Video Games and Women

“So, you are a gamer AND a woman, wow, that’s rare!” some people might think or even say that, when they meet me and find out that I greatly enjoy playing video games. The truth is that female gamers aren’t nearly as rare as many people might think. In fact we make up nearly half of all gamers and that might not even be all as many women are too afraid to even anonymously admit that they are playing video games. The reason for that is that this hobby has been thought to be greatly dominated by men. This becomes not only plainly obvious when sentences like the one at the beginning are uttered but by the way women are represented in video games.

      For some time now a movement of female gamers, who are demanding for the representation of women in video games to change, has been getting stronger. More and more women admit to enjoy what formerly has been assumed to be a “man thing”. You might now think “No big deal, why shouldn’t women play video games?” and if you do, I congratulate you but not everyone thinks that way. First of all, even some women tend to look at you in a strange way if you start telling them about Mass Effect, Skyrim or any other game you play, because some still see it as something you shouldn’t be doing. Secondly, there are men who feel threatened, who think that women are taking away something that solely belongs to them, that they shouldn't be allowed to play video games and no matter what they shouldn't feel entitled to asking for a change in the way they are portrayed in games. What follows if you still dare to raise your voice is a wave of harassment, threats and bullying.

      To give an example, Anita Sarkeesian uploaded a series on YouTube called “Tropes vs. Women in Video Games”, where she talks about the representation of women in video games. The comments that soon followed were beyond bad. Among people telling her she should “go back to the kitchen and make a sandwich”, she also got threatened, not only with death but with rape too. And sadly there are a lot more women getting comments like that. Women are called names for far less than what she has been talking about and they can reach from “You aren't a real gamer because…” to much, much worse.

      So to not make every man look bad, because that is absolutely not my intention, I have to say, that not everyone is like that, some men are genuinely surprised others are absolutely happy to have found someone else to talk to and play video games with. There are tons of boys and men out there that see no problem in a girl or woman liking what they like and would welcome them in their group of gamers with open arms, not because they are female but because they share a hobby. I think it is important to acknowledge the bad and try to change it, as well as to show that there are already people who do good, who are accepting and don’t care to exclude someone just because of their gender. 

• Some bad examples of women in video games:

1. Princess Peach in Super Mario (always gets kidnapped and needs to be rescued by Mario)
2. Scribblenauts (sister gets encased by stone because of something she and her brother did, her brother needs to save her)
3. The Witcher (women are primarily sex symbols)

• Some good examples:

1. Mass Effect (it doesn't really matter if you are male or female)
2. Skyrim(it doesn't matter if you are male or female)
3. Tomb Raider(2013) 

Even though there are three examples for good and bad, there are sadly much more that could be listed below the “bad examples” than the good. Something else that has to be considered is that most games have a male protagonist, which makes women automatically less valuable than men. Furthermore, regarding the armour, especially in online games like WoW (World of Warcraft), is that women rarely seem to wear actual full body protection. Mostly their armour includes a bra like top and a mini skirt.

More on that and why some women refuse to play females in online games in one of my next entrys.

If you are interested, here is the first part of "Tropes vs. Women in Video Games".

This is mostly my point of view, so if you have questions, disagree or have something else to say about this topic, feel free to comment! 

The Border between Canada and The United States

Today I want to say a few words about a video I saw just yesterday. It’s about the border between Canada and the US to be more specific, about the “straight” line in the middle of it. As you might have guessed, that border is not as straight as it seems to be, which does not make it the longest straightforward, deforested line there is. If we go back in time and imagine when those borders were drawn, it is actually very clear why it is more of a zigzag line, as the people back than had no GPS but only a compass to use. To explain why I wrote “deforested”, along the border between Canada and the US is a six meter wide path called the “no touching zone”, kept free from trees.
      I find this especially interesting as I never learned about anything like that in school even though it is fascinating to hear about the pros and cons of straight borders or the problems you come across planning and drawing borders in general. On one side straight ones are easy to draw on paper but on the other side to transfer them onto the land they are meant to be on, can be a real challenge. Not only can towns and cities suddenly be split but what if, like in the case of Canada and the US, an airport needs to expand? Mostly we just learn and talk about the land a border defines but we never talk about the borders and their properties themselves. After learning about the border between Canada and the US my curiosity regarding those boundaries has been aroused and it would be fascinating if there is more interesting information to be learned about the straight borders of the US.

 Here is the video I was talking about, discussing the topic about he border between Canada and the US more thoroughly.