Feminists'+Night+at+the+Movies+2014

**About her Soon-to-be Released Movie, GTFO**
 * Producer/Director Shannon Sun-Higginson **

[[image:sunhendrson.jpg align="left" caption="Shannon Sun-Higginson"]]

 * Shannon Sun-Higginson, the producer and director, will be speaking about her soon to be out movie, GTFO, showing select scenes and answering questions at the ALA Annual Conference, Sunday, June 29, 2014, 8:00  to 10:00pm in the Trevi room at Caesar's Palace. **

Shannon Sun-Higginson first found out about sexism in gaming through friend and game blogger Aaron Izakowitz, who told her about a well-known female competitive gamer being harassed on camera by her own coach. “I was appalled that this sort of behavior was being tolerated, so I decided to begin filming this project in hopes of getting to the bottom of why sexism is so prevalent in this field. I wanted people like myself, unaware outsiders, to know what was happening so that we can start a discourse about gender in gaming.” The result was Sun-Higginson’s first feature documentary, GTFO, which she funded with the help of Kickstarter. Sun-Higginson says being an outsider comes with both advantages and disadvantages. "I've gotten a few messages so far that are like, I'm an 'attention whore' which is a hilarious assessment to gather from trying to make a movie about women in gaming," she told GamesIndustry International. "I have been lucky that I haven't gotten too many trolls yet, but I think actually being an outsider probably helps in that respect."

Sun-Higginson said that although she had always been interested in feminist issues, she was surprised to learn that “there was still an industry that in 2013 everyone was just fine with being really, really sexist.” "Of course not all gamers are trolls or abusers - many are kind, supportive, and equally disgusted by this type of behavior,” she continued, “But the fact remains that this is a real problem, and it's time that the non-gaming public know about it." It was a challenge to start with no contacts in the gaming industry. But “this is a really important movie to get made and I can't just hope that someone else will make it.”

Sun-Higginson interviewed female gamers at venues such as gaming festival PAX East, a Major League Gaming event, and the Different Games Conference. The women she spoke with felt excluded from an industry many would have assumed to have progressive views. Women gamers described being subjected to foul language, threats of rape and murder, and stalking. “It’s incredible what these women have to put up with on a daily basis just to pursue a career that they love … my only hope is that we can bring these issues out into the open and make it unacceptable for people to treat others this way simply because of their gender (or race, religion, or sexual orientation, for that matter).”

Asked what she thought the causes are of resistance to women finding a place in gaming, Sun-Higginson said “I’ve asked this question to all of the women I’ve interviewed and have received a variety of answers, some of which include: the problems of an isolationist “nerd” culture that disdains outsiders, the portrayal of female characters within the games themselves, young boys being encouraged to play games while girls are discouraged, the expectation that all gamers are white teenage males, the assumption that female gamers are just looking for male attention, and many more. I don’t know the full answer, but I suspect it is a combination of a variety of cultural influences.”

Sun-Higginson did not reach out to the perpetrators of abuse for their side of the story, saying that the aim of the project was not a dialogue, but to stop the abuse. In addition to increasing awareness of the problem, her goals were to stigmatize abuse and to make it easier anyone who is harassed to report it. “If this can help even one woman overcome any harassment that she’s experienced or encourage anybody take a step back to realize what they’re doing, that they’re hurting people,” she said, “then the goal will be accomplished.