The game over of machismo in video games is urgent; women play and can also be the best

It is nothing new that machismo appears in all corners of private and public life, and the more spaces we have available, the more forms violence takes. The gaming world is no exception.

According to various studies carried out by consultants, in Latin America about half of the gamers are women and despite the high representation of women, this space is one of those that harbors the most harassment, discrimination and other aggressions against adolescents and women.

discrimination and harassment

“I play Valorant, and in this video game you have a text chat with the opposing team and not always, but it happens a lot that if they find out that you are a woman, comments like “go to the kitchen” or “you are a woman, how bad you are” and it is constant harassment during games that can last between 30 minutes and an hour and a half,” said Connie Rauda, ​​better known as Raudex, his gamer user.

Sometimes it is the same members of your own team who judge you for being a woman if you are wrong, he added.

Many girls, adolescents and women have had experiences of significant segregation in this area, as Raudex herself says, “I started very young in the world of video games, I watched my brothers play, but then they wouldn’t let me play with them “.

In the Gamers Research Field Agent 2021 study by Nivea and LDM, it was found that women do perceive significant barriers to their development as gamers in relation to the situation of men. Almost 70% of those surveyed identified inappropriate comments, just over 60% pointed to a sexualization of the characters and nearly half considered that gender stereotypes are also an obstacle.

“I think that almost all, if not all, of the women who dedicate ourselves to playing and broadcasting have received hate comments just for being women,” said the Mexican streamer in an interview with The Economist.

Don’t give yourself the luxury of not being perfect.

Something similar to what happens with the violent gender stereotype about good driving: “all women drive badly” or “if you drive badly it’s because you’re a woman”. In the gamer world you cannot afford to have a bad day, make mistakes or not play perfectly in a game because it is automatically attributed to the fact of being a woman.

“Maybe in that game you’re not playing as well as you do every day and just because you’re a woman you already get unsolicited opinions that you shouldn’t play and that those aren’t things for women,” Raudex said.

We are making progress so that men feel comfortable in spaces that are considered “feminine” and that these gender stereotypes are eradicated, but machismo is very upset. It bothers him that we occupy those spaces and that we are good, he added.

And if you’re very good, “it’s for something”

Another form that violence takes in the gamer world is the sexualization of the women who participate, which also goes hand in hand with discrediting. As in the beginning, it was the men who had the greatest representation of both streamers and viewers, these stigmas have been dragged. The success of women is always underestimated and most of the time under the argument that “if they are doing well it is because they teach something”.

“They see men because they play very well and people support them for that, but since you are a woman they don’t go to your channel to see how you play but to see you, if you wear a cleavage or if you are pretty. You have the stereotype that if a woman prospers in the gamer world it is because of her body, when in reality we can all grow regardless of gender,” says Raudex.

And although in recent years the companies that develop video games, some brands and even organizations have made an effort to give visibility to this problem and eradicate it, what persists is the machismo between users and the audience.

“We need to make this a community of everyone from all aspects. There is a lack of visibility for women streamers, sponsorships and interest in women’s tournaments and even in advertising. For example, in ads always showing men playing, when we are many the women who play. We have to break the stigma, women can be very good and also very bad, just like men, and it has nothing to do with gender”, concluded Connie Rauda.