The following, is a summarized review of Anita Sarkeesian’s Master’s Thesis, “I’ll make a man out of you”: Strong Women in Science Fiction and Fantasy Television.

First off I want to say that this, is by far one of the most unintentionally misogynistic things I’ve ever read in my life. The Misandry I expected. The misogyny, not so much. Second thing I will say before we start, is that for a master’s thesis, this is very poorly written. It doesn’t flow and she can’t piece together an argument to save her life. You don’t read this thesis, you survive it. If you actually understand what she’s saying, it’s like living through that scene in a clockwork orange, where Alex is being brainwashed. It’s an utterly painful experience..

That being said let’s dive right into it shall we? Her major argument going into the paper, is that the media portrays strong female characters and that this is positive, but none of that matters because she believes these women have undesirable attributes. What are these attributes you ask? Well she believes that these Women are only being valued as characters because their positive attributes are “masculine” Well fuck! I didn’t know that being strong physically and mentally was something traditionally male. So to her, women are not allowed to be violent. Not even to handle problems that demand it. They cannot be sexy because that’s “degrading.” They can’t be cool headed or handle a position of authority without it being the patriarchy trying to turn women into men. Is this woman on crack, or is she just naturally this stupid? Every line I read of this stuff, I have to keep reminding myself that she possesses a master’s degree. She goes on to say that she sought out Science fiction programs that portrayed a future she would find appealing. We get a peek at her idealistic universe with this little bit here:

“I especially gravitated towards science fiction and fantasy programs because as I was attempting to imagine a future economic and social system that is rooted in social justice values, I anticipated that science fiction was a place that would portray futuristic societies with different values. Unfortunately, I did not find much of this: many futuristic shows still identify with the same value systems that western countries have today such as individualism, hierarchical institutional and political structures, meritocracy, and most often still exist in a capitalist economic system.”

I’ll translate. She’s basically pissed that Sci Fi universes are still democracies that value talented people and enjoy capitalist systems. Sounds like she’s interested in a society where you don’t have to do anything at all for people to notice you. She’s obviously not fond of democracy as a system of government, and hates capitalism for some reason. She goes on to make the argument that women are not different enough biologically to think differently and value specific things, even though there are studies that suggest otherwise. In a nutshell she’s making the argument that gender is a social construct and that the patriarchy is forcing women into these specific roles. This is the same magical patriarchy that’s trying to make women into men, which is probably one of the dumbest things I’ve ever heard. So the patriarchy wants women to become men, but also wants them to display traditional feminine characteristics? How the fuck does that work? It can’t want both simultaneously. Every trait Anita attributes to women, is a stereotype. She talks about encouraging non-traditional gender roles, but at the same time shits on that by saying that it’s just the evil patriarchy valuing masculine qualities in women. It’s like she has no idea what gender is, or how men and women interact in the real world.

If you read my previous post “Why Anita Sarkeesian Matters,” you’ll remember that I mentioned unresolved cognitive dissonance in her work. That was after having only read excerpts from her thesis. Having read more of this, I can now safely say that she is either telling the teacher what she wants to hear, or is certifiably insane. She wants to promote non-traditional gender roles, but essentially says that doing so means acting like a man. She talks about the oppressive patriarchy, but is effectively stereotyping women and saying that being sex positive is pretty much degrading yourself. To further hit home, here’s a list of things women aren’t allowed to be because these things are “masculine.”

Being Physically Strong

Rational

Cool headed

Physically or Verbally Aggressive

Emotionally inexpressive

Independent

Objective

Active

Dominant

Self-Confident

Decisive

Resourceful

Daring

Competitive

The fuck? I’m starting to think that she’s upset that she hasn’t succeeded in life the way she planned, and that she’s pissed because she believes the patriarchy is keeping her down. Heaven forbid she should have to be decisive or ambitious. Nope! That’s for the man to do, right? Right? How did she graduate from college? I have to ask this question. As an academic paper, this is a joke. From the beginning she states that she’ll explain how the media’s portrayal of gender roles, is causing a division between the sexes and that this is causing cultural misogyny, and that this cultural misogyny is causing violence against women. Yet she doesn’t prove that. She doesn’t even come close to proving that. What she does prove, is how a complete moron can bullshit their way through college and poorly write a 75 page paper that reads worse that a Stephanie Meyer novel, all the while contributing nothing of value.

The ideal show that she seems to want is a sci fi version of a sitcom where the mother is the main character and she just goes through her daily life. Other people are out there fighting evil and saving the universe from oppressive alien races, but that’s not important because mom needs to be valued in the universe, even if she contributes nothing that is interesting.

I don’t watch fantasy shows to see women talk about the normal shit that they do every fucking day. I want to watch people do stuff that I will never get to do in my mostly boring existence. I want to see them do magic, have light saber battles, and save the world. If I want to watch people do everyday shit, I’ll watch a sitcom or a slice of life anime. I’m not gonna watch a woman in a high fantasy universe make coffee and talk about the “oppressive patriarchy.” That’s bullshit, and strangely enough it’s not men telling me that I can’t do certain things, it’s feminists like Anita Sarkeesian. They should not be telling women these lies. They should tell women to be self-reliant, to approach their weaknesses, and then fix them. Instead they are giving them victim complexes and teaching them to blame all their problems on men,

In the beginning of the piece she says that the media’s failure to portray women correctly, is dividing the genders. However, it is instead people like Anita Sarkeesian that are actually dividing the genders. They are applying gender to positive human attributes, and then calling those things negative. Things like strength and bravery, those things are negative to her.

She can not or will not understand that different shows have different audiences. Not every television show is going to be designed just for you. You may not be their target audience. She believes that it’s not her that has the problem, but instead the world, because they don’t automatically appreciate her “feminine” attributes of being irrational, and passive aggressive. Below is a link to her bullshit thesis. Read it if you have a desire to descend into this chasm of insanity. The thesis is actually difficult to find, but luckily investig8tive journalism on youtube, posted a link to where he uploaded a version which will be provided below. Thanks for reading, and if you want to see more stuff like this, or just enjoy some fun quirky stuff, follow me here on tumblr.

Download Anita Sarkeesian’s Master Thesis