Feminism in Focus - Anita Sarkeesian
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0:03 - 0:07I'm Anita Sarkeesian and I run the video web series called Feminist Frequency.
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0:07 - 0:12I started Feminist Frequency because I felt like feminism was sort of trapped in academic spaces and
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0:12 - 0:16politically radical spaces. They talked about systems of oppression and privilege
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0:16 - 0:20but it was in this language that was really hard to understand and I wanted to create a
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0:20 - 0:24space where feminism was easy to engage with in an accessible way.
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0:24 - 0:29I think that popular culture is a common language that we all speak. The poet Muriel Rukeyser wrote,
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0:29 - 0:34that the universe is made up of stories, not of atoms and I really like that quote because I feel like
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0:34 - 0:37pop culture is one of the ways that we learn about ourselves and the world around us.
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0:37 - 0:42There's often a lot of hostility towards watching TV like it's this big, bad, horrible thing
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0:42 - 0:48that's going to warp our brains, but I just don't think that's true. I'm a fan and I love stories
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0:48 - 0:54and part of being a fan for me is to enjoy and celebrate characters and stories and programs
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0:54 - 1:00that I love while simultaneously being critical of the myths and representations that the media can perpetuate.
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1:00 - 1:05I think it's important to critically engage with video games and comic books and movies and TV shows
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1:05 - 1:11because it's a reflection of our society. I think that there's a lot of negative stereotypes and stories
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1:11 - 1:18in the media that work to amplify and perpetuate oppressive social norms.
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1:18 - 1:22I don't think that we should just disconnect from the media and throw our TVs out but that we should
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1:22 - 1:27equip ourselves with critical media literacy tools to creatively and critically engage with the media
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1:27 - 1:31and fan communities have been doing this for decades.
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1:31 - 1:35I chose a video web series format because I wanted to speak clearly and directly on some of these really
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1:35 - 1:40complex issues. I put my videos on YouTube because I wanted to speak to my generation about
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1:40 - 1:45systems of privilege and oppression and feminism and increasingly we're an audio-visual culture.
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1:45 - 1:52We're engaging with popular culture through remixing and videoblogging in really interesting ways and
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1:52 - 1:57I feel like that's where the learning is actually happening. But sadly educational institutions and
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1:57 - 2:01academia are pretty hostile towards popular culture.
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2:01 - 2:05I get a lot of support from people who really like my videos and they've even been used as educational
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2:05 - 2:10tools in classrooms and screened at film festivals. I've actually gotten messages from mothers who've
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2:10 - 2:13sat down and watched them with their daughters, which is so heartwarming to me.
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2:13 - 2:19But I also get a lot of harassment as do most other feminist bloggers and women on YouTube.
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2:19 - 2:23You might be surprised at the amount of times that I get comments that say "Get Back in the Kitchen"
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2:23 - 2:29or "Go Make Me a Sandwich." It's nearly on a daily basis and I feel like in order to deal with that we
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2:29 - 2:33also need to look at the inequities that exist in our society offline
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2:33 - 2:36and how that reflects in these online spaces.
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2:36 - 2:41But one way that I personally deal with comments is to moderate them because I really want to create
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2:41 - 2:46a space where people can come and engage with feminist ideas where they don't have to risk
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2:46 - 2:48being harassed or ridiculed.
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2:48 - 2:53You know I think of it sort of like my living room, so if someone came to my house and started saying
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2:53 - 2:58"Get back in the kitchen" I would not-so-kindly kick them out and I think of my website
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2:58 - 3:00and my YouTube channel in the same way.
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3:00 - 3:03You can check out my videos at FeministFrequency.com
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3:03 - 3:06and you can also follow me on Twitter @femfreq
- Title:
- Feminism in Focus - Anita Sarkeesian
- Description:
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Created for Feminism in Focus - WAM! 2011 and NIST.TV
Watch video interviews from more Feminist Video Creators - - Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- Feminist Frequency
- Duration:
- 03:11
femfreq edited English subtitles for Feminism in Focus - Anita Sarkeesian |