Joss Whedon blasts misogynistic video games, tweets support for Feminist Frequency founder (NSFW)

[ismnotwasm]

Early Wednesday morning, Joss Whedon, writer, director and producer known for a slew of movies and television shows including “Buffy,” tweeted out his support for Feminist Frequency creator Anita Sarkeesian.

This week, Sarkeesian released an episode of her video series “Tropes vs. Women,” this week. The video was the second part of an examination of women in video games — specifically women as background decoration.

Whedon, who is known for including elements of feminism in his shows and movies, and for his controversial comments on feminism tweeted the following:

Joss Whedon ✔ @josswhedon
Follow
I watched a bunch of women get sliced up in video games and now I'm watching it on my twitter feed. @femfreq is just truth-telling. Deal.
11:00 PM - 26 Aug 2014
1,613 RETWEETS 2,055 FAVORITES ReplyRetweetFavorite

Joss Whedon ✔ @josswhedon
Follow
Watch the @femfreq #TropesvsWomen vids. Even if u think u get it, the sheer tonnage makes misogyny seem newly appalling.
10:49 PM - 26 Aug 2014
1,334 RETWEETS 1,510 FAVORITES ReplyRetweetFavorite

The “Tropes vs. Women” video discusses the disturbing trend of females portrayed as either sexual playthings, or victims of violence (or both). Misogynists on the Internet reacted with vitriol, harassing and, allegedly threatening Sarkeesian.



http://www.salon.com/2014/08/27/joss_whedon_blasts_misogynistic_video_games_tweets_support_for_feminist_frequency_founder/

[theHandpuppet]

1. JFC...

Sometimes there are no words.

[ismnotwasm]

3. Yeah

I was looking at RedQueen's thread in GD--even posted a time or two, saw a few more than eager to display their comic book super knowledge, while at the same time insist there is not a problem, or basically inferring censorship if criticism exists. It was both funny as hell and quite sad.

[Sheldon Cooper]

5. The variation on "not all men" has been kinda humorous.

Just because things may, MAY, be improving does not mean the comic book world gets a pass. Except in Bizarro World I guess.

[ismnotwasm]

8. It was.

Hey--you made a pun! Bizarro World indeed.




Also, the lame attempt to involve me further. Most of them don't even try- Appreciate the intervention

[Bjorn Against]

2. As a gamer I know Whedon is right

A lot of gamers get mad when you even suggest the industry needs to do better, but it does. There are a few developers, most notably Bethesda who do seem to get it and present their female characters as real people rather than sex objects. This has not hurt Bethesda's sales at all either, The Elder Scrolls and Fallout are two of the best selling series in gaming, and they both portray men and women as equals and are able to address sexuality without turning the characters into sex objects.

Hopefully more developers will follow Bethesda's lead because the portrayal of women in many other series is ridiculous.

[ismnotwasm]

4. I think there will change

Because market does drive production, I also think we'll see great games out of of it.

[Bjorn Against]

12. I think the change has already started, although it is slow change

The Tomb Raider series used to be famous primarily because of the enormous breast size of the female protagonist, but for the most recent entry in the series the developer reduced her breast size to be much more realistic and chose to focus on her personality rather than her body. When a series that is as notorious as Tomb Raider for presenting unrealistic body types decides to change the character to make her less sexualized and more humanized that shows things are moving in the right direction.

It is important to note that while many gamers get pissed off when you point out the misogyny in games, they do not get pissed off when developers release games that present more realistic portrayals of women. I have never heard a single person say they would not buy a Bethesda game because of the lack of cleavage, I have only heard praise for Bethesda's equal treatment of men and women, I have never heard anyone complain about it. There are certainly many people who defend misogyny in games, but there are not many that demand it and I think more developers are starting to notice this. Sure there are Neanderthal gamers who will stand up for misogyny, but why cater to them when the game will still sell without the misogyny? There are more women gamers now than ever before and Bethesda games have a substantial female audience that probably are attracted to the games at least in part because they can see women who look like real women rather than giant breasted leather bound dominatrixes.

While change is slow I think Bethesda's success as well as the fact that the latest Tomb Raider game became the most popular in the series after they decided to focus on Lara Croft's character rather than her breasts are making more developers rethink their portrayal of women. While I don't think the problem of misogyny in the gaming world will ever go away, I do think that things will continue to get better.

[ismnotwasm]

13. All excellent points

I'm not much of a gamer, but my SIL is, and he agrees completely

[NuclearDem]

17. I don't know, I was mixed on the new Tomb Raider.

I mean, it was certainly better than all the TR's before, but it always seemed that LC was reacting to the world's punishment against her, and never actually took control.

If we're talking strong female characters in Bethesda games, you've got so many options: Vex, Astrid, Delphine, Serana, Veronica, Cass, Sarah Lyons...

[Hong Kong Cavalier]

6. Agreed. Whedon is spot on.

Tim Schaefer's catching a lot of flak for his support of Anita Sarkessian's latest video, too.

Bethesda and Bioware are two of my favorite go-to companies for their progressive storytelling.

[NuclearDem]

15. Not that either are perfect by any stretch

Aela's getup in Skyrim, and the one black squad member in Mass Effect having daddy issues and cheating on FemShep...

But still, thousand times better than Team Ninja.

[NuclearDem]

14. BioWare's really taking the lead too.

But unfortunately, for every Bethesda and BioWare, there are ten Rockstars and Team Ninjas.

[Bjorn Against]

16. Yes Bioware is another great developer

Team Ninja has got to be the worst of them, the women in the Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive games were absurd. I admit I like Rockstar games, but I feel they are a bit different because their games are obvious satire. I think satire that pokes at the problems in American society has a bit more license to offend than just pure action titles like Team Ninja makes.

[el_bryanto]

7. People are terrible

But i'm glad that Feminist Frequency is still going - I don't always agree with everything Anita Sarkeesin says, but it always makes me think, which is not a bad thing.

And I do agree with a lot of it.

Bryant

[ismnotwasm]

9. And that is the difference between discussion and argument

Although a good discussion contains elements of both, the false 'sides' created by our silly friends just interrupts what could be great conversations. Nobody agrees completely. OT, I have a friend who is a sex-positive, pro-sex worker feminist. No we don't agree on a lot of things-- but that doesn't stop us from having great conversations, and identifying common goals--even if we differ how we're gonna get there.

She's also involved in making toplessness for all women legal, but she mean ALL women, not the culturally accepted as attractive ones.

[theHandpuppet]

10. Conversely, can we get some men to put their shirts back on?

It can get really scary out there.

[ismnotwasm]

11. Heh!

You're violating the apparently God given right to show off man nipples. And hair. And less than perfect bellies.

[DeadLetterOffice]

18. Yet another reason why Joss Whedon rocks!

Now if he'd just stop randomly killing off my favorite characters...