Sexism in Video Games (Student Takeover) – September 2021

The students studying sexism in video games are Niya James, Sebastian Hardin and Amy Palmer
researching and studying as BHASVIC Sixth Form College. Firstly, they investigate the media critic:
Sarkeesian. She is a Canadian American feminist who examines sexist tropes in video games and how
they affect women since 2009 onwards. Furthermore, she conveys that the gaming community in
general and the negative attitudes and views they have on women which perpetuate and influence
rape culture. Additionally, Sarkeesian has opened an organisation called ‘Feminist Frequency’ and it
tackles how video game developers can avoid using stereotypes and feeding into ‘fan service’ or a
male audience. She uses the example of the game ‘The Last of Us 2’ which contain two female
protagonists and LGBTQ+ representation, this game doesn’t enforce cliché or stereotypical female
characters as one of the protagonists are muscular and masculine which defy the traditional
standards for women. These sociologists have come to the idea that women in video games are
hypersexualised and fall into tropes in online gaming such as the damsel in distress being saved by
the male hero. In addition, they have come to the hypothesis that women who play video games are
more likely to face discrimination due to their gender. One of the sociologists carry out an
experiment to test this theory by playing online games such as ‘Overwatch’ & ‘Rocket League’ and
posing as a female with a female account. In conclusion, they received messages which objectified
them, inappropriate demands and misogynistic remarks such as ‘dishwasher’ and ‘sandwich maker’,
comparatively when they played on a presumably male account to which they received, still insulting
messages but nothing towards their gender. To further prove this hypothesis with more qualitive
data, the sociologists watched female youtubers who were gamers and analysed the comments they
received which was like the other experiment with comments ‘gamer girl’, ‘go back to the kitchen’
and threats of rape.