I read an article a couple days ago about a fifth-grader playing Minecraft where she met this “12-year-old boy” The mother saw the messages sent by this “12-year-old boy” which were sexual in nature. The mother went to the police and they are currently trying to track down this creep. It’s disgusting that predators use gaming to lure kids. Harassment exists prominently in gaming.
I have certainly been harassed extensively when I first started gaming. As a young 13-year-old awkward girl in middle school, I received an Xbox 360 in Christmas 2007. That Christmas I played Halo 3 for probably the entire day; those were the good days. That’s when I first saw the ugly side of gaming. Me being a naive 13-year-old girl, I made my gamer tag an obvious somewhat girly tag. I would get messages from guys trying to flirt with me. I would be in a match and people would see my gamer tag and say I was probably ugly, fat, and a bitch. Those were the PG comments that I got. I had a lot of sexual comments from guys saying what they would do to me. Yet, I’m just a 13-year-old girl trying to enjoy her favorite game.
I handle harassment by just reporting it and hopefully, that fixes the issue. In the past, I would have reacted defensively, but that leads to the comments becoming worse with more threatening language. I wish the gaming industry wasn’t this way, and I won’t let it stop me from enjoying something I love. However, it shows me how sexism & misogyny are still prevalent in today’s society.
Bizarre Brunette 
How terrible that s*it happens ugh 😦
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Yeah
I still love gaming but the harassment and sexism is still ongoing.
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Its so sad that harassment like this happens
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I definitely 100% agree. I don’t understand why it’s hard for some men to understand that women can be gamers too. Luckily, I feel like it has been cut down since Microsoft does actually listen to the reports they get. I just wish that it was a little more friendly to women at times.
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It’s such a shame that men feel the need to be misogynistic for women just enjoying something that they do. I’m sorry that you go through with such harassment and hope you remain strong to keep doing what you love. 🙂
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Thanks! 🙂 I have met so many awesome female gamers that go through this too which is why I wanted to write up my experience.
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How horrid that comments like that can taint something you enjoy. I’m glad you and your boyfriend enjoy gaming together and it’s not stopping doing something you love. Keep reporting those creeps and shooting the crap out of stuff …. In games of course 😉 Charlie x
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😀 Thanks! Gaming is something I probably won’t ever stop permanently doing, but it’s sad that it has been so different being a woman versus being a man.
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Luckily I have never had any problems as a girl gamer, but I do hear it a lot from other girls. I completely understand that it can “ruin” something you love.
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Yeah I think it’s super weird that men are so offended and are being territorial when women enter the gaming sphere. It just shows how gross these guys can be if they are sending me this stuff.
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When I would play co-op games where you could talk to other players and would get shit for being a female, I would totally tear the balls off the guys trying to tear me down because I AM a bitch and don’t put up with shit like that. I liked trolling the trolls. It was fun to listen to them cry. Assholes.
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Haha I used to do that too but then the comments would just get worse and I felt like I was feeding into it. I mean whatever makes it work for you. I once played Max Payne 3 and smoked all of the guys in the match, it was great
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They used to call me ugly, and I would laugh and tell them I was so out of their pathetic little leagues that they only dreamed of getting with a girl like me, but their tiny little dicks kept them from being able to satisfy any kind of girl. 😀 I was mean. Haha!
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Haha it’s hard not to be mean when someone is saying really inappropriate things to you.
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That is just disgusting. I’m really sorry to hear about this. I also never really understood the gamer’s gate case and I think you for clearing that up.
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Yeah I didn’t really fully understand either. The basics is that gamer gate really just examines the misogyny in the gaming industry but that event really kicked off the entire thing.
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