The little London Feminist Film Festival rip-off made me think of Anita Sarkeesian, who pulled in a couple hundred thousand dollars last June through “crowdfunding” (via Kickstarter) to make some videos about video games. She played the victim after some people were nasty to her online, and hit a rome run in her donation drive.
Crowdfunding has attracted some scrutiny, because it’s vulnerable to fraud. While I have no idea whether Sarkeesian is a hustler or not, I made a little mental note to check up on her every now and then to see what she’s been up to. Now that it’s been a half year, I thought I should check it out.
She runs a website called “Feminist Frequency,” and she apparently updates it once a month or so. Less, actually. The last update she made concerning her project dates back to August 1st, and at that point she’d purchased some 300 video games for the project. She says she’s hired a writer and a producer, but is keeping them “out of the limelight to try and shield them from any potential harassment. When I feel it is safe and appropriate to introduce them I will.”
Hmm… Well, I guess transparency is out the window (because of the misogynists, of course).
Since that post, she’s given a couple interviews, but publicly nothing has been said about her project.
Sarkeesian invites readers to check for updates on her project on Facebook, but there’s nothing there to speak of, besides a couple more game purchases. Evidently, she’s been flying around a lot giving interviews and talks, but that’s about the only evidence of “progress” on the project.
As I am eagerly awaiting what is sure to be a revolutionary video project of the highest professionalism and quality, I’m starting to get a little antsy about the media blackout. I can only imagine that those who funded it are also sitting at the edge of their seats.
BTW, does anyone know what model car Sarkeesian drives these days?
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Honestly she could blow it all, blame men, and then get more money from her audience.
anyone foolish enough to contribute to her project deserved to be fleeced.
P. T. Barnum – “There is a sucker born every minute.”
“BTW, does anyone know what model car Sarkeesian drives these days?”
I don’t know either, but I hope that whatever model she drives crashes soon. I would not be sad if she was killed in a car accident.
You know thats constructable into online stalking Welmer ?
We gotta be really carefull man.
So… how does this “Kickstarter” thing work?…
I’m suddenly feeling the need to expand my horizons in a non-traditional way. I’m thinking about a long-term project contemplating fruity rum-based beverages in the tropics without the tedium of earning enough money to be a layabout in some bourgeois job.
Please send your PayPal donations to:
Lyn87bartab@reggae&rum.bermuda.kickstarter.com
Sounds legit.
This is potentially wonderful! The people who sent her money are the lowest of the lowest scum of the Earth. You can bet a dollar each and every one of them contributed money they didn’t really create (trust funders, welfare money, college “grant” money for feminists, even in general 60% of women’s jobs which are an exercise in affirmative action).
And now… now that money is going toward videogames (some of it).
Well done, anita.
“BTW, does anyone know what model car Sarkeesian drives these days?”
The Unibrow. A car designed and made by feminists, for Sarkeesian.
A Subaru Forester?
I am looking forward to the eventual media blackout when she gets sued for stealing all that money.
“Estimated Delivery: December 2012″
Hope her backers aren’t holding their breath.
Mr. Price- why should people be surprised? This is the way you would think that venture capital works. That is: take a huge risk, and expect outsized returns. What really happens is that most people who take these type of risks lose their shirts (and their trousers too).
In her case, the issue here is accountability. If you or I did that (because we’re men) we would have to be accountable- we’d likely be arrested and charged with theft (or something else). The problem here is because she’s a woman she’s not accountable, and the prosecutors will not do so either.
As your follow-up article points out, she’s NEVER going to be accountable- instead, she views requests for accountability as being “harrassed” which is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard.
you can make a youtube video easily for under 10 bucks. I guess buying the games would take some money. but, I doubt she won’t spend it all on that. judging from her videos, she’s definitely not doing without(this is before she got her kick starter fund). definitely not a “starving college kid”. probably just trust-fund baby who had a radical feminist professor in college and fell for the indoctrination.(happened to my niece aswell)
But, people are more then welcome to throw their money away however they seem fit. but, I doubt they’ll be getting a “fair and unbiased” documentary.
she so confused that she doesn’t even know what is and isn’t considered sexism when it comes to female characters. A character that acts too girly? sexism. a character that’s macho and tough? “strong and empowered characters(female) are just pretending to be men”. so she feels that female characters have to be monotone robots…it seems.
check out this video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6gLmcS3-NI
lol it’s like asking a neo-nazi to give a fair and unbiased report on African culture….. :/
Tom Smith, you are an idiot.
This isn’t venture capitalism, venture capitalism is an investment.
A venture capitalist gets returns from whatever profits the business invested in makes. The people who DONATED (not invested) money on her project won’t be seeing a cent of whatever money she makes from her videos. And she will be making a lot from the number of Youtube views alone.
Even Kickstarter calls their site a way of DONATING money to people doing business. It’s not a Kickstarter investment, it’s a Kickstarter donation.
Let’s deconstruct every single argument made on this page–apparently, your sex doesn’t give you immunity to narrow, irrational thinking.
>>She played the victim after some people were nasty to her online, and hit a rome run in her donation drive.
She didn’t “play” a victim…as if this was a game. This is real life. Welcome. She was a victim. There was a hate campaign–a REAL LIFE ONE–that dehumanized her, threatened her, and portrayed her as a sexual object. She is a real human being, just like anyone’s mother or sister or maybe daughter, who was being threatened with rape and even portrayed in a game where players could punch her face.
>>Crowdfunding has attracted some scrutiny, because it’s vulnerable to fraud.
People who fund projects on Kickstarter donate to a project and the mission behind the project. It’s not venture capitalism. It’s all about showing support through money to the person who created an idea, for them to create the project that they promised. Because they money is more than enough to create the project that donors are requesting, she can technically do whatever she wants with it. She actually went and made more episodes than originally planned, and a free curriculum guide for educators to use.
>> She says she’s hired a writer and a producer, but is keeping them “out of the limelight to try and shield them from any potential harassment. When I feel it is safe and appropriate to introduce them I will.” Hmm… Well, I guess transparency is out the window (because of the misogynists, of course).
This is a reasonable concern. She received a huge amount of harassment by some of the male video game community. If her writer and producer are female as well, they may get threats like…”I’d rape her cunt if she came near me” or “They should give up writing now before I punch them in the face”–not unlike the actual threats Anita has received by REAL LIFE men.
>>Evidently, she’s been flying around a lot giving interviews and talks, but that’s about the only evidence of “progress” on the project.
It had been only 7 months since her Kickstarter campaign began when you posted this. Projects take a long time, especially when you’re being invited to give interviews and talks. Conversations on large social issues facing the video game community and female community ARE important…in “real life,” if you will.
>>As I am eagerly awaiting what is sure to be a revolutionary video project of the highest professionalism and quality, I’m starting to get a little antsy about the media blackout.
Okay lol.
You’re totally not overreacting and being irrational here lol. 
You’re welcome to being skeptical…but your skepticism here seems unreasonable–more indicative of subconscious misogyny than intellectual facility.
@J: it takes more than 6 months and over $100k to create 10 minute videos? I believe she and individuals like her made more videos in less time and no Kickstarter backing. Is she hiring Christopher Nolan to direct those videos or something?
>> it takes more than 6 months and over $100k to create 10 minute videos? I believe she and individuals like her made more videos in less time and no Kickstarter backing.
Projects take a long time, especially when you’re being invited to give interviews and talks. Conversations on large social issues facing the video game community and female community ARE important…in “real life,” if you will.
aka she’s doing other things directly related to the project, even if it’s not the actual videos themselves. she might be doing research. you can’t really judge until the project comes out.
>> I believe she and individuals like her made more videos in less time and no Kickstarter backing.
Because the money is more than enough to create the project that donors are requesting, she can technically do whatever she wants with it. She actually went and made more episodes than originally planned, and a free curriculum guide for educators to use.
>>Is she hiring Christopher Nolan to direct those videos or something?
I’m pretty sure that would require more Kickstarter funding.
In other words, she’s too important to dirty her hands making videos these days. I suspected as much, but it’s helpful to have one of her supporters confirm it for me.
@J: And people who made videos on less time and budget aren’t important? I suppose when you’re put into some sort of messiah-like level, you are ahead above of almost everyone else. What irks me that it’s been known that she requested backers to provide research for her and one backer (one that we know of) was blocked on twitter, who just requested an update on the project. It speaks in volumes that it’s her backers who are starting to grumble. As someone who was looking forward to watching her videos, I’m disappointed by the lack of progress. I would have thought that at least one video would have been made by now. Btw, that Nolan bit was a joke.
Why didn’t she start a KickStarter to design video games that aren’t “offensive” to women?
The videos are out and they are barely distinguishable from many youtube commentaries. Analysis is shallow. I would say, Anita took money from the kickstarter funds to pay herself for her past time investment.
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