The Misogynistic Gamer Girl
As previously mentioned, the gaming industry has
historically been, and to a certain extent still is, male
dominated. That means women have had to prove
themselves as adept at the hobby, they themselves
feeling discriminated against by the masculine
majority. Games like Call of Duty and Halo, which
emulate wars, shooting, and situations that, in the
real world, would be tasks of great physical output,
have had increasingly female numbers, with them
proving that they too can master these particularly
masculinely perceived titles.
There appears to be desire for women to prove
their mettle, to bring gender equality by matching
the skill of male gamers. What makes this so
fascinating is that when you pick up your controller,
or sit at your PC and enter the virtual realm
there isn’t really any need for these perceptions.
Everyone is automatically equal. You are all on the
same playing field, the differing physical attributes
of being a man or a woman are no longer relevant
here. This place is about brains, logic, puzzle
solving and reflexes, and yet we still bring in social
constructs of women needing to compete for and
fight to gain equality with men because that psyche
that games are male-dominated has been drilled
into our brains.
Issue 51 • January 2014
It is this type of game; the ones perceived as
masculine, that seem to be the main prerequisite
to qualifying as a “real” gamer. Women that choose
to play other games due to personal preference
are then being mocked for not meeting the mark,
playing titles that aren’t “proper” games. Why is it
that by choosing less ‘masculine’ games, or being
into more casual ones it disqualifies people from
achieving ‘gamer’ status?
Let’s look at it from a different angle. There
are two women, one focuses on her career, is a
head player in a large business in a largely male
company, and the other decides to be a housewife,
and stays at home to raise a family. Is one better
than the other? Should the businesswoman look
down on the housewife for her supposedly more
feminine life choices? No. Should the housewife
feel embarrassed for her decisions? No. Both have
taken different paths in life depending on their
own personal goals and interests; neither one is a
lesser human for it.
It is this attitude that really needs to be extinguished,
because left unchecked it could cause serious
damage, snowballing and affecting the opinions of
generations to come. Particularly in the case of slut
shaming, I am often reading remarks that I almost
cannot believe are being written.
14 • GameOn Magazine