Playing with privilege: the invisible benefits of gaming while male

[Ohio Joe]

Over the course of the past two years I’ve had the opportunity to serve as producer on the Tropes vs Women in Video Games web series. During that time, I have been taken aback by the intense and often abusive reaction to the project.

This backlash, along with a number of other recent high-profile harassment incidents targeting women, has highlighted sexism in the gaming community and brought the issue to wider public and media attention.

One particularly astounding theme I’ve noticed running through online discussions surrounding these incidents has been a consistent denial that there is any real problem with the way women are treated in gaming. Despite the abundance of evidence, I’ve seen many of my fellow male gamers, in comment thread after comment thread, dismiss the issue as "no big deal" and insist that everyone is essentially treated the same.

The fact that a great number of women have been speaking out about how they experience prejudice, alienation or worse on a fairly regular basis seems to hold little weight.

http://www.polygon.com/2014/4/23/5640678/playing-with-privilege-the-invisible-benefits-of-gaming-while-male

The author runs through a pretty solid list in the article that anyone reading with honesty will have to agree with. I love gaming... I'm 50 now and I've been gaming since I was a kid but there are aspects that I have always wished would mature in the industry as I've matured... Some have... Some have not... This is one that has not moved even one little bit.

It's a shame.


Note - This is a cross post from Gaming:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/12113611