Why is the ‘Girl Gamer’ Treated so Bad in Public?

As if getting harassed over online matches wasn’t bad enough, the negative behavior presented by our male counterparts is being carried over to the way girl gamers are treated in public. So you’re a girl, you do average girl things like doing your hair, putting on make-up and making sure your clothes are fitted properly. You do this not because you’re trying to impress anyone but because that’s just the way you do things. Girls tend to like to put on heels from time to time or spray fragrances to make they smell pretty but doing all these things never makes them any less of a gamer. Why do we do it; because that’s just what we do... Not to place females or males in any sort of stereotype but when it comes down to it girls tend to like to look as nice when they venture out in any public setting. Although everyone might not feel the same way, it is common for girls of all types to look their best when presenting themselves to the public despite what shape they are, what color they are or how tall they are. The way girl gamers are treated in an everyday setting by their gaming peers is different because they care about their appearance and are often time judged base off of their gender.

[TheSuperior]

I see this all the time.

[Linko64]

It's not like you'd disagree with the site your seemingly write/advertise for

[knowyourstuff]

lol I know right. If you're a girl who puts on makeup and does her hair, and gets trashed because you look nice, you might want to stop hanging around children's playgrounds, where there are prepubescent boys who make fun of anything girly.

I mean, what guy past puberty is trashing a girl for looking good? Are you serious? Guys trash girls who are fat and disgusting, not the ones who are dressed sexy. What planet are you living on? lmao

[SheaHoff]

If you experience this as a female gamer, consider the source hah :D

[Decaf_PIxel_Kat]

I really haven't experienced this, especially at my local game stop.

[SheaHoff]

Luckily, I haven't either :)

[TheGrimBunny]

I have seen this happen numerous times before, but I have also just seen them not taken seriously.

[RIPSKATEDESTROY]

so wait, girls like to dress nice and smell nice... ok noted.

[TheSuperior]

Some Do, Some Dont. Chun Li makes me think not all girls like to smell so good :P

[Root]

Most of the time it's because theres girls out there who use gaming as a social gimmick whether it's to fit in, impress someone or because it's now "cool" to like games.

There's more girls out there who fake being a gamer then males...I've seen it so many times. Those types of girls are the reason why the real girl gamers get treat like crap...because those fake girl gamers have made them look bad and now they are all put in the same social group.

I find it funny though now how girls at one time used to call guys for liking games, putting us in that whole geek stereotype and now it's a common thing to do now after gaming went mainstream in 2006 thanks to the Wii.

[TheGamerDood]

(link wouldn't load for me so I couldn't read the full article but I think I got the gist).

Whatever those reason may be, it does not excuse their actions nor words or behavior. If it bothers you to the point that you would actually harass another person whether online or in the street then you have some serious issues that you need to look at because that's not acceptable behavior under any condition.

[Root]

....who the hell is talking about calling peope online or in the street

If its online who.cares....everyone calls every one, its just how online is. Can't handle it, don't play it...it's never going to change

Next time wait untill you can read the article before you comment

[Azurite]

Well, the things mentioned are put in a negative light.

I doubt all, or perhaps any of these examples were done by the reason she thought.

[ShinraE5]

There are many kinds of "girl gamers".

The two most distinct are:

The attention whore: she flaunts her gender, she makes herself in the spotlight, then cries when the attention she gets isnt how she wants it

The gamer: the girl gamer who hates the title and wants to be seen as a gamer. She may or may not look good and doesnt care as she is there to game

Guess which one is the more enjoyable one?

ADD: Wow, I actually read this and couldn't stop laughing. I seriously am amazed. This article seems like some lady had a bad day or two and basically went on about it in a post.

An awful lot of assumption here with zero data to back her claims in regards to the frequency of said discrimination. How often DOES this happen? I see nothing to support her claims this stuff happens often.

Lastly...why don't you tell your female gamers who flaunt their sexuality, or gender, and talk trash about owning guys that they are also part of the problem? You think guys never receive bad treatment online? Ever log onto the internet?

Equality is EQUAL STANDARDS. Blame both genders for their own issues and work together to be genderless.

Thank the maker I only game with females who don't focus on such mindless cr@p and actually play the games, have fun and don't whine and moan over a bad day or two.

[BanBrother]

"Guess which one is the more enjoyable one?"
The hot one? Lol jokes.

It is very simple though. The human mindset has always been 'us' or 'them'. Unfortunately that is how the world works. If they weren't picking on you for being a female, it would be because you were black, gay, old, young etc.

I think people just need to calm down when gaming. Next gen seriously needs to allow you to send a direct copy of the hate-mail you recieve straight to their 'judge and jury', with appropriate bans implemented.

Common courtesy needs to be shown. Think of it like this, it could be your mother, your sister, your girlfriend, daughter etc. Same goes for both sexes, but obviously the discrimination against females is over 9000 times more apparent.

BTW, I'm a male gamer.

EDIT: @Shinra

I know that a lot of the stuff written in the article is anecdotal, and a lot of it is generalizations, but I think that frustration is understandable, for reasons in my original post. I suppose it is up to society to grow up (fat chance), but I suppose everyone in their life has to deal with discrimination, and it sucks, but sometimes not much can be done.

At the end of the day, if a guy (or girl) at a game store asks a female if she needs help, they are just trying to be helpful, and mean no offense. Suppose we can only blame society, and the pre dominantly male gaming audience throughout the history (of gaming).

[FrostyZipper]

Pretty much this.

Females referred to as 'Gurl Gamerz' have a bad rep because, as you said, they're attention whores flaunting their gender. It doesn't help much that - at least in my own experience - most of these types tend to suck at games.

[JAMurida]

To be fair though, there are a few on MAG that are pretty dam good.

[joeyisback]

ive seen it happen at the gamestop in my area the guy would go upto the girl and ask can i help you find anything and i heard this girl tell him no ty i know what im looking for 2 mins later heres the 360 and heres the PS3 games she got mad told him just because im a girl doesnt mean i dont know which is which he said well i thought u might be buying for your bf or son or daughter i thought he was about to be slap then also another case like it said at midnight launch this other guy goes upto 5 different females asking if there was anything he could help them with even tho they was in line

[ExCest]

I'm not gonna bash your story. In fact, it is pretty interesting, BUT, can you add like, 5 periods?

[MadMen]

Lame article and misleading title

[Linko64]

Can we stop using the term 'girl gamer'? straight off the bat is prioritizes gender of said person. People who use the term are just as bad as people who use gender as a means to insult. Unless of course we all now start to label ourselves with a gender tag. Hey guys I'm a boy film fan, a boy sports fan, a boy gamer. I'm also a boy book reader.

[Linko64]

Also Gamerbliss >

*looks at side bar* sees girl gamer of the month
Oh look ''Top 10 Sexiest Outfits In Gaming''

come on...

[MooseyXTC]

The whole "girl gamers are hated" thing is a damn myth.
Nobody EVER treats them differently when I go out to parties and LANs.
Just because there are internet trolls doesn't mean those trolls even believe the things they say themselves.
I hate this "meme".

[MEsoJD]

No matter how you portray women, someones going to be pissed.

[isarai]

LOL this article is either trying too hard, or girls need to stop jumping to conclusions. Feeling discriminated because a gamestop employee asks you "can i help you find anything?" really? really! people asking you if you are single is discrimination now? what if they are just trying to find out if you are single in the hopes of possibly getting to know you? and people always try to tell you how to play the game at events like Pax, E3, whatever has a demo booth etc. they do that to make sure you don't have a poor experience with the game (i get that shit all the time and i'm a dude)

Seriously stop reading into what isn't there, i myself have never seen women publicly discriminated for gaming. to the most extent I've seen anything of the sort is when a girl states they are a gamer, i've seen other gamers(even another girl in some cases) ask if they are a real hardcore gamer who plays games with depth and challenge or just a girl who plays farmville and angry birds.

[Linko64]

Look at the sites other posts. It doesn't give a fuck about how 'girl gamers' are treated, they just wanted to exploit a easy topic.