Gamer girls. We’re here, we exist, and we’re becoming ever more prevalent in the industry whether you like it or not. And we deserve respect, just like our male gamer counterparts.
The entire industry is filled with such notions that gamer girls are somehow inferior to their male counterparts. Now, I will say this right now, not all male gamers share this thinking. But a lot of them do and it’s sad. We’re objectified and put down by a large percentage of the community. I think that every gamer girl gets some sort of sexist response in their gaming careers, and most of the time not just once.
Don’t think that women get abuse in the gaming industry? Just look at examples of sites like Fat, Slutty or Ugly. It highlights the exact abuse that women get, and it needs to stop.
People don’t seem to realize how prevalent women are in gaming in general. As of a 2013′s study, females represent 45% of the gaming population. That’s nearly half, and yet people seem to think that women don’t game. It’s simply not true. Women are gamers and are also involved the industry as a whole, and we’re here to stay.
In the gaming universe itself women are often represented one of two ways. Either we’re represented as the damsel in distress or as a sort of heroine in skimpy clothes.
N
ow, this is not the case in all games, but it does exist. We do have some good role models. Take Lara Croft for example. She is a strong female lead that is represented within her games as independent and she has her clothes on. However, this is not the case of all women in video games. I wish it were, but its not.
In other cases, like the case of Princess Peach, where she is always represented as the woman who needs saving at some point in time or another. Mario is always running after her from castle to castle in order to save her. And, honestly, that’s just not the case. We don’t need saving, or at least I don’t.
But, beyond the character models and roles women play in games, we are also judged because of society’s preconceived notions about how we should act. In most of society girls are not seen as ones who should enjoy video games, and therefore games are rarely marketed towards women. Often times the skimpy clothes that women wear in video games are targeted towards men. Fighting games are the biggest example of this. Look at Ivy in Soul Calibur, or Mileena in Moral Kombat. They are classic examples of the target audience being male. Well, guess what? I’m a woman, and I like playing fighting games too.
Statistically, it would say that games with strong female leads don’t sell as well as games with strong male leads. And, that would be right. However, games with strong female leads tend to get 60% less of a marketing budget than games with male leads. These numbers show that there isn’t even much support for these games staring the female heroine.
Its not only the numbers that highlight the prevalent sexism in the community as well as the industry. With sites like Fat, Ugly or Slutty, it shows that the community is just as much at fault for perpetuating the preconceived notions of women in gaming.
I’ll include here an example from my personal life. While there are many examples of how I’ve been treated in the gaming community, none explain my utter disappointment than my experience at my local GameStop. All of the staff of this particular GameStop are male, the few women who worked there had moved on at one point or another. But, particularly the manager of my local GameStop carries so many preconceived ideas about women and video games. So much so to the fact that he treats me like somehow I’m inferior to him whenever I go in to buy a game.
One time I went in to buy a game at that particular GameStop was when I was buying Battlefield: Bad Company 2. My friends all had the game, so I wanted to as well. So, I walked in, went to purchase the game, and he spoke to me as though I was less than intelligent. He explained to me six separate times that it was a first person shooter, and it could be violent. He’d also made the comment that he didn’t think it was a game “girls should be playing.” But he finally deduced that I had to be buying the game for my boyfriend or brother. Well, needless to say this was overly offensive in which I did report him for his actions, and I had to correct him at the end, telling him that the game was for me and he had to mind his own business.
But, there should not have been a problem to begin with. If I were a male would he have sold me the same game without hesitation? Most likely.
However, after that incident towards Christmas my mother really wanted a DS game called Cesar Milan’s Dog Whisperer. She’s not much of a gamer herself, just a casual one, and she loved Cesar Milan at the time. So, being the good daughter that I am I decided to get her the game along with her new Nintendo 3DS that I purchased for her. I went into that GameStop, was met by the same manager, and he did not question my purchase at all. Did he even face any form of reprimand for the report I had previously filed against him?
So, it leads me to wonder, is there certain games that girls should be playing? Stereotypically it would say that yes, there are. Games like Cesar Milan’s Dog Whisperer and other games like it seem to be the stereotypical things people would think girls/women would play. Not me, though. I’m here to inform you two of my absolute favorite games are Left 4 Dead and Resident Evil. Both of these games are shooters, both can be bloody, and can be scary at times. And, surprise surprise, I’m a girl. Blood and guts do not deter me from playing games. In fact, I enjoy it.
And recently, magazines like Gamer Girls continue to enhance those preconceived notions that the only value a woman has to video gaming is the size of her bra or how little clothes she can wear. This magazine promises to show you the image of a gamer girl, but in reality, all it shows are women being stripped of their clothing, given controllers and calling themselves gamers. The magazine has nothing to do with gaming, instead the worry is about their bra sizes or what they look for in a guy. Certainly the answers to these questions are not that they look for a guy who wants to play video games with them.
In the end, I have no real problem with magazines that women are featured in wearing various amounts of clothing. If thats how they want to earn their money, thats fine by me. However, this magazine in particular feeds in to every single stereotype of women gamers there could possibly be. Do not try to pose these women as gamers if they aren’t so. Sure, take off their clothes, give them a controller and photograph them, but do not promise that these girls are always real gamer girls.
Even the term ‘gamer girl’ can be offensive. It glosses over the fact that we are not always girls, but women. It continues to perpetuate the minority of women in gaming by separating us from our male counterparts. After all, do you call a man that games a “gamer guy”? No, he’s simply known as a “gamer”, which in all honesty is what most of us feel we wish to be known as. Couldn’t we just rid ourselves of the title and just be known as gamers? After all, I don’t define myself as a “gamer girl”, I just define myself as a “gamer.”
By definition, the term gamer means a person who plays video games, whether it be computer games, console games or handheld games. Usually that person spends a lot of their time in these games. And essentially, that is what women who happen to be gamers do.
But, somehow because I’m a woman, I have to justify myself and my place in the gaming community. What is it that requires me to be questioned to prove my validity?
Either way, the harassment needs to stop. Women/Girls/Ladies need to be respected in the community. It doesn’t matter if you’re a girl who enjoys the typical “girly games”, or if you enjoy shooters, puzzle games, whatever. Its perfectly okay to enjoy the typical girl games. Whatever games you play should be what you enjoy. However, a girl who prefers a shooter over a fashion simulation game should not be ridiculed and treated as though she doesn’t know what she really wants.
And guys, I’m sorry, but the girls featured in magazines such as Gamer Girls are not your typical girl that plays video games. Sure there may be some girls that play video games that are like that, but its not all of us. That would be like saying every guy that plays video games are nerds that live in their mothers basement with thick-rimmed black glasses and has never had a girlfriend in his life. Its the same thing, the same general stereotype. However, men seemed to have evolved away from the stereotype while women have not.
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