Utilisateur:Doune44/Anita Sarkeesian

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Anita Sarkeesian
Anita Sarkeesian en 2011.
Biographie
Naissance
Nationalité
Américaine
Canadienne
Activité
Chroniqueuse
Blogueuse

modifier - modifier le codeDocumentation du modèle

Anita Sarkeesian (née en 1983) est une vidéoblogueuse féministe américano-canadienne.


Anita Sarkeesian (/sɑːrˈkiːziən/; born 1983) is a Canadian-American feminist media critic and public speaker. She is the founder of Feminist Frequency, a website that hosts videos and commentary analyzing portrayals of women in popular culture. She has received particular attention for her video series Tropes vs. Women in Video Games, which examines tropes in the depiction of female video game characters.

In 2012, Sarkeesian was targeted by an online harassment campaign following her launch of a Kickstarter project to fund the Tropes vs. Women in Video Games series. Supporters donated almost $160,000 to the project, far beyond the $6,000 she had sought. The situation was covered extensively in the media, placing Sarkeesian at the center of discussions about misogyny in video game culture and online harassment. She has spoken to TEDxWomen, XOXO Festival, and the United Nations' Broadband Working Group on Gender, and appeared on The Colbert Report discussing her experiences of harassment and the challenge of attempting to improve gender inclusivity in gaming culture and the media

Biographie[modifier | modifier le code]

Jeunesse et Formation[modifier | modifier le code]

Anita Sarkeesian naît près de Toronto[1] dans une famille d'origine arménienne[2]. Elle obtient une baccalauréat universitaire (licence) en communication de l'université d'État de Californie à Northridge, ainsi qu'une maîtrise en sociologie et politique de l'université York. Son mémoire s'intitule I'll Make a Man Out of You: Strong Women in Science Fiction and Fantasy Television[3],[4],[5].


Sarkeesian was born in Canada and grew up near Toronto. Her parents were Iraqi Armenians who emigrated to Canada in the 1970s. She later moved to California and identifies as Canadian-American.

She received a bachelor's degree in communication studies from California State University, Northridge, in 2007 and then earned a master's degree in social and political thought from York University in 2010. Her master's thesis is titled I'll Make a Man Out of You: Strong Women in Science Fiction and Fantasy Television.

Carrière[modifier | modifier le code]

Feminist Frequency[modifier | modifier le code]

Fin , Anita Sarkeesian créé le compte FeministFrequency sur YouTube et met en ligne sa première vidéo. Fin , elle lance le site feministfrequency.com, dont le but est de « déconstruire la représentation des femmes dans les médias »[4],[6].

Son blog est spécialisé en sociologie des médias en traitant notamment de la représentation des femmes dans la culture populaire. Ses vidéos analysent l'usage de dispositifs narratifs et de clichés pour décrire les femmes dans la culture populaire.

En 2011, Sarkeesian réalise une série de six vidéos intitulée Tropes vs. Women[note 1] pour le magazine féministe Bitch[2]. Elle y critique la représentation des femmes au cinéma et dans les séries télévisées[7].

En 2017, à l'occasion de la sortie du jeu The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Anita Sarkeesian déclare sur Feminist Frequency que si le gameplay du jeu est bon, « il n'excuse absolument pas son usage de vieux schémas sexistes », et s'en prend aux critiques qui ont décerné des notes record au jeu, arguant que « cela montre qu'ils n'ont aucun égard pour la manière dont les femmes sont représentées dans les jeux vidéo »[8]. Or, des critiques considèrent que le scénario de ce jeu met en scène la princesse Zelda en tant qu'héroïne combattante et indépendante, bien loin d'un schéma de demoiselle en détresse, et suggèrent que Sarkeesian n'avait pas réellement joué au jeu ni lu un synopsis détaillé[8],[9],[10]. Kevin Binversie pense que la franchise Zelda a su progressivement s'abstraire du schéma de la « demoiselle en détresse » par une héroïsation progressive du personnage-titre[10].

Lutte contre le harcèlement[modifier | modifier le code]

Article détaillé : Tropes vs. Women in Video Games.

En 2012, la société de développement de jeux vidéo Bungie Studios invite Sarkeesian à s'exprimer sur la création de personnages féminins forts et indépendants, ce qui la motive à étudier le sujet plus en détail[7]. Elle lance un appel aux dons sur le site Kickstarter afin de réaliser une nouvelle série sur la représentation des femmes dans les jeux vidéo, baptisée Tropes vs. Women in Video Games. La campagne dépasse son objectif, fixé à 6 000 dollars, et permet de récolter près de 158 922 dollars[11],[12]. À la suite de son appel, elle est harcelée moralement (menace de mort, de viol, insultes sexistes, détournement de photos en images pornographiques)[12],[13].

Un internaute crée un jeu consistant à la battre jusqu'à la défigurer[14]. Il se justifie en avançant qu'il voulait attirer son attention, tout en l'accusant de refuser toute critique de son travail[15]. Sarkeesian reçoit également des témoignages de soutien[5],[16].

Sarkeesian est invitée à s'exprimer durant la conférence TEDxWomen 2012[6] et la Game Developers Conference 2013[17].

En , Sarkeesian annonce avoir contacté les autorités pour des menaces de mort et de viol portées contre elle et sa famille[18]. Elle est souvent citée parmi les principales cibles du mouvement antiféministe avec Brianna Wu et Zoë Quinn[19],[20],[21],[22],[23].


The Tropes vs Women project triggered a campaign of sexist harassment against Sarkeesian that included rape and death threats, hacking of her webpages and social media, and doxing. Attackers posted disparaging comments online, vandalized Sarkeesian's article on Wikipedia with racial slurs and sexual images, and sent Sarkeesian drawings of herself being raped by video game characters.

One attacker created the computer game Beat Up Anita Sarkeesian, which prompted players to bloody a picture of Sarkeesian by clicking the mouse. Toronto feminist Stephanie Guthrie received death and rape threats for criticizing the Beat Up Anita Sarkeesian game. The resulting criminal trial against critic Gregory Alan Elliott is regarded as having significant implications for online freedom of speech in Canada. Sarkeesian responded to the threats against Guthrie in a statement to the Toronto Standard, condemning the widespread harassment she and other women have faced online.

In March 2014, Sarkeesian was scheduled to speak and receive an award at the 2014 Game Developers Choice Awards. The organizers later revealed that they had received an anonymous bomb threat and that San Francisco police had swept the Moscone Center hall before the event proceeded.

In August 2014, Feminist Frequency issued a new Tropes vs Women in Games episode. This coincided with the ongoing harassment of Zoë Quinn as part of the Gamergate controversy. The increased volume and specificity of the harassment (including death threats) prompted Sarkeesian to leave her home. San Francisco Police confirmed that they had passed the case file to the FBI for investigation.

On October 14, 2014, Sarkeesian and Utah State University received terrorist threats pertaining to her planned lecture at the university the following day. The threats, one of which was issued by a person who claimed to be affiliated with Gamergate, specifically cited the 1989 École Polytechnique massacre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada as inspiration. The university and police did not believe the threats were credible inasmuch as they were consistent with others Sarkeesian had received, but scheduled enhanced security measures nonetheless. Sarkeesian canceled the event, however, feeling the planned security measures were insufficient given that the university could not prohibit handguns in the venue per Utah state law.

The threats resulted in public attention to misogynistic and violent harassment on the Internet, along with the propriety of concealed weapons on university campuses. In an editorial, The Salt Lake Tribune wrote that the threats "would seem to support Sarkeesian's point about a link between some video games and violent attitudes toward females" and called on the state to allow universities "to ban firearms from venues where they are not just inappropriate, but destructive of the mission of an institution of higher learning".

In an August 2015 interview with The Guardian, Sarkeesian remarked of dealing with the pervasive harassment (her "new normal") that older mentors and feminists told her "We were dealing with that, but they were throwing rocks at us." Soraya Murray describes the attack as a "watershed moment" in the "culture war" being fought over representations of women and minorities in video games.

At VidCon 2017, Sarkeesian appeared on a panel discussing online harassment directed towards women. A group of YouTubers and bloggers who produce content critical of feminism and political correctness sat directly in front of the stage and filmed Sarkeesian as part of a targeted harassment campaign against her. Sarkeesian singled out British YouTuber Carl Benjamin, seated in the first row, as a serial harasser of hers. Speaking directly to Benjamin, she said, "I hate to give you attention because you're a garbage human." The event went viral among both critics and supporters of Sarkeesian. Benjamin accused Sarkeesian of cyberbullying; in a blog post, Sarkeesian wrote:

[Benjamin] makes over $5,000 a month on Patreon for creating YouTube videos that mock, insult and discredit myself and other women online, and he’s not alone. He is one of several YouTubers who profit from the cottage industry of online harassment and antifeminism.

VidCon founder Hank Green issued a statement that the group's actions were clear "intimidating behaviour" and apologised for the situation "which resulted in [Sarkeesian] being subjected to a hostile environment that she had not signed up for".

In a retrospective for Polygon in December 2019, Sarkeesian said that "GamerGate's real goals were expressed in the explicit racism, sexism, and transphobia of the memes the movement generated, and the posts its supporters wrote on the message boards where they organized and strategized. Later, the flimsiness of the 'ethics in games journalism' pretense would become a mocking meme signifying a bad faith argument. It would almost be funny, if GamerGate hadn't done so much harm, and caused so much lasting trauma." Sarkeesian also criticized the video game industry's response to Gamergate, saying "the game industry's silence was shameful".

On August 3, 2020, Sarkeesian launched the Game and Online Harassment Hotline, a free non-profit service that started development in August 2019.

Media appearances[modifier | modifier le code]

Sarkeesian speaking at Media Evolutions The Conference 2013 Sarkeesian and her work have come to much greater public attention following the announcement of Tropes vs. Women in Video Games and the harassment she subsequently faced. These events helped bring the issue of pervasive sexual harassment in video game culture to mainstream media attention. Discussions occurred in a range of publications and outlets, including The New York Times, The Guardian and New Statesman. Sarkeesian's elevated profile led to speaking engagements on sexual harassment and online communities at the TEDxWomen conference and several universities.

Speaking at the XOXO Festival in September 2014, Sarkeesian described the allegation that she and other women fabricated harassment as itself being a form of harassment. "Harassment is the background radiation of my life," she later remarked in a Bloomberg Businessweek cover story on her work and the video game industry.

On October 29, 2014, Sarkeesian was interviewed on The Colbert Report where she discussed the harassment she suffered at the hands of GamerGate and her views on making video games more inclusive. She told Colbert that video games often portray women in a manner which "reinforces the cultural myth that women are sexual objects" and that her goal is not to censor video games, but to raise awareness of how women can be portrayed in more realistic, less stereotypical ways.

The harassment of Sarkeesian and other women in gaming was featured in the January 14, 2015 edition of Nightline. When asked by ABC News why there was so much anger, she responded "I think it comes from this idea that gaming is a male-dominated space, and that games are for men by men... it's a very misogynist backlash". She appears in the 2015 documentary GTFO.

On February 11, 2019, Sarkeesian appeared at the University of Alberta's Myer Horowitz Theatre with the presentation "I Am Tired: The Costs of Online Harassment" during the Level Up: Gender Based Violence Prevention Week.

Prix, mentions et nominations[modifier | modifier le code]

En 2012, le magazine Gamasutra considère le succès de Feminist Frequency comme faisant partie des grandes tendances qui redéfinissent l'industrie du jeu vidéo[24].

En 2013, la National Academy of Video Game Trade Reviewers présente un prix honorifique à Sarkeesian pour son travail de recherche exhaustif sur l’utilisation des stéréotypes féminins dans les jeux vidéo et la création d'une série de vidéos sur le stéréotype de la demoiselle en détresse[25].

En 2014, Sarkeesian devient la première femme à être récipiendaire du prix Ambassador Award aux Game Developers Choice Awards[26]. La même année, elle est également nommée pour le prix Ambassador Award au Microsoft's Women in Gaming Awards[27].

À la suite des menaces qu'elle a subies lors de la controverse du Gamergate, le magazine Rolling Stone la nomme en 2014 « plus précieuse critique de la culture populaire[28]. »

Son travail d'analyse sur la représentation des genres en culture populaire et le harcèlement de nature sexiste auquel elle fait ensuite face lui valent plusieurs mentions dans de prestigieux magazines tels que The Verge, Time et Cosmopolitan[29],[30],[31].

En 2015, elle figure sur la liste des 100 personnes les plus influentes dans le monde du Time 100[32].


Sarkeesian's Feminist Frequency blog was highlighted by Feminist Collections and Media Report to Women. In 2012, Gamasutra considered the harassment and success of Feminist Frequency a catalyst that led to new attention on the importance of diversity and inclusion in the gaming culture and industry. They named this call for inclusion one of the "5 trends that defined the game industry in 2012". In 2013, Newsweek magazine and The Daily Beast named Sarkeesian one of their "125 Women of Impact".

In 2014, Sarkeesian received the Ambassador Award at the 14th Annual Game Developers Choice Awards for her work on the representation of women in video games, becoming the first woman to receive the award. She was also nominated for the Ambassador Award at Microsoft's 2014 Women in Gaming Awards for her work.

After the Utah State University death threats, Rolling Stone called her "pop culture's most valuable critic," saying that "the backlash has only made her point for her: Gaming has a problem". In December 2014, The Verge named her as one of "the 50 most important people at the intersection of technology, art, science, and culture". In March 2015, Time magazine included Sarkeesian in its list of the thirty "Most Influential People on the Internet", and in April of that year, chose her for the Time 100, the magazine's annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world. In May 2015, Cosmopolitan included her in its list of the "50 Most Fascinating People on the Internet".

Feminist Frequency won a Peabody Award in the category of "Digital and Interactive Storytelling" in 2022.

Références bibliographie[modifier | modifier le code]

Publications[modifier | modifier le code]

  • Sarkeesian, Anita; Cross, Katherine (October 2015). "Your Humanity is in Another Castle: Terror Dreams and the Harassment of Women". In Goldberg, Daniel; Larsson, Linus (eds.). The State of Play: Creators and Critics on Video Game Culture. Seven Stories Press. New York. ISBN 978-1-60980-639-2.
  • Sarkeesian, Anita; Adams, Ebony (October 2018). History vs Women: The Defiant Lives That They Don't Want You to Know. New York: Feiwel & Friends. ISBN 978-1-25014-672-4.

Articles connexes[modifier | modifier le code]

  • Campbell, Colin (June 19, 2019). "The Anita Sarkeesian story". Polygon.
  • Farokhmanesh, Megan (March 25, 2022). "Sarkeesian reflects on 10 years of 'Tropes vs. Women in Video Games'". Axios.
  • Marie, Meagan (2018). "Anita Sarkeesian: An Agent of Change Through Pop-Culture Critique". Women in Gaming: 100 Professionals of Play. London: DK Publishing. pp. 260–261. ISBN 978-0-7440-1993-3.

Notes et références[modifier | modifier le code]

(en) Cet article est partiellement ou en totalité issu de l’article de Wikipédia en anglais intitulé « Anita Sarkeesian » (voir la liste des auteurs).
  1. ↑ Le terme anglais Trope désigne tout un ensemble de techniques narratives, de dispositifs littéraires, de topoï et de clichés ou de mèmes, qui se retrouvent dans de multiples œuvres de l'esprit. Ainsi, la demoiselle en détresse ou le fusil de Tchekhov sont des tropes.
  1. ↑ (en) Oliver Moore, « Woman's call to end video game misogyny sparks vicious online attacks », The Globe and Mail,
  2. ↑ a et b (en) Emily Greenhouse, « Twitter’s Free-Speech Problem », The New Yorker,
  3. ↑ (en) Sophie Perrault, « My Interview with Feminist Frequencys Anita Sarkeesian », TextAppeal,
  4. ↑ a et b (en) Anita Sarkeesian, « About Feminist Frequency », Feminist Frequency
  5. ↑ a et b (en) Angela Watercutter, « Feminist Take on Games Draws Crude Ridicule, Massive Support », Wired,
  6. ↑ a et b (en) « Anita Sarkeesian at TEDxWomen 2012 », Conférence TED,
  7. ↑ a et b (en) Sheelah Kolhatkar, « The Gaming Industry's Greatest Adversary Is Just Getting Started », Bloomberg,
  8. ↑ a et b (en) « A response to Anita Sarkeesian’s criticism of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild », sur thegg.net, .
  9. ↑ (en) William Hicks et Kyle Foley, « Feminist Frequency Rails Against Legend of Zelda’s ‘Sexist Plot,’ Without Knowing Plot », sur heatst.com,
  10. ↑ a et b (en) « Zelda Is Gaming's Most Evolved Female Character », sur weeklystandard.com, .
  11. ↑ (en) Jesse Singal, « Taking on games that demean women », The Boston Globe,
  12. ↑ a et b Camille Gévaudan, « Des clichés qui touchent le fonds », Libération,
  13. ↑ Helen Lewis du The New York Times rapporte que Sarkeesian a reçu par courriel des images la montrant être violée par des personnages de jeux vidéo : Lewis, Helen (December 25, 2012). "Game Theory: Making Room for the Women", The New York Times.
  14. ↑ (en) Emma Woolley, « Why it’s important to talk about Tropes vs. Women In Video Games », Financial Post,
  15. ↑ (en) Carol Pinchefsky, « Feminist Blogger Is a Victim of a Vicious Videogame Retaliation », Forbes,
  16. ↑ Sophie-Pierre Pernaut, « Laci Green et Anita Sarkeesian victimes de harcèlement », MadmoiZelle,
  17. ↑ (en) Adi Robertson, « Turning the tables on trolls: 'Tropes vs. Women' creator talks harassment at GDC », The Verge,
  18. ↑ William Audureau, « Une féministe spécialiste des jeux vidéo victime de menaces de mort », Le Monde,
  19. ↑ (en) Nick Wingfield, « Feminist critics of video games facing threats in 'GamerGate' campaign », The New York Times,‎ (lire en ligne, consulté le )
  20. ↑ (en) Hari Sreenivasan, « #Gamergate leads to death threats against women in the gaming industry », PBS NewsHour,‎ (lire en ligne, consulté le ) :

    « That sparked a campaign that came to be dubbed GamerGate, highlighting perceived corruption among video game journalists. From there, GamerGate has grown to include outright harassment of women like Quinn and Sarkeesian who work in or critique the industry. Threats on Twitter even forced Brianna Wu, another game developer, to leave her Boston area home after her address was made public. »
  21. ↑ (en) Abigail Elise, « What Is The GamerGate Scandal? Female Game Developer Flees Home Amid Online Threats », International Business Times,‎ (lire en ligne, consulté le )
  22. ↑ (en) Eliana Dockterman, « What is #GamerGate and why are women being threatened about video games? », Time,‎ (lire en ligne, consulté le )
  23. ↑ (en) Jesse Singal, « The Gamergate controversy », The Boston Globe,‎ (lire en ligne, consulté le )
  24. ↑ (en) Kris Graft, « The 5 trends that defined the game industry in 2012 », sur www.gamasutra.com (consulté le )
  25. ↑ (en-US) admin, « 2013 NAVGTR Winners | NAVGTR » (consulté le )
  26. ↑ « Game Developers Choice Online Awards | Archive | Ambassador », sur www.gamechoiceawards.com (consulté le )
  27. ↑ (en) Kris Ligman, « Anita Sarkeesian, more up for nominations at Women in Gaming Awards », sur www.gamasutra.com (consulté le )
  28. ↑ (en-US) Sean T. Collins et Sean T. Collins, « Anita Sarkeesian on GamerGate: 'We're Going to Fix This' », sur Rolling Stone, (consulté le )
  29. ↑ « Anita Sarkeesian | The Verge 50 », sur TheVerge.com (consulté le )
  30. ↑ (en) « These Are The 30 Most Influential People on the Internet », sur Time (consulté le )
  31. ↑ (en-US) Jill Filipovic, « Anita Sarkeesian Is Fighting to Make the Web Less Awful for Women – And Getting Death Threats in the Process », sur Cosmopolitan, (consulté le )
  32. ↑ (en) « Anita Sarkeesian », sur Time (consulté le )

Articles connexes[modifier | modifier le code]

Liens externes[modifier | modifier le code]

{{Portail|femmes|Internet|jeu vidéo|sociologie|États-Unis}}

Catégorie:Universitaire américain Catégorie:Féministe américaine Catégorie:Blogueuse américaine Catégorie:Étudiant de l'université d'État de Californie à Northridge Catégorie:Étudiant de l'Université York Catégorie:Naissance en 1983 Catégorie:Vlogueuse Catégorie:Vidéaste web américain Catégorie:Vidéaste web vidéoludique Catégorie:Sociologue américaine Catégorie:Vidéaste web sur YouTube

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