Missy Shade

GJAIF: Gamers Deserve Better: Cherrypicking

It’s telling that all of the “feminism has nothing to do with game journalism” comments I’ve received so far have been from men. Men, who make up 94% of the industry workforce and who are the bulk of the target audience.

It’s telling that these people believe that feminism has nothing to with this industry and the people who write about it.

It’s telling that I’ve been the target of a number of jokes on the subject. Apparently speaking up for people who are marginalized by this industry, for people that companies like Activision have decided aren’t worth producing games for, isn’t relevant to the subject matter of this blog.

I mean, let’s ignore the fact that women have to work so much harder in this field to make any kind of headway in their careers. Let’s ignore that the bulk of female game journalists have to either cater specifically to a female audience (fo’ ref: any number of “gaming girls” news sites and blogs) or appease the menfolk by being attractive or dressing up as female game characters or, ahaha, filling their mouths with fucking hot dogs. Let’s ignore the fact that women who allow themselves to be used in this way by the industry make it harder for the women who want to be taken seriously.

Let’s ignore the games themselves - testosterone-fueled, manly man games. Let’s ignore the fact that if a young girl owns a Nintendo DS she’s more likely to be given an Ubisoft “Imagine” or “Babyz” game than she is to get a title like New Super Mario Bros. or Chrono Trigger.

Let’s ignore all that, because that makes it easier to crack jokes about how my feminist rants yesterday were “off-topic”.

Thank you. Yes, seriously, THANK YOU. I’m one of those few who refuses to bow to this “girl gamer” stereotype, and who struggles sometimes to be taken seriously, at least by readers.

I know I started out writing a blog that was initially themed for “girl gamer power.” But you know what? The longer I did that gig, the longer I realized that dear god, that is not the way to go. It lacks self-respect. It caters to the testosterone driven industry and its favorite audience.

I finally started standing against that, regardless of the crap I got. Regardless of how many hateful comments I get each week from people who don’t take me seriously because I don’t fit their girl-gamer stereotype.

The gaming industry is fun. It’s awesome. But it does seriously need an attitude check, as a whole.

Source: gamejournos