Gaming has always been a joy of mine; I started playing games when I was a little girl and fell in love with the gaming world. I would play on the computer, the Playstation, the Nintendo 64, the Gamecube, the Gameboy, etc. However, I had no idea that when I started playing online games, I would see so much sexism, misogyny, and racism towards myself and others that I would be reluctant to play the games I loved. I was made to feel like a lesser person at many points. As a white female, I may experience sexism and misogyny in gaming, but this is amplified in regards to women of color in gaming. Racism and sexism combine to create an unforgiving gaming environment. I concluded that I would begin to study sexism and racism in gaming, to understand why these are so pervasive in online gaming, rather than quitting and feeling as though I could not do anything about it.
In her piece, “Intersecting Oppressions and Online Communities,” Kishonna L. Gray provides a well–researched account of the issues facing women of color in online gaming. One of the particularly jarring aspects of this piece was the specific personal example that Gray provides.
“‘Oh you guys hear this? That's why you suck. You're a f---ing girl! What the f--k are you doing in my room?’ Even after this initial attack, I am still apologetic hoping that the attacks will soon end (at this point, I am used to the name calling). However, the attacks get worse and other team members join in:
‘Wait wait wait. You're not just any girl. You're black. Get this black bitch off my team … Did you spend all your welfare check buying this game?…Get back to your crack pipe with your crack babies.’” (Gray 2011)
While this may be an extreme example, comments like this are made fairly often in online games. Why does this continue to be an acceptable medium for sexism and racism? It may be that real world norms, stereotypes and prejudices are translated into the gaming world. One of the major reasons players feel even more comfortable saying and doing racist and sexist things is because, in general, they are anonymous. Because these games are catering toward a white, male majority, anything that deviates from the norm is met with hostility. Gray explains,
“The White dominance of game space has been recast as a racially progressive movement that ejects race in favor of a default, universal whiteness and has been ceded, in part, by a theoretical tendency to embrace passing and anonymity in cyberspace. When politically charged issues surface that reveal the embedded stereotypes at work amid an ostensibly colorblind environment, they are quickly de-raced and cataloged as aberrations rather than analyzed as symptomatic of more systemic trends” (Gray 2011).
To put this thought another way, the online gaming environment fosters the perception that race can be ignored because everyone has a universal, default race. It is assumed that players will embrace this default race. When people emerge to challenge a perception that not everyone is of the same stock in the online gaming world, tensions arise and stereotypes emerge. Players often name these as isolated incidents rather than an overall problem that needs to be addressed. This issue can also be applied to gender; when a person is not of the dominant, universally assumed group (white males), the same cycle emerges.
One of the main problems I am seeing is that gaming companies are providing the opportunity for players to make racist and sexist comments without consequence. Players must make it known that racism and sexism along with other oppressions, are not acceptable. Gaming companies will listen if the demand is there. This is one of the first things that can be done to try to put out the fire of racism and sexism in gaming. Finding ways to make online gaming communities a more inclusive and safe space is important. If we cannot find a way to do this online, how can we hope to do so in the real world? The fact of the matter is that these are real people; real women feeling the effects of racism and sexism when they are trying to do something they love. It is really a shame when you cannot do something you love without being ostracized and harassed by the community. It is time to stop ignoring the racism and sexism inherent in gaming communities and to realize the importance of finding ways to support these women of color. Because theses online games have the capacity to institute control and rules for how we interact with each other, it might be beneficial to look at games that have achieved this as a model for a more socially just and inclusive society.
Source: Gray, Kishonna L. (2011). Intersecting oppressions and online communities. Information, Communication and Society, 15(3).
Author Bio: Audrey Brehm received her bachelor's degree in Sociology at Colorado State University. She is currently pursuing a master's degree in Sociology at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. Her past research has focused on perception of community in online games as well as expressions of gender in gaming communities. Her academic interests include diversity, social justice, and sociological research.
Comments
Sarah Dollar Comment # 2
I think it's rather unfortunate that there is such sexism and even racism in a concept that is supposed to be so grounding and relaxing. I love that instead of being deterred and stopping video games all together, she decided to understand where these people were coming from as far as sex and race. I think that if there was a certain amount of rules on the game as far as making sexist and racist comments, this would help with the attacking immensely.
Consequences for one's actions
I agree that it's frustrating that an individual can't participate in a leisurely activity due to another individual's cruelty. However, certain members of the gaming community don't view certain games to be for "leisure". These people are fixated on winning, and they want the most skilled individuals to help them achieve their goals. Winning isn't the goal of individual, but not everyone realizes this truth. You're right that it's unfortunate that females in general have to deal with the stigma of "you play like a girl". Consequences against those that say such statements would hopefully create a more enjoyable environment, but I doubt it would help fix the stereotyping.
Taryn (reply)
It is quite upsetting that one can feel discrimintated against even when playing a simple video game. When one is playing a video game, they are doing it for fun and because they enjoy doing so. Maybe it is even a little "get away" from the real world when playing video games for some people. But like I said, it's upsetting that one still feels sexism and racism when they are supposed to be in their so called "comfort zone." It's almost as if sexism and racism is never ending, no matter what your doing or what game you happen to be playing. It seems immature that women are being treated differently when they are playing video games and doing something they simply enjoy.
I agree with you. It is
I agree with you. It is disgusting that our society is always finding a way to be degrading- there is no hiding from it. That is why I believe people who are in chatrooms need to standup against those who are making rude comments. If we continue to ignore it then people in their "get away" space are not really getting away from the outside world. However, if people start expressing that those comments are not acceptable, even on the internet, then maybe we can start to see a decrease and we will be able to have our "get away" spaces again.
I feel like the anonymity
I feel like the anonymity provided by the internet encourages people to let out their meanest, nastiest, most offensive sides. It is where you see who people really are. Facebook has a feature where you can report comments for being offensive, for bullying, for hate speech, etc. I think online games, including Xbox Live, really need to include that feature. I have heard of Facebook deleting people's accounts when their comments are reported, and I think that needs to happen for online games as well. People will not stop bad behavior unless they experience real consequences. The anonymity of the internet leads to feelings of invincibility, and people need to be taught that their comments are unacceptable. I hope you are awesome at your games so you can have the satisfaction of kicking their asses after they say something horribly sexist to you.
I agree with your comments
I agree with your comments concerning the anonymity of the internet and the brazen attitude of some of its users. Unfortunately the world has jerks and we will never be completely rid of those jerks no matter how much injury-proofing you apply to the world.
Perspective: Male pretending to be female
As a former member of online gaming communities, I understand the sexism described in the article. I'm a homosexual male, and due to my writing style in online video games (particularly in role-playing style games) I would be mistaken for a female. I have no problem being identified as a female in a video game. Female gamers are no better or worse than their male counterparts.
Many times, due to others' perceptions of my gender or sex, I have encountered sexist slurs about my gaming competence, and more disturbingly I've encountered presumed male players that wish to engage in "cyber" sexual encounters. It's disturbing, but like this article pointed out, gaming companies don't offer any negative consequences for such behavior. It is in my opinion that many members of the gaming community would do well to learn about privilege so that they may be more aware of the messages they are sending. Granted there are those that speak with thinking and/or don't care enough to care.
Gaming, Gender, and Race
As an Asian female and long time gamer, I feel that part of the problem with gamer culture is illustrated at video game and anime conventions. Firstly, there is lot of sexual harassment of females who do cosplay and secondly, a lot of female characters in video games and anime have skimpy outfits that are wildly unpractical. On top of the cosplayers, there are "booth babes" who are attractive women, often in skimpy clothes who are present to promote a product. Women are objectified in many different aspects of the gaming world.
When I look to play as a female avatar on RPGs like Diablo 3, League of Legends, Borderlands 1/2, any dragon warrior game, any fighting game that includes female choices, the female characters usually have at least midriff or cleavage exposed, maybe some high heels, or at the bare minimum, large breasts. At least Skyrim puts actual armor on people who play female characters.
And actually, in League of Legends they have a thing called "The Honor Initiative" that allows players to report bad conduct and praise good conduct. Apparently this has greatly reduced the numbers of people reporting others for saying awful things. Another strategy that has been used is the mute-ban on habitual offenders. This means that a person on something like XBox Live could shout all the awful things he wanted into his headset but not actually know that no one can hear him. While I have respect for the League of Legends honor approach, I don't think the mute-ban actually encourages the offender to change their behavior.
After reading this article, I
After reading this article, I started thinking about the concept of front and backstage racism. In chatrroms where strangers come together, people are more open to making racist comments because they do not know their audience, so is this frontstage racism or backstage racism? I think that if people are able to believe and voice racist stereotypes openly without feeling remorse, then they are backstage racists. Even when it is "just a joke" individuals should not be excused for their behavior because they were still able to think of something that was degarding and and did not see a problem with saying it.
Since I am not a gamer, I question how people respond in those chatrooms. When someone says a racist comment or uses the "R" word, is there someone that stands up to them? Is there someone who expresses that their language is wrong and offensive? I understand that
not everyone in a chatroom knows each other, but to stay in a space where someone is so degrading to others confuses me. In cyber space or in reality, it still is wrong and people still need to stand up against it. I believe that being a bystander and not speaking up is just as bad as making the comment in the first place
Being able to enjoy something together
Now that I have read this article I see things in a different light. I understand that men and women have differences when it comes to interests. Instead of seeing video games as being something fun to enjoy, they see it as being something that is not so "girly". The stereotype that all girls should love the color pink and should enjoy more female friendly activities, comes into play. Some men don't understand why girls enjoy playing video games because the majority involve some act of violence. Most men get upset when they see a girl doing better at a game than they are because they feel that it is geared more towards their gender and females just wont understand the concept. Some of these games are highly competitive and they are taken very seriously. People invest hours of time and money into taking part in these online games. They don't want to play with just a random person or a person with less experience. All of these things have to be taken into consideration. It doesn't change the fact that what they're saying and doing is wrong it just puts the pieces together. Some people don't have it as just a hobby, some make it their lifestyle. They might become territorial and not want to share that with anyone else. People have become so attached to gaming that they lose track of the outside world. I feel like it is a good past time but when people become too attached that is when problems like this start happening. I feel like if a man has been playing an online game for years with the same group of guys than to bring a girl into the group might evoke some negative feelings. We live in a society where women are behaving different than what is considered the norm. It has to be expected, unfortunately. No one should have to fit a particular mold and I feel like when people are making others feel that way than they are just being closed minded. People should be able to enjoy things together regardless of gender.