Tropes vs Women is multi-year video project that analyzes how women are represented in video games.

Project Description:

Tropes vs Women is a series of videos created by Anita Sarkeesian to be a part of the website Feminist Frequency. The project’s goal is to spread awareness of the misrepresentations of women as well as the mistreatment of female characters in video games, film and other popular forms of media. Sarkeesian does this by releasing videos about a number of video games and films that are guilty of misrepresenting female characters and examines the inner workings and second meanings of media stories, characters, actions, and designs in a way that shows the negative treatment of women in said forms of media. Tropes vs Women was first created in 2011 via a kickstarter campaign that gained recognition and support after Sarkeesian was attacked by multiple death and rape threats from individuals related to GamerGate. After two seasons of videos, Tropes vs Women ended mid-2017, however, Anita Sarkeesian is planning a new series in the near future that will use “signature feminist media analysis” to “examine the connection between representations in pop culture and the racism, sexism, and transphobia of our current political climate.”

Who is Anita Sarkeesian?

 

Anita is an award-winning media critic and the creator and executive director of Feminist Frequency, an educational not-for-profit that explores representations in pop culture narratives.

Significance and Connection to Gamergate:

Shortly after the initial start of the Gamergate controversy involving Zoe Quinn, Anita Sarkeesian was attacked by people affiliated with Gamergate because of one of her postings in Feminist Frequency, thus, bringing Sarkeesian into the controversy and further strengthening her kickstarter campaign by giving her massive amounts of exposure.

Financing: Information about the project financing is clear.  Anita Sarkeesian used crowdfunding to fund Tropes vs Women.  She launched  a Kickstarter page in 2012 that reached nearly 7,000 backers, who donated 158,000 dollars.  This amount far exceeded her desired goal of 6,000 dollars, which was reached within 24 hours.On her Kickstarter page, she includes a breakdown of where that money is spent. She also includes a PDF document about her 2014 financial information. This level of openness is excellent, and represents a key value Digital Humanities project.

Project Team:On the about page of Feminist Frequency.com, there is a list of team members and board of directors. There is a mini biography for each person, but some important details are missing. It is not clear when these team members joined the team, so it’s uncertain whether they were part of the original Tropes vs Women Series.  They may have joined Feminist Frequency after the initial success of Tropes vs Women.Sources: 

According to an update Sarkeesian’s Kickstarter Page, the project references 182 games. She also states that she documented 584 instances of the Damsel in Distress Trope, but the list of these incidents can only be accessed if one is logged into a Tumblr account.  The project would be more transparent if there was an accessible list of what games she played/researched for the project.