Anita Sarkeesian’s New Tropes Vs. Women Series is Awesome

Now the fruits of her labor (and harassment) are here, and they rule — watch as Sarkeesian explores the Damsels in Distress trope from Princess Peach (soo squeaky) to Zelda.

From Alyssa Rosenberg at Think Progress:

At the beginning of the video, Sarkeesian, explaining that “This series will include critical analysis of many beloved games and characters,” says something that everyone who loves a piece of culture ought to be required to recite five times every morning while looking in the mirror: “Remember that it’s both possible and even necessary to simultaneously enjoy media while being critical of its more problematic or pernicious aspects.” If that ability to hold two ideas in your head at the same time, to enjoy something while recognizing that it might have problems, is what the people who tried to harass Sarkeesian into silence are so afraid of, it only reinforces how intellectually cowardly and inept they are. The need for something to be immune from criticism isn’t a sign that it’s perfect and everyone else is wrong: it’s a sign you can’t defend the things you love. That’s a position any self-aware person ought to be embarrassed to defend.

[Think Progress]