Female gamers denounce the prevailing sexism in the world of video games: "They are crushing us"

Natalia and Zuraida recount the discrimination suffered by many women in the video game environment, especially in Lanzarote

May 6 2022 (08:53 WEST)
Updated in May 11 2022 (11:07 WEST)
Zuraida, a 21-year-old gamer from Lanzarote.
Zuraida, a 21-year-old gamer from Lanzarote.

"You're a girl, you don't know how to play," "you're not good for this," or "go to the kitchen," are some of the sexist comments that hundreds of women face every day, like Zuraida, who simply want to enter the world of video games.

This young woman from Lanzarote, just 21 years old, explains that "there were always consoles in her house," and that she played with her brother's PlayStation from a very young age. Zuraida emphasizes that video games have given her the opportunity to meet many people, but insists that she has also encountered a space where women have no place or, at least, are not respected.

"Sexism is no longer just a problem in the real world, in video games they are crushing us," Zuraida points out. "All I want is to be able to play something I really like in peace."

"Many girls are even afraid to speak on voice chat"

The young woman insists that the harassment is such that "many girls are even afraid to speak on voice chat" in online games, since "just for speaking they mess with you, it doesn't matter if the game has started or not".

"I have experienced that many times," the gamer relates. "They have even told me: you're a girl, you're worthless," and even "you're crap, you don't know how to play, so you don't deserve anyone's respect."

Paradoxically, in a world of easy access for anyone with an internet connection, a good computer, and skill in games, female gamers encounter a wall of rejection. "It makes me so angry," says Zuraida. "The difficult thing is when you start creating content, as I have found people who go into girls' streams just to insult them."

In addition, the guys who insult her don't give any justification for it, simply telling her "you're a woman, go clean or go to the kitchen."

A trend that is replicated at the labor level

Natalia, founder of the Canarian project Las Chicas También Juegan (Girls Play Too), agrees with Zuraida that it is a difficult environment for women.

"In our workshops, we have encountered companies that told girls that they had a good resume, but they couldn't put them in charge of 10 boys because they would feel uncomfortable," she relates. "Many even stopped playing online because the boys told them "send me nude photos and I'll give you things", there are girls who have been very upset."

Out of the need to support and give visibility to these women, Natalia created the project Las Chicas También Juegan, in which she brings together girls and boys who are fans of the gamer world to raise awareness and create a more respectful and inclusive community.

Las Chicas También Juegan, a training and "venting" space

Natalia says that from the age of 14 she was clear that she wanted to work for Nintendo, but someone told her that "video games were for boys" and that "they weren't going to feed her," she explains. "That marked me a lot, so I ended up dedicating myself to digital marketing, but I always had a distant relationship with video games."

However, over the years she decided to fully immerse herself in the field of marketing focused on virtual and augmented reality, closely related to the gaming world. After realizing that women had very few opportunities and visibility in the sector, she decided to contact several female players and together they created a small community called "Las Chicas También Juegan" in 2020.

Natalia, founder of the Las Chicas También Juegan project.
Natalia, founder of the Las Chicas También Juegan project.

"I realized that, despite the fact that the latest report from the Spanish video game association says that there are 45% of women playing, the reality is that only 18% hold powerful positions within the industry," says Natalia. "So we decided to create a project with round tables in Tenerife and Gran Canaria to assess the situation at that time of women in the industry in the Canary Islands."

Since then, with the support of the general director of Youth of the Government of the Canary Islands and Nira Santa, an expert in video games and technology, among others, they have managed to take your events to other smaller islands such as Lanzarote.

"In these workshops we not only talk about video games from a gender perspective, but we also want to be a space for venting," explains Natalia. "We also have cybersecurity and online self-care courses, where we give psychological tools to girls so they know how to act if they are harassed online."

"With Las Chicas También Juegan we want to give the message that they are not alone."

After several round tables on the different islands, she has come to the conclusion that this harassment and inequality is a "matter of education". "We ask the boys why they harass the girls online and they tell us that it's because their friend does it, and they don't want to look bad."

Nira Santana in a workshop in Lanzarote.
Nira Santana in a workshop in Lanzarote.

Likewise, Natalia adds that women "will not be able to play video games in electronic sports if there are no women behind developing and creating the projects" and that, she points out, could change starting by teaching parents that video games are an industry that moves millions and that there are different job opportunities," she elaborates.

"If we continue to hypersexualize the content that children consume, creating characters like a female warrior in the North Pole where she is seen riding a motorcycle and only wearing a thong, things are not going to change," Natalia reflects. "We need people who develop and program video games where the girls' breasts don't move, because in other games like FIFA, the men's parts don't have joints in their parts while they run from Fifa while they run, but the big companies only want to sell."

Therefore, these workshops are not exclusively focused on a female audience, but include boys. Nira Santana, an expert in video games, technology and "thinking part of the project", concluded that they are a fundamental part of the process. "When we involve them, we have more opportunities to tell them how we feel and to help us change the rules of the game."

"Gaming is very competitive, there is an adrenaline that cannot be avoided, but from respect and understanding we can achieve many things," adds the founder of Las Chicas También Juegan.

Female role models are almost non-existent in the gamer world

In addition to the harassment and sexism suffered, there is little visibility of the group in video games, as most known role models are men.

"One day I asked my daughter what she wanted to be when she grew up, and she said "I want to be a professional player, I want to be like Faker"," says Natalia. "It doesn't bother me, because he is one of the best, but I asked her if she knew any girl in the industry and she said no."

The founder of the project explains that her daughter's answer is totally normalized because the "top 10 content creators on Twitch are all men" and points out that "the same happens in electronic sports leagues."

Zuraida agrees with Natalia and points out that she doesn't have many female role models because "they are not talked about." However, she highlights the Spanish Cristinini. "I follow her Twitch broadcasts and she is hooking me into wanting to get into this."

The streamer @iamcristinini.
The streamer @iamcristinini.

The gamer from Lanzarote criticizes that the big streamers don't give them enough space in their broadcasts. "I think it's quite ugly and it makes me very angry that there are several who play like Ibai, el Rubius, or Thegrefg, who seem wonderful to me, and they don't invite them to streams and events, when they are doing the same job," she explains.

Zuraida's dream is "to be able to compete in the high leagues like them", especially in the game Valorant, and to be able to live off it, although she is clear that it will not be an easy path due to the "little visibility of the group in this area and the harassment they suffer for the simple fact of being a woman".

"These new generations are starting to have female role models and for me it is the most important thing", adds Natalia. "I don't want to say that you can't have a man as a role model, but it's good to have more options."

An even more complicated situation from Lanzarote

However, from the point of view of training and employment, the Canary Islands are very limited compared to the peninsula, a situation that worsens in the case of smaller islands such as Lanzarote.

Although new technologies allow the possibility of working remotely, the distance to the peninsula is great. "It seems that because we are connected online we are close, but the reality is that we are very alone and distant from many things," she adds.

After participating as a monitor in an eSports competition on another island last year, the young woman is clear that she wants to dedicate herself to this world, although she admits that it involves a greater expense of money having to travel from Lanzarote.

"I want to highlight that I was the only female monitor on the team," explains Zuraida. "I have always been interested in competing, but it is complicated and even more so being from the island, because there is not much movement of girls here and what little there is is more focused on the boys," she confesses.

Natalia says that in order to train and even compete, girls have to go, at least, to other islands, although she stresses that the female group still has a wage gap of almost 40% in areas such as programming. "Despite the fact that there is talk of a European Silicon Valley in the Canary Islands, the reality is that we don't get jobs, we don't have qualified jobs or they don't want to hire us."

"There are many traditional careers that we can convert to video games, such as lawyers, drawing or marketing, among others," says Natalia. "All this information is not arriving, it arrives to the peninsula and four girls study, then you go to the capital islands and two or one study, if at all, in an FP and when you get to Lanzarote the girls don't even know the opportunities that there are in the sector"

The founder of the project insists on the importance of events such as those carried out by Las Chicas También Juegan, since they "inspire young people to study these professions and help to decentralize the informative workshops".

For her part, the young gamer points out that "there are several girls from Lanzarote who want to set up a team to compete and it seems that something is going to be set up, but there is nothing confirmed".

"Don't be afraid to play because you're a girl, join and speak for all of us"

Zuraida insists that these free workshops are a good opportunity to "get out of the little bubble that many girls are in at home" and encourages both girls and boys to attend whenever they can.

"If you are afraid to speak on voice chat, this way you take the step of leaving home, interacting and creating connections, a community," she explains. "It is a support and a way for the boys to also understand what we are experiencing."

In addition, she encourages women to train in the world of video games if that is what they like, as well as to participate in eSports competitions, even if they are in the Canary Islands, as "they are not necessarily small competitions."

"Don't be afraid, don't stick with the idea of -I'm a girl, I'm harassed, I can't play in peace-, it doesn't matter, join, play and speak for everyone," adds Zuraida.

The young woman explains that she would like to "start streaming and creating content" on some platform, but also "work in Esports and, of course, compete."

"I would love to form a team, that people would sign up to play with us and that they would help to give voice to what we experience every day," concludes the gamer. "I think that there will be more and more women creating content and, with luck, if talking about harassment and sexism continues to move, women will also have the same opportunities as men."

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