Photo: Jessica Zollman, Illustration James Bareham/Polygon
Anita Sarkeesian is a name that draws either admiration or ire online. She created and lead “Feminist Frequency,” a site dedicated to improving the media we love for equality. There were news articles, reviews, and, most popularly, a video series entitled “Tropes vs Women.” This video series examined the harmful stereotypes and sexist tropes in gaming, asking us to examine and question things, even the things we love.
This lead to ire among the least civilized of the internet. Men, or rather, boys with age but no wisdom, harassed Anita online. She was a central target during Gamergate. She’s survived harassment, numerous bomb threats, and more hate than we should expect of anyone. But she did. That’s why you’ll find women online who look up to Anita, for persevering under duress because she had an important job to do.
Feminist Frequency is closing down. The women who kept it up, Anita Sarkeesian, Ebony Adams, and Carolyn Petit, will continue to host the Feminist Frequency podcast in their own time. However, the business that helped train companies, spread videos, and post stories is done. Sarkeesian has her own reasons, but, mostly, she felt it was time to move on.
For everyone else, it’s an invitation to keep the conversation going.
It’s a bit of a long read, but I highly recommend checking out Colin Campbell’s story on Anita Sarkeesian and a decade of Feminist Frequency over on Polygon.