What's the issue,
here?
Women are sexy. They are smart. They
are daring. They are at times heroic and at times self-sacrificing. Women are
exciting and interesting just as they are. If the gaming and movie industry
ever figured that out, they'd get rich... er. (I suppose they do get it right,
at times.)
The portrayal of women in video games ranges from realistic to mindbogglingly
stereotypically sexist. The latter has gotten the attention of feminists, and
has recently become somewhat of a hot topic. It is a heated debate that has
grown to involve name calling, threats, violence, scandal, political movements,
and so much more. On the one side are the people concerned for the injustice
and sexism toward women. The opposition includes a group (Gamergate) focused on improving
the standards of journalism in the gaming industry - it may not sound
connected, but it really is. The feminist side says that the interest in journalism is a front to hide the extreme sexism of the group. This may be true of most of the members of the group. I have no idea, and don't affiliate myself with either side.
Just like the topic of evolution and religion,
some people are so tightly bound to their side, with so many good reasons, that
saying anything at all against or for either side is seen as a declaration of
fealty. I value women. I value good games. I value humanity and humanities. I
believe we should honor womanhood, and that inasmuch as games fail to do that,
there is room for important improvement.
I also value role models, and changes that are focused and effective.
I watched this video recently:
Real change
requires better arguments
I don't know much about Anita Sarkeesian (I keep seeing her pop up), but I feel like she's being too casual about
her argument. Is she arguing against violence? Or is she arguing against
violence against women? I suppose she could be fighting both, but that's an
awfully large fight. A big battle needs to be fought with big guns.
She needs to provide data that supports her claim - after all, she's taking on a major issue in a major industry. I love, and feel very close to my mom, my wife, my sister, and I hope to perhaps have a daughter some day. As such, I'm highly interested in women being respected. But this lady is careless, and as such can't do anything more than get people who already agree with her to make noise. I suppose she has also really bothered some people. Is that success?
The video brings up specific instances of violence toward women in video games. Female prostitutes being run over by cars? I see 2 problems with this point.
A) Prostitution is a real "profession" which is even legal in some states. I don't like it, but it's there, and the games didn't make it. Can we really give a game demerits for bringing attention to this actual phenomenon? Is media better if it produces falsely violent scenarios? They're presenting a story that represents a real part of life. An unsettling part of life that people prefer to ignore. Can we stop ignoring it, please? Can we do something about it?
B) You can run over anybody in the game. Should the game shut down every time you hit someone because, "Hey, that action isn't allowed!" The video makes a big deal about it, "You can kill the prostitute (Image of someone shooting her with a gun), or even run her over!" How is running her over worse than shooting her with a gun, exactly? But more importantly, running her over is a logical possibility given the reality of the game. Anything and anyone can be run over. The fact that you CAN run over a prostitute is... hardly surprising. Why you would want to is another issue entirely.
I'm in favor of increased respect for human life in the media. Ergo, I'm in favor of increased respect for women in the media. Why do the faces of such a movement have to represent themselves so poorly? Why do their arguments have to be so based in pathos? I believe the term for an argument so entrenched in pathos would literally be "a pathetic argument".
She needs to provide data that supports her claim - after all, she's taking on a major issue in a major industry. I love, and feel very close to my mom, my wife, my sister, and I hope to perhaps have a daughter some day. As such, I'm highly interested in women being respected. But this lady is careless, and as such can't do anything more than get people who already agree with her to make noise. I suppose she has also really bothered some people. Is that success?
The video brings up specific instances of violence toward women in video games. Female prostitutes being run over by cars? I see 2 problems with this point.
A) Prostitution is a real "profession" which is even legal in some states. I don't like it, but it's there, and the games didn't make it. Can we really give a game demerits for bringing attention to this actual phenomenon? Is media better if it produces falsely violent scenarios? They're presenting a story that represents a real part of life. An unsettling part of life that people prefer to ignore. Can we stop ignoring it, please? Can we do something about it?
B) You can run over anybody in the game. Should the game shut down every time you hit someone because, "Hey, that action isn't allowed!" The video makes a big deal about it, "You can kill the prostitute (Image of someone shooting her with a gun), or even run her over!" How is running her over worse than shooting her with a gun, exactly? But more importantly, running her over is a logical possibility given the reality of the game. Anything and anyone can be run over. The fact that you CAN run over a prostitute is... hardly surprising. Why you would want to is another issue entirely.
I'm in favor of increased respect for human life in the media. Ergo, I'm in favor of increased respect for women in the media. Why do the faces of such a movement have to represent themselves so poorly? Why do their arguments have to be so based in pathos? I believe the term for an argument so entrenched in pathos would literally be "a pathetic argument".
The real problem
I am saddened to see the careless
hate that's being thrown at women who feel like Anita Sarkeesian. Messages of
murder, rape, or other violent acts are truly saddening - even terrifying. She
doesn't deserve such treatment. Furthermore, the morons who think it's clever
to be so verbally violent, or heaven forbid, who actually feel that way... they
just add fuel to her fire. They're the problem.
While making a point about violence toward women in video games, the video shows an image of the beginning of the game Dishonored where the queen is murdered. I can't help but slap my forehead. The queen is a respectable female leader, and she's killed as part of a plot to overthrow the government. Would it have been better if it had been a man? Those kinds of points are just so stupid. Argue that the protagonist should've been female, or argue about ways that women are misrepresented (there's quite a bit of misrepresentation of women). But there's plenty of violence to go around. In general, women are not singled out. If anything, there are far more frequent, and far more graphic deaths of men in games. Focusing on these weak points just decreases their credibility. (Could we please get a face on this problem that is credible?)
A much more serious phenomenon is brought up in the video. The reality is far worse than the portrayal in video games. It is how women are actually treated that is just appalling. Sexist, sexual, violent, or simply rude comments to female gamers just make the world a worse place. The gaming community demonstrates that some people (and it doesn't take long playing online to find such a person) simply haven't been effectively taught values of compassion, integrity, mutual respect, or kindness to strangers. If these things sound old fashioned, I'd argue that they are the important values of the future. Gone are the days where you only see strangers when you venture outside your front door. We now have strangers visiting our homes via our computers on a regular basis. General values for mutually respectful behavior are more important now than ever before. And as the world becomes more connected, these values will only become increasingly important.
Why is Anita Sarkeesian attacking sexism in the video game industry instead of taking on this much more pressing issue? Perhaps it's just easier. But real girls are actually mistreated online every day. The violent backlash against Anita Sarkeesian is an expansion of that behavior. It isn't because they're girls - it's not their fault. It's because their assailants are uneducated in valuing human life.
While making a point about violence toward women in video games, the video shows an image of the beginning of the game Dishonored where the queen is murdered. I can't help but slap my forehead. The queen is a respectable female leader, and she's killed as part of a plot to overthrow the government. Would it have been better if it had been a man? Those kinds of points are just so stupid. Argue that the protagonist should've been female, or argue about ways that women are misrepresented (there's quite a bit of misrepresentation of women). But there's plenty of violence to go around. In general, women are not singled out. If anything, there are far more frequent, and far more graphic deaths of men in games. Focusing on these weak points just decreases their credibility. (Could we please get a face on this problem that is credible?)
A much more serious phenomenon is brought up in the video. The reality is far worse than the portrayal in video games. It is how women are actually treated that is just appalling. Sexist, sexual, violent, or simply rude comments to female gamers just make the world a worse place. The gaming community demonstrates that some people (and it doesn't take long playing online to find such a person) simply haven't been effectively taught values of compassion, integrity, mutual respect, or kindness to strangers. If these things sound old fashioned, I'd argue that they are the important values of the future. Gone are the days where you only see strangers when you venture outside your front door. We now have strangers visiting our homes via our computers on a regular basis. General values for mutually respectful behavior are more important now than ever before. And as the world becomes more connected, these values will only become increasingly important.
Why is Anita Sarkeesian attacking sexism in the video game industry instead of taking on this much more pressing issue? Perhaps it's just easier. But real girls are actually mistreated online every day. The violent backlash against Anita Sarkeesian is an expansion of that behavior. It isn't because they're girls - it's not their fault. It's because their assailants are uneducated in valuing human life.
When are we going to start
addressing the heart of this issue?
Update#1: After visiting her website, feministfrequency.com, I have to admit that the video I've linked above does a poor job of representing her stance or methods. For example, in one video, she discusses how refreshing it is to see mutual respect between the lead female protagonist and her male sidekicks; my own opinion mirrors her comments in that video. Also on the website, she does present data regarding some issues. In the interest of forming your own intelligent opinion, I recommend visiting her website, and seeing what Anita Sarkeesian has made. Does she do the issue justice? I'm still forming my opinion.
Update#2: After watching hours of videos, reading pages and pages of ideas and even turning to some textbooks and primary literature to clarify issues for myself, I feel that the ABC video does a terrible, terrible job representing Anita Sarkeesian. They represent her as an object/target/victim of aggressive sexism. She is, rather, the perpetrator/subject/activist of exposing sexist cultural norms - and she doesn't hate the games that she's talking about; if anything she loves them. In return, as a response, she has been hated extremely violently and aggressively. Furthermore, I believe that her analysis of sexism in video games is based firmly in the accepted philosophical underpinnings of moderate feminism, and does not exaggerate the problem, despite focusing exclusively on the problem of sexism in video games. In contrast, the responses to Anita Sarkeesian have been extreme, illogical, and self-righteous. I'm inclined to say that she's made a feminist out of me - it may sound crazy, as a week ago I'd never have said I'm a feminist, but Anita Sarkeesian is really grounded and logical, contrary to what I understood previously.
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