trivard676
Quite a while ago, in the middle of a huge wave of “I’m a Gurl Gamer, hear me roar” articles, I published an article that I look back on and kind of groan at. These were articles where girls who would take off half of their clothes and put the controller in their mouths to pose for seductive shots would screech about how offended they were by the unclean masses who would pester and berate them. I’m not going to link to my article in response to those, because for one I’m kind of ashamed that I thought that way and for another it’s kind of a shitty tongue-in-cheek article that’s inappropriate right now. It was the kind of article where the overall premise was “so grow up and do something about it, don’t just complain.” I still stand by the fact that if you’re the type of person who seeks that attention in such a way, you’re going to find it. By no means do I think it’s right, but I understand that people are just people and are going to behave that way.
With that out in the open and out of the way, it’s completely different for people who actually work in the industry. Women who have put in the time, the money, the effort required to work on games for people to enjoy. Women who face sexism that cannot be easily turned off, not from behind a television screen, but over a cubicle wall, in a boardroom or a staff lounge, straight to their faces by people they deal with every day. Or worse, at major public events like E3 or the Tokyo Game Show in front of hundreds of people.
I don’t work in the video game industry. I don’t even technically work for this site. I volunteer my free time to write articles, reviews and news items for RoH in between juggling work, playing said games and trying to have some semblance of a social life (working on that last part). Sleeping falls somewhere in there. I can honestly say that I have never had an issue with sexism in the gaming industry other than hearing some pretty awful things online. But then again, I don’t always publicly display the fact that I’m a woman with each article I write, so…there’s that.
Upon reading some of the tweets with the #1reasonwhy hashtag, I am extremely grateful that I’ve never experienced these things anywhere in life.
For those unfamiliar, the #1reasonwhy hashtag has become an open forum for women to share grievances experienced personally working in the games industry. Not just game journalists, but developers, artists, writers, every conceivable job you could imagine in the industry. It’s not a pretty read. Women who were perceived to be hired for their looks over their skills, women who are falsely assumed as being arm candy or eye-candy at trade shows, or even women who, as Brenda Romero puts it, do not feel comfortable at E3, despite having been in the business for 31 years. These aren’t little girls crying because someone called them a bitch in online multiplayer, these are grown women who have legitimate complaints.
Despite this fact, responses to tweets from men have been a little less than supportive. Apparently no one told Dillon Paradis that sexism doesn’t depend on skill before he tweeted “I look at #1ReasonWhy and I laugh at all the feminists who think they matter. If you were good in your field, you wouldn’t be misrepresented.”
Some may feel that this hashtag activism is a rally cry for all disgruntled women out there to rise up against their perceived attackers. It isn’t. It’s an eye-opener for sure, especially to people who may have believed that the industry was a little more…um, mature? It highlights a problem that not just the gaming industry is facing, but the workplace as a whole. These are problems that women face every day – it isn’t exclusive to this one, yet somehow its seen as being okay.
Hopefully, people (both men and women) can see this issue and work together to make the gaming industry a more welcoming place for everyone.
Young women reading this article who may one day aspire to work in the gaming industry – keep at it. Do not feel discouraged by the ignorance of future colleagues or immature gamers who can’t see beyond their front doors. The optimistic side of me feels that people (both men and women) can see this issue for what it really is and work together to make the gaming industry, events and games themselves a more welcoming place for everyone.
Editor’s Note – If you’re a little disappointed this article isn’t about horror, there are like…dozens more on the site’s home page ready for your perusal.
