Slashdot Mirror
The Daily Harassment of Women In the Game Industry
An anonymous reader writes: Brianna Wu, leader of a game development studio, has an article exposing the constant harassment of women in the games industry. She says, "I'm not writing this piece to evoke your sympathy. I'm writing to share with you what prominent, successful women in the industry experience, in their own words." She goes through the individual stories of several women targeted by this vitriol, and tries to figure out why it happens. Quoting: "We live in a society that's sexist in ways it doesn't understand. One of the consequences is that men are extremely sensitive to being criticized by women. ... This is why women are socialized to carefully dance around these issues, disagreeing with men in an extremely gentle manner. Not because women are nicer creatures than men. But because our very survival can depend on it. ... Growing a thicker skin isn't the answer, nor is it a proper response. Listening, and making the industry safer for the existence of visible women is the best, and only, way forward."
I invite you to visit any developer's forum. Particularly for multiplayer games that get frequent patching.
Then tell me that they don't face harassment, irregardless of gender. People pick on whatever sticks out. Is the developer Russian? Russian insults. Are they of Chinese descent, and he comments? Expect some variation of "ching chong chow chee ho lee fuk sum ting wong chang chong ching wang chinky chong" in response.
If it's women, they get picked on for being women.
I'm a little segfault, short and stout.
It's actually really easy to check this out, because you can use whatever name you want on the Internet.
Someone decided to prove that women were just whining, recently.
What happened? He lasted two hours. Then he deleted the account, because he couldn't take it. The women I've talked to report that what he encountered is normal for them.
My blog: http://www.seebs.net/log/ --- My iPhone/iPad app: http://www.seebs.net/seebsfrac/
And just to make clear, the problem of insulting people isn't along the lines of "ching chong chow chee" or whatnot. The problem case is along the lines of: Scenario 1: Man: "What does that do? Sorry, I don't know perl." Crowd: "You don't know perl? Geez, you're stupid." Scenario 2: Woman: "What does that do? Sorry, I don't know perl." Crowd: "Geez, women are stupid."
No, you're wrong, you didn't even read the article (should I say you are stupid?). Specific examples from the article, if you'd like to read it:
"Only 1 out of 5 is hot, and that is Jessica. The rest need to be in the kitchen."
"I have a guy who’s writing fan fiction starring me and him. It’s a pornographic fanfic, and he's on chapter 6. He anonymously submits chapters through my website"
"Rape fantasies and pictures of dead children were coming faster than I could block individual users."
That is the kind of thing we are dealing with.
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
Freedom of speech.
Irrelevant in this context.
The first amendment protects you and me from the government. It does not protect you and me from each other.
If a private enterprise (DOTA2, Steam, Origin, whatever) wishes to curtail expression within their own domain, they're perfectly entitled to do so. There are valid exceptions to free-speech protections (e.g., restaurants can't refuse service based or race or sexual orientation of patrons) but none apply to the current discussion.
If it weren't for deadlines, nothing would be late.