0:00:02.648,0:00:06.943
I'm Anita Sarkeesian and I run the video web series called Feminist Frequency.

0:00:06.943,0:00:11.708
I started Feminist Frequency because I felt like feminism was sort of trapped in academic spaces and

0:00:11.708,0:00:16.184
politically radical spaces. They talked about systems of oppression and privilege

0:00:16.184,0:00:20.141
but it was in this language that was really hard to understand and I wanted to create a

0:00:20.141,0:00:23.940
space where feminism was easy to engage with in an accessible way.

0:00:23.940,0:00:28.891
I think that popular culture is a common language that we all speak. The poet Muriel Rukeyser wrote,

0:00:28.891,0:00:33.531
that the universe is made up of stories, not of atoms and I really like that quote because I feel like

0:00:33.531,0:00:37.454
pop culture is one of the ways that we learn about ourselves and the world around us.

0:00:37.454,0:00:41.989
There's often a lot of hostility towards watching TV like it's this big, bad, horrible thing

0:00:41.989,0:00:48.112
that's going to warp our brains, but I just don't think that's true. I'm a fan and I love stories

0:00:48.112,0:00:53.615
and part of being a fan for me is to enjoy and celebrate characters and stories and programs

0:00:53.615,0:00:59.815
that I love while simultaneously being critical of the myths and representations that the media can perpetuate.

0:00:59.815,0:01:05.225
I think it's important to critically engage with video games and comic books and movies and TV shows

0:01:05.225,0:01:11.313
because it's a reflection of our society. I think that there's a lot of negative stereotypes and stories

0:01:11.313,0:01:17.756
in the media that work to amplify and perpetuate oppressive social norms.

0:01:17.756,0:01:21.786
I don't think that we should just disconnect from the media and throw our TVs out but that we should

0:01:21.786,0:01:27.411
equip ourselves with critical media literacy tools to creatively and critically engage with the media

0:01:27.411,0:01:30.536
and fan communities have been doing this for decades.

0:01:30.536,0:01:35.302
I chose a video web series format because I wanted to speak clearly and directly on some of these really

0:01:35.302,0:01:39.886
complex issues. I put my videos on YouTube because I wanted to speak to my generation about

0:01:39.886,0:01:45.323
systems of privilege and oppression and feminism and increasingly we're an audio-visual culture.

0:01:45.323,0:01:51.804
We're engaging with popular culture through remixing and videoblogging in really interesting ways and

0:01:51.804,0:01:57.026
I feel like that's where the learning is actually happening. But sadly educational institutions and

0:01:57.026,0:02:00.651
academia are pretty hostile towards popular culture.

0:02:00.651,0:02:04.609
I get a lot of support from people who really like my videos and they've even been used as educational

0:02:04.609,0:02:09.667
tools in classrooms and screened at film festivals. I've actually gotten messages from mothers who've

0:02:09.667,0:02:13.125
sat down and watched them with their daughters, which is so heartwarming to me.

0:02:13.125,0:02:18.583
But I also get a lot of harassment as do most other feminist bloggers and women on YouTube.

0:02:18.583,0:02:23.474
You might be surprised at the amount of times that I get comments that say "Get Back in the Kitchen"

0:02:23.474,0:02:29.072
or "Go Make Me a Sandwich." It's nearly on a daily basis and I feel like in order to deal with that we

0:02:29.072,0:02:32.641
also need to look at the inequities that exist in our society offline

0:02:32.641,0:02:35.766
and how that reflects in these online spaces.

0:02:35.766,0:02:41.156
But one way that I personally deal with comments is to moderate them because I really want to create

0:02:41.156,0:02:45.823
a space where people can come and engage with feminist ideas where they don't have to risk

0:02:45.823,0:02:48.364
being harassed or ridiculed.

0:02:48.364,0:02:52.896
You know I think of it sort of like my living room, so if someone came to my house and started saying

0:02:52.896,0:02:57.922
"Get back in the kitchen" I would not-so-kindly kick them out and I think of my website

0:02:57.922,0:03:00.042
and my YouTube channel in the same way.

0:03:00.042,0:03:03.368
You can check out my videos at FeministFrequency.com

0:03:03.368,0:03:06.214
and you can also follow me on Twitter @femfreq