Latest / Mini Scroll / LET THE GIRLS GAME: The Sexualisation of Women Characters, Gamers & Streamers in Video Games

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LET THE GIRLS GAME: The Sexualisation of Women Characters, Gamers & Streamers in Video Games · Mini Scroll

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  As characters and gamers, women are frequently over sexualized
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  by male streamers and the gaming industry.
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  Even those of us who aren't totally familiar with the world
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  of gaming are likely to know Lara Croft, the famed
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  protagonist of the Tomb Raider franchise.
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  As she navigates through jungles and ruins, she is seen sporting
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  tight and revealing outfits that, to be honest, aren't
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  practical at all. Laura was the brainchild of Toby
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  Guard. A lead graphic artist at core.
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  Design She first appeared in the video game in 1996, with Guard
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  describing her as mysterious and having a sense of danger about
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  her, Guard said. That she.
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  Differed from other female game characters at the time who were
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  quote. Basically just sex.
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  Objects, but ironically, a sex symbol is exactly.
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  What Lara Croft? Would become Guard later left
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  the Tomb Raider franchise over concerns that Laura was becoming
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  too sexualized. At one point they even changed
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  the proportions of her. Figure so her.
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  Breasts would appear. Bigger.
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  While Laura has since been reimagined and has swapped out
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  her shorts and crop top for pants and a tank top, she
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  remains hypersexualized and continues to be.
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  Viewed as a sex object. Even though she's.
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  Actually the. Hero of the Game Ultimately,
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  this skewed portrayal of women in gaming, driven by top
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  industry leaders, trickles down to the broader gaming community,
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  leaving many female gamers isolated, uncomfortable and
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  insecure. Welcome to Let the Girls Game, a
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  podcast miniseries. Where we explore.
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  The history and stories of women in gaming.
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  Powered by Let's. Sing I'm your host, Lauren
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  Meisner, and today we're diving into an experience that is all
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  too common for female gamers sexualization, and to help me
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  explore. This topic today.
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  I am joined by Foss, also known as Maddie.
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  So for anyone who doesn't know, Foss is a 22 year old streamer
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  and content. Creator, she started.
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  Streaming in August 2021 and is best known for playing
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  Minecraft, Fortnite and Valorant.
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  In that time, Maddie has developed a strong community on
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  Twitch, becoming a Twitch partner in 20/22.
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  She continues to make content across Twitch, TikTok, Instagram
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  and YouTube with cross-platform following of almost 2 million
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  people without. Further ado welcome.
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  To Maddie. Oh my God, I'm so excited to
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  chat with you today. Yes we do.
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  I love podcasts so this is good. Love or do you go on podcasts
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  often? No, but I did study radio in
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  TAFE for a while and I had a podcast with my friend while
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  we're in there, so I did miss it a little bit, yeah.
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  I love that. Yeah, we are a big podcasting
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  company here. I'm actually doing 10 podcasts
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  this week. My gosh, I'm a little bit unwell
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  and busy. Yeah, literally.
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  All right, so I have quite a few questions for you, obviously
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  about the topic. So we're going to be talking
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  about the language and culture and online gaming communities
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  and gameplay and how that kind of sexualizes and stereotypes
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  women in gaming. So obviously you have been
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  involved in gaming for quite some time now.
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  When did you first? Come to realize.
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  Or have you had kind of like a come to realization moment that
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  female characters and games were portrayed differently to male
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  characters? It was definitely when I moved
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  more away from like Minecraft and Fortnite, I would say mainly
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  because I think they're aimed more at children.
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  So I feel like there's especially in Minecraft, they're
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  all block characters. You can't really sexualise a
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  block. You know, it's a bit of a bit of
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  a special thing to be able to do.
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  But when I started playing Valorant specifically and
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  Overwatch, like the female characters in those games are
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  wildly sexualised compared to everyone else.
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  Like if you look how much can I say on this, you can say.
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  Whatever. OK, cool.
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  Because like especially in Overwatch, like if you go and
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  look at Steam reviews on Overwatch, it is all about it
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  basically just being a porn game because all of the female
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  characters are just so overtly sexualized.
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  I'm pretty sure one of them, their butt literally got bigger
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  when they altered. At one point it was a bug that
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  they had to fix. But yeah, that was probably when
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  my eyes were open and I was like, what the heck.
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  Like, it's quite a switch. Yeah, So what are some common
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  stereotypes or tropes you've noticed in the portrayal of
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  female characters in video games?
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  I mean, in comparison to the male characters, especially,
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  like you said with Lara Croft, it's always the clothing, it's
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  always the proportions. They're always that ideal
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  hourglass figure that is, one, unattainable for women and two,
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  just gross like. And yeah, that's, that's
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  probably the biggest thing is the way they look, which then I
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  guess encourages men almost to sexualize them overtly.
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  Yeah. Yeah, fair enough.
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  Yeah, in a profile for Forbes, they write.
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  Quote female character. Representation in video games is
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  lacking, with only 5% of video games showcasing female
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  protagonists. Various studies reveal that
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  gender stereotypes continue to prevail in video games, with
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  female characters often objectified and hyper sexualized
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  and when not depicted in this. Manner Female.
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  Characters are often portrayed as a love interest, innocent, or
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  needing to be rescued by a male character.
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  Other examples of tropes, I suppose not just kind of like
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  physically, but other tropes include damsel in distress,
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  women as a reward, women as background decoration, but not
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  actually in the plot. So how would you say that like
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  thinking of those tropes and those stereotypes and how would
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  I guess, how do those tropes and stereotypes in gaming make you
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  feel as a woman in gaming? I mean, it's kind of anger
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  inducing a little bit because it's kind of reducing us down to
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  our bodies and our physicality and not who we are as people.
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  Like, even when you have a female protagonist who's strong,
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  like Lara Croft, as you said, they are so sexualized.
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  And it's like, oh, well, you can play the game, but only because
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  she's got a good butt, you know what I mean?
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  Like, because that's what you get to stare at the entire time
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  you play the game. But it also just, yeah, it
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  really does just make women into an object, sort of, which then
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  almost tells people online that you can also treat with female
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  gamers as an object and treat them however you want, which is
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  obviously not the case because we're humans.
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  And I'm sure that contributes to a big problem.
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  I mean, I understand, like women in gaming face so much
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  harassment and so many issues like that.
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  I'm sure this all contributes to that A. 100%.
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  Have those portrayals, have they ever, I guess, impacted your
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  enjoyment playing games? I guess a little bit, yeah.
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  I mean, especially when I was younger playing video games,
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  it's like all you want to is to see someone who looks like you
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  or like a woman on the screen being about us being able to do
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  all of these things. And when you're younger and you
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  don't have that representation on screen, I guess it's it's
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  kind of hard to believe that you are more than just an object or
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  more than just what a stereotypical woman should be.
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  And then, yeah, even growing up, it's kind of like you have to
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  change your own mindset and be like, it's just a video game at
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  the end of the day. Like a woman can do what they
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  want, but it's still hard to have that nailed in you every
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  day, especially if you were an avid gamer.
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  Exactly for sure. Are there any specific examples
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  of female characters in games that you feel challenge those
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  traditional stereotypes that we've seen?
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  Well, that's a good question. I honestly would say a lot of
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  the character, I know I said like in Valorant they are
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  sexualized, but I do think there are some characters in Valorant
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  who aren't which do go against it, such as like Sage is not, I
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  would say, overtly sexualized physically, although she is a
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  hero. So, you know, everyone's like,
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  Oh yeah, Debbie's just to heal everyone.
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  But yeah, I do only really play a lot of Valorant and Fortnite
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  generally. So there's not a whole lot that
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  I think I can personally speak on that for.
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  Yeah, For, but yeah. Do you remember?
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  I think it was a couple of years ago, there was so much discourse
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  on Twitter when the protagonist for Horizon 0 Dawn came out and
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  she had like Peach fuzz and like looked like a normal woman.
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  Do you remember that? That was actually like horrific
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  to to watch how people were talking about her and like men
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  were so angry. That she like about.
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  Like a regular. Person literally yeah.
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  They're like, how dare you not look like my ideal woman.
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  God, why would I choose to play you?
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  It's like, dude, there are such bigger issues in the world.
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  Like it just take chill pill, sit down.
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  Yeah. No, I think that it was
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  definitely an eye opening moment.
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  I mean, hopefully for the industry, but I think it was a
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  good like a good start to some change I think as well.
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  So I'm curious how you decide which character to choose when
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  you're playing. I mean, I don't go off looks or
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  anything like that. I go off ability and what sort
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  of coincides with my ability in video games.
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  I'm not necessarily very good at video games.
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  I'm not known for being skilled at them.
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  So I kind of just pick one character and depending on
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  ability, but yeah, it's never really looks or anything like
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  that. I go off their strength or stuff
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  like that. I will say when I first started
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  playing games, it was I would always play a female character
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  because that was just, I saw myself on the screen.
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  You know what I mean? You wouldn't pick a male
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  character. But if you want to identify
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  with. Her.
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  Yeah. Yeah, exactly.
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  So yeah, I actually did have the Lara Croft games.
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  So have you noticed any gendered language while streaming or
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  watching streams by women gamers?
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  And the reason why I ask that is because according to a 2017
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  study from the University of Indiana academics, the average
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  female streamer on Twitch is more likely to receive
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  objectifying comments about their appearance compared to
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  their male counterparts. Male streamers tend to receive
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  comments around games, game play on the other hand.
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  What's your experience been with that?
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  Duh, yeah. I mean, as a streamer, you sort
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  of like have to expect that you're going to have people
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  harassing you. But it's, which is kind of
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  depressing to be honest, to say that.
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  But it's definitely most of the harassment has always been on
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  how I look, which is really weird.
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  Yeah, Well, because, but there's already that toxic thing in
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  gaming that women aren't good at gaming.
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  So it's like, you can say I'm shit, but I'll be like, yeah,
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  well, yes, I am. Thank you.
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  Thank you for putting that out. But I'll be wearing a hoodie and
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  I'll have someone come in to try and be like nice tits.
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  And it's like, how? Where are you getting that from?
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  You know what I mean? They just say it to get a
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  reaction. Like I once had a chatter come
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  in, start harassing me on my appearance.
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  So I obviously banned them and then they started sending me
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  donors because they read text to speech into my stream.
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  So they basically started paying me to say derogatory things to
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  me. So I was like, I mean, pay up,
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  but also like, that's a lot of dedication, so.
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  Those are just things that, like men, would probably not have to.
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  Experience not necessarily like I have a lot of really, really
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  good male gamer friends and like, I mean people don't come
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  in and be like, hey, nice penis like that's.
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  Just what? People do like, you know what I
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  mean? It's always been like, dude,
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  you're shit at the game. And they're like, OK, thanks,
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  Thanks, I guess. Yeah, yeah.
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  No, it's very, very rarely sexual harassment.
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  Yeah, yeah. And how does that make you feel?
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  Is that difficult to deal with or are you used to it now?
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  I mean, it's kind of sad to say I'm used to it, but like after a
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  certain amount of time you kind of grow a thicker skin towards
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  some of those sort of, I want to say like lighter comments, but
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  there's definitely worse ones you can get where it's like, OK,
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  I'm quitting, I'm turning off the stream.
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  I can't get through that anymore.
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  So I say I'm I'm pretty good at dealing with a lot of it.
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  I'm pretty tough with a lot of it, mainly because I just have
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  good comebacks and it's like, oh, I can make this funny good
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  content. Yeah, yeah.
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  But like it's when they get to the really dark sort of just not
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  even banter anymore. It's like threatening you that
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  it's not OK and that like starts to get you, especially when it's
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  over and over and over again. You really start yourself worth
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  just like plummets. A little bit, yeah, Absolutely.
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  Yeah. Do you have a community of other
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  women that game that you can kind of like talk with about
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  this and support each other? Yeah, yeah, for sure.
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  I definitely have. Like I definitely have a closer
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  community of women because of Maybelline's.
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  I don't know if you know Maybelline's.
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  Yeah, I did, yeah. So their eyes up tournament and
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  stuff like that, obviously I worked with them pretty closely
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  and it was really great to meet a lot of other female gamers
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  who, you know, have the same experiences as you because you
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  can kind of chat and talk about it and it just, it just helps to
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  sort of vent sometimes to get that out.
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  And yeah, I've also had in like Discord chats as well, like
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  people asking for advice. They've been like, hey, this
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  person said this in my chat, is this a bannable thing?
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  Should I just ban them? And then it's been like, do it,
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  just ban them, get it over with. It's all good.
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  So it's been nice to have people like, we're almost like sisters
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  to each other, giving each other advice and stuff.
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  It's been, it's been nice like, yeah, one of my really good
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  friends went through a really, really horrible situation on
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  Twitter. And it was like there was some
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  really, really horrible things in the Twitter comments,
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  obviously. But it was also nice to see the
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  community sort of rise up around her and be like, well, this
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  isn't OK. Like let's when we can't say
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  this and say it's banter and say that that's OK.
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  Yeah. So yeah, there's definitely a
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  community of us all supporting each other, which is a little
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  bit. Helpful for sure.
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  That's so great. Do you think?
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  That platforms have a responsibility to address
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  gendered language and promote more inclusive streaming
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  environments, Yeah. Yeah, 100%.
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  I feel like, honestly, I would go so far as to say that if a
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  platform or a game isn't taking the most measures they can to
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  stop women being harassed and literally threatened online,
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  then they're complicit because you have the ability, You have
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  the ability to stand up and say this isn't OK and you're
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  choosing to stay quiet, to stay out of controversy.
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  And it's like, hey, this isn't controversy.
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  This is women's safety and women's rights.
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  Like, what are you doing? Yeah.
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  So 100%, I think that it's great that a lot of companies who are
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  very female based have sort of spoken up about it.
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  I think that now male, more male based companies need to also
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  take a stand and actually speak to the guys and be like, hey,
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  men, this isn't OK because it's not all men.
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  But 99% of the time, yeah, it is men for sure.
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  And just encouraging guys to hold their friends accountable
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  and say that, you know, this sort of banter and this sort of
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  treatment of other people is not OK.
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  Yeah, and I think that's one of the biggest problems.
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  We don't just see it in gaming. We see it across the board with
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  like moderation on social media, right?
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  It's like until the platforms, until there's like literally
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  laws in place, they're not going to do anything about it because
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  it's going to cost so much money for them to implement proper
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  moderation across the board that why would they do that in their
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  minds? Why would we do this until we
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  absolutely have to? And unfortunately, the people
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  who make the laws and all these regulations have no idea what
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  the fuck is going on. Yes, exactly.
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  And it's so silly because they'll be like, oh, yes, we've
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  noticed this is happening, and we recognize that it's
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  happening. And then that's where it ends.
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  And then they'll be like, but also here's an update that no
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  one asks for. And it's like, dude, come on.
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  Literally, I'm like, we're all begging to just be treated with
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  respect. Yeah.
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  And like, actual equality, Not, oh, this is equality.
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  Yeah. So companies and games and video
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  games have a responsibility to stand up for women as well.
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  Yeah. Absolutely.
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  Well, thank you so much, Maddie. This was me.
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  So great to hear kind of a little bit about your
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  perspective on the industry and your journey.
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  Where can people find you? Plug whatever you want.
• 15:15
  Everything on most platforms I'm just OG and then Foss PHOS.
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  On Twitch I'm just Foss. So yeah, awesome.
• 15:24
  Thank you so much. Thank you so much to Maddie for
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  speaking with me today. Thank you to Let's Sing for
• 15:30
  powering this mini series and thank you to you for listening
• 15:34
  to Let the Girls Game TuneIn next week for our.
• 15:37
  Last episode. Of this miniseries where we look
• 15:41
  to the future of women in gaming.