Video games are one of the most popular forms of leisure activity and media consumption with an estimated 25% of European citizens playing at least once a week, and have a growing audience of those under-18. Although women are playing video games more than they did previously, men remain the majority of the market. Therefore, video game development often focuses on appealing to male audiences through presenting women as sexual objects. This involves displaying hypersexualised avatars, depicted either fully or partially nude, often with unrealistic body proportions. Archetypes present opposing variations: one shows women as needing to be saved while the other portrays a more dominant woman who claims control of the situation. Strong female characters like Lara Croft are still hypersexualised in their animated versions, and are simultaneously “fetishised and scorned” — much like the treatment of gamer girls.
Most gamer girls have felt that the industry has normalised such behaviour and that it hesitates to eradicate the online sexist culture.
As a product of this misogynistic culture, the treatment of girls in video games and in media entertainment has fed into how young people perceive and mirror sexist media depictions; the exposure of girls in video games through an objectifying lens has led to a greater tolerance of sexual harassment. Gamer girls face more abuse on livestreams or streaming channels than their male counterparts with comments focusing on their gender and more extreme ones involving death or rape threats; male viewers also—due to behaviour that resembles delusions of narcissistic grandiose and entitlement—send aggressive comments when ignored on and off streams. Whilst moderators try their best to remove comments which are violent, rude or ban commenters, most gamer girls have felt that the industry has normalised such behaviour and that it hesitates to eradicate the online sexist culture. It's also important to note that some male gamers have been known to ignore the abuse gamer girls undergo from their audience. As such, gamer girls have to quit the activity they enjoy.
In 2014-2015, the infamous Gamergate harassment campaign targeted women creators in the industry, ring-led by white male ring-wing gamers. An independent game developer, Zoë Quinn, following the release of her game Depression Quest, was subject to months of harassment involving threats of sexual violence, and the storygame inspired by her depression and anxiety was labelled as “feminist” derogatorily. Quinn’s ex-boyfriend published a vindictive and malicious blog post detailing their relationship and claimed untruthfully that she was having sexual relationships with journalists for favourable reviews of her indie game. A vitriolic social media campaign fuelled by misogyny ensued in which several gamer girls and women working in game development were threatened, doxxed, and sent death threats—conducted primarily through anonymous message boards like 4chan, 8chan, and Reddit.
More needs to be done in game development to solve the systemic oppression of women in media entertainment.
BroadcastHER, an initiative that began exclusively on Twitch in 2018 but has since spread onto other online platforms, is a grant that aims to specifically support femme and women creators and was created to support those “who face disparities and discrimination in correlation to misogyny and identity.” It aims to close the disparity between female and male gamers, and repair a ruptured toxic culture brimming with disaffected young men. Whilst initiatives like this are making huge differences, more needs to be done in game development to solve the systemic oppression of women in media entertainment. That begins with development companies ceasing to present women as infantilised sexual objects, and calling out men who participate in an incel movement which empowers them to feel entitled to both gamer girls, and hypersexualised representations in video games for their own satisfaction and enjoyment.