Anna’s First Sexist Encounter as a Gamer Girl

Hi, everyone! I’m Anna. You may know me as GameCola’s reigning social media trash queen, the chick who likes 2064: Read Only Memories too much, or the person who really just writes a ton of blogs and shows up for podcasts nowadays. You may or may not know this, but I am very emotional when it comes to videogames. Most of what I play can be very story-heavy, like 2064, Ace Attorney, and the Blackwell series. These games have left me elated, devastated, and have almost brought me to the point of tears. I have raged on and off about some of these games (mostly on Twitter) at one point or another. They’re more than just games to me.

With that being said, I’m not big on games like Bloodborne. I don’t go out of my way to find these types of games. They may have extensive lore behind them, but the style of game is just not for me. I’ve had the pleasure of playing Bloodborne twice in my life: once on a Spring Break trip with my friends, and the other at my boyfriend’s apartment. I won’t lie; it’s still not my thing, but I did have fun playing. The second time I played, I faced what I am told is the first boss. I was recklessly button mashing, screaming that I couldn’t see a goddamn thing. In the end, with the help of my boyfriend Cam, I was able to beat it. Cam was so impressed with this that he posted about it on Reddit!

Most comments on his post were pretty nice. Some people even gave some tips on how to play better, and not just mindlessly wale on an enemy. One asshole, however, said:

LOL dude, don’t speak for females, they don’t even think in this way…women do not feel those kind of emotions when playing games…”heart pounding” indeed, hahahh! It’s just not the way women work, bro.

…

Yeah. Needless to say, I was a little taken aback by this. I responded, trying to be civil, by stating that my heart had been pounding, and that fighting any enemy in a game you’ve never played before is exciting and scary.

His response:

well in my experience girls just pretend to be interested in video games to keep the guys happy…I think it’s fine, i love the effort females go through to share a hobby with a guy but really…they don’t have the same range of emotion when it comes to gaming, they don’t get ‘into’ the game to the same extent, it’s just flashes of color on a screen for them. It’s cute, really 😀

Excuse me?

After this, Cam came back with a pretty level-headed response on why he was wrong. I came back with one that would at least keep me from being reported. My roommate made a Reddit account just to respond with “lol fuk u asshole. But also really you’re a dick. Just let people like things.”

He responded by informing us that “females” (Really, females? Fuck you.) find games to be “quaint” and that we prefer to live in the “real world” rather than in games. I will have you know that I spend most of my time trying to forget the real world, thanks.

After receiving some more less-than-kind responses from others, some of them from my fraternity sisters, he responded with one final statement:

look you can get 1 of two things….yeah if the girl actually likes gaming then it’s rare, but guess what? in that situation she will NOT be hot, she’ll be ugly or fat

but if the girl just pretends to like games and games with you then she could still be hot, since she’s just pretending to like games

i’ve dated 10 girls, and my friends who girlfriends all say the same. Basically a girl can’t be hot and like games at the same time, and if she does like games, then she aint hot

lol

Excuse me while I set my computer on fire.

In my years of being a gamer, I have been fortunate enough to be around people who understand that girl gamers are just that—gamers who happen to be female. Until now, I haven’t faced much sexism when it comes to my gaming, which is awesome! I’m lucky to have friends in real life and online who accept me.

What pisses me off most about this encounter is that this is 2017. We should be past this sexist bullshit and the hurtful comments about gamer girls. Why is this still an issue? Just because of my gender, I shouldn’t be told I don’t have the same emotional range when it comes to games because they’re not “real enough” for me.

I’ll admit that some of the comments from my friends probably weren’t the kindest, but coming back with that final comment? That hurts. I know it’s not true, and that guy is just a huge dick, but as someone who has struggled a lot with her own self-image, it hurt. It hurts because I think of all of my friends who love gaming, and are passionate about it, who are so awesome and cool being talked down to like this. I hurts because this is complete bullshit. It hurts because it’s not true, but some women and girls will believe that.

So to conclude this little rant, I want to say that women in gaming are really fucking important. Unfortunately, I don’t have the time right now to do a ton of research, but this is a good place to start. Look up these women. Look up YouTubers like PushingUpRoses, Lucahjin, MasaeAnela, or Dodger on PressHeartToContinue. Check out the women and nonbinary women on GameCola like Diana, Shannon, Robyn, Colee, Smimming, and Jenna.

While you’re at it, check out the past women of GameCola, all of whom are in the tags as well. (I’m sorry if I forgot anyone!!!)

Celebrate women in gaming. Do not belittle us.