mechabecca

I, like many female identified folks, was initially put off playing video games when I was a child. I had a friend who loved to play Mario Kart on his Nintendo 64 when I was eight, and we spent long hours duking it out until, through the gradual processes of gender socialization, I came to believe that gaming and gaming culture was not “girl territory.” It was considered a masculine trait to have interest in games, and the games my friends began to have interest in such as Mortal Kombat made me feel uncomfortable, although I didn’t have the language to describe it yet.

I didn’t pick up a controller again until I was 22. By then, I had identified as a feminist for a while and was beginning to unpack the issues I had with gaming culture as I knew it. After witnessing the rampant homophobia, misogyny, racism, and sexism on MMO (Massive Multiplayer Online) chat rooms and seeing the horrifying response to Anita Sarkeesian’s proposed documentary, “Tropes and Women in Video Games,” wherein she received rape threats, death threats, and other slanderous remarks, I have come to understand how large of a backlash the gaming community is looking at as a whole. Images of female identified folks as hypersexualized, faceless, helpless, and docile are so common in games, especially popular games such as Grand Theft Auto and the new hit Max Payne 3, those that benefit by these portrayals are bound ...