#1ReasonWhy: A Hashtag for Sexism in the Gaming Industry

I wrote a post a while back on female characters in video games, and between that and the hate attack on Feminist Frequency's kickstarter project, it seems the conversation has been even more alive. Last week, tweets from women in the game industry explained the top reasons why there aren't more female game designers. After sitting down and reading through most of them, I can't say I'm not feeling a little depressed.

See more mood-killing gold at Kotaku.

And yet, I also feel a strange sense of excitement that these women are standing up for themselves and making their voices heard. Hopefully, this is the first event of many more to come, considering that sexism in the gaming industry has gone on far too long and is completely regressing and undermining gender equality work across disciplines. Even so, Joe OToole sums it up pretty well:

Sexism is still pretty rampant nowadays. You see it in movies, music, and films all the time. Obviously, video games are no different, and while movies and music might be targeted to more adult crowds, video games have a far more open audience that reaches people of all ages. Maybe they don't know it or don't understand, but these games perpetuate these stereotypical norms of our society that haven't really gone anywhere. It's more like we painted over it and let it blend in with the walls. It's not there until you notice the paint chipping. But instead of admitting there's a problem, we just paint right over it again. Must be leaded paint.