contributions to gaming. Can't wait to see how much shit she gets wrong this time.

Is Bayonetta still a single mother?

As a woman....I could not be more apathetic towards this most likely underinformed and shallow approach to women portrayals in video games in order to convey some contrived feminist message.

Regardless, I'll give her a listen. If the first video is shit, we'll know how the rest will be.
 

BanGy.nz

Banned
I can't wait too see how this turned out, I'm hoping it'll kickstart (heh) a interesting discussion at the least.
 
I see the pre-video defense force is out in full.

Scared there's some truth? What's the problem with acknowledging that some video games do project sexist tropes about women?
 
I see the pre-video defense force is out in full.

Scared there's some truth? What's the problem with acknowledging that some video games do project sexist tropes about women?

There's no problem with discourse. The problem is if Sarkeesian approaches it in the same ignorant, contrived way she approached Bayonetta.

I'm all for discussing sexism in video games, but only insofar as it's intelligent commentary. The rage that would emerge if the videos turn out to be dreadful (for your Kickstarter contributions!) would rock GAF to its core.
 
Got my popcorn ready for the shitstorm these videos will bring.
Yeah, I'm kind apathetic about her actual videos one way or another (agree with most of her sentiments but feel she goes both overboard and isn't that great at critical analysis) but I honestly I find the reactions on both side pretty hilarious.

If /v/, certain groups of GAF and the gaming community against Anita videos in general hadn't caused such a huge stink over her kickstarter I doubt we'd even be having this thread, unless I'm misinterpreting just how popular she was originally on Youtube.
 

Joe White

Member
Damsel in Distress - Video #1

followed up by:

The Fighting F#@k Toy - Video #2
The Sexy Sidekick - Video #3
The Sexy Villainess - Video #4
Background Decoration - Video #5
Voodoo Priestess/Tribal Sorceress - Video #6
Women as Reward - Video #7
Mrs. Male Character - Video #8
Unattractive Equals Evil - Video #9
Man with Boobs - Video #10
Positive Female Characters! - Video #11
Top 10 Most Common Defenses of Sexism in Games - Video #12

I would have preferred to have that order of videos reversed, because I'm most interested on positive examples.
 
There's no problem with discourse. The problem is if Sarkeesian approaches it in the same ignorant, contrived way she approached Bayonetta.

I'm all for discussing sexism in video games, but only insofar as it's intelligent commentary. The rage that would emerge if the videos turn out to be dreadful (for your Kickstarter contributions!) would rock GAF to its core.
The first half of that video was dumb, definitely, but I felt her point about the marketing campaign it had in Japan had some validity to it. She just made a very dumb decision in trying to critique the game itself when she'd obviously never played it before going off about the subway posters and such.
 

hodgy100

Member
i wonder if she will at least point out male stereotypes within videogames aswell.

especially in her "Unattractive Equals Evil" video where that trope appears to be something that applies to every character rather than just women.
 

rvy

Banned
As a woman....I could not be more apathetic towards this most likely underinformed and shallow approach to women portrayals in video games in order to convey some contrived feminist message.

Regardless, I'll give her a listen. If the first video is shit, we'll know how the rest will be.

I'm glad it's not just men that see through her misinformed bullshit. I'm all for a proper study about this subject, but not done by a person who clearly has no business doing it.

I see the pre-video defense force is out in full.

Scared there's some truth? What's the problem with acknowledging that some video games do project sexist tropes about women?

Nobody argues that there's sexist tropes on vidyia. We argue that she doesn't know what she's talking about and doesn't back her shit with research. Actual research.
I'm also not scared of people on the internet, sorry.
 
Wait, is the only difference between #8 and #10 is that the characters in #8 are married? I guess I have to watch to find out.

I wonder if Kaine from Nier is gonna be in it.
 

JBourne

maybe tomorrow it rains
Wait, is the only difference between #8 and #10 is that the characters in #8 are married? I guess I have to watch to find out.

I wonder if Kaine from Nier is gonna be in it.

I think #8 is just wives in games, while #10 is a female character with male personality traits.
 

AMUSIX

Member
so, if a woman in an action game is athletic, has a nice figure, and is dressed to show that off, then she's one of the prime examples of sexism.....but if a woman in an action game is muscular, is outfitted in armor suited to the game, then she's a 'man with boobs'?
 

Dr Dogg

Member
Well this should be interesting to see if she put the money and that big ol' pile of games to good use. That and the inevitable "Gamers are misogynist" articles if this all backfires and people start complaining.
 
seeing those characters in the banner...if she's actually trying to claim that all of them are sexist portrayals of women in games then I'd rather not give her hits. Half of those don't belong in that banner.


Do we know if she's releasing these as youtube videos? probably, right?

I wonder if she's opted to make money out of these videos using youtube's system.
 
so, if a woman in an action game is athletic, has a nice figure, and is dressed to show that off, then she's one of the prime examples of sexism.....but if a woman in an action game is muscular, is outfitted in armor suited to the game, then she's a 'man with boobs'?

I am completely puzzled by the inclusion of Anya from Gears of War in that pic.
 

rvy

Banned
Looking at the picture, how does Cortana work pre-Halo 4? She bailed Chief out numerous times, she's the brain. He rescued her because she was valuable and they had bonds, this isn't the typical damsel in distress. The damsel is usually useless, Cortana is far from useless. And they made her good-looking for 4 because she wasn't appealing at all in the previous games.

What about the Spartan female from 4? I forget her name. Total badass, I don't find any sexist tropes about her.
 
In honour of this event, I will share with you my favourite popcorn.gif

I8Oum.gif


In all seriousness though, I'll probably watch the video if it's not too long.

Looking at the picture, how does Cortana work pre-Halo 4? S

That's actually Cortana from Halo 3. This is her in 4 (I linked it because it's pseudo-NSFW).
 
Why is one of the videos called 'Man with Boobs'? I thought this was a series of videos revolving around female characters in video games.

Hell, I can't even think of a single character that fits that description anyway.
 

rvy

Banned
Why is one of the videos called 'Man with Boobs'? I thought this was a series of videos revolving around female characters in video games.

Hell, I can't even think of a single character that fits that description anyway.

Must be Anya, lol. We're stuck between damsel in distress and man with boobs.
 

Soup Bar

Member
Why is one of the videos called 'Man with Boobs'? I thought this was a series of videos revolving around female characters in video games.

Hell, I can't even think of a single character that fits that description anyway.

You can make a man with boobs in Saints Row 2 and 3, but you can make anything you want in those games.
 

jimi_dini

Member
especially in her "Unattractive Equals Evil" video where that trope appears to be something that applies to every character rather than just women.

Drake == attractive == good, Zoran == unattractive == evil (where in fact both are psychopaths). It's also not videogame exclusive. It's used in movies as well. And if she does proper research, she would mention Rachael Townsend (Binary Domain) for example as a counter-example (she should even mention her as non-typical videogame female).
 

BosSin

Member
Wasn't there a bet made by two gaffers on whether or not she would leave out positive examples on at least one show
 

hodgy100

Member
Why is one of the videos called 'Man with Boobs'? I thought this was a series of videos revolving around female characters in video games.

Hell, I can't even think of a single character that fits that description anyway.

I believe she will be talking about butch women of women that just act like one of the "bros"

Just from the video topics i have aboslutely no idea as what would pass as non sexist by her terms.

It just seems like she doesn't want a wide range of female characters to be portrayed whether they are positive or not.

Butch women exist, girls that flaunt their assets exist, damsels in distress exist.

of course that doesn't mean we shouldn't strive for better examples of female characters in games.

i just cant help but feel like these video's are going to be incredibly biased.
 
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