My opinion of her is notably biased because I've seen her work in the last year and I think she's a disgusting piece of trash. So take anything I say with a grain of salt and feel free to research her - but know going in that EVERY opinion you read about this woman will likely be bias.
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Of all the movements I've seen (I say seen because I was not and am not part of Gamer Gate) I've never encountered one that the mainstream media will work so endlessly hard to make certain only one side is heard - regardless of how deplorable or illogical the tactic of that side may be.
She's a "critic" feminist who hates free speech and men, and works endlessly to promote cancel culture.
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She hates women being portrayed in any manner that's not synonymous with Abby from the last of us. Straight white men are the devil incarnate and should never be allowed to do more than lick her boots.
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She's helped contribute to the destruction of several careers. One of her notable affiliates is Zoe Quinn, who used twitter to drive a man to suicide. Which is notable because Anita and her circle are all often fully supportive of this brand of behaviour.
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She makes a career telling people how horrible games she's never played - and WILL never play - are.
It’s not about playing the game it’s about looking at the philosophical implications of potentially strangling a sex worker while puppeteering a genetically engineered spy/assassin. And how playing that type of game and potentially enjoying that specific action makes you a bad person. Cuz you know playing villainy and enjoying villainy in a fantasy setting is totally unacceptable.
This is why she brings up Gamer Gate. Anita is a firm believe that women are strong, powerful victims. Mentioning gamer gate is a dog whistle of sorts - it lets people know that "see? EA didn't take MY side during that whole debacle. They took NO SIDE at all - which is the WRONG side. AND they're not supporting a charity focused on women in video games. Almost like they don't support women at all. Would be a shame if a bunch of my followers started harassing them and painting them as misogynists now."
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Nevermind the fact that her "charity" largely focuses on podcasts, whereas the charities EA actually donated to were:
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HeForShe - charity which seems to involve trying to get men to stand up for womens' rights in countries like Pakistan etc
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Pacer - which focuses on children with disablilities
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Ditch the label - which works on supporting youth with mental health issues, as well as helping to prevent and deal with bullying
@cryoenthusiast that too. If it were up to Anita sarkeesian escapism would NOT exist.
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All video games would be political platforms - and burn to the ground the life of anyone who does not take her side.
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It's fucking sad. The first time I heard about gamer gate was years ago and when I looked into it the media was like "this movement is men hating women in video games." And I rolled my eyes and moved on because I believed them. Didn't look into it fully until a year or two ago. And I can't believe how much they misrepresented the entire movement.
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Doesn't have a damn thing with not wanting women in games. It was entirely about freedom of expression. And not having what they could and could not do be dictated by sadistic control-freak weirdos.
In regards to video games as platforms there are plenty of people that believe any media is a platform. That there is no escape from opinion and end-goals because people’s biases and world view appear even if it isn’t intentional. I don’t know exactly how much that assumption affects a worldview. It could go from “be mindful and critical of the media you enjoy” to “only the media that fits your worldview is acceptable” of course there is a whole spectrum between those two points.
Well, that’s sort of the conundrum isn’t it? Inevitably, when we create something, we can’t help but create it from our perspective of the world- even if we try to create from another perspective it is just the lens through which we personally view the person we imitate-which even if unintended is a form of satire.
I love GTA. I love seeing what sorts of things will be in the next game. I’ve played every GTA on console starting with GTA 1 as soon as they came out. That said... I don’t know if removing strangling hookers for fun is a political maneuver as much as just one based on some folks morality.
I mean- we can argue artistic merit all day- and often times that line is blurred. However- since it is an open world game and murdering hookers isn’t part of some tightly crafted and paced narrative that uses the symbolism or makes an inherent statement... we can rule out certain kinds of artistic merit. We can chalk it up to realism- but then again- if all the things they did or didn’t specifically program for you to do- those were choices.
So maybe the art, the statement is on he player. My SO gets upset any time I torture an NPC or even choose a ride dialog option. She has a very pure heart. Mine maybe not so much. But they gee rally make you a criminal in the games, set you in an environment tailored for and encouraging you to mayhem and sadism. And well... you aren’t really required to do a lot of what you CAN do. Is that how you think? Is that how you think the character- how a “criminal” thinks? So there is art to it I would say. Like a performance art piece. It can be a bit meta. I mean- maybe part of the art is seeing who puts the controller down and walks away or who just says “I’m already a criminal... May as well...”
It’s important to talk about representation in video games, about the imagery and the themes and the attitudes, I think. It’s a very fine line between satirizing and glorifying often. And maybe she’s right and all of us who enjoy these games are sick on some level- but I have t yet met a person who was “well” so we are all flawed in our ways. Murdering video game hookers is maybe one of the less harmful ways a person could be sick I think.
I hate playing rude/evil characters. Can never commit to it because I always feel guilty. I'm not even remotely a fan of being able to murder hookers in GTA.
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That said I've never PLAYED the GTA games, so my opinion on their content is somewhat less relevant. I would argue beating someone to death with a golf club, or nailing someone to crosses, or breaking their arms etc in a realistic motion-cap game are all infinitely more disturbing than strangling a hooker in a game like GTA. And all of those are examples from TLOU2, a game which Anita was apparently involved in (but for some reason it seems they kept this knowledge hidden from gamers for as long as possible... can't imagine why).
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I don't personally know where the line is. I don't think GTA is a problem, but there was a game from Japan known as "Rapelay" that involved a guy stalking and raping a mother and her two daughters (one teen, one underage) that was banned in a lot of countries, and I'm more or less fine with that.
All that aside, when it comes to Anita sarkeesian - she doesn't actually believe a single word she says.
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She has discounted hundreds of women who tell her they fucking hate her tactics, hate what she's doing, and that say she doesn't speak for them. They don't support her. Therefore they are the WRONG type of women. So they don't get a voice.
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She advocates on behalf of women by suppressing them. She literally makes it her mission to make certain people that do not agree with her NEVER get a foot in the door.
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And by and large it works. And then her and the people she's in bed with - who are incapable of creating original media that is successful - take well-established franchises and absolutely obliterate them.
Well... I mean... if we are being honest- a good deal of the time, moral crusading is just a way to feel good about ourselves or look good in public while just trying to get the thing that we want. It sounds like she just has her own agenda and has wrapped it up in a guise of feminism. That, or to her the idea of empowering “women” is actually about empowering one woman, HER, and those who think like her to try and create the world they want to see. That’s a challenge of inclusion and diversity- some people don’t play nice with others and we have to do something with them- and it wouldn’t be very egalitarian to send anyone with “bad opinions” to Antarctica. She sounds like a pretty terrible person. I don’t know her. Maybe she believes in one she is doing, or there’s some logic I don’t see and she at least WANTS to do good.
I mean- sadly, it isn’t usually intentional (it can be, but usually isn’t) when someone takes a stance for reasons of personal benefit and not actual conviction. It’s a lack of self awareness. People have trouble seeing themselves from an outside perspective. What seems internally to be finely crafted and consistent logic, is often just various perceptive and cognitive biases justifying the thing we WANT to believe- and few people want to believe that they are all over the place and faulty in their logic and world view.
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Of all the movements I've seen (I say seen because I was not and am not part of Gamer Gate) I've never encountered one that the mainstream media will work so endlessly hard to make certain only one side is heard - regardless of how deplorable or illogical the tactic of that side may be.
.
She hates women being portrayed in any manner that's not synonymous with Abby from the last of us. Straight white men are the devil incarnate and should never be allowed to do more than lick her boots.
.
She's helped contribute to the destruction of several careers. One of her notable affiliates is Zoe Quinn, who used twitter to drive a man to suicide. Which is notable because Anita and her circle are all often fully supportive of this brand of behaviour.
.
She makes a career telling people how horrible games she's never played - and WILL never play - are.
.
Nevermind the fact that her "charity" largely focuses on podcasts, whereas the charities EA actually donated to were:
.
HeForShe - charity which seems to involve trying to get men to stand up for womens' rights in countries like Pakistan etc
.
Pacer - which focuses on children with disablilities
.
Ditch the label - which works on supporting youth with mental health issues, as well as helping to prevent and deal with bullying
.
All video games would be political platforms - and burn to the ground the life of anyone who does not take her side.
.
It's fucking sad. The first time I heard about gamer gate was years ago and when I looked into it the media was like "this movement is men hating women in video games." And I rolled my eyes and moved on because I believed them. Didn't look into it fully until a year or two ago. And I can't believe how much they misrepresented the entire movement.
.
Doesn't have a damn thing with not wanting women in games. It was entirely about freedom of expression. And not having what they could and could not do be dictated by sadistic control-freak weirdos.
.
That said I've never PLAYED the GTA games, so my opinion on their content is somewhat less relevant. I would argue beating someone to death with a golf club, or nailing someone to crosses, or breaking their arms etc in a realistic motion-cap game are all infinitely more disturbing than strangling a hooker in a game like GTA. And all of those are examples from TLOU2, a game which Anita was apparently involved in (but for some reason it seems they kept this knowledge hidden from gamers for as long as possible... can't imagine why).
.
I don't personally know where the line is. I don't think GTA is a problem, but there was a game from Japan known as "Rapelay" that involved a guy stalking and raping a mother and her two daughters (one teen, one underage) that was banned in a lot of countries, and I'm more or less fine with that.
.
She has discounted hundreds of women who tell her they fucking hate her tactics, hate what she's doing, and that say she doesn't speak for them. They don't support her. Therefore they are the WRONG type of women. So they don't get a voice.
.
She advocates on behalf of women by suppressing them. She literally makes it her mission to make certain people that do not agree with her NEVER get a foot in the door.
.
And by and large it works. And then her and the people she's in bed with - who are incapable of creating original media that is successful - take well-established franchises and absolutely obliterate them.