[DanaC]

You'd think, as someone interested in gaming, and also interested in feminism, that a video series that examines games from a feminist perspective would be something I'd watch...but, as much as I am a feminist and am broadly interested in feminism - I am not really much of a one for feminist analyses. I don't know why really - maybe they make me too angry - maybe they sometimes seem a bit too narrow and a bit too focused on the Patriarchy and maybe because I had my fill of feminist history as an undergrad. Some of it I have always found a bit cringe inducing. Some of it seems a little too neat - like any ism analysis - once you start looking through that lens at something you see everything in that light.

So, I hadn't actually watched the Tropes -v- Women video series by Anita Sarkeesian that critiques games and the game industry from a feminist perspective, and which has garnered its author death threats, rape threats, and a lot of anger from gamers (primarily, but not exclusively male).

Much of what I 'knew' about this series was second hand - and I kind of bought the script a bit. I assumed that it must be a really, really strident, slightly anti-male gamer , over the top feminist analysis - for instance a lot o fgamers have said she argues that sexism and misogyny in games causes sexism and misogyny in gamers - and that violence in games causes violence in real life. Both arguments with which I vehemently disagree.

So, I decided to actually watch the first of her series (Damsels in Distress - part 1). And it was so interesting that I ended up watching all three parts of the Damsel trope episodes.

I love games history - how games became what they are, the total nostalgia trip of games I used to play as a kid - the behind the scenes industry stuff that shaped the way games looked and look.

I am now a real fan of this show - I don't necssarily agree with every conclusion, but her overall analysis and findings are pretty compelling, engaging and wittily framed. She looks at it in the round, examining the most common tropes and how they came about. It's fascinating!

I really highly recommend - and for those who break out in hives at the word patriarchy - it only gets mentioned a few times and is used in the proper way (a theoretical system of cultural power and control which impacts men and women, not the power that men have over women). It's mostly - well - a really interesting history and analysis of video games. It's quite funny - and well argued (for the most part). It looks not just at what the tropes are but where they come from, how they work and how they fit into wider culture.

If you are interested in games past and present and the history of their development (not to mention a nostalgia trip through the games ofthe past) I can highly recommend. The series starts with the damsel trope - done in three parts.






Most of this is really quite measured. She makes pretty clear that likingthese games, playing these games or even writing these games does not equate to being a sexist. She says, outright, that there is no conspiracy amongst games makers to objectify women - that make games makers are not deliberately setting out to do so. And that in and of themselves, most of these games are not bad games.