Understanding Racism and Sexism in Geek and Gaming Spaces
From Black Lives Matter protests against racial injustice in our criminal justice system to people sharing horrific stories of sexual harassment and assault by popular content creators and prominent members of the gaming community—gamers who have never had to worry about racism or sexism suddenly find themselves seeing it everywhere. Too often, unfortunately, they think of racism and sexism as something political. It’s not. Too often they think racism and sexism are “just jokes.” They’re not. And with the continued increase in hate crimes against Asian Americans, it’s incredibly important that we stop excusing racism and sexism as not being that big a deal. People’s lives are literally at stake.
Here, we try to answer a few common questions about racism and sexism in the gaming community.
What is racism?
The Oxford Dictionary simplifies racism as prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against a person or people on the basis of their membership in a particular racial or ethnic group, typically one that is a minority.
What is White Privilege?
Sociologist and author Robin DiAngelo defines white privilege as “the automatic, taken-for-granted advantage bestowed upon white people as a result of living in a society based on the premise of white as the human ideal, and that from its founding established white advantage as a matter of law and today as a matter of policy and practice.” To be clear, white privilege does not mean that White people do not experience any type of struggles or hardships. It means they benefit from a system that was literally created to harm minorities.
What is sexism?
Sexism is the discrimination or stereotyping of a person or people because of their gender and is typically directed towards women.
We will address five common questions we’ve seen with respect to everything happening in the gaming and geek community.
I play video games to relax. Why do I have to see politics in video games?
Two things.
Racism and sexism are not political issues. They are human rights issues that rely on social and political action to enforce anti-discrimination laws and protections.
Most of us play video games to relax and have fun. Unfortunately, minority groups are frequently targeted in video games with racist, sexist, and homophobic comments. When we encounter sexism, racism, and homophobia in spaces we thought were conducive to enjoyment, we are told to block and ignore them while the offenders are dismissed as simply trolling or joking. While you may think it’s annoying to see people talk about racism and sexism while you are trying to enjoy a game or a stream, imagine how annoying it is to be targeted, constantly, because of your race or gender while you’re just trying to enjoy your game. And imagine having to deal with that targeted discrimination both in the real world and in the virtual world you go to for stress relief. Being able to enjoy a video game without being targeted for your race and/or gender is an example of having privilege.
Why can you say “Black Lives Matter” but I can’t say “White Lives Matter”? Isn’t that just as racist?
We say Black Lives Matter because, for centuries, and to this very day, Black people in the United States still experience an abundance of racism that is backed by virtually every facet of American institutions: criminal justice system, education system, financial systems. Black people are still grossly stereotyped as dangerous and are more likely to be shot and killed while unarmed. We say Black Lives Matter, not because we don’t people of other racial backgrounds do not, but because people of other racial backgrounds do not believe our lives matter. Our deaths at the hands of police are quickly justified due to culturally conditioned prejudices against Black people.
When White people say “White Lives Matter” it’s not because they are protesting racial injustice. They say it as a rebuttal. For some reason, Black people demanding equal protections under the law makes too many White people feel as if they are losing something. They are not. This is why White Lives Matter is not a thing and is seen as a racist rebuttal, just like All Lives Matter.
If you want to end racism, why do minorities keep creating “segregated” spaces?
We don’t think of these safe spaces as segregated, which is actually a red herring. For so long, minorities, especially Black people, had to simply endure racist jokes. We weren’t able to speak up and say, “We don’t like that shit. Stop it.” Now, we’re saying stop it. We’re saying we don’t like the racist and sexist jokes that are in predominantly White male spaces. When we speak up, we get retaliation. And very few people stand up for us in those spaces. Why should we stay in abusive spaces? We create our own so that we don’t have to deal with the toxicity.
Make no mistake, though, racism and sexism should have no place in gaming. Even though we’re creating our own communities, it doesn’t mean that racism and sexism are okay in those other spaces. They shouldn’t be. And until people realize that racism and sexism is a plague that needs to be exterminated, then we need to protect ourselves.
Why are Black people so sensitive? My Black friend doesn’t care at all about racism.
Black people are not a monolith. I’m not a psychologist so I cannot speak to why there are some Black people who are okay with being disrespected and allowing non-Black people to tell racist jokes. I can only speak to my experience and it’s something I mentioned earlier. For a long time, telling our non-Black friends that we didn’t like certain jokes was just out of the question. I remember fake laughing for years because I didn’t want to cause waves at work or amongst my friends. This can be applied to sexism and homophobia as well, as I’ve heard similar stories. We’re at a point where we’re saying “No. Stop it. We don’t like it” and people are like, “Why do I have to stop? Why don’t you just grow thicker skin?”
The point is, just because your Black friend is okay with it, doesn’t mean every Black person is or should be. Most of us are not cool with it.
Why do girls wear their tits out if they don’t want guys to look?
What a person wears is not an indication of wanting male attention. Most women select clothing because we think we look good in those items. For ourselves. We like to look and feel good. We’re allowed to like how our breasts look in a shirt or how pants compliment our legs and booty. What we wear, what anyone wears, is not indicative of consent. Point. Blank. Period.
Why do you care what kids say to you in a video game?
Two things:
Kids aren’t usually the ones saying these things. Adults are saying these things. Brushing racist and sexist comments off because you think that a child said them doesn’t make it better. It means you’re excusing that behavior. The reason people will brush off racist and sexist comments as “Oh they’re just kids” is because gaming continues to be associated with being a childish hobby. It’s not. And if it is a child saying those things, they learned it from somewhere, either other players or from their parents. So excusing that behavior means they will continue to think it’s okay.
We are still human beings. Being affected by someone’s racist and sexist comments doesn’t mean we are somehow less than everyone else. It simply means we don’t like it.
Of course there is a lot of ground to cover when it comes to racism and sexism in the gaming community. But here’s the gist of it. Marginalized groups experience racism and sexism in the real world daily. When people think it’s funny and cool to bring racism and sexism into gaming, they are literally poisoning the gaming community and continuing the spread of the viruses that are racism and sexism.
Reading to Better Understand Our History
If you genuinely want to understand and learn more about why it’s important to stop the spread of racism and sexism in the gaming community, here are some very good reading sources to help further your understanding of what racism and sexism are.
Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders
Article: The long history of US racism against Asian Americans
Television Series: Asian Americans on PBS.
Additional reading list from Esquire.
Black Americans
Additional reading list from The Harvard Gazette.
