# Tropes vs. Women in Video Games
**Tropes vs. Women in Video Games** is a feminist video essay series created and hosted by media critic [Anita Sarkeesian](https://www.edgepedia.org/anita-sarkeesian) that examines recurring plot devices and patterns associated with female characters in video games from a systemic, big-picture perspective. It was crowdfunded on [Kickstarter](https://www.edgepedia.org/kickstarter) in 2012, published on YouTube through her website Feminist Frequency, and ran from March 2013 to April 2017.[1](https://thetvdb.com/series/tropes-vs-women-in-video-games) • [2](https://www.videogamer.com/news/five-years-later-anita-sarkeesians-tropes-vs-women-in-video-games-has-finished/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Creator and host | Anita Sarkeesian, feminist media critic and founder of Feminist Frequency[3](https://www.vice.com/en/article/the-legacy-of-feminist-frequencys-tropes-vs-women-series/) |
| Funding | Kickstarter launched May 17, 2012, seeking $6,000 for five videos; closed at $158,922[4](https://feministfrequency.com/2017/04/27/a-message-from-anita-on-the-end-of-tropes/) • [3](https://www.vice.com/en/article/the-legacy-of-feminist-frequencys-tropes-vs-women-series/) |
| Backers | 6,968 Kickstarter backers, per Feminist Frequency; the tracking site Kicktraq recorded 6,967 backers and $158,917[5](https://feministfrequency.com/series/tropes-vs-women-in-video-games/) • [6](https://www.kicktraq.com/projects/566429325/tropes-vs-women-in-video-games/) |
| Run | First episode March 7, 2013; final episode "The Lady Sidekick" April 27, 2017[7](https://feministfrequency.com/video-series/) • [8](https://www.thetvdb.com/series/tropes-vs-women-in-video-games/episodes/6069108) |
| Output | 16 main videos plus five bonus episodes, totaling almost five hours; Vice counts 18 videos over the run[2](https://www.videogamer.com/news/five-years-later-anita-sarkeesians-tropes-vs-women-in-video-games-has-finished/) • [3](https://www.vice.com/en/article/the-legacy-of-feminist-frequencys-tropes-vs-women-series/) |
| Tropes covered | Damsel in Distress, Ms. Male Character, Women as Background Decoration, Women as Reward, Strategic Butt Coverings, The Lady Sidekick, among others[7](https://feministfrequency.com/video-series/) • [9](https://press-start.gla.ac.uk/press-start/article/download/44/32/320) |
| Harassment | Sustained misogynistic harassment, including 2014 death threats during GamerGate that forced Sarkeesian to cancel a Utah speech and leave her home[10](https://time.com/3510381/gamergate-faq/) |
| Educational use | A free curriculum with a PDF lesson plan for each video, for schools and community organizations[11](https://feministfrequency.com/tropes-vs-women-in-video-games-curriculum/) |
## Spoilers
### Content and approach
The series launched on March 7, 2013 with "Damsel in Distress (Part 1)", after delays that prompted online discussion posts and video diatribes criticizing the production schedule.[7](https://feministfrequency.com/video-series/) • [14](https://www.vice.com/en/article/feminism-and-videogames-a-look-at-anita-sarkeesians-tropes-vs-women-series/) What had originally been planned as five short videos expanded considerably; the first three episodes were all devoted to a single trope.[4](https://feministfrequency.com/2017/04/27/a-message-from-anita-on-the-end-of-tropes/)
Each episode defines a trope and illustrates it with gaming footage. The damsel in distress trope, for example, is described as a reduction of female characters "to a state of helplessness" from which they require "rescuing by a typically male hero for the benefit of his story arc"; Sarkeesian argues that the hero's fight to retrieve his stolen property acts as a lazy justification for gameplay, and that at its heart the trope is not really about women at all, with female characters becoming the central object in a conflict between men.[14](https://www.vice.com/en/article/feminism-and-videogames-a-look-at-anita-sarkeesians-tropes-vs-women-series/) In her first Damsel in Distress video she traces the trope back to ancient [Greek mythology](https://www.edgepedia.org/greek-mythology), and throughout the series she makes regular references to the wider media as shaping cultural ideologies and enforcing gender paradigms.[15](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/jan/30/gamers-criticism-censorship)
**Recurring framing.** Almost every episode includes a variation on Sarkeesian's disclaimer: "This series will include critical analysis of many beloved games and characters, but remember that it's both possible, and even necessary, to simultaneously enjoy media while also being critical of its more problematic or pernicious aspects."[16](https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14680777.2017.1358201) • [1](https://thetvdb.com/series/tropes-vs-women-in-video-games) Janice Loreck, a media scholar at [Curtin University](https://www.edgepedia.org/curtin-university), treats this stance in her research as an example of "pleasurable criticism", feminist enjoyment of media combined with critical analysis of it.[16](https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14680777.2017.1358201)
Production was research-intensive. Sarkeesian wrote that "doing meticulous, comprehensive research spanning the entire history of video games as preparation for those episodes was tremendously difficult and time-consuming", and the series deliberately considered a wide range of gaming titles rather than only huge hits like Super Mario Bros., Final Fantasy, and [The Legend of Zelda](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-legend-of-zelda).[17](https://www.engadget.com/2017-04-27-tropes-vs-women-in-video-games-says-goodbye.html)
## Origin and crowdfunding
Sarkeesian had previously produced a series called Tropes vs. Women, examining the portrayal of women in film and television, which she produced for Bitch Media.[2](https://www.videogamer.com/news/five-years-later-anita-sarkeesians-tropes-vs-women-in-video-games-has-finished/) • [12](https://creativemornings.com/blog/anita-sarkeesian-on-amplifying-your-mission-with-storytelling) On May 17, 2012, she launched a Kickstarter campaign hoping to raise $6,000 to make what was then planned as five videos of roughly ten minutes each for Feminist Frequency, her next series.[4](https://feministfrequency.com/2017/04/27/a-message-from-anita-on-the-end-of-tropes/)
The campaign drew a landslide of harassment from some corners of the internet, gamers and others, who were angry about the mere concept of the videos. The harassment greatly raised the project's profile, and backers responded with financial support: the campaign closed at $158,922, more than twenty-five times the amount sought.[2](https://www.videogamer.com/news/five-years-later-anita-sarkeesians-tropes-vs-women-in-video-games-has-finished/) • [13](https://seedandspark.com/fund/ordinary-women) Sarkeesian noted the irony at the time: "What's most ironic about the harassment is that it's in reaction to a project I haven't even created yet... It's very telling that there is this much backlash against the mere idea of this series being made."[3](https://www.vice.com/en/article/the-legacy-of-feminist-frequencys-tropes-vs-women-series/)
## Harassment and GamerGate
Throughout the run, Sarkeesian was a target of sustained misogynistic attacks. In August 2014, after she posted a new video on the sexualization of women in video games, anonymous internet users threatened her life; one person created a game inviting players to abuse her. She filed a report with the San Francisco police department, was forced to leave her home for fear of her personal safety, and canceled a speech at a Utah college following a threat against her life; the FBI investigated the death threats. The harassment occurred amid #GamerGate, an online movement whose participants also targeted other women in the gaming industry, including [Brianna Wu](https://www.edgepedia.org/brianna-wu).[10](https://time.com/3510381/gamergate-faq/)
Commentators argued that the hostility impeded evaluation of the work itself. The Guardian noted that within certain online communities a narrative developed depicting Sarkeesian's analysis as an attack on "gamers" with a censorship agenda, even though she was not calling for games to be banned. Ian Bogost, a game designer and academic, observed that "there are clearly valid critiques to make of Sarkeesian's work [...] we tend not to see those", because abuse drowned out discussion.[15](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/jan/30/gamers-criticism-censorship) Kris Ligman, then senior editor for Critical Distance, wrote that because Sarkeesian had become a symbol, instrumentalized from both sides, it had become difficult to engage her work fairly on its own merits.[14](https://www.vice.com/en/article/feminism-and-videogames-a-look-at-anita-sarkeesians-tropes-vs-women-series/)
## End of the series and reception
The series concluded on April 27, 2017 with "The Lady Sidekick", which examines how female companions in games are often designed to function as glorified gatekeepers, helpless burdens, and ego boosters, a pattern that reinforces notions of women as needing protection and men as taking action.[8](https://www.thetvdb.com/series/tropes-vs-women-in-video-games/episodes/6069108) • [18](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BrKqEtG-2w) Sarkeesian called it "one of the most emotionally complicated projects I've ever created", citing the personal and professional toll, and stated that the end of Tropes was by no means the end of Feminist Frequency, which planned a new series connecting pop-culture representation to racism, sexism, and transphobia in the political climate.[17](https://www.engadget.com/2017-04-27-tropes-vs-women-in-video-games-says-goodbye.html) • [2](https://www.videogamer.com/news/five-years-later-anita-sarkeesians-tropes-vs-women-in-video-games-has-finished/)
Patrick Klepek, writing at Vice's Waypoint, judged that the series "wasn't a revolution in critical thinking about games but it was a revelation for many": one instance of a game treating a woman poorly is easy to dismiss as isolated, but seeing a dozen games do it over several decades suggests a pattern, and the series undeniably facilitated a look-in-the-mirror discussion the industry had needed.[3](https://www.vice.com/en/article/the-legacy-of-feminist-frequencys-tropes-vs-women-series/) [Academic writing](https://www.edgepedia.org/academic-writing) has credited the series with contributing to massive debate and public awareness of tropes as a critical instrument, while noting it was marred by violent reactions.[19](https://dl.digra.org/index.php/dl/article/download/778/778/775)
At the [Game Developers Conference](https://www.edgepedia.org/game-developers-conference) in March 2022, ten years after the Kickstarter, Sarkeesian said the series had an essential, undeniable impact on the games industry, that it "illuminated patterns of problems that had been staring people in the face for decades that many of them had never even noticed before", and that making such videos today would be "not impossible, but harder" because there are fewer examples and "the pattern is less egregious". She added that the industry itself is nowhere near equitable.[20](https://www.axios.com/2022/03/25/tropes-vs-women-in-video-games-anita-sarkeesian-gdc)
## Educational legacy
Feminist [Frequency](https://www.edgepedia.org/frequency) published a free curriculum supplementing the series, with a downloadable PDF lesson plan for each video covering topics from the damsel in distress trope to the woman-as-reward. The materials were designed for schools and community organizations and may be reproduced for non-commercial use.[11](https://feministfrequency.com/tropes-vs-women-in-video-games-curriculum/)
## References
1. [Tropes vs Women in Video Games, TheTVDB.com](https://thetvdb.com/series/tropes-vs-women-in-video-games)
2. [Five years later, Anita Sarkeesian's Tropes vs. Women in Video Games has finished, VideoGamer (Alice Bell, April 28, 2017)](https://www.videogamer.com/news/five-years-later-anita-sarkeesians-tropes-vs-women-in-video-games-has-finished/)
3. [The Legacy of Feminist Frequency's Tropes vs Women Series, Vice Waypoint (Patrick Klepek, April 28, 2017)](https://www.vice.com/en/article/the-legacy-of-feminist-frequencys-tropes-vs-women-series/)
4. [A Message from Anita on the End of Tropes, Feminist Frequency (April 27, 2017)](https://feministfrequency.com/2017/04/27/a-message-from-anita-on-the-end-of-tropes/)
5. [Tropes vs Women in Video Games, Feminist Frequency](https://feministfrequency.com/series/tropes-vs-women-in-video-games/)
6. [Tropes vs. Women in Video Games by Anita Sarkeesian, Kicktraq](https://www.kicktraq.com/projects/566429325/tropes-vs-women-in-video-games/)
7. [Video Series, Feminist Frequency](https://feministfrequency.com/video-series/)
8. [The Lady Sidekick episode page, TheTVDB.com](https://www.thetvdb.com/series/tropes-vs-women-in-video-games/episodes/6069108)
9. [Tropes in Popular Culture, Press Start (University of Glasgow)](https://press-start.gla.ac.uk/press-start/article/download/44/32/320)
10. [What Is #GamerGate and Why Are Women Being Threatened About Video Games?, Time](https://time.com/3510381/gamergate-faq/)
11. [Tropes vs. Women in Video Games: Curriculum, Feminist Frequency](https://feministfrequency.com/tropes-vs-women-in-video-games-curriculum/)
12. [Anita Sarkeesian On Amplifying Your Mission With Storytelling, CreativeMornings](https://creativemornings.com/blog/anita-sarkeesian-on-amplifying-your-mission-with-storytelling)
13. [Ordinary Women crowdfunding page, Seed&Spark](https://seedandspark.com/fund/ordinary-women)
14. [Feminism And Videogames: A Look At Anita Sarkeesian's Tropes vs. Women Series, Vice](https://www.vice.com/en/article/feminism-and-videogames-a-look-at-anita-sarkeesians-tropes-vs-women-series/)
15. [When will gamers understand that criticism isn't censorship?, The Guardian (Ria Jenkins, January 30, 2015)](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/jan/30/gamers-criticism-censorship)
16. [Pleasurable critiques: feminist viewership and criticism in Feminist Frequency, Jezebel, and Rosie Recaps, Feminist Media Studies 18(2) (Janice Loreck, 2017)](https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14680777.2017.1358201)
17. ['Tropes vs. Women in Video Games' says goodbye, Engadget (Rob LeFebvre, April 27, 2017)](https://www.engadget.com/2017-04-27-tropes-vs-women-in-video-games-says-goodbye.html)
18. [The Lady Sidekick, Feminist Frequency, YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BrKqEtG-2w)
19. [Gender and Game Cultural Agency in the Post-Gamer Era, DiGRA](https://dl.digra.org/index.php/dl/article/download/778/778/775)
20. [Sarkeesian reflects on 10 years of "Tropes vs. Women in Video Games", Axios (March 25, 2022)](https://www.axios.com/2022/03/25/tropes-vs-women-in-video-games-anita-sarkeesian-gdc)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › Unscripted, reality, and web-native series › Web-native and streaming-original series › Early English-language web series (1997–mid 2010s)*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 21, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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