Despite Harassment, Anita Sarkeesian Launches New Series: ‘It Never Occurred to Me to Stop’

Anita Sarkeesian has been facing online harassment for years. The videographer and activist has long worked to use her talents to address issues women face, both in the gaming community and in all other arenas. She and her video company, Feminist Frequency, were at the center of the GamerGate controversy that dominated the Internet in 2014 and 2015, even as the other side insisted there were no gender-related motivators involved.

In spite of the harassment — and, to reiterate, there has been a lot of that — Sarkeesian is launching a new series. This one, which follows her successful “Tropes vs. Women,” is called “Ordinary Women: Daring to Defy History.” Here it is in her own words:

Sarkeesian said she is looking to represent the women who were overlooked by history books, including Murasaki Shikibu, the 10th century Japanese author of the first modern novel, and Ching Shih, a Chinese pirate who commanded a fleet of more than 40,000 men in the early 19th century, according to a profile in The Los Angeles Times.

From the profile:

“It never occurred to me to stop,” said Sarkeesian, who expects “Ordinary Women” to throw gas on the online harassment she has faced since “Tropes vs. Women.” “I’m an activist first and foremost. So I did a risk assessment where I sat down and said, ‘Do I want to take this on?'”

It goes on:

“I could make up some hokey inspirational thing,” she said. “But the truth is this work is just so important. I have a voice and I want to use the platform that I have to amplify other marginalized voices, and help us all continue to do this important work.

“So let’s keep doing this.”

There is a fundraising page set up that seeks to earn $200,000 for post-production of the series. Currently, 900 backers have pledged $34,149.

[image via screengrab]

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