Feminism in Gaming

If you've been following Gamergate, you'll know that part of the contention has to do with feminism in gaming. The anti-Gamergate side will tell you that Gamergate opposes ALL feminism in gaming, and seeks to become some sort of cultural gatekeeper that keeps all progressive thought out of gaming culture. The pro-Gamergate side, which I proudly ascribe myself to, claims to oppose authoritarian feminism, claiming that many "feminist" critics seek to become authoritarian figures in gaming culture, to create games with strong political agendas, and dictate how developers ought to make their games. I am not here to argue which side is correct, as I am too biased to do so objectively. But I would like to ask this: why are gamers opposed to feminism?

First, we need to define feminism. Consulting the Miriam Webster dictionary gives us two definitions:

1. The theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes.
2. Organized activity on behalf of women's rights and interests.

I like to divide the feminist movement in four different waves. The first wave, "Wave Zero", is what I like to call "proto feminism". This is what one could consider feminism, appearing before the nineteenth century. During this time, women were already making marks in literature and politics, with several literary works already questioning women's roles in society. Amongs the most well known of these works are Marie de France's "Lanval", a Lai that subverts gender roles by making the man the Distressed "Damsel" in need of rescue and the woman the rescuer, along with making the main villain a female with strong political power. From the nineteenth century to the early 1920's we have the First Wave of feminism, which concerned itself with women's political rights, mainly the right to vote. From the 1940's and onward, we have the Second Wave of feminism, which concerns itself with women's right to choice, mainly in education, marriage, and even pregnancy, while also concerning itself with women's rights to work and be paid a fair wage equal to that of men. And now in the New Millenium we have the Third Wave of feminism, which concerns itself with gender roles, while continuing the social and economic struggles of Second Wave feminism.

In gaming culture, Third Wave feminism concerns itself with a few issues: women's roles in gaming, women's positions in gaming culture, and women's roles in the gaming industry. Many feminists hold that gaming culture is hostile towards women, that women are disadvantaged in the gaming industry, and that far too many video games treat women harshly and unfairly. Are they right?

It's been estimated that at least 48% of gamers are women, and many women are rather prominent faces in gaming culture. What I mean is, there are very many women who are well known AND RESPECTED in gaming culture. Some examples include famed League of Legends player and Youtube vlogger LillyPichu, professional cosplay models Jessica Nigri and Yaya Han, and of course game developers like Rieko Kodama, creator of the Phantasy Star franchise, and Roberta Williams, founder of Sierra Games. So it is unquestionable that women play a large and substantial role in video game culture.

So the question becomes, why are gamers hostile towards feminism in gaming? Actually, I think the better question would be "why do people THINK gamers are hostile towards feminism?" The answer to this question is not easy to give, and even harder for many to hear.

Who is the most prominent feminist video game critic? Liana Kerzner? Morgan Webb? Nope, it's Anita Sarkeesian. The story of Anita Sarkeesian is that she announced her intention to start a new web series called "Tropes vs Women in Gaming", a web series that purports to look at the way gender roles play a part in gaming, and how these roles are unfair towards women. No sooner did she announce this new series, she was flooded with hate mail, ranging from people calling her a cunt, to death threats. Anita Sarkeesian and her crew, Feminist Frequency, asked for six thousand dollars, and instead got 158 thousand. Other prominent voices for feminism in gaming include Adam Sessler, famed television personality for the defunct G4 Network, which catered to gamers and gaming culture; Leigh Alexander, former editor-in-chief of Gamasutra, one of the biggest video game journalism sites on the web, among many, many others.

Opposition to Anita Sarkeesian, then, would seem to be an attempt to silence her, to deny her the right to  Freedom of Speech. Here was this one woman of color (she's Armenian, I hear) who is voicing her perspective that women are treated unfairly in and by gaming culture, and many immature, dangerous men tried to silence her into submission. It is true that there are many undesirables in gaming culture that belong in a mental war, I will admit that. The notion that Sarkeesian received a lot of vitriol for her announcement is PART of the truth, the part the gaming press, and eventually the mainstream press, wanted people to believe. Here comes the inconvenient part of the truth:

1. Many male gamers willingly and happily contributed to her video series.
2. When her web series started, the voices who dared to criticize her theses received a LOT of angry vitriol from feminists and defenders of Sarkeesian. I know because I was on the receiving end of this vitriol for daring to defend Princess Peach. This fact is, "oddly", glossed over at best whenever the press discusses Sarkeesian.
3. Many of Sarkeesian's detractors and critics are women, including famed Youtube vlogger KiteTales, Men's Rights Activist Karen Straughan, adult film actress Mercedes Carrera, and famed games journalist Liana Kerzner. Again, this is, at best, glossed over when the media discusses Tropes vs Women in Gaming, preferring to focus on the white, male critics who spout nothing but hate towards Sarkeesian.
4. Much of the critique aimed at Sarkeesian and her web series comes from gamers who point out errors, inconsistencies, and outright fabrications in her videos. This fact is also acknowledged, but either glossed over or outright dismissed.
5. When various gamers and non gamers presented proof that Sarkeesian had stolen footage and artwork for her series, these claims were ignored by various online publications like Kotaku, which continued to defend Sarkeesian's web series.

The validity of Sarkeesian's arguments, however, is not erased by her actions or by her person. This is something that needs to be stressed, and can never be stressed enough. However, it must also be acknowledged that Sarkeesian's refusal to allow comments on her videos, to acknowledge her female critics, and her horrid history of video releases (in the three years since she presented the Kickstarter for her web series, Sarkeesian has released only six videos of a promised 12 video series, and three of those are just one video split into three parts) greatly debilitates her credibility as a voice for women in gaming.

And of course, there are several other women AND men who give feminism in gaming and geek culture a terrible name: Zoe Quinn, Brianna Wu, Leigh Alexander, Arthur Chu, Harris O'Malley (Dr Nerdlove), Johnathan McIntosh, the list goes on and on. The actions of these people, ranging from gross and unprofessional conduct both on and off the clock (Alexander), to bullying (Wu and Chu), to outright despicable behavior (Quinn and Chu). But again, an argument's validity ought not be influenced by who makes the argument.

But many feminists make horrid arguments anyway. An example would be complaining that Grand Theft Auto is misogynistic because it allows violence against women. This argument ignores the fact that, in GTA, you can be equally violent against men AND women. There are also several arguments that, when broken down, seem downright misogynistic as well. An example would be the "realistic body types" campaign from a few weeks ago, where several famous video game characters were re-made with "realistic" bodies. In other words, they were made to be fat. What should have been a great argument (video games under represent several body types as positively as they could) was instead worded in a way that was deplorable (only fat women are real women; skinny, athletic, fit women aren't real). This is called "body shaming", and it is deplorable no matter if it's done to a woman with some chub on her, a woman with a six pack, or a woman with an A cup or a DD.

Feminists have some very valid arguments for gaming: why aren't there more AAA games that star women? Why are so many consumers against buying a video game if it has a female character on the cover? Why can't more games cater to women, or have women be their intended audience? Why aren't plus sized body types more present in gaming? Why aren't there more LGBT characters in gaming? Why aren't more women taking STEM courses? Why aren't there more women involved in making games? And so forth.

But this message is hard to get across for two big reasons. First off, many feminists (NOT ALL) in gaming are more of a negative presence than they'd care to admit. And second, because many (NOT ALL) gamers are the misogynist assholes feminists accuse them to be. That's not to say that there are no feminists who can be a positive presence in gaming; after all, there are many, many different ways to be a feminist. And of course, it goes without saying that most gamers are liberally minded, and do not care that a woman has a different perspective to gaming; they will judge the idea on its own merits. At least, I do hope so.

So, why are gamers so against feminism? Yes, there are gamers that decry and oppose feminism in all its forms, but they do so for various reasons. Sure, some are just misogynists, but there are also those that oppose the authoritarianism found in much of 3rd Wave feminism's rhetoric. Some oppose the anti-sex body shaming that many feminists exhibit towards female video game characters. Many are those who oppose how feminism erases dissenting women's voices. Opposition to feminism is often more opposition to feminists, towards the people who claim to hold the idea, instead of the idea itself.

Very often an idea becomes tainted because of the people holding it or employing it. Feminism says "men and women are equals", but it is feminists who say things like "kill all men" and "die cis scum". That's the important difference right there, but a feminist can make it seem like feminism is what says "kill all men." When you have enough feminists repeating the same toxic idea with enough frequency, the toxic idea becomes a part of the larger movement, intentionally or not.

For this reason it becomes important for feminists to decry and exile the people who prove themselves to be toxic to their movement. In gaming, too many feminists present themselves, and by extension their entire movement, as being in opposition to gaming culture. "We're here to change that thing you love in accordance to OUR standards!" It is important for ALL feminists to understand that this is the impression they give gamers; likewise it is important to understand that most vocal feminists do nothing but strengthen this impression.

But the thing is, feminism isn't supposed to be in opposition to gaming culture; rather, it's supposed to bring more balance and equality between men and women. It's the feminists who turned their ideology into this confrontational, authoritarian political theory that goes against what is, at its core, a very libertarian, meritocratic culture. Ours is a culture where respect is earned, where a developer can make whatever they want but we hold our right to not reward their effort if we deem it insufficient. Gaming is one of the most meritocratic cultures to have ever existed, one where your skill, and ONLY your skill, decides what you're worth. Doesn't matter if you're a man or a woman, rich or poor, black or white, straight or gay, cis or trans; when you're a gamer, you show your skills and that's that. We're what feminism has dreamed of since its inception.