As an avid gamer, there's a constant elephant in the room in regards to gaming that's hard to miss. Undoubtedly, the gaming industry is male-dominated. Women who play games, attempt to produce or, even worse, are in them feel like anomalies. Society's response to try and help us better fit in? Why, sexualize us, of course. That way, we'll be more palatable to the males in the industry who just can't handle the idea of a girl playing video games simply because she enjoys them. Obviously, she has to be pleasing a man, or it just doesn't make any sense. But honestly, I think that's a serious underestimation of both genders. We are in a day and age where girls and boys alike should and absolutely can be accepted as normal and integrated parts of the gaming world.
And yet, we as women keep pandering to the sexist whim being pushed on us — the idea that there is the gamer and then the "gamer girl." If you don't believe me, just search images of "gamer girl" on Google like I had the complete displeasure of doing for the title image of this article. I was personally unaware that the term "gamer" implied a gender in the first place. There is no valid reason to specify gender so directly in the gaming world, except to make a stand against the norms. I would argue, however, that our attempts to challenge such norms have now backfired against us. Guys know that we are out there. Adding your gender or, even worse, your genitalia to your screen name and picture takes away from your identity as a gamer not adds to it. In short, if a girl’s profile picture is her boobs with a controller stuck in between them and her screen name is xxgamergirl69xx, nobody’s going to be adding her on Steam to play videogames with her.
I also recently ran into the positively ridiculous and embarrassing tags #gamergirl and #girlswhogame on Instagram recently. A lot of it them are practically pornographic and what isn’t is even worse. It’s Call of Duty (COD) gameplay and selfies. Ladies, COD is not the only game in existence, and it definitely isn’t the best, so don’t restrict yourself to it! If you’re playing COD exclusively, chances are you’re doing it to “hang with the guys” or to impress the boys in the live chat who — I hate to break it to you — are usually about 12 years old. That doesn’t make you a gamer! True female gamers would love you to join us and discover what an awesome experience gaming can be but not if your actions are going to sexualize us as a whole. And if straight up shooters aren’t your thing, there are thousands of other games you can choose from. Story games, puzzle games, adventure game, and more are all out there waiting to be discovered. There are even games that play out like interactive movies where you simply decide what path the plot takes.
Also, if for some reason you feel like you have to hide your inner gamer to fit in with societal standards, that is absolutely untrue! Games are made for everybody, and playing them doesn’t make you weird or boring. That would be like criticizing girls for watching Netflix. It’s a form of entertainment, not a self-defining quality. You’re free to game without stereotypes, and it is a good way to connect with other players, regardless of gender. I’m just emphasizing that the best connections are made when you actually have a common interest in the activity. Trying to play only the games the boy you like happens to play is like only watching the shows he likes, listening to the music he listens to or supporting only the sports teams he supports. It’s silly and probably not going to turn out well. We as women are progressive about all our other pastimes and hobbies, so why not gaming, too?
I’m just saying that having an honest opinion is a lot sexier than faking it. But you shouldn’t be playing video games to try to be sexy anyway. Don’t worry about what other people are going to think of you doing something that you enjoy. There’s no need to focus on your breasts in your profile picture or your gender in the screen name. Gaming is for everybody, regardless of gender. Go play.
