Oscar Friedmann

COMN71-103 Human Communication Theory

Sasha Goodwin

The Hurdles and Injustices of Women in Esports

07/31/2022

Word Count: 1408

 Electronic sports, or Esports, is a scene that has been growing exponentially for
multiple years. Comprised of multiple video games (both individual and team based), they
have managed to surpass entertainment goliaths like the Super Bowl in viewership and
Hollywood movies in profit, with the whole industry being worth more than US$145 billion
and earning up to US$3 billion a year (Surprising Stats behind the Meteoric Rise of the
Esports Economy, 2022). Unfortunately, Esports is also a mostly male dominated scene,
with 46% of gamers being females (Digital-Australia-2018-DA18-Final-1.Pdf, 2018), but only
5% of those that work in Esports being women (Hilbert, 2019). This is a major detriment, not
only from an ethical standpoint, but also from an economical point of view. Society has been
trying to root out its misogynistic culture for multiple decades now, shortening the wage gap,
allowing women to vote, get education, and many other things, which is why it is
unacceptable that 50% of the world population is only 5% of the biggest entertainment
market in the world (Surprising Stats behind the Meteoric Rise of the Esports Economy,
2022). Even economically, the Esports scene would benefit incredibly from a much larger
influx of talent, athletes, and gifted workers that are unfortunately currently shunned out. But
why is there such a gap between male and female contribution in Esports? This can be
looked into from a multitude of perspectives, but the groupthink (Pautz & Forrer, 2013) and
muted group (Meares, 2017) theories are not only one of the biggest, but also primordial to
understanding them. Groupthink theory is defined as “approaching an issue as a collective
group, disregarding the facts and giving up on individual thought processes for the general
group consensus” (Pautz & Forrer, 2013). There has been a misconception since the
invention of video games that they are made for boys, which has unfortunately carried on to
modern times. While slowly but surely girls and the people around them are accepting that
they can play too, groupthink is still under effect, hindering their possibility to not only desire
a role in the Esports scene, but also their chances of getting one. Muted group theory is the
idea “that in every society there are cultural groups who are traditionally muted, or given less
access than members of the dominant groups to public disclosure and to having their
individual and community concerns heard” (Meares, 2017). While not all men act in a way
that mutes women in video games, a vocal minority has been shown to constantly harass
women in every aspect of the video game spectrum. Through voice chats to traditional jobs
in the industry, women experience an enormous level of harassment and disrespect
stemming from rooted misogyny (Hilbert, 2019) that mutes, damages, and discourages them
from pursuing further careers in the area. It is incredibly important that these issues get
fixed, so more women can finally feel safe in Esports and start considering a career in them.

Since the first wave of arcade and home video games, western society has
considered them a “boy activity,” reallocating the women to more “girly activities” like dolls
and playing dress up (Madden et al., 2021). This left a big mark on the way people consider
video games that has stuck in modern times, for both men and women. From the men’s side,
misogynistic stereotypes may occur, leading them to think that “women are not good at video
games” or that the job in an Esports space would be better filled out by a man (Hao et al.,
2020). From the women’s perspective, they might not even consider trying out video games
or an Esports career, as they grew up being taught that those activities are not for them, and
they are better off doing something else. Both trains of thought are incredibly incorrect, but
the effects of groupthink have taken place regardless, ignoring facts and correct data for
what the general populace thinks. Even in modern society, where some of this groupthink
behaviour still exists, women will tend to stray away from anything related to Esports,
including casual events, having their closest role as the hyper sexualized and marginalised
girlfriend (Law, 2019). For those women that do wish to push through the groupthink of the
masses, only more hardships await them, as they have to circumvent multiple hurdles trying
to keep their gender a secret to avoid any kind of backlash. This is especially an issue in
team based games, which make up most of the most of the Esports scene. In scenarios
when they have to speak, unfortunately, most will need to either use a voice changer, or
accept the negative feedback that might return. There is a high chance that said negative
feedback leaves a lasting impact on the female gamer, causing her to never attempt to join
the scene (Hao et al., 2020). The future is bright however, with more and more male gamers
understanding that their female counterparts are just as talented as themselves, and that the
scene would benefit much more with them in it (Madden et al., 2021). The path to female
and male equality in Esports is still large, but as groupthink diminishes, we take one step
closer to the goal.

The muted group theory can also be used to explain why women tend to stray further
away from professional Esports roles, or even just participating in video games as a whole.
Through regular communications to actual Esports careers, women tend to be shut down,
belittled, insulted, and even harassed (Hao et al., 2020). Most notably in recent years,
Blizzard entertainment (one of the biggest game developers in the world, creating games like
World of Warcraft) has been sued for the harassment and exploitation of multiple female
workers, leading them to leave the scene with harsh psychological trauma (Zwiezen, 2021).
Some Esports scenes have started to consider dividing the competitions between males and
females, even generating female only crews like “Smash Sisters” for the games of Super
Smash Brothers (Law, 2019). Nevertheless, Esports are not the same as regular sports,
where a genetic difference separates the two sexes in terms of physical strength. In Esports,
this gap does not exist, hence why this separation does not solve the problem, in fact, it only
promotes the arguments used by those trying to mute the female gamers (Hilbert, 2019),
when in reality, women are just as capable as men in Esports. It is not a secret that in
multiple professions, women typically feel like they are not heard as much as their male
co-workers, not being taken as seriously and even being paid less, but this is seen in a much
more exaggerated fashion in the Esports scene. This makes it so the women that finally
manage to surpass society’s groupthink are greeted by being muted and harassed from
multiple channels, setting up barriers that are sometimes too big to bypass. Women in
modern society are actively encouraged to leave the Esports scene by casual players,
professional players, and corporate workers. Nevertheless, as time passes, Esports does
get better, showing lower levels of negative interactions against women in the scene. It can
still be better, but slowly but surely women can feel more comfortable pursuing their passion
in Esports.

It is a shame that even in modern years, immense and growing markets like Esports
still contain general misogynistic stereotypes through groupthink that effectively mute the
voice and opinions of females. This is incredibly unethical, as it alienates half of the world’s
population for something that is not only incorrect but that also cannot be changed. In the
space of video games, being a male or a female does not give an advantage, as both sexes
are equally capable of every task, nevertheless, the male driven scene has chosen for
multiple years to discriminate and harass women, removing any and all incentive to pursue
Esports except for pure passion, which is also undermined when they finally manage to fill a
role. As time goes on however, the Esports scene is getting better, bringing issues previously
not talked about to light, but also being more understanding of the capabilities of not only
women, but many other previously not acknowledged genders. The future of the Esports
scene is bright, and with hard work and an open mind, hopefully women will be able to
pursue the careers they have a passion for in the scene without the problems they currently
have to worry about.
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