Blog: I can’t stand “girl gamers” and I have XX chromosomes
Emily King October 15, 2011 - 9:00 amWhat’s in a name? Apparently a great deal when it comes down to “girl gamers”. Join BeefJack’s Emily King as she takes us on a lingual quest for equality, beating down ‘girls who play Black Ops just to pick up men’ in the process…
This will be one of the few times that I will draw your attention to these two obvious facts in the same sentence: I class my gender as female, and I really enjoy playing videogames. However, I don’t like discussing this hobby of mine in relation to my gender. I detest the phrase “girl gamer”, and I feel quite adversarial towards women and girls who identify themselves as such.
Obviously I’m not someone who believes that girls and women don’t play games. Blatantly plenty do: I play them. And I do feel like kicking guys in the nads when they start off on any jokes or serious talk about how the “fairer sex” doesn’t like or know how to play videogames or are mainly interested in Farmville.
Selling out
No, my issue with putting “girl” and “gamer” together to create a phrase that would – in an ideal world – cover a subculture is that we don’t live in an ideal world, and that the phrase has been hijacked by various groups to describe women and girls engaging with a hobby in a way that many don’t. Most appalling are the corporate interests that have stolen the phrase to put forward select groups of women who have above-average bodies on an aesthetic level, and who are then used to market games to boys and men.
No, these aren’t booth babes. These are women who are marketed as “girl gamers” who supposedly play games and enjoy them a great deal. They have perfect hair, teeth, cheek bones and busts and supposedly know their Wolfenstein 3D from their Dead Space. Yet in the various media channels in which these creatures exist, their commitment to a hobby will often come off as an act of cashing-in and nothing more than a facade that they put on to pull in the male punters.
And don’t get me started on the girls and women who play games such as Call of Duty: Black Ops online for the sake of picking up guys, but believe me they will be queuing up to nab Modern Warfare 3 next month. Yes, I have genuinely known of women who’ve played Black Ops for this purpose.
Of course, it’s great that these sorts of bravado-filled, male-dominated titles also have dedicated female fanbases, which is why, on the surface, the female-only clans which pop-up seem like a refreshing change. I’ll admit that if certain boys and men find out that they’re playing an online game with or against a member of the opposite gender, then they will become hostile. It shouldn’t be women’s responsibility to ensure they’re not looked down upon by others, of course – yet by closeting themselves in these gender-specific groups, these female players are further adding to the problem by allowing these boys and men to marginalise them.
But surely you can see how muddied the phrase has become? Those who say that females who play games should claim back the term frustrate me as well. Pointing out difference, which referring to gender does, is only a way of dividing people. Despite the obvious facets of sexist games and attitudes that persist within the industry itself, games can be and often are inclusive. The recent advent of Geek Girl Con has only further increased my ire at the idea that women and girls need to identify themselves separately from men when it comes to videogames and other – traditionally – male dominated hobbies.
No logic
Boys and men don’t say they’re “guy gamers”. Sure, the image of guys playing videogames is considered normal in many societies, and marginalised groups tend to band together: it’s simple sociology. Yet surely if girls and women want it to be considered normal for them to play games, then we shouldn’t be drawing attention to an aspect that marks us out as different from half of the world’s population. The logic behind the label just doesn’t gel with me, as it denormalises the hobby further.
I understand that gender issues seep into every element of society. Gender is everywhere, and it’s an inescapable fact that sexism, while much less prevelant, still exists. But I wish we could stop being so obsessed with gender. It’s only leading to more divisions in what should otherwise be a vibrant global community that treats its members equally. In the 21st Century there is no need to call up on something that makes people pay attention to differences that don’t mean a damn.
In fact, even the term “gamer” divides and denormalises a hobby that so many people are enjoying that the label needs to be scrapped. Playing games is no longer a subculture. It’s mainstream, like rock-and-roll has been for the past 50 years.
Comments (8)
All of that. Thank you. ._.
While I agree that Girl Gamers who are purely cosmetic are irritating, I find it hard to believe that there are any girls who play an online game purely to pick up guys (Considering the chances of running into a guy who a) Isn’t an ass online and b) lives anywhere near the girl. Now for attention I’d believe that.
However this site made the rounds a little while ago but I think its worth linking again just to demonstrate how bad some of comments girls receive is
http://www.fatuglyorslutty.com/
I recognize that picture of “girl gamers” you used – it’s of the Frag Dolls, who are essentially a marketing team for Ubisoft. Though it’s true that they’re still marketed as “girl gamers” by the company, recently they’ve been more transparent about their affiliation with the company. Their job is basically to promote Ubisoft games through social media and at gaming events.
While I agree that the separation of “girl gamers” and “guy gamers” is less than productive, girl gamers have long been a repressed demographic that’s only recently become more visible. To counteract bias/repression, it’s natural that they’d want to do something to separate themselves from the stereotypical image of the “average gamer” (ex: virginal overweight dude living in parents basement). I think that’s the main catalyst for this “Girl Gamer Movement” that’s promoted so much controversy on both sides.
And yes, there are a lot of girls that use this movement just to get attention from guys – that’s just the reality of it. It’s unfortunate, but the best thing to do is ignore them if they frustrate you. In high school, there were girls who hung out at sports games in skimpy clothing to catch the attention of athletes – do you think they really enjoyed watching sports?
My point is, the gender division is unfortunate, but it’s not going anywhere. We can’t get the girl gamers to stop segregating themselves, since they feel pressured to create an identity for themselves. Also, girls still get a lot of shit from guys, as the previous poster pointed out (http://www.fatuglyorslutty.com). This type of treatment is one of the reasons why there’s a division in the first place.
There’s no doubt that some of the treatment female gamers get is tremendously unsettling (and living with a female games journalist, I’ve heard a lot of stories!). The gender divisions are unfortunate. They need to go, and I think we need to find ways of breaking them down. People who are in minority groups will always band together, that’s just how things work. So it’s not as simple as “Stop calling yourself girl gamers” because… well, why should you stop calling yourselves that? The gender seeks to carve its own identity within gaming, because otherwise it gets lost in a sea of blokes, some of whom will take issue to the women being there in the first place.
As for a solution, though? I just don’t know.
top saying girls are crappy at games
but the guys are fun to fight a lot of the girls i play suck…
i do wish i could meet more girls on my co op games girls do think befor they act hehehe most of the time.
in my eyes girls are better at guy video games well you know what i mean” like halo and black ops” idk its my op. not yours i do perfer to play with guy gamers not to like pick them up its just sad when people do that i just think there funner to play with them because i havent met a lot of girl gamers who are really good i dont know why i wish more girls would play because the guys at best buy are like wow you play that WOW its fun to see there faces i just wish it wasnt a shock “it is fun i feel proud of me self to be diffrent” ^-^
Yeah that pisses me off too. I don’t know if you read PA, but Tycho’s response to “Gamer Grub” seems apropos: we’re not some Morlock-ish subset of freaks who have different drives and needs from other people. If movies were marketed to me on the basis that there’s this big group of suspiciously picturesque females who like the movies I like I’d frankly just feel pissed off.
For some reason a genre which self-defines as enlightened and futurist is equally a bastion for backward-thinking stereotypes, hideous misogyny, and severe homophobia.
Well fuck it. I don’t play multiplayer much anyway.
Hey i just read this article and have been thinking it over. i am going to put this from a teen age guys point of view. yes the phrase girl gamers is a form of sepration, but is it really that big could it be that it has no other meaing but to let you no the gamer is a girl.i relize its not needed
because girls can play to but when you here the word gamer i am 99.999 sure that you think of a male because the fact is most gamers are male.
and i think this because at least when i have play a game and ask a girl to play the answer is no{i have asked many girls this question}. its just its a male domnated thing and in our society{american} a women and sometimes men to are labled as weird and a geek by your average male and female. in the percent of gamers in the word give me an estimate percentege of female gamers please. i hate to break it to you just like rasicm is despised but isnt going any where the same goes for this sexism issue. ps.just my opinion