In 2009, Anita Sarkeesian borrowed a camera and some lights, tacked a piece of fabric up on her living room wall, and started making videos examining pop culture from a feminist perspective. Those early videos were short and simple, but the core of Feminist Frequency was already visible in them: the belief that media has the power to change the world.
Today, Feminist Frequency is a not-for-profit educational organization that analyzes modern media’s relationship to societal issues such as gender, race, and sexuality. Our videos encourage viewers to critically engage with mass media. We also provide resources for media makers to improve their works of fiction, and a new web series called The FREQ Show, that connects popular culture to contemporary social and political issues.
We strongly advocate for the just treatment of all people online and believe that media is an essential tool for eradicating injustice. Through consciousness-raising around issues like online harassment, we hope to cultivate new media literacies that will make us all more responsible media users in a just and more equitable virtual world.
All our videos are available online to watch and share for free without any advertising. These educational videos are made possible by generous donations from viewers.
Team
Anita is an award-winning media critic and the creator and executive director of Feminist Frequency, an educational not-for-profit that explores representations in pop culture narratives. Her work focuses on deconstructing the stereotypes and tropes associated with women in popular culture, as well as highlighting issues surrounding the targeted harassment of marginalized people in online and gaming spaces.
For a more detailed bio and media kit visit anitasarkeesian.com
Prior to joining Feminist Frequency, Carolyn spent four years as an editor at a major gaming website. Her experiences as a visible transgender woman in the gaming sphere made her deeply interested in the ways in which art and media impact our culture, and convinced her of the importance, value, and pleasure of bringing a critical, intersectional feminist lens to bear when thinking about any creative work. She has consulted and collaborated with Feminist Frequency on a number of projects in the past, and now oversees Reviews as the organization’s managing editor.
Ebony is a writer, artist, and undercover Excel nerd. She’s passionate about the Black Lives Matter movement, reproductive health care issues, and golden age science fiction. Her background on the outskirts of academia prepared her for a life of austerity and fecklessness, but subsequent work in the non-profit world have reacquainted her with purpose.
Ashley is a resource development professional and a lifelong student. After nearly a decade of working with non-profit organizations – from donor relations, to strategic planning and grant writing – she defected to Eastern Europe to study critical feminist and queer theories. Since returning to the US, she’s committed to the urgency and increasing import of feminist and non-profit work. Her morbid fascination with (often terrible) female-led reality TV programming uniquely qualifies her for this position.
Rachelle is a designer, fat activist, and cat mom. She is the founder of PNW Fattitude, a group that hosts events for people of size in an effort to foster a fat positive community in the Pacific Northwest. Rachelle is best known for the “Self Care Journal” and the “Self Care Zine” series. Her most recent release is “The Little Book of Big Babes,” a collection of photos documenting fat fashion all over the world. When she’s not busy pushing pixels, Rachelle spends a lot of time thinking about the intersection of fatness and fandom and drinking bubble tea.
Board of Directors
Anita is an award-winning media critic and the creator and executive director of Feminist Frequency, an educational not-for-profit that explores representations in pop culture narratives. Her work focuses on deconstructing the stereotypes and tropes associated with women in popular culture, as well as highlighting issues surrounding the targeted harassment of marginalized people in online and gaming spaces.
Jennifer is Professor and Director of the Institute for Research on Digital Learning at York University, Canada. She is the Principal Investigator of an Internationally funded Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Partnership Grant, Refiguring Innovation in Games. She has published on gender and games, feminism and technologies, and technologies and learning.
Felix is a freelance producer and PR consultant in the video game industry, working with teams of varying sizes and scope. They spend most of their time attending conventions, promoting games, and making connections between developers and the people who support them. Felix is a frequent guest on Feminist Frequency Twitch streams.
Follow Felix on Twitter or, if you’re really into cat photos, follow their cats Gnome and Brisket instead.
Maile Martinez – Officer
Maile is a technology educator and US Program Manager for Microsoft’s cornerstone philanthropic initiative, YouthSpark. Maile holds degrees from Mount Holyoke College, Arizona State University, and the University of Cambridge, St. John’s College, where she was a Gates Cambridge Scholar. During her tenure as Program Manager at Reel Grrls, the organization garnered the Seattle Mayor’s Arts Award, the Raikes Foundation Award for Exemplary High Quality Youth Program, and several Student Emmy Awards. Maile lives in Seattle, Washington, where she is active in the cycling community and avidly documents the adventures of her Chihuahua mix at @oysterpup.
