(en) France, Coordination of Anarchist Groups - IAL #102 - Anti-patriarchy: Sexism, video games and geek culture (fr, it, pt)

(en) France, Coordination of Anarchist Groups - IAL #102 -
Anti-patriarchy: Sexism, video games and geek culture (fr, it, pt)
[machine translation]

Geek culture is a popular subculture related to science fiction, fantasy heroic, IT and 
subgenres orbiting. The geek identity is built and continues to build around comics, manga 
or iconic series, and in large part around the paper role playing games that inspire even 
today many of the video games. The general geek culture has its origins in the years 
60-70, it is during this period that was established internet: the multiple demonstrations 
against the war in Vietnam, ideas opposing the ruling classes and the May 68 example of 
spread within the society and not computer ? ? ? s and hacker ? s to all kinds amateur ice 
? ? s role and science fiction games were deeply imbued ? e ? s by the context of the 
time. On the internet base was built to the information circulating is as free as possible 
and that its operation does not depend on a computer: the decentralized method 
approximates a libertarian operation. The hacker movement (hackers and / or hacker ? is ? 
s) and activist (by hacking activist) was inspired by some of the punk culture of DIY (Dot 
It Yourself) to promote computers and more generally freely modifiable machines, 
understandable, that libertarians generally advocate science and technology, but also the 
abolition of copyright and of private property.

Include Jeremy Hammond comrade, jailed for 10 years, anarchist hacker and supported by the 
Anarchist Black Cross of New York. One might think that gender ambiguity in some Japanese 
manga and part of Japanese culture (androgyny in Japan is often rooted in the image of a 
manly man) could have influenced this subculture. Unfortunately, it is based and is mainly 
built around the male gender, and reproduced the patriarchal patterns with their share of 
machismo and sexism. If geek culture and especially video games are now experiencing some 
changes, they still peddle many gender stereotypes and part of the community always 
carries reactionary ideas, often vehemently.

The video game is indeed often built and continues to build this on an exclusively male 
model: the men are portrayed as virile hero without fear, or where women are portrayed as 
weak creatures in need of protected or as rewards: these two ways of observing the female 
characters are very well illustrated by the famous Mario and The Witcher. The first is one 
of the most famous games, and he probably has a major responsibility in the orientation 
video games and the popularity of the myth of the damsel in distress in video-playful 
supports all validating more usual patriarchal patterns. It is in fact embodies y Mario, a 
plumber to rescue the princess captured by the gorilla Donkey Kong. It is presented as 
totally dependent on the hero, unable either to defend itself or to attend his release in 
any way. The same picture of fairy tales here transposed in video games. The Witcher, 
women experience a little more enviable fate. The Witcher is a role playing game, that is 
a game where the player is prompted to put in the skin of his character and act as one. He 
is faced with choices more or less important throughout the adventure, and these have an 
impact on the rest of the story in the game The Witcher, the relationship that the 
character has with women. - In generally hypersexualized physics, in the image of Triss 
Merigold - lead mostly to carnal relations between the PC (player character) and NPCs 
(non-player characters) at the end of these, the player receives as a reward card 
illustrated with an erotic image of the woman with whom her character just had sex.

But these examples are unfortunately a few specific cases in a culture or sexism and 
homophobia is almost omnipresent. Most video games, and it is becoming more obvious with 
increasing graphics capabilities of the machines, women are mere sexual objects to satisfy 
the desires of men, either voyeurism (creating female characters highly sexualized) by the 
act, allowing the player to have his character having sex with non-player characters. If 
the representation of lust or sex are not to be disturbing is how most video games (GTA, 
Saint's Row, Assassin's Creed..) who are treated: the question of sex is indeed generally 
treated heteronormative way and as a consumer report, or women are little more than 
objects to satisfy the desires of the player, rather than a reciprocal relationship 
between consenting individuals.

Some video game developers do not hesitate to push the vice further, pushing up the macho 
violence in video games. If this call to violence is never explicit, it is at least 
strongly suggested putting the player in a context and a situation where he can be able to 
allow it to make the wrong women sexualized video games without suffering any consequences 
nor any opposition, women are rarely able to defend in the universe proposed by the video 
game. Of course, players do not have to act in a violent way, but they are strongly 
encouraged by the situations in which place the developers.

This conception of the relationship between men and women and generally kind is obviously 
not out of nowhere: it is the result of our patriarchal society and the myths that 
accompany it. The game pulling his sources tales and folk legends, and without any 
feminist sensibility, it seems logical that gender through them are found in video games. 
However, with some notable exceptions, the video game still seems unable to move in a 
healthier direction, and those wanting to make a difference are faced with a community 
especially around welded reactionary values such as sexism, the Homophobia, lesbophobia 
and transphobia. In video games, in discussions, players rarely imagine the player in 
front can be a player, and this promotes a heterosexist and masculine vision of the gaming 
sphere. However, according to studies on the subject, the players are 30% to 52% depending 
on the study and interviewed platforms, this often leads women on the internet has 
invisibiliser is even more than in the public sphere. An informal sphere of anti-feminist 
activists routinely takes those and those wanting to make a difference. In France, this is 
the site MHFreq (Machismo High Frequency) and especially one of its contributors, 
Mar_Lard, which undergo the hatred of the gaming community, some even threatening to kill 
feminists.

This report from the gaming community (players) sexism and feminism is expressed 
particularly through the gamergate, an anti-feminist movement in response to criticism 
addressed to the gamers community has come after thereof an extensive campaign harassment 
against an independent game developer. At the time, in fact, the processor Zoe Quinn had 
seen some of his private life spread on the web by her ex-boyfriend, who accused him of 
"adultery." A wide sexist crusade was then set in motion, while the processor found 
himself harassed literally hundreds of abusive messages and death threats on 4chan, 
Twitter and Reddit. Several media were then picked up the story, criticizing gamers for 
their lack of maturity. The community 4chan forum, very anti-feminist, was then promoted 
the gamergate, a movement making anti-feminism surfing a geek identity supposedly attacked 
by feminist activists and the media. We could find a fairly similar story in France, where 
there is little, feminists MHFreq and some media such as Madmoizelle had attacked ? e ? s 
to jeuxvideo.com forums, accusing, supporting evidence, communities in these forums to be 
sexist. The reaction of such communities were, again, particularly violent: in 
pseudo-indignation background, feminist geeks sites had suffered DDoS attacks (simulating 
multiple connections to a site to crash) and new cases of harassment were reported.

In this anti-feminist and reactionary nebula, the idea that primarily exist real geeks and 
fake it spread and attacks on women are turning by the myth of the "fake gamer girls" 
(fake player), or the idea that a woman who is interested in geek culture knows nothing 
and has research attention, yet a way as any to belittle any woman can focus a little bit 
about it. Behind all these attitudes are hidden snobbery and bigotry towards tou ? te ? s 
those who do not have the same vision they in this community. Because harassment is 
commonplace on the internet. If it is indeed easier to harass people on the Internet than 
in reality, harassment particularly affects women activists. Anita Sarkeesian has made 
such charges and continues to pay the price: the wrong is to analyze gender processes 
within video games across numerous video games illustrated image we strongly recommend 
viewing. In so doing, the processor Jade Raymond, after managing to sell a game to 
publishers, had to acknowledge to have convinced these suites sex. If the charge was 
nothing serious, it nevertheless highlights the way women are perceived geek with a part 
of the community: women could not be geek and more generally the equal of a man, because 
they understand nothing about computers. Thus, their success in the middle would not be 
due to their ability, but their physical.

Today, the video game world leaves little room for women, either in the game or in its 
realization. Few games yet possible to embody a woman as the main character, like 
Assassin's Creed, which continues to refuse to give the choice to its players / players 
about what they want or they embody the pretext that the animations women characters would 
be too complicated to develop. However, the video game knows some little masterpieces free 
from discrimination, like Bioware games including the Mass Effect trilogy that either 
treats men and women characters and give the player the freedom to choose the sexual 
orientation thereof in a world devoid of homophobia or lesbophobia.

The way to go before we see sexism definitely back in the middle of gamers is still long, 
but the work of activists MHFreq or Feminist Frequency contributes greatly to make things, 
and many feminist initiatives in the game Independent video. Video games are sailing 
between interactive entertainment and an art form, and like any artistic production can 
marry several reactionary or progressive forms but also anti-dominant forms, libertarian, 
egalitarian, humanistic and / or revolutionaries. Games that put us in employee skin ? e ? 
s ArcelorMittal or to embody a protester ? e ? e fight No Tav show another video game is 
possible and that the resistance against the game Video of the big productions are 
organized. Aujoud'hui there is a real need for a feminist and anarchist response to video 
games and more generally in geek culture and / or hacker to restore it to the subversive 
potential, and popular culture he might have against order established in his questioning 
in genres, hierarchy, private property and social representations.

Yanis, Clermont and Peter Lyon

http: //labogenere.fr/2014/06/videos-de-la-journee-sexisme-jeux-video-et -...

http:... //www.gameblog.fr/dossier_769_affaire-zoe-quinn-sexisme-et-jeu-vide

http:... //www.jeuxvideo.fr/tag-marche-et-entreprises/zoe-quinn-cours-actu-7

http:... //www.lemonde.fr/pixels/article/2014/09/15/derriere-le-gamersgate-u

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controverse_du_Gamergate

http: //utoplib.blogspot.fr/2013/05/les-jeux-video-font-de-la-resistance....

http: //www.mhfreq.org/2014/01/la-fangirl-nouvelle-cible-de-la-misogynie -...

http:... //www.revue-ganymede.fr/mass-effect-quand-les-sexualites-alternativ

Manhood in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9S3Zp0qlAs video games

http://atelier.mediaslibres.org/Declaration-de-Jeremy-Hammond.html


http://www.c-g-a.org/motion/sexisme-jeux-video-et-culture-geek