• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Anita Sarkeesian is tired, closes feminist frequency after 15 years

nani17

are in a big trouble
Robert Pattinson Reaction GIF by Regal
 

Tedditalk

Member
Not for internal/HR. DEI positions are getting cut all over corporate America right now (there's big layoffs in general), especially in tech because they don't contribute to the bottom line.

The money is still strong in marketing departments though, because they've proven it does.

This I can believe. Those positions was mostly for changing company culture to be more amiable to those ends, hoping for an increase in productivity. It has been mostly a failure for changing culture I think, but it has helped to identify values and ideas valuable to different demographics.
 
Last edited:

Barakov

Member



Bye Anita, thanks for playing.

I'm surprised it was still going. It was a decent idea, I even enjoyed it at first, I found the deconstruction of some of the more tired tropes interesting. But they quickly lost me by starting to misrepresent some games, and trying to portray them as misogynistic. E.g. I still remember when they were trying to spin Hitman Absolution as female murder simulator by deliberately going after some strippers (basically random NPCs) at a bar.

Dance Lol GIF
 

Hayabusa83

Banned
This I can believe. Those positions was mostly for changing company culture to be more amiable to those ends, hoping for an increase in productivity. It has been mostly a failure.
Colossal failure more like. There was a suicide recently because of one of these botched diversity sessions. A man renowned for his work with minorities was wrongly labelled a white supremacist and bullied by his colleagues because he dared to question the validity of the speaker's facts. These things are modern struggle sessions. All data points towards them creating more resentment in the workplace rather than cohesion.
 

Hayabusa83

Banned
I remember replying to a thread on here when the other mods was here with one of her videos, it was the first time I saw her and I asked the simple question.
"Is she serious?"
Got a temp ban for 4 weeks I think 🤔
Was it good ol Bishtits? Sent back from the future to tell users he doesn't agree with to piss up a rope and grift his Dino comic? LOL Good times.
 
  • LOL
Reactions: TGO

SlimySnake

Flashless at the Golden Globes
They're responsible for a decade of shitty Western female character designs, for sure.
I think it goes far beyond character designs. She began palling around with druckmann after he finished tlou part 1 and i legit believe that she had an impact on the direction neil took tlou part 2 in. Honestly, i saw the bizarre Elena 180s that saw her turned into a jealous angry housewife from an action junkie in the first three games, and immediately realized that there was something wrong there.

She was also out there giving lectures to BioWare. You know the studio that used to write fantastic strong female characters before feminist frequency was even a thing and then completely lost its way over the last decade or so.

As far as I’m concerned, she ruined two of the best fucking studios in the industry with her nonsense.
 

TGO

Hype Train conductor. Works harder than it steams.
Was it good ol Bishtits? Sent back from the future to tell users he doesn't agree with to piss up a rope and grift his Dino comic? LOL Good times.
Nah I think he wasn't around then or I didn't see much of him.
But it was the first time I was banned for something
The second was saying the FIFA 2016 cover looked Photoshop
fifa_16_uswnt_alex_morgan_regional_coverpng.png

I was being misogynistic apparently.
So I decided to just sit back and watch and keep my head down.
 
Last edited:

Tedditalk

Member
Colossal failure more like. There was a suicide recently because of one of these botched diversity sessions. A man renowned for his work with minorities was wrongly labelled a white supremacist and bullied by his colleagues because he dared to question the validity of the speaker's facts. These things are modern struggle sessions. All data points towards them creating more resentment in the workplace rather than cohesion.
I Googled the suicide and did not find anything. The thing I find weird is that none of this is done by the "minority" groups in question, but instead the majority. It just a cover for bullies to act morally superior. We have to start teaching alot of these progressives how to stand up for themselves and be willing to call these bullies out for the hypocrites they are, as many of them do not hold the values they castigate others on.
 

Hayabusa83

Banned
I Googled the suicide and did not find anything. The thing I find weird is that none of this is done by the "minority" groups in question, but instead the majority. It just a cover for bullies to act morally superior. We have to start teaching alot of these progressives how to stand up for themselves and be willing to call these bullies out for the hypocrites they are, as many of them do not hold the values they castigate others on.
Google "Richard Bilkszto"
 
Probably , not probably but a very unpopular opinion here, she's had a positive impact on the industry. Her whole impact on the industry, specifically after gamergate helped stop the fan base from going to an extremely toxic place that it was going towards and opened up gaming to a broader base by including new perspectives and voices. It's become less of a "boys club" since then which I do appreciate.
You're not getting any pussy around here buddy, you can drop the act

Rainbow Cartoon GIF by Daniel Spacek
 

Power Pro

Member
I remember when she was new, and the whole idea of being "woke" hadn't really caught on yet. The idea that you would get blasted for having a simple difference of opinion didn't occur to me yet. Anyway, I remember commenting that she seemed like a hypocrite right away because she was commenting on tropes like Ms. Pac-man, while also wearing heavy lipstick, and big earrings herself. The very things she was criticizing the industry for, she was wearing.

Needless to say, I was slammed soooo hard for daring to stand up to this brave woman, and I was honestly shocked and startled by how hostile these assholes that she brainwashed were.

While this doesn't mean she's gone for good, it's still good riddance for her to have one less platform.
 

SJRB

Gold Member
Her views were surprisingly small on her channel given her media push.

This is the equivalent of feminists and "allies" complaining about equal pay in soccer and then when the female world championship is on it has like <10% of viewership compared to the men's. And then complain no one is watching.

Where are all the feminists now? That's right, nowhere.

It's just a giant grift / attention thing. It's not a real ideology and it never was.
 
Last edited:
I think it goes far beyond character designs. She began palling around with druckmann after he finished tlou part 1 and i legit believe that she had an impact on the direction neil took tlou part 2 in. Honestly, i saw the bizarre Elena 180s that saw her turned into a jealous angry housewife from an action junkie in the first three games, and immediately realized that there was something wrong there.

She was also out there giving lectures to BioWare. You know the studio that used to write fantastic strong female characters before feminist frequency was even a thing and then completely lost its way over the last decade or so.

As far as I’m concerned, she ruined two of the best fucking studios in the industry with her nonsense.

I blame the studios themselves for all that. They fell hook line and sinker for the BS snake oil of a disingenuous grifter.

The games industry has seen far more diversity in female characters of all stripes than almost every other entertainment media. Quite why this new younger generation of devs suddenly started listening to Anita's revisionist history on female representation in gaming, is baffling. But it highlights their own willful ignorance of their own medium.
 

Tedditalk

Member
I blame the studios themselves for all that. They fell hook line and sinker for the BS snake oil of a disingenuous grifter.

The games industry has seen far more diversity in female characters of all stripes than almost every other entertainment media. Quite why this new younger generation of devs suddenly started listening to Anita's revisionist history on female representation in gaming, is baffling. But it highlights their own willful ignorance of their own medium.

I honestly blame the people that send Anita death threats. She was a nobody before she got signaled boosted by the rejects of the internet, with gamer gate being a huge push for her and many others.
 
I think some comments about sexualization to women (that don't somehow apply to me) get overblown, but so is acting like making women in games be something more than something you can jerk off to is somehow ruining games. Good fucking god there's just so much hyperbolic bullshit.
 
Probably , not probably but a very unpopular opinion here, she's had a positive impact on the industry. Her whole impact on the industry, specifically after gamergate helped stop the fan base from going to an extremely toxic place that it was going towards and opened up gaming to a broader base by including new perspectives and voices. It's become less of a "boys club" since then which I do appreciate.

Sorry, but this is creamy stinky fucking horseshit!

Gaming was only ever a "boys club" because girls just weren't interested. That only changed largely because of Nintendo with the DS and Wii and the social gaming explosion on mobile.

Anita and her cronies absolutely helped create Gamergate and much of the toxicity online.

Had they not been out here disingenuously misrepresenting games to push a false narrative, as well as falsely accusing all games and any female sexualization at all as "problematic" (meanwhile the feminist thots that follow them continue to get their tits out on Twitch streams for cash), then none of that shit would have occurred.

Are there toxic elements in gaming? Sure. But there always have been and always will be. Games are effectively toys, so it stands to reason many immature people of all stripes will be attracted to the medium. But Gamergate was mostly the result of a vocal minority of privileged white liberal feminists getting rich off claiming victimhood due to a horde of online hate they received largely because they spent every waking hour fuelling it with rage-bait and shouting down any and all genuine critics of their work as sexist misogynists.

I honestly blame the people that send Anita death threats. She was a nobody before she got signaled boosted by the rejects of the internet, with gamer gate being a huge push for her and many others.

Considering how much of a successful grifter Anita and co were, at this point I don't believe their claims of having received significant genuine death threats. I think she lied and victimized herself to boost her celebrity.
 
Last edited:

Hayabusa83

Banned


This the most neutral thing I could find, which is a statement from his lawyer. I can agree with you the bullying from the mob causes his death.


Some people were trying to downplay the connection, shysters the lot of them. He got a ruling from the WSIB, which conducts a thorough investigation in order to pay out compensation. Sad situation.
 

Tedditalk

Member
Considering how much of a successful grifter Anita and co were, at this point I don't believe their claims of having received significant genuine death threats. I think she lied and victimized herself to boost her celebrity.

You can get death threats online for posting the wrong opinion on a forum, and a harassment campaign if your personal information is in the offending profile. It such a common response. Plenty of devs got death threats for far menial things because quite a few gamers are unhinged.

There also alot of other claims you made I want to impact for discussion. Gonna take a bit though.
 

Unknown?

Member
Colossal failure more like. There was a suicide recently because of one of these botched diversity sessions. A man renowned for his work with minorities was wrongly labelled a white supremacist and bullied by his colleagues because he dared to question the validity of the speaker's facts. These things are modern struggle sessions. All data points towards them creating more resentment in the workplace rather than cohesion.
Sad but people need to learn the weaponization of words is meaningless in this day and age. If a black man can be a white supremasist, it has absolutely no meaning.
 

bender

What time is it?
I remember replying to a thread on here when the other mods was here with one of her videos, it was the first time I saw her and I asked the simple question.
"Is she serious?"
Got a temp ban for 4 weeks I think 🤔

Those were that happiest four weeks of my life but for you it was Tuesday.
 
  • LOL
Reactions: TGO

Tedditalk

Member
Anita and her cronies absolutely helped create Gamergate and much of the toxicity online.

Had they not been out here disingenuously misrepresenting games to push a false narrative, as well as falsely accusing all games and any female sexualization at all as "problematic" (meanwhile the feminist thots that follow them continue to get their tits out on Twitch streams for cash), then none of that shit would have occurred.

The bold here stood out to me. Two parts.

1. As you mentioned in the second part of thus post (I sectioned it off for a completely different discussion point), the gaming culture has always had some toxicity. There is sexual harassment at gaming conventions, people refusing to shower during smash tourneys, the online gaming culture in the mid 2000s which was inudated with Racial epithets and sexual harassment, leaks about foul behavior from companies, etc. Anita did not cultivate that, nor did any feminist. Implying such remove the agency from the people that did such things, infantilizing them to a level of incompetence where they could only react, not give level headed responses. The reality here is people used the anonymity of the net to attack people consequence free, and gamer gate was really just Twitter mob culture before it became a thing. This is somewhat changing because gaming also became significantly more profitable (as you noted with the rise of social gaming) and corporations started aggressively culling negative behavior to protect their branding from bad PR. Games became much more attached to a company pr as social media took more of a front, and the news was more than happy to decimate a company image.

2. Sex workers are not inherently feminists. Some are though. That culture arised because of lonely men shelling out money for para-social relationships that also add some sexual gratification by able to buy certain behaviors from women. It not much different from prostitution from back in the day, and it mirrors Japan culture where men are just paying women at maid cafes to talk to them and make them feel worthwhile. It a societal failings, and one that we should look more towards our government, then a segment of the population.

Are there toxic elements in gaming? Sure. But there always have been and always will be. Games are effectively toys, so it stands to reason many immature people of all stripes will be attracted to the medium. But Gamergate was mostly the result of a vocal minority of privileged white liberal feminists getting rich off claiming victimhood due to a horde of online hate they received largely because they spent every waking hour fuelling it with rage-bait and shouting down any and all genuine critics of their work as sexist misogynists.
I am only replying to the bolded part of this message.

Games are not just "games" anymore. A better term is interactive media for how much investment has gone into the medium, being the most profitable, and rapidly most expensive entertainment medijm, and the wide variety of media that it encompasses. The level that people attach their identity to these products demand more of a serious label then just games. It help put into context why we have so many strong reactions to products that company releases, and the criticism of these products. I use games as just a colliqualism for discussion, but I do not really see them that. Sorry for any discrepancies.
 
Last edited:

Tedditalk

Member
Sad but people need to learn the weaponization of words is meaningless in this day and age. If a black man can be a white supremasist, it has absolutely no meaning.

A racist just means someone who believe that one race is superior to another, usually in an innate way. A black white supremacist does not contradict this at all, and if anything it makes sense, since internalized hatred can often lead to feelings of innate inferiority.
 

Trunx81

Member
wasnt a part of her movement the reason the other board came into life? If so, be grateful or you would still have to deal with them/they
 
You can get death threats online for posting the wrong opinion on a forum, and a harassment campaign if your personal information is in the offending profile. It such a common response. Plenty of devs got death threats for far menial things because quite a few gamers are unhinged.

None of that is under any contention. There are nutters online.... and?!?

Does that mean that every claim of someone having received death threats is real? Of course not.

And when the person in question is as scummy as Anita is, yeah... I just don't trust a word that comes out of her mouth. You might, and if you do, good for you.

The bold here stood out to me. Two parts.

1. As you mentioned in the second part of thus post (I sectioned it off for a completely different discussion point), the gaming culture has always had some toxicity. There is sexual harassment at gaming conventions, people refusing to shower during smash tourneys, the online gaming culture in the mid 2000s which was inudated with Racial epithets and sexual harassment, leaks about foul behavior from companies,

Barely any of this has changed significantly. These bad actors have stopped going to tournaments and conventions, but they still exist and now just spew vitriol online.

That said, you're trying to equivocate gaming as an entertainment medium with the tiny minority of nerds and gaming media personalities that attend US-based conventions, trade shows, and gaming tournaments... LOL

The majority of gamers are nothing like these folks. What you're describing is a particular American nerd culture bubble that has very little in common with the wider global gaming audience.

etc. Anita did not cultivate that, nor did any feminist. Implying such remove the agency from the people that did such things, infantilizing them to a level of incompetence where they could only react, not give level headed responses.

The folks sexually harassing people at trade shows aren't rational people. They are infants if they think that kind of behavior is OK. And no, people harassing folks at trade shows are not the vocal online mobs who are very much easily inflamed by the rage-bait Anita and her cronies consistently put out.

The reality here is people used the anonymity of the net to attack people consequence free, and gamer gate was really just Twitter mob culture before it became a thing.

I'm glad you admit this, as it just proves my point. The insensate, seeming mindless Twitter mobs are exactly the right analogy, as they predictably fall for exactly the same rage-bait political grifters use today, as Anita and her feminist cronies used ten years ago.

This is somewhat changing because gaming also became significantly more profitable (as you noted with the rise of social gaming) and corporations started aggressively culling negative behavior to protect their branding from bad PR. Games became much more attached to a company pr as social media took more of a front, and the news was more than happy to decimate a company image.

Right! So it was nothing to do with Anita and Feminist Frequency. They didn't save gaming from the toxic misogynist mobs; which is what was originally claimed.

Glad we agree.

2. Sex workers are not inherently feminists. Some are though.

I'm not talking about sex workers. I'm talking about vocal feminist activists that get their tits out on Twitch streams in their spare time; not that I even have an issue with them doing so directly. The issue I have is with the hypocrisy of claiming any and all female sexualization in games is "problematic" while selling tits and ass to horny nerds on Twitch for personal gain.

So really, female sexualization is only problematic when the feminist grifters themselves aren't profiting from it.

Games are not just "games" anymore. A better term is interactive media for how much investment has gone into the medium, being the most profitable, and rapidly most expensive entertainment medijm, and the wide variety of media that it encompasses. The level that people attach their identity to these products demand more of a serious label then just games. It help put into context why we have so many strong reactions to products that company releases, and the criticism of these products. I use games as just a colliqualism for discussion, but I do not really see them that. Sorry for any discrepancies.

To me, games are just games. They're entertainment products. Those who ascribe any more value to them than that are the real reason for most of the tribalism and toxicity on gaming forums and in gaming discussions.

Your personal identity should have nothing to do with the kinds of games [toys] you enjoy playing with. That's puerile and daft.
 

Werewolf Jones

Gold Member
Some of their videos were informative but held entry level knowledge anyone with a brain would comprehend. Reminder there was a time on this board if you talked negatively about her appearance or fashion you would get banned instantly.

Don't really hate her but she was a fraud, I remember in that old Bayonetta video she said Bayonetta being a single mother was a positive. She did also damage the video game industry, nothing another 5 years or so can't repair but her influence lasted a good while.
 

Tedditalk

Member
None of that is under any contention. There are nutters online.... and?!?

Does that mean that every claim of someone having received death threats is real? Of course not.

What reason is to doubt the claim unless you just distrust the source. It such a common behavior.

And when the person in question is as scummy as Anita is, yeah... I just don't trust a word that comes out of her mouth. You might, and if you do, good for you.


FBI report of the targeted harassment. It not an issue of believe, it a genuine thing. Also found some images of people replies, but they would probably get me banned. Can DM

Barely any of this has changed significantly. These bad actors have stopped going to tournaments and conventions, but they still exist and now just spew vitriol online.

In more contained spaces, yeah. They go on telegram, gettr, 4chan and private discords, but are banned off voice chats in game lobbies, public discord, Twitter and Facebook, Instagram, any significant social platform. The culture is VERY different, as I am old enough to remember it.

That said, you're trying to equivocate gaming as an entertainment medium with the tiny minority of nerds and gaming media personalities that attend US-based conventions, trade shows, and gaming tournaments... LOL

You mean the hundreds of thousands of people that watch summer games done quick, and the millions that watch league? But those are irrevant numbers compared to fact that it is the most profitable entertainment medium in the world


With GTA 5 as the most profitable entertainment product ever made.


The majority of gamers are nothing like these folks. What you're describing is a particular American nerd culture bubble that has very little in common with the wider global gaming audience.

You do realize this behavior exist world wide? It not just an American thing. Anita was a Canadian after all.

The folks sexually harassing people at trade shows aren't rational people. They are infants if they think that kind of behavior is OK. And no, people harassing folks at trade shows are not the vocal online mobs who are very much easily inflamed by the rage-bait Anita and her cronies consistently put out.

You just reduce one faction but enlarge the other.... this is just rhetoric.

I'm glad you admit this, as it just proves my point. The insensate, seeming mindless Twitter mobs are exactly the right analogy, as they predictably fall for exactly the same rage-bait political grifters use today, as Anita and her feminist cronies used ten years ago.

This is a unchariatable perversion of what I wrote. Just gonna end my response here.
 

Madflavor

Member
I kinda hate to admit it, but it definitely does feel like Anita was the catalyst for a lot of the modern design we see with female video game characters today, particularly with Western games. She quickly became irrelevant over the years, but she definitely made an impact that rippled throughout the gaming industry.
 
Top Bottom