And unlike Feminist Frequency, I'm not going to criticize a male character for being paternal with girls. It's when men are paternally patronizing with grown women that it becomes a problem. Feminists should encourage men to have close, caring relationships with their children (and healthy sexual and non-sexual relationships with adult women) in defiance of male stereotypes.

In other references, Sarkeesian correctly identifies that sex tourism elements are often included in games, but she uses a clip that's a reference to the movie Full Metal Jacket. If you're aware of the reference, it's about as sexy as the condom buying scene from Leisure Suit Larry. It's designed to make you laugh. Using that example weakens the argument that sex trafficking in games is not dealt with maturely, which is unfortunate because that's a point I actually agree with. For every game that gives an honest, uncomfortable look into the practice - like Far Cry 3 and in a more fantastic way the Dragon Age games -- there are plenty of other games that have exoticized prostitutes in roles that really oversimplify the realities of modern sex slavery. It's shouldn't have been that hard to compile a clip reel that didn't take cheap shots at games that aren't the problem.

Like Mass Effect. The clip of the Asari nightclub dancer was a clip of a character that looks like a woman, but isn't actually a woman as we understand the concept. The Asari are a mono-gendered alien species without concepts of male and female. They can reproduce with any other organic life form, male or female. An Asari dancing on a table is not doing it to make herself a better sex object for male enjoyment because she doesn't have a concept of males. The Mass Effect games even say that the species is highly misunderstood because of this difference. This is where gender performativity theory can give us a more accurate analysis than rigid "male gaze" theory.

It's moments like this when I understand why people accuse Feminist Frequency of not playing the games they criticize. I just think they can't see past their pre-existing biases to provide objective analysis. In the case of Mass Effect, they were trying to claim that sexualized depictions of women were being used to pander to a presumed heterosexual male ego even in games that have an option for a female playable character. This is a ridiculous accusation to level at a game, and studio, that actually panders to a gay and gay-friendly crowd. The idea that a sexy woman in a game always means the game is looking for male approval is strikingly heteronormative, and is therefore regressive gender analysis because it omits lesbian and bisexual women and even gay men who still enjoy looking at pretty women... like Madonna, Cher and Lady Gaga fans.

At least in this video Sarkeesian finally started talking about games as games. Unfortunately she gets the application wrong. She implies that games are more harmful than films because they encourage players to actively participate in objectifying women; it's actually more the case that pervert players will act like perverts and everyone else won't. And even when someone pervs in a game, they're likely doing it with the awareness that the woman they're leering at isn't real. Unless a film is a cartoon, an objectified woman in a movie is a real actress, who can then get treated like public property as Jennifer Lawrence did in the unsanctioned release of her private topless photos that the internet dubbed "the Fappening." This won't happen to a video game character.

These are just a few examples of fairly obvious errors in Feminist Frequency's videos. The unfortunate thing is that most of the time the core of an issue they approach is valid, just not widespread enough to justify forty minutes of video. So it begs the question: Why is there so much filler in these pieces? Is it willfully exaggerating the issue, or do they really not understand the nuances of the games they're holding up for scrutiny?

I'll give them the benefit of the doubt that their intents are good. However, Feminist Frequency's negative, hostile approach to gender criticism in video games is causing real harm, which I'll unpack in the next installment. Up next: the last straw from Feminist Frequency that finally made me snap.

Images courtesy of Sony Computer Entertainment, Warner Bros. Interactive, Sony Pictures, Ubisoft, Bethesda, Bandai Namco, DC Comics and Feminist Frequency.