Feminist Frequency, Winner of Multiple Awards, to Close After 14 Years
Feminist Frequency, a nonprofit organization established in 2009 by Executive Director Anita Sarkeesian to provide media criticism of video games and popular culture, has announced its closure. Over the years, the organization expanded its offerings to include podcasts, gaming resources, and an Online Harassment Hotline. While the industry resources will continue to be available on the website, the hotline will cease operations by the end of September, and the rest of Feminist Frequency will gradually conclude by the end of 2023.
“I started this project to fill a need that was missing in the field of media criticism and video games,” Sarkeesian wrote in a statement today. “Over the past decade and a half, we’ve accomplished so much to be proud of. Feminist Frequency has grown into something I never could have anticipated when it started all those years ago. At this point, I think it’s important to share that exhaustion and burnout—which is not uncommon in the organization world – have taken their toll.”
Jae Lin, director of the Confidential Emotional Support Hotline, will continue to manage ReSpec, the hotline’s accountability support space, the organization added. Additionally, a private event at next year’s Game Developers Conference will honor Feminist Frequency’s achievements over the years.
Sarkeesian founded Feminist Frequency while studying for a master’s degree at York University in Toronto. In 2010, she began producing Tropes vs. Women, a video series that examines misogynistic storytelling trends in film and television. But a 2012 Kickstarter campaign that funded a series of videos highlighting the same problems in the gaming industry raised the organization’s profile dramatically—for better or for worse.
The campaign broke Sarkeesian’s fundraising goal of $6,000 in less than a day. And while the video series bravely confronted the growing industry’s casual objectification and minimization of female characters (and the actual abuse of female gamers), it also triggered a backlash from the darkest segments of society that her work brought to light—helping spawn harassment. the campaign is known as Gamergate. Sarkeesian quickly became a favorite target of abuse – online and off. In 2014, someone sent a bomb threat because he was a scheduled speaker at the Game Developer’s Choice awards ceremony. That same year, he was forced to cancel a speech at Utah State University, citing lax security, after a student sent an email threatening “the deadliest school shooting in American history” if the event went ahead. The FBI even got involved.
“Distraction is the background radiation of my life,” Sarkeesian told Bloomberg in 2014. “It’s a factor in every decision I make. Every time I tweet something or make a post, I’m always thinking about it. When I post videos, it’s something to be aware of. It affects where I go, how I behave and how I feel walking down the street every day.”
Despite the hurtful atmosphere, Sarkeesian continued the organization’s work to highlight injustices and provide resources. Intel partnered with Feminist Frequency in 2015 as part of a $300 million campaign to promote career opportunities and positive representation of women and minorities. Last year, Feminist Frequency received a Peabody Award for Digital and Interactive Storytelling. And albeit far too slowly, the industry has gradually progressed. “The work we’ve done to bring about change in the industry made a difference, and all of us at Feminist Frequency, Games and Online Harassment Hotline hope that improvements continue to be made,” she wrote today. “But the time has come to close this chapter and rest before starting the next phase of my professional life.”
Reflecting on the end of the Tropes vs. Women in Video Games series in 2017, Sarkeesian said, “Not all of it has been for the better, but some of it certainly is. There are conversations now among gamers and creators that weren’t happening before.”
