Sexism in video gaming

Sexism in video gaming refers to prejudiced behavior or discrimination based on sex or gender as experienced by people who play and create video games, primarily women. This may manifest as sexual harassment or in the way genders are represented in games, such as when characters are presented according to gender-related tropes and stereotypes.

The demographics of video game culture have changed since the 1980s and 90s, when video games were perceived as something of interest mainly to young men. Women make up about half of all game players as of the 2010s.[1] This change, as well as publicized incidents of harassment such as the Gamergate controversy in 2014, have contributed to industry professionals and media increasingly paying attention to issues related to sexism in video gaming.

Harassment

Form

Harassment can involve sexist insults or comments, death or rape threats, demanding sexual favors in exchange for virtual or real money, or criticism of the presence of women and their interests.[2] In some cases, female players are also stalked, whether online or offline.[3]

Women are sometimes marginalized as "intruders", as it is assumed they do not play video games that aren't associated with female players such as the Sims, music video games or casual games. Conversely, insults towards men focus mainly on their alleged lack of manliness for playing "girl games" or disliking violent games.[4] As a result, women may face offensive behavior at conventions, competitions or in video games stores. It may affect female gamers, journalists or game developers, even when they are invited to talk at a conference or to present a game.[5][6][7][8] Since the release of the NES, video games advertisements have been accused of strengthening this tendency by targeting only men.[9][10] In the 1980s, women stopped being represented playing video games in advertisement and scantily clad women started being used on game covers and ads.[9] Some women saw their non-sexualized female character designs rejected, and others reported sexual harassment in the workplace.[11][12]

According to a 2014 survey created by the International Videogame Developers Association about the satisfaction of working in video game development, results show that females claimed insubordination from subordinate male colleagues, a preference for white males in management position, and a preference for males in hiring and promotion.[13][14] In the same survey, many female developers complained about how peers did not take their video game credentials into serious consideration and reported invitations to "meetings" that were actually romantic dates. There was also a small number of men feeling discriminated against in favor of women.[15]

Sexual harassment occurs frequently in many online settings relating online video games. Specifically, 65% of women report harassment and statistically receive three times as much derogatory or insulting remarks than men. With anonymity masking gamers, women are susceptible to extreme misogynistic and violent remarks.[16]

Video games conferences have been criticised for using sexualised advertising such as 'booth babes', creating a demeaning image of women, and for failing to stop harassment of female attendees. This has led some to adopt or share codes of conduct for managing these issues.[17][18][19][20][21]

Frequency

Although insults are frequent in online gaming or on internet, women are, according to Stephen Toulouse, moderator of the Xbox Live between 2007 and 2012, the most frequent target of harassment,[3] but data from Riot Games list racism and homophobia at the top.[22] Derogatory words for gay are used almost constantly in online gaming.[23]

In 2012, a study of the Ohio University showed that the same person playing Halo 3 online with a male and a female profile using recorded voice messages received three times more negative comments with the female profile, despite similar game scores. Even welcoming everybody at the beginning of a game could lead to sexist insults against the female profile.[7][24] A 2015 study of Halo 3 player interactions found that less skilled male players display a tendency to make frequent, nasty comments to female gamers.[25] The researchers suggested that the poorly performing men "attempt to disregard a female's performance and suppress her disturbance on the hierarchy to retain their social rank."[26]

A study from 2006 showed that 83.4% of gamers had seen the words "gay" or "queer" used as derogatory names, and that 52.7% of gay gamers perceived the gaming community as "somewhat hostile" while 14% perceived it as "very hostile".[27]

Another study about online harassment in gaming, also from 2012, said that to date, there had been very little empirical research into online harassment and few existing studies have been focused on the motivation behind the harassment.[28]

Examples

Events in 2012 to 2014 brought sexual harassment in video gaming to mainstream media's attention in the United-States,[3] United Kingdom and Germany:[5]

Effects

A study performed by Jesse Fox et al. suggested that due the Proteus effect, manifesting a sexualized character in a video game can have adverse mental effects. They designed a study in which 86 women from West Coast university played a virtual reality game. Women who used sexualized characters that looked like them had a higher rape myth acceptance than those in other conditions, which is the validation of incorrect and stereotypical ideas about rape that blame the victim, and increased body-related thinking which can lead to increased self-objectification. It can be suggested that those who use sexualized characters in video games are more likely to develop harsh attitudes in regards to women and their own selves in reality. They state that it may prompt a kind of safeguard for the self, or that they are more likely to blame a rape victim for the act due to avoiding imagining themselves in the same position.[36]

In another study 181 students from private liberal arts college in North Carolina were tested. Group exposed to highly sexualized images from video games (in comparison to control group) was more tolerant to sexual harassment but showed the same rape myth acceptance.[37]

Karen E. Dill and Kathryn P. Thill state that adolescents, particularly boys and those who play games, are ignorant of the adverse impacts of detestable media content, and therefore ignorant of the when they are affected adversely. Theories such as the cultivation theory, social cognitive theory, ambivalent sexism theory, and hegemonic masculinity theory all aid Dill and Thill in discussing the repercussions of perpetuating gender stereotypes in media like video games. These theories also illustrate the ways prominent video game characters are gendered and what is received by the user or viewer. They write that "Gender portrayals of video game characters reinforce a sexist, patriarchal view that men are aggressive and powerful and that women are not healthy, whole persons, but sex objects, eye candy and generally second-class citizens."[38]

According to Jeffrey Kuznekoff and Lindsey Rose, the fact that gamers experience misconstrued portrayals of appearance, violence, and sexual objectification can impact their understanding and communication with other gamers, especially female gamers. In addition, these gender portrayals become increasingly prominent because of the mass appeal and number of users of online multiplayer games. They found that the female voice received nearly three times as many directed negative comments than the male voice or control. They also found that there was no correlation between the number of directed negative comments and the skill level of the other player. On several occasions, the female voice received strong sexist replies for phrases such as "hi everybody" or "alright team let’s do this" despite the female voice having almost the same win percentage as the male voice (56% to 61%, respectively). Additionally, they found that when the other player responded with a positive remark, they were more likely to ask questions. Overall, Kuznekoff and Rose found that there were hypernegative effects with hostile targeting of the female voice.[39]

In 2015, a three-year German study of 824 gamers found, when controlling for age and education, that there was no correlation between sexist attitudes and time spent playing video games, or with preference for video game genres. The longitudinal study was based on cultivation theory, and the results broadly showed that playing video games did not lead to gamers becoming sexist.[40] The authors Johannes Breuer, Rachel Kowert, Ruth Festl and Thorsten Quandt have, however, been keen "to make clear that [their] study does not show that sexism is not an issue in/for games and gaming culture. There are many content analyses of popular games that show that female characters are underrepresented or presented in an overly sexualized manner and there is also ample evidence that many players, particularly female, have experienced sexism in their interactions with other players."[41]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 2014 Essential Facts About the Computer and Video Game Industry (PDF). Entertainment Software Association. April 2014. p. 3. Retrieved 20 May 2015.
  2. 1 2 Fletcher, James. "Sexual harassment in the world of video gaming". BBC News. Retrieved 3 June 2012.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 O'Leary, Amy. "In Virtual Play, Sex Harassment Is All Too Real". The New York Times. Retrieved 12 August 2012.
  4. ↑ Emily Matthew (2012-06-06). "Sexism in Video Games: There Is Sexism in Gaming". Price Charting.
  5. 1 2 Süddeutsche.de GmbH, Munich, Germany. "Frauenrollen in Computerspielen - Sexspielzeug - Digital - Süddeutsche.de". Süddeutsche.de. Retrieved 9 September 2014.
  6. 1 2 Süddeutsche.de GmbH, Munich, Germany. "Sexismus in Videospielen - Wo Feminismus als "Terrorismus" gilt - Digital - Süddeutsche.de". Süddeutsche.de. Retrieved 9 September 2014.
  7. 1 2 3 "Jeux vidéo: une étude confirme le sexisme des joueurs - Slate.fr". Slate.fr. Retrieved 9 September 2014.
  8. 1 2 "Les Inrocks - Le milieu geek, bien trop sexiste ?". Les Inrocks. Retrieved 9 September 2014.
  9. 1 2 "No girls allowed - Polygon". Polygon. Retrieved 9 September 2014.
  10. ↑ "Playstation 4 (PS4) et Xbox One: la surenchère sexiste - L'Humanité". L'Humanité. Retrieved 9 September 2014.
  11. ↑ Mary Hamilton (November 28, 2012). "#1reasonwhy: the hashtag that exposed games industry sexism". The Guardian. Retrieved 29 December 2013.
  12. ↑ "#1ReasonWhy: Women Take to Twitter to Talk about Sexism in Video Game Industry". Time Newsfeed. November 27, 2012. Retrieved 29 December 2013.
  13. ↑ Edwards, Kate; Weststar, Johanna; Meloni, Wanda; Pearce, Celia; Legault, Marie-Josée. "Developer Satisfaction Survey 2014 Summer Report" (PDF). gameqol.org.
  14. ↑ Burrows, Leah. "Women remain outsiders in video game industry". Boston Globe. Retrieved 11 September 2015.
  15. ↑ "Developer Satisfaction Survey 2014 – Summary Report" (PDF). International Game Developers Association. June 25, 2014. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 27, 2016.
  16. ↑ Digitized Lives, T.V. Reed
  17. ↑ "Booth Babes and the Expo". Eurogamer.net. 2012-10-03. Retrieved 2013-08-26.
  18. ↑ Silverstein, Jonathan (2006-02-02). "Sexy 'Booth Babes' Under Siege - ABC News". Abcnews.go.com. Retrieved 2014-07-21.
  19. ↑ "PAX Code of Conduct". Penny Arcade. Retrieved 11 September 2015.
  20. ↑ Duhaime, Arielle (2014-01-10). "Why can't CES quit booth babes?". The Verge. Retrieved 2014-07-20.
  21. ↑ Kelion, Leo (2013-02-10). "BBC News - CES 'booth babe' guidelines revised but ban rejected". Bbc.com. Retrieved 2014-07-20.
  22. ↑ Dennis Scimeca (May 16, 2013). "Using science to reform toxic player behavior in League of Legends". Ars Technica.
  23. ↑ Nathan Meunier (January 13, 2010). "Homophobia and harassment in the online gaming age". IGN.
  24. ↑ "Study: Female Gamers Receive Verbal Abuse From Male Gamers - Pacific Standard: The Science of Society". Pacific Standard. Retrieved 9 September 2014.
  25. ↑ Dewey, Caitlin (July 20, 2015). "Men who harass women online are quite literally losers, new study finds". Washington Post.
  26. ↑ Kasumovic, Michael M.; Kuznekoff, Jeffrey H.; Ponti, Giovanni (15 July 2015). "Insights into Sexism: Male Status and Performance Moderates Female-Directed Hostile and Amicable Behaviour". PLOS ONE 10 (7): e0131613. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0131613.
  27. ↑ Kim, Ryan (July 16, 2009). "Gay rights group plans talk on silencing slurs by online gamers". SFGate.
  28. ↑ Thacker, Scott; Griffiths, Mark D. (2012). "An Exploratory Study of Trolling in Online Video Gaming". International Journal of Cyber Behavior, Psychology and Learning 2 (4): 17–33. doi:10.4018/ijcbpl.2012100102.
  29. ↑ Kuchera, Ben (2012-02-28). "Sexual harassment as ethical imperative: how Capcom’s fighting game reality show turned ugly". The Penny Arcade Report. Retrieved 20 April 2012.
  30. ↑ "Cross Assault sexual harassment controversy overshadows on-screen combat - GamesBeat - Games - by Marcos Valdez (Community Writer)". VentureBeat. Retrieved 9 September 2014.
  31. ↑ "When Passions Flare, Lines Are Crossed [UPDATED] - Giant Bomb". Giant Bomb. Retrieved 9 September 2014.
  32. ↑ "Digitaler Sexismus ǀ Emanzipation der Trolle — der Freitag". Retrieved 9 September 2014.
  33. ↑ "Lara Croft et le sexisme des gamers". Le Monde.fr. Retrieved 9 September 2014.
  34. ↑ "Anita Sarkeesian Cancels Speech Over Utah State University Allowing Firearms To Her Event". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 11 December 2014.
  35. ↑ "Le jeu vidéo est-il sexiste ? - France info". France info. Retrieved 9 September 2014.
  36. ↑ Fox, Jesse; et al. (2013). "The embodiment of sexualized virtual selves: The Proteus effect and experiences of self-objectification via avatars.". Computers in Human Behavior 29: 930–938. doi:10.1016/j.chb.2012.12.027.
  37. ↑ Dill, Karen E.; Brown, Brian P.; Collins, Michael A. (2008). "Effects of exposure to sex-stereotyped video game characters on tolerance of sexual harassment". Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 44 (5): 1402–1408. doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2008.06.002. ISSN 0022-1031.
  38. ↑ Dill, Karen E. (2007). "Video Game Characters and the Socialization of Gender Roles: Young People's Perceptions Mirror Sexist Media Depictions.". Sex Roles 57: 851–864. doi:10.1007/s11199-007-9278-1.
  39. ↑ Kuznekoff, Jeffrey H. (2012). "Communication in multiplayer gaming: Examining player repsonses to gender cues". New Media & Society 0 (0): 1–16.
  40. ↑ Breuer, Johannes; Kowert, Rachel; Festl, Ruth; Quandt, Thorsten (2015). "Sexist Games=Sexist Gamers? A Longitudinal Study on the Relationship Between Video Game Use and Sexist Attitudes". Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking 18 (4): 197–202. doi:10.1089/cyber.2014.0492. ISSN 2152-2715. PMID 25844719.
  41. ↑ Totilo, Stephen. "What To Make Of A Study About Gaming And Sexism". Kotaku. Retrieved 20 August 2015.
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