There is a lot of talk in gaming news about feminism. This term is somewhat ambiguous. It is a group of people that are thrown into a box. However, like most boxes that we shove people into, one size does not fit all. Over the next few paragraphs I’m going to be break down the two major side of feminism (gender vs equality), and address some troubling point that gender feminist are doing to the gaming industry.

When someone like Anita Sarkeesian says she is a feminist, it is true, to a certain extent. Feminism is not cut and dry. There is more than just one type of feminism. A more accurate description of Anita would be that she is a third-wave feminist. What does that mean? “Third-wave feminists believed there needed to be further changes in stereotypes, media portrayals, and language to define women. “Third-wave ideology focuses on a more post-structuralist interpretation of gender and sexuality. In "Deconstructing Equality-versus-Difference: Or, the Uses of Poststructuralist Theory for Feminism," Joan W. Scott describes how language has been used as a way to understand the world, however, "post-structuralists insist that words and texts have no fixed or intrinsic meanings, that there is no transparent or self-evident relationship between them and either ideas or things, no basic or ultimate correspondence between language and the world"[4] Thus, while language has been used to create binaries (such as male/female), post-structuralists see these binaries as artificial constructs created to maintain the power of dominant groups” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third-wave_feminism .

Another type of feminism is the equality feminism, a term coined by Dr. Christina Sommers in her book, Who Stole Feminism. Equality feminism is related to first-wave feminism, which is individual feminism. “Sommers contends that ‘Most American women subscribe philosophically to the older 'First Wave' kind of feminism whose main goal is equity, especially in politics and education’. However, Sommers also argues that equity feminism is a minority position in academia, formalized feminist theory, and the organized feminist movement as a whole, who tend to embrace gender feminism.” – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equity_and_gender_feminism

Gender feminist view themselves as victims. ‘Sommers argues that gender feminism characterizes most of the body of modern feminist theory, and is the prevailing ideology in academia. She argues that while the feminists she designates as gender feminists advocate preferential treatment and portray ‘all women as victims’, equity feminism provides a viable alternative form of feminism to those who object to elements of gender feminist ideology.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equity_and_gender_feminism. A perfect example of this is when Anita is showing Hitman Absolution. In her gameplay clip, Agent 47 is recklessly killing these stripers, and she is stating that the women are objects and being acted upon. However, equality feminist would point out that these women are equal with the men. You can murder and drag them anyway you want and that is equality. Both the dead men and women are objects. They are both handled the same way. See the difference? "2013: when the gender of the mangled corpse trumps the fact that IT'S A MANGLED CORPSE. #youvecomealongwaybaby" Ryan Davis https://twitter.com/taswell/status/291303440196464640

"My complaint with feminist research is not so much that the authors make mistakes; it is that the mistakes are impervious to reasoned criticism. They do not get corrected. The authors are passionately committed to the proposition that American women are oppressed and under siege. The scholars seize and hold on for dear life to any piece of data that appears to corroborate their dire worldview. At the same time, any critic who attempts to correct the false assumptions is dismissed as a backlasher and an anti-feminist crank." - http://chronicle.com/article/Persistent-Myths-in-Feminis/46965#sthash.bOuVjvr6.dpuf People like Anita cherry pick their arguments for a confirmation bias of her straw man argument of tropes vs. women. Crying wolf, false assertions, and hyperbole undermine feminism, and that is just what she is doing.

Why do these reckless claims have so much appeal and staying power? For one thing, there is a lot of statistical illiteracy among journalists, feminist academics and political leaders. There is also an admirable human tendency to be protective of women—stories of female exploitation are readily believed, and vocal skeptics risk appearing indifferent to women’s suffering. Finally, armies of advocates depend on “killer stats” to galvanize their cause. But killer stats obliterate distinctions between more and less serious problems and send scarce resources in the wrong directions. They also promote bigotry. The idea that American men are annually enslaving more than 100,000 girls, sending millions of women to emergency rooms, sustaining a rape culture and cheating women out of their rightful salary creates rancor in true believers and disdain in those who would otherwise be sympathetic allies.

My advice to women’s advocates: Take back the truth - https://time.com/3222543/5-feminist-myths-that-will-not-die/

Why is this important? Because when we talk about equality (again a vague term) they are not the same idea. Equality feminism wants women to have greater voice. I think we can all agree that is a good thing because women are awesome. We should want more women in all aspects of gaming. We should want women represented in academia, science, and politics. We should want women to choose for themselves what is best for them and remove any barrier that hampers them from doing what they want.

I guess my point is I fall into the equality feminist group. I want my wife and daughter to be able to choose for themselves what is best for them rather than some cabal of women deciding what is best or is not best for them. If my wife wants to play Hitman Absolution that is her choice, not mine, not Anita’s, but hers. Let people create what they want, and if you do not like it, then let someone else enjoy it.

Women are damn awesome. Let us not limit who and what they are able to do with themselves.