Videogames and Sexism (part 3)

I'll start this entry confesing I find the second video on the 'damsel in distress' trope particularly disgusting. The way she draws parallelisms between fictional worlds and real problems that have absolutely nothing to do with them is troubling and hints to an underlying problem with her attitude towards media: she tries and finds ways of twisting reality so that things that mean something will look like they're doing quite the opposite.

This image represents feminism better than Anita's spiteful discourse.

Videogames and sexim (part 2)

So, in the folling posts, I'll try to go addressing some of the sentences and assertions I've heard on Anita's videos I particularly dislike or find not true. I'll start saying I don't believe everything she sais is bullshit, I just find some extreme opinions particularly troubling. I'm gonna try to go chronologically, so I'll start with the Damsel in Distress sentences.

"I've heard it said that in the game of patriarchy women are not the opposing team, they are the ball. So, for examplo, we could think of the Super Mario franchise as a grand game being played between Mario and Bowser where Peach's role is essentially the ball...". I don't know about the 'game of patriarchy' but I believe that's a bit of an stretch isn't it. She didn't try to look at it for what it is: a bunch of games where the main protagonist is given an (absurd) reason to enjoy multiple platforming levels, which is rescuing her love, princess Peach. No, instead she prefers to do an analogy with a supposed 'game of patriarchy' and twist an absurd theme because, let's be honest, Mario's story is quite absurd, into fitting her intended goal.

Mario and Bowser, the two men (sic!) playing Peach in their 'game of patriarchy'. If you want to bet I've got a tip for you, always bet on the plumber.

Videogames and Sexism (part 1)

So, I had this discussion the other day in Facebook with a friend and former colleague at GoBo about Anita's latest video. When I heard of Anita's kickstarter campaign for the first time and the backlash she had I thought "this world (the videogame's one) is full of trolls and low self-steem kids with way too much time and very little common sense in their hands". I was genuinely interested in listening or reading her research on the subject. After the first 3 videos on the 'damsel in distress' trope I was very disappointed with her results. 2 videos later I'm even more disappointed. I remember discussing this subject with my colleagues at the time at GoBo and now, after this Facebook discussion I feel like writing my thoughts on the subject, for what it's worth, which probably is very little.