Sexism in Gaming: The Documentary

EDIT: I am not here to argue about GamerGate in this particular post and I have no intentions of debating the issue here so don't waste your time. This post is just to let everyone know about the awesome project I am working on with several other gamers and see if any female gamers on the forum want to add their own experiences to the project.

Move over Anita Sarkeesian, I am about to show you how it's done. ;O)

Rather than link to my blogpost about my documentary, I will just repost what I said here. Oh and this is the more "friendly" edited version of my post. LOL

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I’m about to give the #GamerGate hornet’s nest a swift kick.

I really should have done this back when GamerGate first started but I actually decided to stay out of most of the controversy. But GamerGate just kept poking the hibernating bear with a stick by continuing the attacks on female gamers and promoting this idea that we are somehow trying to ruin gaming even though we are gamers ourselves. Then I reached the limit of my patience when they started attacking one of my friends recently.

Anyway, I was talking to my team and a few other people on Vent last night while we were trying to login in on H1Z1 and I told them about my latest idea. I knew that directly attacking #GamerGate would probably create a backlash and I was concerned that some of it may affect my teammates and friends so I decided to let them know my plan and get their opinions. The support was unanimous so sit back and watch the chaos ensue in the coming months.

I am going to do something that will surely enrage a certain misogynistic segment of the gaming community to a level never seen before…. Which is saying a lot considering my history of making them angry. My “Sexism in Gaming” blog/forum posts have stirred up that hornet’s nest several times in the past and I received plenty of support and hatred each time. Now I have decided to build on those posts with my own little YouTube documentary about the topic. Yes, I know Anita Sarkeesian already did something similar but my video will be a bit more complete than what she created. I respect what she was trying to do but I feel this is something that needs to be done by someone with an extensive history in gaming.

Anyway, I will have several advantages over Anita in this endeavor. One such advantage is that people won’t be able to say my opinion doesn’t matter because I am not a gamer. ;O) I have now played over 200 games, including 33 multiplayer FPS games, 147 single-player games, 7 MMOs, etc… I am also not going to be doing any type of crowd-funding campaign so no one can falsely accuse me of just trying to get money. Everyone who is involved in the production of this documentary will be volunteers and all expenses will be paid for by myself and Estrogen Elite. I don’t want or need a singly penny for this video. I am doing it because it needs to be done.

Last but certainly not least, I can’t be intimidated. I have been dealing with every kind of threat imaginable over the years and I will NOT back down. I have received more than my share of harassment and threats over the years but I can’t be scared into leaving my house or being silent. Actually, the threats and harassment have the opposite effect on me. ;O) I have already been threatened with death, rape and physical violence. I was also “doxxed” long before it was even called that. I have had people harass me for years, even when I was a kid. In fact, if you can think of some horrible way to harass or attack someone online, it most likely happened to me multiple times already. Nothing new here for me to see. LOL

This will be a full length documentary, around 2 hours, with a 40-45 minute bonus video specifically about #GamerGate and will address all of their nonsense. Sarah and EOTL will be helping with the script and editing.

Here is what you can expect from my documentary:

#1. I will discuss the sexism in the gaming community. I will include almost endless examples from my own experiences and those of many female players from various games. Brootal, Envee, wooks, Jillybean and Vesta are already on board and there will be MANY more. We will have both casual and competitive gamers involved in the project. This will be the largest part of the video.

#2. I will discuss the sexism we see in many of the games. This section will be far more comprehensive than Sarkeesian’s video and it will be quite damning.

#3. Finally, I will discuss the sexism in the industry itself. Meaning the problems pointed out by many women in various parts of the gaming industry, from developers to publishers and even journalists. I will include many stories and quotes but I also plan to interview some of the women involved in the industry.

#4. It will be released for free on several YouTube channels.

The second part of my attack on #GamerGate will be a website/community I plan to create to help fight against the sexism in gaming problem and GamerGate. You are all welcome to become involved in it if you choose but I will understand if some people don’t want to because of all the crap you will most likely have to deal with as a result.

This is going to be interesting watching them try to figure out how to deal with someone like me, who just doesn't care what they say or do.

They are not dealing with Anita Sarkeesian.

They are not dealing with Brianna Wu.

They are not dealing with Zoe Quinn.

They are now dealing with someone who has heard all the threats, name-calling and every other tactic a million times before GamerGate came along. They can’t scare me into leaving my house. They can’t intimidate me in any way. There is nothing they can do that will have even the slightest effect on me. The hornet’s nest idiom is appropriate because I view these people as a bunch of insects buzzing around me. Except these little bees have no stingers so they can’t actually do any damage to me. All they can do is make noise and be a minor annoyance… at least until I squash them.

That’s right, the hibernating bear is awake now and she is hungry. ;O)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

TLDR Summary: I am now involved in a project that will examine the issue of sexism in gaming in a far more comprehensive way than most of the videos about the subject. And most of the arguments used against people like Anita Sarkeesian will be completely invalid against me.

* Paying for the entire project myself - Check.

* Extensive history in gaming - Check.

Anyway, if any other female gamers on here want to be in the documentary and share their own experiences, feel free to let me know.

@hailtothequeen: that's one hell of a project. I'm not a female, but I'm down for this documentary. Seems like a great way to get the perspective of people who actually have been gaming for a while. This has my full support.

Thanks for the support! Yeah, this will be the most ambitious project I have ever been involved in and I'm pretty excited about it. I'll be keeping you guys updated on the project in the weeks to come. Right now we are contacting people to see who is interested in being involved.

If you can truly present a non-biased argument (unlike Anita), then I'm all for it.

Meaning that I have to lie and say that sexism in gaming doesn't exist or try downplay it? Sorry, that isn't happening. But what I am going to do is present overwhelming evidence that will be hard to argue against.

Sounds awesome, you have my support. Please keep us updated. I think it's great to get some insight in what type of games you female gamers enjoy the most and what you dislike when it comes to gaming in general. I have a 5 year old daughter who loves videogames so i might learn a thing or two from you. Good luck with your project:)

@hailtothequeen: if you need help with research, I'm game. I have a large game library as well, and am in need of something to keep me busy inbetween school and getting enlisted in the Air Force.

When I mean non-biased, I mean exactly that. Don't target and try to twist a game's intent around like Anita did with Hitman, for example.

An unbiased study clearly isn't happening either based on that attitude lol

This is already a fail

Sounds good, but please do remain true to facts. I find that most arguments about sexism in videogames involve in little substance. It seems more towards a matter of perspective rather than actual sexism. Case in point: A video game cover shows a Female in the boxart with clothes that can be considered sexy wear: sexist--because it shows a female in sexy wear promoting her as a sex icon. A video game cover shows a male with no shirt on revealing his masculinity--not sexist and no one gives two shits about it. As I have stated, a matter of perspective. I truly do not believe that it is neither sexist or non-sexist(?) but rather a marketing ploy to sell games. In fact, arguing that both cases are sexist towards both genders would be the better choice as both genders are being exploited for their sexuality (attractive female, strong cool male), but yet, I have seen nothing but only feminist movements. A very one-sided and close-minded response. The fact is, no gender has actually been discriminated against. I have not seen any evidence of either gender that one is less value than the other.

If you are to argue for sexism in video-games--I would rather you not. We've seen enough in media formats to know and understand that the male gender dominates. Comics? Male superheroes plenty over females. Movies? Males usually the lead and save the female. Music? Rappers are male dominated. Etc etc. We've even reached the point in where a movie such as (ahem) Frozen is called different and of a different caliber simply because it does not follow the same cliched genre of Males being princes and saving the girl. (good movie--putting it out there) So no, I do not believe that arguing for sexism inside the video game format is something that you would need to do. If we are to argue for just video games then we are keeping our minds and the scope of this "sexism" movement too small. Why are videogames singled out? It shouldn't be.

Now if you are to argue about sexism in the business of video games, that is a different beast all together. This is something worth investigating into. Are females really discriminated against in the business? Are companies more likely to hire a male over a female because they believe the female is not able to do the job simply because of gender? Are females being given smaller roles in the company? Are they less likely to be promoted? Are their wages likely less that that of an male counter-part because of their gender? Etc, etc.

So please, if you can, argue with facts and substance.

Bias isn't a bad thing. It's when you twist facts to fit your bias that it's bad.

You shouldn't spread lies just to be more neutral.

No, it does not mean you have to lie. But i see now in your response to JustPlainLucas what kind of documentary you will make, it will be another Feminist Freq. Clone and just another white women who had a privileged upbringing wanting to make a quick buck.

That is always awesome to hear. Be sure that she doesn't let anyone chase her away from gaming or tell her that she can't be as good as anyone else. I'm not really sure that there is a specific type of game female gamers as a whole enjoy the most. MMORPGs seem to be the biggest one according to statistics but we are also catching up in my favorite genre, FPS games.

Oh I'm sure you will be able to help with something. Right now we are just getting started so I am not sure exactly what we will need but I will be making frequent updates about the project on my blog. I'll probably have a better idea of what you could do in a week or so.

That isn't even needed. Everything will be shown in its full context.

Unbiased study? I never claimed it would be anything of the sort. Its a documentary from the perspective of women in the community and industry who have dealt with the sexism so of course it's biased. Much like how you most likely think sexism isn't a problem because you don't personally have to deal with it. However, there will be a lot of statistics and facts included to support our view.

Exactly. And I won't need to twist any facts. They will pretty much speak for themselves.

Again, I am not going to debate this issue in THIS thread. It exists only to discuss the documentary itself and see if anyone wants to get involved. Save the debate for the other threads.

But I will say one thing...

"The fact is, no gender has actually been discriminated against. I have not seen any evidence of either gender that one is less value than the other."

Wow... And that is the crux of the problem. You think it doesn't exist because you don't personally experience it or its not sexism from your perspective. You need to learn to put yourself in someone else's shoes.

I'm sorry, it seemed like you had a keyboard spasm. I'm not exactly sure what you're saying.

What did you have a hard time understanding? That TS is going to make another video like Anita´s and ABC´s? or that her perception of sexisme and most peoples is because they come from a white privileged background or grew up with parents that made them think that the world is all about them and no one else..

No, it's just a grammatical nightmare with no punctuation, and you truncated my name as well. Wasn't sure if you were addressing me or her. Sorry, don't take it as an insult. It just seemed like someone else other than you wrote that reply.

Ahh ok.

Ya it went a bit fast with that one.

Great! I see no reason there can't be a legit discussion about addressing any sexist shit that does occur as well as bringing journalism up to an acceptable standard. I support it.

@hailtothequeen:

I am going to respond to you anyways

"I really should have done this back when GamerGate first started but I actually decided to stay out of most of the controversy. But GamerGate just kept poking the hibernating bear with a stick by continuing the attacks on female gamers and promoting this idea that we are somehow trying to ruin gaming even though we are gamers ourselves. Then I reached the limit of my patience when they started attacking one of my friends recently."

Don't use women as a shield when they are in the movement and male gamers get attacked just as much

Here is another one

"Anyway, I was talking to my team and a few other people on Vent last night while we were trying to login in on H1Z1 and I told them about my latest idea. I knew that directly attacking #GamerGate would probably create a backlash and I was concerned that some of it may affect my teammates and friends so I decided to let them know my plan and get their opinions. The support was unanimous so sit back and watch the chaos ensue in the coming months."

Why would attacking GG create a backlash? We're only going to criticize you if it's stupid.

"I am going to do something that will surely enrage a certain misogynistic segment of the gaming community to a level never seen before…. Which is saying a lot considering my history of making them angry. My “Sexism in Gaming” blog/forum posts have stirred up that hornet’s nest several times in the past and I received plenty of support and hatred each time. Now I have decided to build on those posts with my own little YouTube documentary about the topic. Yes, I know Anita Sarkeesian already did something similar but my video will be a bit more complete than what she created. I respect what she was trying to do but I feel this is something that needs to be done by someone with an extensive history in gaming."

Give me proof i am a misogynistic bastard? Please go look at my streams? Hell come into my streams, people are not treating anyone bad... This is also subjective, how is this anything to do with GG? So you go out of your way to make people angry? You do know there's a mute button online right? I've done it loads of times when people call me ******, virgin, that i have a tiny penis, fat, lonely, etc. I've been in the beginning of GG, and i've not even heard of your blog post... Could you please link me? So you've not recieved any valid criticism? How do you know that all these people are in the GG consumer revolt and not just trolls? Anita Sarkeesian has lied and no used any valid sources in her videos

"Anyway, I will have several advantages over Anita in this endeavor. One such advantage is that people won’t be able to say my opinion doesn’t matter because I am not a gamer. ;O) I have now played over 200 games, including 33 multiplayer FPS games, 147 single-player games, 7 MMOs, etc… I am also not going to be doing any type of crowd-funding campaign so no one can falsely accuse me of just trying to get money. Everyone who is involved in the production of this documentary will be volunteers and all expenses will be paid for by myself and Estrogen Elite. I don’t want or need a singly penny for this video. I am doing it because it needs to be done."

Alright, i am expecting you to use credible sources compared to her. You don't need to be a gamer to be able to actually use facts. Good, let's see what you come up with

"Last but certainly not least, I can’t be intimidated. I have been dealing with every kind of threat imaginable over the years and I will NOT back down. I have received more than my share of harassment and threats over the years but I can’t be scared into leaving my house or being silent. Actually, the threats and harassment have the opposite effect on me. ;O) I have already been threatened with death, rape and physical violence. I was also “doxxed” long before it was even called that. I have had people harass me for years, even when I was a kid. In fact, if you can think of some horrible way to harass or attack someone online, it most likely happened to me multiple times already. Nothing new here for me to see. LOL"

i've also been threatened over the years, i was doxxed aswell not too long ago. Anyone going after you is an idiot, but i would also like to see your claims if that is possible. So have i. I've also been threatened with most crap. But it is terrible. Report them to the authority and ignore them.

"#1. I will discuss the sexism in the gaming community. I will include almost endless examples from my own experiences and those of many female players from various games. Brootal, Envee, wooks, Jillybean and Vesta are already on board and there will be MANY more. We will have both casual and competitive gamers involved in the project. This will be the largest part of the video."

What? If it is legit sexism, i would like to see that. Gaming is mostly competative. If you have played games, you know this. Most males trash talk to get other players of their game. I even do that with my friends. Females also have a lower barrier to get offended. That's just how it is. Now i don't think females can't handle it, but females get offended easier compared to men. That's not sexist in any way, women are just more emotional compared to men. But if this is legit, then i am glad this is getting made.

"#2. I will discuss the sexism we see in many of the games. This section will be far more comprehensive than Sarkeesian’s video and it will be quite damning."

You do know video games are art right? Art reflects reality

Games, gamers or GamerGate is not sexist. As i said, if it's legit, then good.

"#3. Finally, I will discuss the sexism in the industry itself. Meaning the problems pointed out by many women in various parts of the gaming industry, from developers to publishers and even journalists. I will include many stories and quotes but I also plan to interview some of the women involved in the industry."

I am sure there are instances of sexism in the industry, but it's not exclusive to gaming. Again, if it's legit, then fine.

"The second part of my attack on #GamerGate will be a website/community I plan to create to help fight against the sexism in gaming problem and GamerGate. You are all welcome to become involved in it if you choose but I will understand if some people don’t want to because of all the crap you will most likely have to deal with as a result."

Why is it an attack? Why aren't you just criticizing it? Please show me proof of sexism from gamerGate itself. Pretty please.

"They are now dealing with someone who has heard all the threats, name-calling and every other tactic a million times before GamerGate came along. They can’t scare me into leaving my house. They can’t intimidate me in any way. There is nothing they can do that will have even the slightest effect on me. The hornet’s nest idiom is appropriate because I view these people as a bunch of insects buzzing around me. Except these little bees have no stingers so they can’t actually do any damage to me. All they can do is make noise and be a minor annoyance… at least until I squash them."

So this means it was there before GG, so why is GG responsible for all of this then? It's good that no one can threaten you to do something you don't want to.

"1# I'll discuss sexism in gaming"

It's not like I was expecting more from a feminist, you know.

Here, let me help you:

Before you discuss sexism in gaming, you have to PROVE that the video game industry is SEXIST as you claim it is, otherwise you're just as illegitimate as Anita and there's absolutely no reason we should stand for even more frauds who take advantage of the victims of instances of sexism in the video game industry to make a quick buck, because saying that you'll make no money from releasing a video on youtube is simply a lie.

Secondly, video games are not sexist because noone has ever proven that video games are sexist. Saying that you'll discuss this non-existent sexism is illegitimate because you have no basis of proof of this sexism.

Thirdly, instead of proving what kind of sexism, where, how, when, why and by whom you've instead used the basis of unverified anecdotal martyrdom and how abused you got from people you don't mention or give details where and when. EXACTLY like Anita.

Furthermore, people from GG have no connection to abusing people. You are again recalling your self-proclaimed victimhood to make whatever claim you want to make.

How your blog shilling isn't automatically classified a big turd by anyone with the least amount of critical thinking is beyond me.

You are ABSOLUTELY like the feminists you claim you are not and I'm not even going to wait for you to classify my post as "threats, sexism, bigotry" or whatever you wish, it's not like any of your other claims are verified in the LEAST.

Stand on the emotional abuse of female victims like the rest of your "colleagues" have done, claim moral highground, assume sexism and martyrdom, label the opposition misogynists and sexists and further divide the community for a quick buck. Good job.

You should be ashamed of yourself.

The GamersGate community is well known for attacking others with different opinions. Look at the posts in this thread. She hasn't even made the documentary and already people are somehow offended.

Sigh

As I already said, I am NOT debating the GG issue in THIS thread. This is only to discuss the documentary. And fyi, all of those GamerGate arguments you just made will be addressed in the bonus video which will dismantle all of their most common claims.

Yeah, its hilarious that the "Rage Machine" is already at 100% outrage and I haven't even STARTED on the video yet. I'm guessing we will see a gaming apocalypse when I actually release it. LOL

Can I just suggest you tone down your confidence a bit? Not saying you don't have a point to prove, but your attitude's coming off a bit arrogant. If you want a serious audience, then you're going to need to up your professionalism. You spout off about "Rage Machines" and kicking GG hornets nests and all that jazz, and then wonder why you're getting the kinds of responses you're getting. Just... let the project speak for itself.

Mod Note: Topic deleted by mistake.

With that in mind, please try to stay on topic and converse in a civil manner going forward. Thank you.

I second this.

Same. This will be a colossal failure if it ends up being the typical liberal fringe agenda disguised as something else.

I kinda wondered about that.

To be fair, has anyone proven videogames do not contain sexist representations? According to your logic, you can't claim videogames aren't sexist, because that also hasn't been proven yet (unless it has, in which case I would like to see a link). And what definition of sexism are we talking about? Sexism is one of those things that is fairly difficult to measure. It's not like behaviour or physical responses. It is often something that is interpreted and interpretation can always be questioned.

When you address sexism in games are you going to focus exclusively on sexist attitude towards women or are you going to try and be fair and include the sexism towards men as well?

I don't know much(nor do I really care) about all the drama that goes on inside the industry but I am getting tired of everyone mentioning sexist depicitions of women without ever mentioning the enormous amounts of sexist depictions of men.

The problem is that there are huge divides in what 'sexist' entails especially by academics and activists.

It appears that the fringe group who oppose GamerGate are filled with sex negative feminists who believe any time female is looked upon by a man it's sexist.

By contrast the GamerGate contains many Equity Feminists who have a 'live and let live' policy and therefore think its great as long as the woman chooses to participate because then she's making the choice and there is no sexism at all.

I'm not entirely sure I understand your last phrase. What is there to participate when it comes to a depiction...? If a woman (or a man for that matter) chooses to participate in playing videogames, does that mean they don't mind the way their gender is depicted in said videogames; does it stop these depictions from being considered sexist? And again, what definition of sexism are these equity feminists using (or the people who are playing these videogames)? As you suggest and as I said, the term allows for interpretation and debate. Anyway, I was merely questioning kakamoura's reasoning, not necessarily his claim (although you could say I question his claim indirectly, based on his reasoning).

I'm not an opponent of the 'live and let live' ideal, but it's also just that, an ideal. It is called into question the moment any desired way of life starts interfering with another desired way of life.

There is a difference between criticism and attacking...

How can you criticise it when you know nothing about it? Baseless criticism is attacking.

If you want to criticise her work why not think of something constructive rather than assuming it will be bad because she's a female who disagrees with you? How do you know how it will turn out? Maybe you would agree with her and change your views, is that what you're scared of?

A more accurate way of putting that would be both genders are discriminated in different ways. How about i just tell you the same thing? Since you are not a male, you don't know what you are talking about and thus are not in position to say one gender is more or less valued than another. Men face plenty of sexism everyday through there life and women do enjoy various types of special treatment. Most notably the ability to easily gather sympathy and support for whatever complaint they have which in turn automatically perpetuates the illusion of women being disadvantaged in the first place. Or at least to a greater degree than reality anyway.

Basically, the reason you're allowed to make a statement like that and have it appear to make sense is simply because people are more inclined to pay attention and listen to the grievances of women far quicker than they would men. Otherwise if we just apply basic logic, your statement about "someone else's shoes" should apply to you the same way.

So we're only going to listen and believe? We want this to have facts and evidence not just baseless accusations. We've seen this before, it's valid criticism.

We wanting it to be good is not bad...

And thinking it's going to be nothing but baseless accusations is a baseless accusation. It's not valid criticism. Just because one woman made a crap series about sexism that doesn't mean all things made by women are going to be crap as well. There is a chance that this documentary might be good and thought provoking. Maybe it will turn out crap but you can't assume it will be crap just because the creator is a female and opposes sexism.

From what I understand of these two branches:

Gender feminist - Softcore pornography is bad because it services the need of a classical male audience who are using this to reinforce a patriarchal society in which women are objects. Therefore this degrades females and is sexist.

Equity Feminist - If a woman chooses to engage in softcore pornography as a career path and states she enjoys the career, this is no more sexist than a woman choosing to be a CEO or a housewife. It's sexist and degrading to override the choice of a woman in how she wishes to live.

It's why I support the OP's initiative, if there are people who are targetting her for being a woman then good for her for exposing it.

Ok, well, that's totally fine, of course, but that's all beside my initial point. Oh well, my initial point wasn't on topic anyway, so never mind.

I agree with this. I have seen people on both sides express a level of arrogant and aggressive confidence that serves no purpose whatsoever. I realise that it's apparently the popular thing to do right now, but it compromises any point you're trying to make. People might say that the facts speak for themselves, but if you present them like a jerk you're only going to appeal to the people who already agree with you, while simultaneously widening the gap between you and the people you are criticizing. Condescending remarks, swearing and emotional exaggeration are apparently taken for granted and in some cases even seen as justified. All claims about growing a thicker skin aside, that kind of presentation or behaviour serves no purpose whatsoever.

I hate the whole Sexism outcry. It more about just nitpicking than anything else. For example they scream that Princess Peach is a weak female or even call her an object because she is not as strong as a male but I can argue that Princess Peach is a strong character.

Now it is more that males are wrong because they are males. It to the point that as a guy and gamer I am guilty until...well there is no way not to be guilty.

Worse when they use fact play or using true fact in a way that favor them. Even if you take the surveys that say there are more females that play games than males as fact, they miss uses that when talking about games. Most of those surveys includes games like bejeweled and farmville but they are not including those games when they point at games and their problems. Worse when morons try to say you can not break up who are gamers and who are not.

Also they seem to focus on the negative that forget anything else. How many times do they forget the guys how just say hey and leave it at that. Also we all know that public chat in games are full of the trash talking so why do they expect anyone would not trash talk base off the few facts they know about a person. For trash talking most gamers just take a "Don't not feed the troll" or even not be in the chat to start with.

Uhm what? I can be critical when she is making claims that she is going to "expose sexism".

There are statistics that say otherwise

I am asking her before she makes her documentary to show evidence and facts and not just do it out of emotion. Isn't that valid criticism?

@The_Last_Ride said:

@toast_burner said:

@The_Last_Ride said:

@JangoWuzHere said:

@The_Last_Ride said:

@hailtothequeen:

Why would attacking GG create a backlash? We're only going to criticize you if it's stupid.

The GamersGate community is well known for attacking others with different opinions. Look at the posts in this thread. She hasn't even made the documentary and already people are somehow offended.

There is a difference between criticism and attacking...

How can you criticise it when you know nothing about it? Baseless criticism is attacking.

If you want to criticise her work why not think of something constructive rather than assuming it will be bad because she's a female who disagrees with you? How do you know how it will turn out? Maybe you would agree with her and change your views, is that what you're scared of?

Uhm what? I can be critical when she is making claims that she is going to "expose sexism".

There are statistics that say otherwise

I am asking her before she makes her documentary to show evidence and facts and not just do it out of emotion. Isn't that valid criticism?

I think of the accusation of online gaming being sexist comes from the fact the people remember negative moments more than any other moment. One or two screaming sexist comments while the rest is muted and they remember the whole group being sexist.

All stats can be played with. I seen a person take the same set of data and with acceptable statical practices change what the data supports both sides of opposing viewpoints.

Edited to add:

Also there the ideal of a witch hunt. That is you going to a place to expose the witches instead see if there are any.

We may as well say all stats are pointless. If it isn't that, then sources will be questioned and scrutinized to no end and people start looking for excuses to invalidate them based on political agendas or whatever.

Anyway, people come to the table with their own personal experiences which molds and shapes their perception of the world around them. Those experiences may or may not accurately reflect what generally occurs in the world. Then we have to get into the old generalizations vs exceptions BS. Inevitably someone will decide its inappropriate to make generalizations during an argument but this is more often than not said while they are simultaneously making their own generalizations in order to drive a point.

One thing is certain though, arrogance is a problem. Its one thing to simply state a certain group of people are disadvantaged in some manner but its another thing to say your concerns and problems take priority over others.

That's an ambitious project your undertaking, and I wish you the best of luck. Generally I think it's good to see people getting involved and discussing their views (provided it does fit into some wider discussion and not an "I'm right you're wrong" argument!).

One of the biggest oversights that I find Anita and other critics have made is failure to argue that it's a particular problem for gaming. Sexism and sexist people exist, and they cover all walks of life and interests, so inevitably some of them play games and anyone who thinks there's no sexism in gaming is not paying attention. However, a lot of discussion has focused around gaming specifically, and I've yet to see a strong case made for the idea that gaming in particular has a problem, rather than sexism in gaming being a product of sexism in wider society and the environments it operates in.

What are your thoughts on this, are you doing it because you think gaming in particular has a problem, or because gaming is something you're familiar with and can talk in length about?

I would suggest you wait to see how her project turns out. From her aforementioned arrogance, it might not turn out to be any different than you're expecting, but you should wait nonetheless. Then, you can criticize it all you want.

Cool idea. I'm all for it. I myself am a female who plays games and I always encounter sexism especially when using a mic for online gaming. That's what the mute button is for.

@hailtothequeen:

After reading you post a second time I get the feeling that it just the same statement that other "feminists" are making. "Males in gaming are constantly attacking the completely innocent females." In other words, I feel like you are coming with the ideal that gaming has been tried and proven beyond a reasonable doubt to be guilty of being extremely sexist toward females.

I don't see how that graph shows that a more or less welcoming environment is related to sexism. There could very well be a relation, but you'd have to make an educated guess about that. Anyway, the OP hasn't even shown anything yet. Sexism can be interpreted on many levels and is difficult to measure. It can also be defined in several ways. The documentary will have to make clear on what level it's discussing sexism and how it defines it. That graph is not covering all aspects that can be considered sexism in gaming or videogames (one could argue it isn't even covering any sexism). Therefore, AT THIS MOMENT (without any documentary), there's little point in criticizing her, regardless of her bold claims. You'll just have to wait and see what she actually means with that incredibly broad statement.

Someone provided a graph ;-)

@The_Last_Ride said:

Based on those stats I'd say the online gaming environment has some catching up to do in relation to other online spaces when it comes to being equally welcoming to both genders. Of course the graph doesn't show a direct link with sexism, so we don't actually know why certain environments are experienced as more or less welcoming. Also, it only talks about online environments, not about depictions in videogames or anything else related to videogames where people could experience sexism. So obviously I'm just teasing a little.

It's probably hard to convincingly argue that sexism is significantly more of an issue in videogaming than it is in other media or aspects of society. It's probably also hard to convincingly argue that sexism in videogaming is a significantly impacting problem on multiple levels. I think most of the effects of potential sexism in media are very hard to measure, because you can basically only determine them indirectly through people's accounts and experiences. It's even harder to determine what the (combination of) causes of specific instances of sexism are, in which contexts its presence might be questionable or not and in which contexts it can even be defined as such. I don't think a unanimous answer can be given to any of those questions, even though both sides would probably love to claim it's possible. In that sense it's a fascinating subject.