Critic Argues That Game Culture Is For Guys

A cultural criticwho regularly critiques modern feminists is weighing in on the ongoing debate about women in games in a new video, arguing that hardcore gaming is mostly a guy thing and saying that those criticizing women’s portrayal in mainstream games might as well be knocking women-targeted shows like The View or magazines such as Cosmopolitan for not catering to men. Citing research the she says indicates a 7:1 male-female gender divide, the American Enterprise Institute’s Christina Hoff Sommers counters industry-cited figures that portray women as potentially the majority of the player base. “There are casual game players and there are the hardcore gamers for whom the highly complex video game, competitive video games are a primary life passion—and adult women are not the key demographic here.” Hoff Sommers has long been concerned with what she described in a popular magazine article as The War Against Boys. In her new video, she snarks about “gender police” and presents the likes of critic Anita Sarkeesian’s videos about female tropes in video games as an attack on male gamer culture. The video embedded up top contains her argument, but here’s the key part, in case you can’t watch: Well, now, gamers are dealing with a new army u31.com เข้าสู่ระบบ of critics: gender activists and, I don’t know, hipsters with a degree in cultural studies. And these critics are concerned that gaming is largely a hetero-patriarchal capitalist pursuit. Why … they ask, isn’t it more inclusive? Why must there always be male heroes? Why are … females portrayed as either damsels in distress or sex objects? Now, these critics have made some useful points about “sexist tropes and narratives.” But they do a lot of cherry-picking and they ignore the fact that the world of gaming has become more inclusive. There are games that fit a vast array of preferences and games with responsibly proportioned and appropriately garbed female protagonists. Yet the video game gender police have become so harsh and intolerant—relentless. Many of them want more than more women on both sides of the video screen—they want the male video game culture to die. Now, male gamers, as a group, do evince a strong a preference for games with male heroes and sexy women. Could that be because they are, uh, male? There is no evidence that these games are making males racist, misogynist, [or] homophobic. In fact, all the data we have suggest that millennial males—and these are people born and raised in video game nation—they’re far less prone to these prejudices than previous generations. Now, imagine if a group of gender critics attacked women-centered shows like Oprah or The View, or women’s magazines, for privileging the female perspective, for marginalizing men and treating men like “the other.” The fans might be tempted to tell them to bug off—and find your own shows. The idea of mainstream games being little more than guy-targeted works that assume a fealty to gender stereotypes at the cynical level of a u31 เครดิตฟรี 31 บาท Cosmopolitan magazine will feel on-target to those who see the aggression and marketing of a Call of Duty as a classic “guy thing.” But to those of us who assume that anything from Call of Duty to Assassin’s Creed to Zelda to Halo can be a game for anyone, it doesn’t quite wash. And is the critique of gaming’s current levels of diversity really all about whether games turn guys into misogynists? Hoff Sommers herself says that feminist critics of gaming have made “some useful points” and rightfully praises gamers for mostly being a pretty cool bunch of people, so your takeaway from her video will likely vary as it seems both an affirmation of recent gaming critique and simultaneously a dismissal of it. Let the debate continue, with civility, please! NOTE: The headline had originally identified Hoff Sommers as a “Conservative Critic,” as she is affiliated with the Conservative-leaning American Enterprise Institute. Hoff Sommers herself clarifies that she does identifies as Libertarian-leaning and is a registered Democrat. I’ve removed the word “Conservative” from the headline to avoid winner55 any confusion. To contact the author of this post, write to [email protected] or find him on Twitter @stephentotilo.