Module 6 Example: The Straw Feminist

Prompt

For this week, I'd like you to watch another video from Feminist Frequency.  You can pick from any of the videos at the links listed below. I encourage you to look at a video that is related to something you like or may have some interest in.  

Video lists to choose from:

• Season 4 - 2012
• Season 3 - 2011
• Season 2 - 2010
• Season 1 - 2009
• Feminist Frequency Reviews
• Tropes vs Women in Video Games
• Tropes vs. Women (2011)

In watching the video, pay attention to the criticism and critique that the creator offers up and the reasons why she makes such an argument.  Provide the following in your post:

1. The name of the video and a link to the video OR embed the video if you can figure out how to do it (Hint: it entails clicking on the icon in the edit bar that looks like a clapperboard).
2. A summary explanation of what the video covers (1 detailed paragraph)
3. A discussion about how it has influenced your thinking on the particular area she is discussing and if so, how it has impacted how you for other forms of related popular culture.  (1 paragraph)
4. How does the criticism relate to some of the academic materials that we have explored in this course?   (1 paragraph)   

Please keep in mind when watching this video and other content of feminist theory, this particular line of thinking from Caroline Siede: 

Criticism doesn't necessarily make it "bad'--rather, it's a way of meaningfully engaging with a text for understanding the ways it impacts us.  Criticism doesn't necessarily denote a simply "good/bad" dynamic, but rather, helps us to understand the ways texts can be understood.

Relevant Tags: Feminism, gender, sex, sexuality

Example: The Straw Feminist

This video takes on the cliche of the "Straw Feminist" in popular culture.  This cliche is often used to present an extreme (and largely non-existent) version of feminism where the feminist is presented as man-hating, aggressive and in some cases as Sarkeesian points out, villainous.  She draws on several different examples from television and comics, but of course, this is a version that is found in many different places within popular culture.  The point that resonates with me is that the straw feminist is often used as a contrast to smart, strong, and funny women, making the false dichotomy that a feminist cannot be such things.  She shows that many of these shows and our culture at large disregard feminism, often with the assumption that somehow gender equality has been achieved.  

I rather appreciated this video because Sarkeesian hits upon something I see too often and that is the disassociation between women who believe in equality and somehow the belief that that isn't what feminism is.  I also find myself eye-rolling as much as Sarkeesian whenever I see popular culture invoke this cliche of a feminist who is hateful of men, angry, and aggressive.  Every feminist I know (and I know hundreds) is so far from these images that you would think such depictions were from Bizarro world.  This reminds me of the Emma Watson's conversation with Malala Yousafzai, the Nobel Peace Prizer winner and what feminism actually means.  

What I find valuable about Sarkeesian's videos and this one, in particular, is how her critical eye about the presentation of women and feminists, in particular, brings us back to The Male Gaze. Even as feminism is made increasingly present in pop culture, there's still a sense of making the feminist (regardless of their gender) into a spectacle for derision by offering them up in a very simplistic manner.