The Power of Social Networking: Twitter Hashtag "#1reasonwhy" Reveals Sexism Is Still Alive & Kicking in the Game Industry
I logged into Twitter this morning and discovered the top hashtag "#1reasonwhy". Curious, I clicked it.
Shockingly users of Twitter, many of them young women working within the game industry, as gamers, artists and other roles in this culture used this tag to reveal their experiences, whether it be harassment sent through messages on Xbox Live or dealing with sexual jokes from co-workers in a game studio. Their experiences revolve around sexism and how so many things contribute as to why the game industry remains immature, arrogant and sexist towards women even in 2012.
This is so upsetting to see. Even Kotaku & Edge took notice of this still continuing hashtag. Is sexism amongst the game industry THIS degrading and bad? I don't work in the industry myself, though I have applied for many jobs in the creative industry as a whole and I can't help but wonder or question to myself. "Is it because of my gender?".
To progress with a career in such a male dominated industry is intimidating enough, and these thoughts shouldn't occur to me, but one can't help but think in this way, plus I'm sure I'm not the only young woman to share these views. It's disappointing yet true...today on Twitter has been a very important day on highlighting these issues that still remain unsolved. Will they EVER be solved? Surely the game industry on a large scale isn't this sexist? There are far more female gamers now then there ever has been, but why is this problem still occurring?
So many questions, so many answers to be given. Social networking can discover some skeletons in the closet.
Shockingly users of Twitter, many of them young women working within the game industry, as gamers, artists and other roles in this culture used this tag to reveal their experiences, whether it be harassment sent through messages on Xbox Live or dealing with sexual jokes from co-workers in a game studio. Their experiences revolve around sexism and how so many things contribute as to why the game industry remains immature, arrogant and sexist towards women even in 2012.
This is so upsetting to see. Even Kotaku & Edge took notice of this still continuing hashtag. Is sexism amongst the game industry THIS degrading and bad? I don't work in the industry myself, though I have applied for many jobs in the creative industry as a whole and I can't help but wonder or question to myself. "Is it because of my gender?".
To progress with a career in such a male dominated industry is intimidating enough, and these thoughts shouldn't occur to me, but one can't help but think in this way, plus I'm sure I'm not the only young woman to share these views. It's disappointing yet true...today on Twitter has been a very important day on highlighting these issues that still remain unsolved. Will they EVER be solved? Surely the game industry on a large scale isn't this sexist? There are far more female gamers now then there ever has been, but why is this problem still occurring?
So many questions, so many answers to be given. Social networking can discover some skeletons in the closet.
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