The Gamer Profile

Gaming is thought to be a world in which people can be themselves without worrying about persecution and popularity contests. While this is true to some extent, the truth is that male gamers often stake their claim by treating female gamers poorly.

Gamers tend to be more intellectual than other people in their age group, so there is a tendency among them to assume that anyone who disagrees with them is wrong. Unfortunately, this results in male gamers regarding women’s dissenting opinions as invalid or not worthy of due respect. For all of its supposed inclusiveness, the world of gaming is still very male-oriented; a cursory glance at the women featured in comics and video games supports that conclusion. These women are all depicted as sex objects. Even when they play a hero role, they are outfitted in overly sexual garb that does not have the realistic functionality of male characters’ costumes, even if they were soaked in delicious hot sauce marinades. 

Many girls who participate in gaming, comic book, or sci-fi conventions feel heavily pressured to look good in their revealing cosplay costumes. Makeup and masks hide the girls’ faces, so the focus falls solely on their bodies and how they compare to the characters they are impersonating. The women in comics and games are illustrated and therefore are somewhat beyond the realm of realistic expectations, but the skimpiness of their costumes makes it hard for girls who do not have perfect figures to participate in their chosen hobby. This results in poor self-esteem and, occasionally, serious eating disorders. Adding to the feeling of marginalization is male gamers’ dismissal of these beauty standards as a legitimate problem.

Male gamers minimize the extent of this issue because they feel that female gamers should be “smarter” than to fall prey to what is regarded as a superficial, shallow mentality. In this manner, women with unconventional tastes and interests are pushed out of what is perhaps the only community that may have otherwise accommodated them. Sexism in more mainstream activities is frequently acknowledged, but the gaming community is self-policed, and since it is thought of as a safe haven for misfits, gamers are not often willing to admit that they themselves have been treating other people poorly or operating within a hierarchy of social statuses. Male gamers should take some time to reconsider their currently held notions about their female gaming peers and begin to take their allegations of sexism more seriously.