Gaming with a Feminist: Sexism and Perception of Sexist Incidents in Online Video Games

Abstract

Video games remain a male-dominated environment where sexism persists. Although women make up almost half of the gamer community, they encounter gender discrimination, anti-feminist themes, and sexist attitudes within the community, especially when participating in online games. As a result, both sexism against women within online video games and how women’s participation is perceived by other gamers have become relevant for investigation. We conducted two experiments to examine how a woman gamer’s ostensible adherence to a feminist identity and the type of collective action for gender equality she participates in would influence perceptions of a sexist incident in an online video game. In Study 1 (145 women and 146 men), we randomly assigned participants to read a vignette about a woman gamer described as feminist or a regular gamer. In both vignettes the woman was subjected to sexist comments and we measured the extent to which participants blamed the woman for these comments. In Study 2 (168 women and 232 men), we manipulated the type of collective action for gender equality (normative vs. non normative vs. control) performed by a woman gamer who was described as a feminist and measured victim blame. In both studies we measured participants’ level of sexism toward women gamers. Results showed that participants who more strongly endorsed sexist attitudes against women gamers attributed more blame to the feminist woman gamer who was a victim of a sexist incident (vs. the regular woman gamer) and to a woman gamer who performed non–normative collective actions (vs. control). Both studies confirm the relevance of the interaction between sexist attitudes and gender-relevant characteristics of women gamers for victim blaming in sexist incidents. These findings are an important step towards understanding and addressing sexist experiences for women in online gaming.