Convocation: Anita Sarkeesian

Anita Sarkeesian is a pop culture media critic and the creator of Feminist Frequency, a video webseries that explores the representations of women in pop culture narratives. Her work focuses on deconstructing the stereotypes and tropes associated with women in popular culture as well as highlighting issues surrounding the targeted harassment of women in online and gaming spaces.  Over the past few decades there has been a significant increase in the number of television shows and movies that showcase female action heroes. These roles have helped transform and challenge historical representations of women in the mass media. But are these examples of strong female characters or are they just replicating traditional masculine archetypes in a sexualized, female body?  Sarkeesian argues for a new character archetype that supports feminist values and breaks out of traditional oppressive gender binaries in order to promote, encourage, and envision a more just society.  The title of her presentation is "I'll Make a Man Out of You: Redefining Strong Female Characters."