Sexism Online Games

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Sexism in online video games: The role of conformity to masculine norms and social dominance orientation

The global video game market reached $67 billion dollars in 2011 (Entertainment Software Association, 2012). The demographic of the average video gamer are slowly changing with the rapid growth of video games. The growing number of females playing online games is drastically changing the social dynamic of many online environments.
A study showed that 47% of gamers are female (Entertainment Software Association, 2012), however sexual harassment towards women has become a norm in the industry and is ever increasing. Masculine normalities expect men to act in a certain manner and therefore the male gender seems to conform to a set behaviour …show more content…

Because online games involve interactions with faceless human beings not in the same physical space as one another, prejudice and stereotyping is promoted due the desire for social dominance. Males think they are of greater hierarchy because of the way male characters are portrayed as the hero in games and females are generally portrayed as more of a sexual figure. These sexual figures are generally shown to have large breasts, tiny waists, perfect skin and revealing clothing. This provides a very unrealistic expectation of woman which may also turn away any prospective female players. Users have already been exposed to all of these gender discriminations and therefore when it comes to online gaming, the male audience believe they have dominance over females. This leads to discrimination in online gaming where males discriminate the average female player. It is suggested that cultural norms have shaped the way sexes should and should not behave in social interactions, and therefore when a female acts assertively, males question the legitimacy of the behaviour and further harass the female. This can be seen in online VOIP lobbies where females are usually the minority and get put down by the male

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