Being Right Makes Anita Sarkeesian No Less Wrong

Here at CheatCC I’ve had no problems voicing my opinions. At times they’ve been controversial, enraging many readers and putting me at odds with fellow staff members. In that I make no apologies, as I feel I’ve always backed up my beliefs with a solid point of view which can stand up against any scrutiny. I also don’t argue about things I’m not truly passionate about. So if I’m bringing something to the table for our reader’s consideration, it’s because it's important to me. Today I’d like to speak to you about how Anita Sarkeesian is one of the biggest detriments to not only video gaming in our era, but to female gamers in particular. I lament the fact this is a woman who has built a career on the backs of all of us. The video gamer, game reviewer and developer alike. She first gained notoriety during her 2012 Kickstarter campaign that sought to examine how the female image was being over-sexualized and utterly deformed by those within our industry. While inexcusable bullying and online harassment ensued, she was successful in raising over $150,000 towards her efforts in spite of that. But does that make her efforts noble? One might assume by simply acting under the guise of “protecting woman’s rights” wraps your motivations in a protective blanket of righteousness that no one should dare question - but I do question it. In fact, I’ll go so far as to call her a hack and a charlatan. Here we have a woman who has never presented an even-handed illumination of the world at it exists, just a skewed, tunnel-visioned representation. She has spent the better part of three years attacking our medium, essentially labeling it as one of the greatest attacks on female kind of the modern age, to hear her tell it, anyway.

But why? And has she succeeded in changing the hearts and minds of those who sought out her message in the first place? Credit where credit is due, as Ms. Sarkeesian is still in demand on the lecturing circuit. Take her most recent trek to New York University. Here she gave a presentation on “8 Things Devs Can Do To Make Games Less Shitty For Women.” By the title I’m sure you can surmise it did not paint a very flattering picture of the current state of affairs. However, even though she delivered the speech to a packed house, not everyone could stomach her ramblings. According to those in attendance, one woman (apparently identified as a Gamergate supporter) stood up and stormed out as she shook her head in disgust. When later asked about this, Sarkeesian shrugged it off by saying “I'm happy if she cared at all and wanted to come, but I seriously doubt people from Gamergate's intentions of coming to an event where I am speaking...I think if anyone in this audience is here for Gamergate they are not here because they genuinely care and want to learn. They are coming here to be, like, 'oh my god, that woman, that horrible evil woman that's ruining video games.'” Personally, I’m not suggesting Sarkeesian is evil, per say, as I don’t make such judgments. What I do know quite well is her words and her rhetoric. If you’re a woman, I can’t image how you’re not repulsed by the concept. Sarkeesian seems to suggest women are somehow naive if they don’t agree with her that their depictions in entertainment are now cause for revolt. As for me, I’m still trying to decipher at what point their personal self-worth suddenly became directly tied to the bust sizes found in hits like Dead or Alive: Beach Volleyball. Another accusation made during the NYU address saw Sarkeesian accuse designers of deliberately animating females in a way that is unrealistic or “too feminine.” A strange dichotomy coming from someone who touts the importance of feminism, but not entirely untrue, admittedly. What I don't hear her address is the unrealistic hulking male figures located in games. I’m not sure if she know this, but the average guy doesn’t have a 24 pack of ripped abs and 34 inch biceps found in your typical FPS (unless you’re drawn by an artist at Marvel or DC, that is). Most of us look like Trevor from Grand Theft Auto V, to be perfectly honest (sorry fellas, but its true).