Anita Sarkeesian is a highly acclaimed Canadian-American feminist media critic and also a blogger, internet personality, and public speaker. She was born in 1983 to Varkis ‘Wally’ Sarkeesian and Seta Kegham in Ontario, Canada. Anita graduated in communications from the University of California, Northridge and went further to earn a master’s degree in social and political thought from York University, Ontario, Canada. Her parents are American but moved to Canada from Iraq in the 1970s. She has a sister named Ida Sarkeesian whom she grew up with under the care of their parents in Burlington, Ontario.
Growing up, Anita Sarkeesian developed an interest in issues relating to gender identity and feminism, following which she started the website “Feminist Frequency” in 2009 while still studying at the University. ‘York University. Her main goal was to have easy access to media criticism and to focus on feminist issues. She came into the media spotlight in 2012 when she launched a crowdfunding campaign to fund a series of short educational videos aimed at highlighting the portrayal of women in video games in the context of sexism. She has received several misogynistic threats and harassment from segments of video game culture. However, the negative response also brought a lot of publicity to the project,
Anita Sarkeesian has finally released the first installment of Tropes vs. Women in Video Games video series in March 2013. The series ultimately contained a total of 18 episodes which were released from March 2013 to April 2017. Following the success of the series, Sarkeesian also launched several other educational videos through the Feminist Frequency website dedicated to examining the portrayal of women in film, television and other popular media.
In addition to her work on the internet, AnitaSarkeesian has spoken on multiple platforms, including Women Worldwide, the Evolution of Media Conference, GeekGirlCon, and xoxo. She was also a member of the United Nations panel on several occasions. Anita received the National Academy of Video Game Reviewers Honorary Award in 2013. The following year, she won Harvard’s Humanist of the Year Award, the 2014 Game Developers Choice Ambassador Award, and was also nominated for the 2014 Women in Games Ambassador Award.
In March 2015, Sarkeesian was named one of the 30 “most influential people on the internet” by Time magazine and the following month she was also included in the list of the 100 most influential people in the world.
The net worth of Anita Sarkeesian
Anita Sarkeesian’s net worth is currently valued at around $1 million, which she has accumulated from her career as a blogger and media critic. Despite the many threats and harassment she has faced over the years, Sarkeesian has remained resolute and established herself as one of the most influential women on the internet.
More Facts About Lady Sarkeesian
Despite the favor she seems to enjoy with higher authorities, some sections of society are still concerned about Anita Sarkeesian’s growing popularity as a feminist critic of the media. Several malicious online campaigns have been launched against her over the years. All sorts of attacks have occurred, including death and rape threats, as well as hacking into his social media accounts.
However, all of this bullying ended up working to his advantage as he actually proved that women suffer a lot of harassment and abuse from unscrupulous anti-social entities. The courageous manner in which she handled the incidents also boosted her popularity and portrayed her as a very strong, courageous and outspoken feminist, whom other women should emulate.
The 2012 crowdfunding campaign launched by AnitaSarkeesian on the Kickstarter platform to finance the series “Tropes vs. Women in Video Games” was a huge success. The campaign’s initial fundraising goal of $6,000 was reached in just 24 hours. A total of $158,922 was raised through the campaign and thus she was able to expand the project beyond its original scope.
In 2015, international tech giant Intel partnered with Frequence Féministe on a multi-million dollar effort to improve career prospects and positively characterize women and other minority groups in the fields of technology and gaming.