Seems like we have a bit of feminist theme going on here this week – quelle suprise! Harassment and how women and men are taught to exist in society. If we can edumacate a few dudes about the toxic patriarchal soup we all swim in the world will be a better place.
“A male friend of mine that develops AAA games told me, “When a woman criticizes me, it goes to a different part of my brain than when a man on my team does. I get defensive really quickly. I’m trying to get better about it.” I don’t think his is a unique experience.
We live in a society that’s sexist in ways it doesn’t understand. One of the consequences is that men are extremely sensitive to being criticized by women. I think it threatens them in a very primal way, and male privilege makes them feel free to lash out.
This is why women are socialized to carefully dance around these issues, disagreeing with men in an extremely gentle manner. Not because women are nicer creatures than men. But because our very survival can depend on it.”
Sooooo… experiences are different for women in the game industry who would of thunk? Might it be because women and men are socialized differently and are taught to respond differently to situations? Might one set of strategies be beholden to the other, thus reinforcing the disparity? Food for thought –
The highly quotable Margaret Atwood clarifies the idea:
“Men are afraid women will laugh at them. Women are afraid men will kill them.”
[Source:Polygon]
bleatmop
Mystro
Dead Wild Roses 
14 comments
August 30, 2014 at 3:57 pm
N℮üґ☼N☮☂℮ṧ
Your quote reminded me of another quote by Lilian Smith:
“Man, born of woman, has found it a hard thing to forgive her for giving him birth.”
According to several studies, it appears that the male of our species is the weaker sex. But it also seems that men are doing a great disservice to their own gender (not just talking about war), which could lead to far fewer males in the future.
In the article not only are male’s brains more fragile, and have a lower immune system, it also states that the balance of hormones is out of whack in males, and what they think made that happen. These imbalances can lead to “the extreme male brain” and cause a lack of empathy.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/are-men-the-weaker-sex/
Perhaps someday in the near future, it won’t be considered insulting to many guys when they are compared to women. ;)
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August 30, 2014 at 4:00 pm
N℮üґ☼N☮☂℮ṧ
*Lillian
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August 30, 2014 at 7:59 pm
bleatmop
“A male friend of mine that develops AAA games told me,” …
That’s quite the source there. Sounds like a friend of a friend of mine that sold some ocean front property in Arizona the other day. I heard he cleared ten billion dollars.
Not that I doubt that there is misogyny in the gaming industry, but it’s going to take a better source than that, and many such sources to convince me the misogyny is any worse in that industry than it is in any other industry.
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August 30, 2014 at 8:04 pm
N℮üґ☼N☮☂℮ṧ
@bleatmop
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/08/29/gaming-vlogger-anita-sarkeesian-is-forced-from-home-after-receiving-harrowing-death-threats/
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August 30, 2014 at 8:13 pm
bleatmop
Neur: I’ve followed Anita’s story as well. It reminds me of the response to Rebecca Watson calling out sexism in the atheist community. I also remember a story about a women in the tech industry (can’t find the story at the moment) calling out a sexist guy at a conference on her blog and getting death threats for doing the same there. It seems to me that a women calling out sexism anywhere results in death threats from this wonderful internet.
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August 30, 2014 at 8:23 pm
N℮üґ☼N☮☂℮ṧ
Bleatmop, it is very disconcerting. I do think the quote Arb posted is spot on. I spend a lot of time reading online comments, and while I find, as a women, more respect on progressive websites, I am sometimes mortified at some of things guys say about women on other sites. Philip Zimbardo was right when he said that civilization is but a thin veneer.
I try to understand the root causes if this love/hate relationship towards women. I am of the opinion it is primarily culturally induced and has been for several thousands of years.
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August 30, 2014 at 8:38 pm
N℮üґ☼N☮☂℮ṧ
@beatmop
Take note at the 1 minute marker, but he repeats himself again towards the end of the 2 minute video.
This took place in Detroit, but is a very common attitude in my neck of the woods, the South (US).
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August 31, 2014 at 8:14 am
The Arbourist
@bleatmop
A quick input into a search engine can generate more tangible results, if you’re interested.
“Turning to labour, we argue that an educated, technologically competent labour force is the basis of the Canadian industry’s growth, but
that this creativity is now constrained by sexist hiring patterns and intensifying labour-management tensions”
– DYER-WITHEFORD, N., SHARMAN, Z.. The Political Economy of Canada’s Video and Computer Game Industry. Canadian Journal of Communication, North America, 30, apr. 2005. p.2 Available at: . Date accessed: 31 Aug. 2014.
And,
“women are disproportionately represented in reception, marketing, and human resources. When we raised the topic, men we interviewed typically bemoaned the lack of women in the industry and expressed a desire for greater balance, but admitted to the great obstacle set up by the “feedback
loop” between the gender of those who primarily play games and those who go on to make them.
Other men offered a clearer window into the sexism of the digital play industry, explaining, for example, that “girls” often don’t have “the right ideas” when it comes to games but that it “looks good” for a developer to employ “some girls.” Although there is disagreement among female games workers on how to design games that might appeal to women,
there is consensus that the male bias sets a limit on the size of the games market.”
– ibid p.17
and…
” […] The game was only the latest in a string of attacks on Sarkeesian for her proposed project: she also received death threats, had her Wikipedia page defaced with pornographic imagery, and was repeatedly harassed on the Kickstarter page and elsewhere. About a month prior to that, in June 2012 a controversy erupted about Lara Croft’s alleged past in the latest Tomb Raider game, where sexual assault had helped form her character according to one of the game’s developers (Schreier, 2012).
In May, the annual videogame expo E3 became the topic of controversy when multiple sources declared it a space hostile to women and juvenile in its approach to games (Alexander, 2012; Williams, 2012). Brenda Brathwaite tweeted while at the event about feeling harassed simply by walking the show floor, and games journalist Katie Williams related stories of industry PR reps that immediately discounted her ability to play their games, saying to her “I think I better play it for you,” and then “prying my hands away and turning the keyboard towards himself” (Williams, 2012).
And we can keep going back. Earlier this year, Jennifer Hepler, a writer for BioWare titles like Dragon Age and Star Wars: The Old Republic, had sexist assaults launched at her for daring to suggest games might allow players to press a button to skip combat, much like some games allow players to press a button to skip cut-scenes. […]”
– Consalvo, Mia. Confronting Toxic Gamer Culture: A Challenge for Feminist Game Studies Scholars
Misogyny is endemic in almost all facets of society – I’m not sure what you’re trying to say here.
Is the source anecdotal (is it part of larger pattern – likely)? Certainly, does it reflect the experiences of some women in the industry? I’m willing to bet that it does.
So help me out here as to the nature of your objection?
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August 31, 2014 at 8:42 am
The Arbourist
Rock Paper Shotgun has a great article titled: Misogyny, Sexism, and Why RPS Isn’t Shutting Up.
The article touches on what has been raised here.
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August 31, 2014 at 11:18 am
The Arbourist
Small study on sexism in the video game industry – highlights at the Gamasutra blog.
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August 31, 2014 at 1:59 pm
bleatmop
I guess I wasn’t making my point clear. I wasn’t denying that there is sexism in the gaming industry (which I said). I was critiquing the article sourced. I was also saying I wasn’t convinced that the sexism in the gaming industry is any worse than it is in other industries/areas. Not that any level of sexism is ok but the discussion going around the internet seems to say that it is somehow worse in the gaming industry.
Using anonymous sources to prove a central point in an article is a pet peeve of mine. It proves nothing and only makes it appear that a legitimate source cannot be provided. The quote in question (A male friend of mine that develops AAA games told me…) is about as useful and educating as a MRA saying “a feminazi said”. That you could so easily cite a source from a journal that shows endemic sexism in the industry rather than this individual anonymous source given goes to show how lazy the writing was.
Also, to the discussion at large, I think much of the evidence of sexism in the gaming industry doesn’t actually evidence that. Threats from fans of games goes to show a problem with misogyny and sexism with gamers, not the industry (such as with the examples of Anita and Jennifer). These threats from gamers does not equal the leaders of an industry giving these threats or acting in misogynistic fashion. I think these two issues are too commonly conflated even though they are separate.
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August 31, 2014 at 6:06 pm
VR Kaine
If I can chime in here from the business and marketing perspective, on the one hand I’d start to agree that these gamers’ actions shouldn’t necessarily cause a larger population or industry to be painted with the same brush, but then again I have to ask, “Who the eff is giving these gamers’ their opinions, anyways?” Could the objectification of women of women in games as avatars which can be slapped around and disposed of be what is contributing to these gamers’ attitudes towards women in real life? (I’d guess that a nerd playing Xbox in his basement all the time already has his own set of social problems with women, but that’s another story…)
And as for the industry itself, I perhaps see the gaming execs as the marketing execs from the 60’s with tobacco campaigns. Sure, they may be better and know better than their clients or audience and might have even been nonsmokers themselves, but perhaps they’re brainwashing their audience with this shit without really caring about the implications of it?
Some may believe that these games crossed the line ages ago with their characterizations to which I don’t quite agree, however in these new games where women are killed, slapped, beaten, yanked out of cars by their hair, etc. I think the line has been crossed way too far and to a sickening degree.
The real question is, though – what’s the solution? To Arb’s point, “If we can edumacate a few dudes about the toxic patriarchal soup we all swim in the world will be a better place”, I doubt it’s enough?
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September 1, 2014 at 8:30 am
The Arbourist
@Bleatmop
So it is toxic and harmful in gaming, just like anywhere else. :)
Considering the medium, there might be a little wiggle room, no? This article was not published on a peer reviewed site, nor an academic journal thus, due consideration, as you’ve demonstrated, is required.
The question then becomes where does the inherent misogyny come from in video games? If the leaders of industry are not misogynistic then who down the corporate food chain has the rain barrel full of woman-hate that most titles are dipped in?
The industry serves the gamers and what sells. I propose that rather than being two distinct issues they are really the same one just in different sections of a toxic positive feedback loop. The misogyny feeds on itself as companies market to what they believe are their ‘core markets’ – their ‘core markets’ demand a strong helping of sexism because its how they are raised (thank you very much patriarchy) – the gaming companies design games….etc.
I’m not sure what benefit trying separate the gaming industry from gamers as they both participate in the same cycle.
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September 1, 2014 at 12:03 pm
The Arbourist
Apparently even talking about harassment in the gaming sphere get you death threats.
David Futrelle, author of the We Hunted the Mammoth blog, for the mere act of writing about the recent death threats to Anita Sarkeesian has also received death threats.
*sigh*
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