Turning Misogyny into Motivation in the Gaming World

Have you ever had the experience of wanting to sit down after a stressful day, relax and unwind, and play a game online to blow off some steam, only to be told you’re fat, ugly, and need to go back to the kitchen? If you’re a woman, you most likely have, with 58% of female PC and console gamers having faced some form of abuse from male gamers.

The unfortunate reality that is faced today is that misogyny still runs rampant throughout the world, and especially in male dominated areas such as the world of gaming, with men playing more games across every genre except for puzzle and casual.

Most men even find sexist behaviour deplorable, yet often stay quite when hearing sexist comments online due to not wanting to have the comments turned on them. If some men can’t handle hearing terrible comments directed towards them, I wonder why they feel the need to share them, if it’s insecurity that they’re inferior. If they feel threatened by women playing games, fear that they might be better than them.

Misogyny is not something that has to be faced however, and more women are standing up to it when seen, either for themselves or others. In 2014, more than 2000 people signed an open letter calling for an end to discrimination within the gaming industry after death threats were received. Behind a screen, you don’t know who you’re talking to, and what the consequences of your words might be. For someone in an already difficult position, hearing belittling comments can cause even further detrimental effects on mental health, which is why I encourage people to be kind. We all make mistakes. We miss our shots, we don’t complete the puzzle in time, and we don’t kill the enemy. And that is okay.

In this blog, I want to highlight the experiences of women and encourage people to fight against misogyny and stereotypes that are faced. No one deserves to be berated during their rest time simply for playing a game and indulging in their hobby. Things are getting better, but we can always be doing more, and I hope to encourage and inspire change within the gaming community to always be better and do better.