Sexism May Ruin the Gaming Industry?

            In this week’s discussion, I looked at a blog written by a high school student (completed on 8/21/2012) from Chicago via The Huffington Post. This student’s name is Matthew Byrd, and his article is titled “Sexism and Misogyny Ruin the Reputation of Video Games as an Art Form”, and it is a direct response to a video created by Anita Sarkeesian, a feminist activist whose Kickstarter page “sought funds” for that particular video. According to Byrd, Sarkeesian has faced many criticisms; some as disturbing as a game based on her that only involves beating her to a pulp.

            Byrd explains that this is only the latest in a prolonged attack on Sarkeesian, which have been attracting the attention of many anti-video game advocates. California State Senator Leeland Lee, one of these advocates who “spearheaded the California law which prohibited minors from purchasing M-rated games” (which was struck down last year), supported Sarkeesian by stating that, “For far too long, the video game industry has glorified violence against women and often depicted female characters as nothing more than sex objects.”

            Byrd believes that Senator Lee is correct in his assessment of the video game industry. Byrd goes on to say that this is an “industry-wide embarrassment that for far too long has been devoid of strong, non-sexualized and real female characters”. He notes the fact that there have been strong female characters, such as Samus and (maybe) Lara Croft, but he does not believe that there can be any other examples. He claims that the majority of female characters have been portrayed into a “minute number of stereotypes” such as damsels in distress or “whores” in the past way too often, and are constantly just “objects to be desired”.

            People like Sarkeesian have already made this argument, but what has not been discussed is the damage that this type of sexism has on the reputation of video games. Even though violence is often a major topic of discussion in this category, sexism and sexual content are also main targets for anti-gaming activists. Senator Lee is only one of numerous activists who have made the argument that video games are an unhealthy stronghold of misogyny (or, hatred of women and females in general). Byrd believes them to be true. He states that, “the prominence of sexism and misogyny in the video game industry and our culture as a whole is an easy target for anti-gamers that damages the reputation of the industry as a whole”.

            For years, video game critics and prominent academics have made the argument that video games are an art form that deserves as much respect as films, art, literature, and music. Byrd believes that these games are a form of art, but he claims that it is hard to defend them as such in the art form “propagates a sexist image of women, and serves a community which consistently bemoans and attacks any attempt to make the industry more female-friendly and less male-centric”. He states that if the video game industry ever wants him or a larger mainstream culture to perceive games as high art, then it must address the institutionalized sexism that has come to define the medium. Next week, I plan on discussing the video that propagated this discussion in the first place, Anita Sarkeesian’s Kickstarter page.