Two Examples Of Misogyny In Video Gamers

In the recent years of gaming, there’s been quite the uprise in female gamers; taking up 48% of total gamers online in 2016, compared to the 36% of female gamers in 2011. Not only is this spike because of the generally increased interest in video games and STEM field s, but also because of the many recent games that have acknowledged their female audience. Some of these games include Fallout 4, Dishonored: Death of the Outsider and Mass Effect: Andromeda, which allow the player to play as a woman for the main character. However, despite this increased number of female gamers and their supporters, we still see an immense number of misogynistic instances. Because of that recent change in the culture of gaming, it is now more clear than ever to see that both modern and classic video games contain countless cases of misogyny.

Being one of the first video games of it’s kind, this attitude of the male being physically and mentally superior to the female set the precedent for most of the Mario games, along with many others. Using a more recent example, Mario Kart 2008, despite being 20 years after the initial release of Mario, still very actively displayed sexist viewpoints for Princess Peach. In other characters, you see their assets and confidence very proudly stated with facial expressions of confidence and tricked-out vehicles that visibly look ready to race in. However, when you take a look at Princess Peach, she has the expression of cluelessness and a vehicle that’s bright pink with a flashy crown on the front. Although discrete, simple instances like this can implement a harmful mindset of male superiority, as has been discovered through several study