Gaming While Male: A 'Privilege' Few Men Recognize

GizDrak · 2014-04-28T16:17:22+00:00

I like this guys quote

Jayded1 "This article does nothing but feed an imaginary problem. There is a real problem. Scum bag humans on the internet. But that isnt new. Scum bag humans have always and will always be around. bad apples exist in everything. This line is exactly what is wrong..,

"I can choose to remain completely oblivious, or indifferent to the harassment that many women face in gaming spaces."

It isn't being oblivious or indifferent. it is understanding that the scum bag humans that harass women also harass men. I can't count the amount of times some 11 year old e-thug has threatened to kill me or my family because they lost a game. These are the same e-thugs that will harass a female. It is sexist to make it seem like these threats are worse because they are made towards a woman. The true sexism is articles like these that are making a broader problem into a gender issue. STOP."

2014-04-28T16:46:32+00:00

Being able to shut down discussion on games deemed offensive is a female privilege.

Samurai007_ · 2014-04-28T16:46:35+00:00

I've played a variety of MMOs and other games for years with female user names and all female avatars. (If I've gotta look at a my avatar's behind for hours while playing the game, it might as well be one I like looking at...) The only times I've ever received harassment was when I had a male user name with it, switching to a female user name ended that. In fact, other players are more helpful to an apparent female, and in all the years and years I've been playing, in a variety of different games, I've never once heard the kind of stuff they say happens to female gamers constantly. Not once. I've heard immature kids spouting off about being better than other players, incl. me, but it wasn't gender specific. I've heard insults and "F you's" and so on, but again, not gender specific. So either I'm not playing the right games, or I've somehow managed to find only non-sexist gamers for the last 8 years or so of playing almost daily...

GizDrak · 2014-04-28T19:48:02+00:00

Another great comment from the story.

Tina Alberino "I'm a female and I've been gaming from the time I could hold a controller. In the twenty years I've been playing, sexual harassment was never as much of an issue as it was ten years ago during the Halo/CoD craze. I think a lot of that issue stemmed from the fact that the majority of the male gaming population were pre-pubescent asswads that had no better material to come up with. Now, I've outgrown my fondness for FPS games and mostly play MMOs and MOBAs (at least until I get bored with them and move on to some other genre).

Many players know I'm female but I can honestly say that I've been given neither preferential treatment nor substandard treatment because of it. Gender just doesn't seem to be a factor anymore (at least not in my experience). I haven't been told to "get back in the kitchen" for the better part of five years. Nobody has accused me of being on my period, demanded "tits or GTFO," or made any other similarly irritating or unoriginal comments. That being said, I also don't advertise my gender--not because I'm ashamed of it but because it's completely irrelevant. I do play a female character, but I refuse to roleplay because pretending to be someone else (at least when communicating with others) has never appealed to me. When party members join up in Vent, they're indifferent to the fact that I'm female.

I find that a lot of the female gamers that get harassed are the ones that aggressively seek attention and preferential treatment for it. They go out of their way to make their gender a factor, as if it somehow matters. "Hey guys! I'm a girl gamer! Watch my twitch stream to see me play! ;)" "I can prove I'm a girl! Check out my FB pix!" "Add me on Skype!" Those girls irritate me, so it's easy to see why they become such easy targets for the more infantile players on the server.

Personally, I don't feel underrepresented in video games. I think we've seen a substantial improvement in female characterization in games as well. Obviously, we're nowhere near being equally represented, but I'm happy with the steps developers are taking in getting us there. I also can't help but feel like females would be outraged if we were more represented, citing objectification as a reason for insult. Male characters are often sexy, fit, macho white guys (something I certainly don't take offense to). If developers were to suddenly start featuring sexy, fit, confident white women (or women of any race), people would be bitching about how the women are represented. "Why aren't curvy girls/short girls/flat-chested girls/ugly girls/one-legged girls depicted?"

This is a battle nobody will win. Satisfying everyone is impossible. I've seen men get shamed for using gender as a basis to belittle a female gamer. It's tired and a lot of gamers (male and female alike) are tired of the sammich jokes. Every time I see an article like this, I can't help but wonder what gaming community they're talking about because I am just not seeing the same behavior."

2014-04-28T18:08:27+00:00

http://www.genderratic.com/p/4084/complaining-about-fake-geek-girls-is-not-misogyny/

... Just as Rebecca Watson managed to be part of New Atheism during its time in the sun, the feminist engagement with geek culture seems rather conveniently timed to have occured only after Blockbuster games started making more money than Hollywood.

This mode of behavior – coming into a space and refocusing it on oneself – is extremely gender-traditional. It is also extremely unlike the actions of genuine female nerds; after all, like male nerds, female nerds are gender-atypical. Female nerds, like male nerds, typically possess what Myers-Briggs Temperments would classify as a rational temperment (xNTx) – NT’s are statistically rare in the overall population, rarer amongst women than men but still a small minority within both sexes (after all, male nerds are gender-atypical too). Thus, this mode of behavior or things resembling it come off as a “red flag” – an indication of being into the culture not due to sharing its interests but for other motivations.

So, in a world where video gaming is far less stigmatized than it used to be, women can enter gaming culture and gain attention, receive adulation as an innately special creature simply for being there, and apparently get a warm welcome. They can, as Watson pointed out, be treated like princesses, and doesn’t every little girl want to be a princess? They can also receive praise for confronting “the boy’s club” and be heroines fighting against oppressive sexism – the cheers of “you go, girl!” rain down upon them.

Compare this to the treatment men have historically received for being affiliated with nerd culture. Hell, compare this to the treatment which actual female nerds receive (indeed, you could argue that the feminist influx has made it worse for them – they get accused of being gender traitors now for being ‘one of the boys’).

http://www.reddit.com/r/MensRights/comments/1u73lt/the_idea_of_the_gaming_community_and_its_endemic/

It's a typically male space in which everyone is anonymous. Women have no more sexual or social power than men in this space unless they make a concerted effort to let everyone know that they're female.

All this "endemic misogyny" etc is nothing but empty claims from radical feminists. There's not one gaming forum on the entire internet that encourages sexism or bigotry.

This is about shutting down male spaces, nothing more. In the eyes of these people, any time a lot of men get together without women is a bad thing.

shinarit · 2014-04-28T17:48:28+00:00

Full of shit.

If I am trash-talked or verbally berated while playing online, it will not be because I am male nor will my gender be invoked as an insult.

So who the fuck cares? Harass is harass, no matter the subject. Or more pointedly, the harassment is topic-neutral, it's aim is not to talk about the topic, it's just a tool.

rogersmith25 · 2014-04-28T20:50:54+00:00

The "male privilege" of male-centered storylines despite the "50% of gamers are women" stat is just terribly misleading. Whenever that stat is calculated, they lump everyone who "plays games" together, so a multiple-console-owner is lumped in with an iPhone-only Candy Crusher.

Are we really meant to believe that the Dark Souls fanbase is 50% female?

Does anybody have some real data on this? Maybe some plots?

awesumnitz · 2014-04-28T23:49:10+00:00

Really?

SchalaZeal01 · 2014-04-29T00:30:13+00:00

I've been gaming since the 1980s, and online since the early 2000s, almost always playing female characters, not hiding I'm female. And have had no issue ever.

Granted, I do everything to avoid trolls ingame, or anyone 'random' if there is forced-grouping to be had. And I avoid FPS, or WoW and tend to favor games with a higher average age. Still zero issue.

poloppoyop · 2014-04-29T19:17:14+00:00

Here is a little tip when playing online: you don't have to give your gender.

Use a neutral pseudonym and go your merry way.

Wait? What you really wanted was to get the IRL advantages women get (men going out of their way to help) ? Well, no luck for you.

Shlapper · 2014-04-28T20:21:24+00:00

Those female gamers who claim to mute their microphones and shy away from any communication that might hint as to their sex/gender due to the vitriolic harassment that will apparently inevitably follow, are stuck in a self-fulfilling prophecy of forcing themselves out of the gaming community because they're being forced out of the gaming community by sexist male gamers. It's absolute nonsense.

Female players are reasonably common in any sort of game that requires communication anyway, and in many cases people either don't care or they bend over backwards to accommodate them.

chocoboat · 2014-04-29T02:10:16+00:00

I happened to come across an online game streamer recently, she goes by the name of Kaceytron, and she's hilarious to watch. Much like Stephen Colbert, she puts on an act and intentionally tries to be the dumbest, uninformed, self-entitled "GRRL Gamer" in the world. A third of her broadcast screen is a webcam video of herself (always wearing a low cut top with plenty of cleavage, with the camera pointed right at it) that's so large it covers up part of the game.

A couple of days ago she was saying something along the lines of "you don't know how hard it is to be a girl gamer... when guys go online and play games, they don't ever have to deal with rudeness or insults, they don't ever get yelled at for playing like shit and costing their team a win, no one ever insults their sexuality... but as a GRRL GAMER people are always so rude and mean to me, why can't I just be treated the same as a guy online?"

Maybe I didn't describe it that well but it's just hilarious to see, she's really entertaining.

Gittiup · 2014-04-29T02:55:02+00:00

I've gamed with women, especially in WOW. They never had a problem and their gender was never an issue because they never made it an issue.

Online gaming can be a rough place if a person is easily offended. This is par for the course for all gamers, and all gamers know that. If they can't deal with that, I suggest offline play or a different hobby. But 12 year old idiots aren't going to change all of a sudden because feminists want it changed.

scrubbyscum999 · 2014-04-29T05:55:33+00:00

Just to give another gaming community to back up the lack of evidence for "widespread misogyny" (other than stupid trolls) is Pokemon. Been playing the game since 2005, plenty of females, never heard any sexist stuff against them.

WomenAreAlwaysRigh · 2014-04-29T17:30:05+00:00

male privilege? more like the privilege of people who has enough money to spend on videogames.

Cedru · 2014-04-30T14:52:40+00:00

I'm gaming for more than two decades now. The first lesson I learned was how to sort servers according to latency, second lesson was how to recognise the difference between moderated and FFA servers. While FFA servers were a spam fest feeding the chat box with immature topics, the moderated servers had strict rules in regards to spam, racial or gendered slurs made it very easy for me to chose where I like spend my gaming time. It only takes one or two hours to find a decent server(s) where you don't have to worry that you'll be verbally abused. Just like everything in life, one has to make choices, in this case chose the right servers/community an you'll be just fine. In my opinion the whole storm in a glass has only one goal, to distroy this "men's shelter". My favorite advocate for common sense Comic Database: Steve Hughes... Offended?

Meistermalkav · 2014-04-28T17:45:23+00:00

Just to even the field:

The invisible female gamer priviledge.

I can choose to remain completely indifferent to the harassment that many women face in gaming spaces, or get into a victim role and profit from it. When a male gamer says anything different that I do not like, it is my choosing if I want to take it as a subjective voice of a problem with me, or if I want to take it as a critique of women in gaming in general. If I choose to play as an obvious female, my coplayers will shower me with affection and offers of help, and will forget to scream Noob and GTFO or RTFM when I make mistakes.   I am never told that video games or the surrounding culture is not intended for me because I am female. I am however surprised how many female only game events, game prizes, and women only clubs it has.   I can publicly post my username, gamertag or contact information online without having to take it like a victim. I can put it on rape culture, or violence against women, and nobody will ask me to man up, because then theyx will be the next target of my ire.

I will never be asked to do anything I dislike. because if I dislike it, I have an obtion, simply to refuse by pointing towards my gender. After all, I should not try to fit into the culture, the culture should fit me!

If I enthusiastically express my fondness for video games no one will automatically assume that I am a neckbeard who has no social skills. Expressing a knowledge of gaming and a hobby in the areas will be seen as desireable, not repulsive, and many magazines will cater on how to get people of my gender. I am allowed to take this as an ego boost, and still joke about the neckbeards who essentially do the same that I am doing, but who have no right to complain, because you know, neckbeards.   I can look at practically any gaming review site, show, blog or magazine and see the voices of people of my own gender represented. Of course, it will mostly be new, and hastily assembled, but the voice will have the greatest freedom, and will be asked to sell anything, because of the beneficial sexist assumptrion that the perspective of someone of my gender matters, no matter what the topic, or how much I know about it.   When I go to a gaming event or convention, I can be relatively certain that I won’t be told to get laid, loose my V card, stop being creepy, stop being a manchild, shower, dress better, loose weight,m stop wasting money or to get a life. I can wear the title of Nerd as something that can be taken off in seconds and taken out when it is convenient, yet I demand the same level of respect as anybody for it.   I will never be asked or expected to speak for all other gamers who share my gender, yet everybody will like to have a female opinion on their team, their agenda, or their plan, and they will value my opinion more then any other, because they want to sell to the untapped market. Moreover, everything said to me will be judged as if it was said to everyone of my gender and was meant 100 % in ernest, while everything I say to other people is obviously just meant for one person, justified, and valid.   I can be sure that my gaming performance (good or bad) won’t be attributed to or reflect on my gender as a whole. I will continue to use derogatory language, cuss, verbally abuse male players and question their sexuiality, as I have no opposition to that part of gaming culture.   My gaming ability, attitude, feelings or capability will never be called into question based on unrelated natural biological functions. I however am perfectly capable to express the ageold wisdom of "everybody who is worse to me I beat because I am a powergirl, everybody who is better then me has no life", without so much as flinching.   I can be relatively sure my thoughts about video games won’t be dismissed or attacked based solely on my tone of voice, even if I speak in an aggressive, obnoxious, crude or flippant manner, while I am free to attack anything a male writes on games simply based on the fact that not someone of my gender expressed that, and as such is automatically at fault.   I can openly say that my favorite games are casual, odd, non-violent, artistic, or cute without fear that my opinions will reinforce a stereotype that "You gay or whut?"  When purchasing most major video games in a store, chances are I will not judged for doing this. Instead, everyone will see me being interested in the genere as joyfull and joyous, while if I was male my age would be called into question, and what I was doing with this.  The vast majority of game studios, past and present, have been led and populated primarily by people of my own gender and as such most of their products have been specifically designed to cater to my demographic. Nowadays, anything that I do not like is not liked by all the women. Was there something about not speaking for an entire gender?  I can walk into any gaming store and see images of my gender widely represented as powerful heroes, villains and non-playable characters alike. Most of the female figures will even be within an attainable range of how I could look, which made cosplay for my gender such a sucess. There will be small, big, large, tiny, strong and dexterous examples that I can modell myself after, while the male archetype is largely reduced to extraordinarily musclebound guy that nobody without horse growth hormone could ever be, or effeminate boychild.   I will almost always have the option to play a character of my gender, as most Games feature character customisation by default. However, female characters seem to be treated a lot more friendly, so I will proudly sport the most female character I can, while accusing everybody who does the same of encroaching on my space or being a pervert.  I do not have to carefully navigate my engagement with online communities or gaming spaces in order to avoid or mitigate the possibility of being harassed because of my gender. I have never met an Online troll, and have discovered that a community is full of 12 year olds who will use anything to get a reaqction out of you. After all, attacks on me are attacks on the entirety of womankind!  I probably never think about hiding my real-life gender online through my gamer-name, my avatar choice, or by muting voice-chat, because that gets me attention, and better treatment then my male players. However, I have never had to hide the fact that I play video games because it could hurt my professional career, because I am woman, hear me roar.   When I enter an online game, I can be relatively sure I won’t be attacked or harassed when and if my real-life gender is made public. However, when my opponent is a male and poerforms poorly, I will not stop for a second to either use4 my gender to discriminate against him (You got beat by a girl), or to question his sexual orientation, because the only weapons against sexual discrimination a girl has is sexual discrimination and homophobe remarks. )  If I am trash-talked or verbally berated while playing online, it will not be because I am male nor will my gender be invoked as an insult.However, I can trash talk any player becxause he is male, and question his gender / sexual preference, perfectly aware of what I am doing.   While playing online with people I don’t know and cheering for my hobby, thousands of people younger then me will project me, if I am vocal, on their favorite personas in game and write fanfiction about me/phantasize about me. If I am female, that is unacceptable, because girls are gamers as well, and it is because of the sexualisation of the medium. If I happen to be male, and interested in romance novels, It is expected, and massive packets of 13 year old girls writing fanfiction about me is a result of me entering a female dominated space, and should be encouraged.   I will have the option of offering pictures of me fulfilling stereotypical gender roles as  a way of payment for various services, yet have earned the right to be offended when people demand "tits or GTFO " when I want them to perform those services for free.  In multiplayer games I can be pretty sure that conversations between other players will not focus on speculation about my "attractiveness" or "sexual availability" in real-life, yet revel in joining the conbversation when the sexual attractivity, the realtionship status of male gamers, or their hygiene level is concerned.  If I choose to point out sexism in gaming, my observations will be seen as self serving, because patriarchy, disregarding any problems growing in the bowels of the movement.

" Because it was created by a straight white male, this checklist will likely be taken more seriously than if it had been written by virtually any female gamer."

Only sentence I kept as it was...

Title	Gaming While Male: A 'Privilege' Few Men Recognize
Author	GizDrak
Upvotes	41
Comments	41
Date	April 28, 2014 4:16 PM UTC (12 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/MensRights
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/mensrights/comments/2472c4/gaming-while-male-a-privilege-few-men-recognize/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/MensRights/gaming-while-male-a-privilege-few-men-recognize.1616682 https://theredarchive.com/post/1616682

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