Misogyny and Sexism in Video games and the Gaming World

The gaming community has becoming increasingly sexist and hostile towards women.

Female game reviewer and journalist, Alanah Pearce, received rape threats from young boys last December. Female cosplayers recently revealed to BuzzFeed through photos some of the creepiest things they have ever been told; “I bet with that creamy skin you’d taste like a vanilla cupcake,” “Look at the tits on that Scarlet Witch!” and “Cool! So now can you take off your shirt?”

The sad fact is that is has come to this–female gamers in any form are not respected. This branches out to cosplay, where female cosplayers are sexually harassed by fellow cosplayers and onlookers alike.

Sexism has been a hot topic popping up in the news. From female game developers to feminist female gamers, even though 52 percent of gamers are female, according to the Internet Advertising Bureau.

Many gamers consider themselves progressive, yet they shout misogynist slurs over their headsets to their fellow female gamers. Not to mention, many male gamers have revealed that they enjoy the scantily clad women throughout their games and say that women shouldn’t be offended by the graphics under the defense that it’s “just a game.”

However, if the tables were turned, there would be an uproar surrounding the fact that these male warriors have no proper armor for battle. Yet, they find it acceptable to demean the female characters.

This is not acceptable.

It would be easy to just blame the male gamers, but it’s really a failure on society to educate the masses.

If the majority of gamers are women, why has nothing been done? The answer is that sexism as a whole still exists in the fantasy genre, and that flows over into video games and cosplay. It is also rampant in technological and scientific fields.

Many women in these male-dominated fields are told, “You code really well for a woman” and “It’s funny that you think you can actually be a scientist, that’s so cute!”

It all starts with education. Boys are told they belong to the world as a doctor, lawyer, or engineer. Girls are told their contribution is becoming a nurse, hairdresser, or homemaker. If that can change, maybe we can hope that sexism and misogyny in video games and cosplay and fantasy genre will cease to exist.