Credit: Cora Kennedy
Editor’s note: The following article is an opinion piece and does not necessarily represent the views of The Esports Advocate or its staff.
While women make up a fairly substantial proportion of the gamer population with Statista reporting that an estimated 46% of the total population of gamers in the US being women (Statista & Clement, 2023), that number sharply declines for esports on a competitive and amateur scale. While no group has been able to firmly determine what that exact value is, or even safely estimate it, colloquially my experience and observations point to women and fem-identifying people making up less than a fifth of the total esports player base. With efforts like Riot’s League of Legends and Valorant Gamechangers, Blizzard’s Calling All Heroes, Women’s CarBall for Rocket League (not officially sponsored by Psyonix), and many more, there are a swath of new and upcoming spaces where marginalized gender players, beyond cishet women (cishet being shorthand for cisgender heterosexual), can find the right competitive atmosphere for them. These spaces all help normalize to marginalized gender people that they all have a home in esports despite what their initial sentiments might tell them.
Dedicated marginalized gender competitive spaces aren’t just nice to have, they need to exist as many marginalized gender competitors have an unfortunate wealth of stories about their experiences with men in co-ed tournaments and leagues. Bullying, threats, doxxing, stalking, and many more comprise experiences that are far too universal in esports and make co-ed gaming spaces generally hazardous for non-men to exist in, let alone try to actively participate. Even in collegiate esports, several of my own players at IWU have spoken to me about how they have been harassed by men in our competitive collegiate matches, talking about how they feel nervous to compete or, in some cases, firing them up to win out of spite versus enjoyment.
Given all of this, women’s spaces in esports are a necessity, and I am incredibly thankful more of them are appearing by the day. Spaces where women can compete, make friends, and find a community welcoming to them without having to look over their shoulder or fear for their safety or sanity are all beneficial and many are cropping up centered around almost every game. Every day more women find that gaming can be a fun home for them too and they seek out other like minded women to join them. However, many of these womens spaces tend to reinforce, or at least normalize, a very narrow view of femininity and “what it means to be a woman”. Many transgender women and other fem-identifying people have felt alienated in some of the largest communities for women in gaming and esports, and as community size decreases, so does the likelihood of someone who does not conform to traditional femininity being accepted into a community specifically meant for women. It is heartbreaking to hear the excitement fade from someone’s voice when they talk about a new group of women gamers they found turned out to be less accepting and inclusive than they publicly purport.
In a space where women and fem-identifying people are already marginalized, to see further striation and enforcement of traditional gender norms when the space is all about inclusion only serves to ruin whatever productive traits a community may have had. Speaking from personal experiences, I have left many marginalized gender Valorant communities because I did not feel safe there as someone who does not meet, nor want to meet, the criteria of a stereotypical, almost Barbie version of “what a woman should be”. While these spaces weren’t explicitly for traditional femininity only, the community members and atmosphere subtly, or sometimes not so subtly, enforced that there was a distinctly correct way to go about being a woman.
Women and fem-identifying people are not just cishet, able-bodied white women, and the standardization around that when creating women’s spaces in gaming is incredibly frustrating. This piece is borne of my frustrations as someone who is not typically feminine as well as a collection of thoughts inspired by conversations with other people in the same boat. Whether they be non-white, not-AFAB (assigned female at birth), non-binary, or what have you, many people who have been invited to women’s spaces having been openly told they are welcome only to find that the inclusion is only surface deep are all feeling similar things. As such, I hope to provide light on some of the issues affecting women’s communities in gaming and esports in the hope that we can all evaluate our own bias, understand what inclusivity for women is, and determine how we can move forward for the benefit of all.
I want to make it very clear that I am neither directly citing the people that these conversations have been had with, nor the organizations and women’s spaces that illustrate these issues most clearly. This is not meant to call out any group in particular and I know that doing so will only weaken the message and intent behind this. The intended outcome of reading this is for readers to take an introspective look at the women’s spaces they inhabit in gaming and esports and set their own feelings aside to look at them in an objective manner. Understand the biases and stereotypes that they are built around and set out to do better for the sake of all who participate in that space.
I want to make it clear, right off the bat, that I do not think that traditional femininity and the cultural norms of cishet, able-bodied white women are bad. This piece is not a rant against stereotypical women’s culture, it is not detailing my disdain for people who are part of the majority, and it is not seeking to tear down other women; it is a commentary on the issues that plague these spaces and how we can do better. Seeing women and fem-identifying people happy and finding themselves more at home in gaming and esports is wonderful and I wholeheartedly love seeing it as frequently as it has become. However, we cannot praise the positive steps being taken without also discussing where we need to do better. This piece is inspired by my own experiences as a trans woman in gaming and esports as well as conversations and experiences from many other women in the space who are also not from a cishet white woman background. Among them are people who identify as non-binary, non-white, gender nonconforming, transgender, intersex, and more who all have their own stories and experiences with women’s spaces in gaming that left them feeling more excluded than before. I do not know everything, nor do I have the experiences that others may have, but I do genuinely care and want to see things get better and I hear enough to know what many of the pain points are.
A very common conservative talking point is asking someone to define “what is a woman?” and mocking it or poking holes in their definition, no matter how they define it, to diminish their statements. A “documentary” was even released by a famous far-right transphobe that denigrated the entire transgender inclusivity movement. A vast majority of these arguments also stem from a series of logical fallacies and, more commonly, rampant transphobia, but engaging in a broader cultural debate (however ridiculous it may be) is beyond the scope of this piece. I will define it very simply and bluntly so that all may understand: a woman is anyone who defines themself as such.
The World Health Organization states that “Gender identity refers to a person’s deeply felt, internal and individual experience of gender, which may or may not correspond to the person’s physiology or designated sex at birth.” (World Health Organization, 2024). The European Institute for Gender Equality defines a woman as “Female human being; a person assigned a female sex at birth, or a person who defines herself as a woman.” (European Institute for Gender Equality, 2024). There are an innumerable other number of sources who all say the same thing: A woman is anyone who defines themself as such. For further reading on this, I recommend any number of resources on the Sociology of Gender. The Wikipedia article is a good reference as a starting point and I recommend this site by Dr. Zuleyka Zevallos as well as an number of scholarly articles and textbooks that you can find.
I am not alone in how a woman is defined and how it is colloquially understood. Detractors of this widely accepted definition commonly say “but what if I said I was a woman now, do they have to let me into the women’s bathroom all of a sudden?” and that is an argument made in poor faith at best. If someone genuinely says they identify as a woman, good on them, I’ll support them. Misogyny, and more specifically transmisogyny, says that someone needs to act and look a certain way to qualify as a woman, but if we are to purport ourselves as an inclusive and welcoming community, setting barriers does the opposite. From the newest trans woman to the oldest cis woman, all classify as women and all are under the umbrella and therefore should be welcome in women’s spaces in gaming.
One of the biggest ways that many women have said they do not feel welcome in women’s spaces in gaming is via a strict adherence and normalization of stereotypes by the community. While these things are not necessarily bad by themselves, the normalization of them as the standard leaves people who do not agree with them in the dust. Some examples of stereotypical things in relation to women in gaming and esports:
Once again, on their own these things are not awful and many times they suit the audience on a broad scale. However, when changes or disagreements are voiced, many people have said they frequently are subtly shot down as they do not align with “what women are like.”
For those who dare to be competitors at a professional level in esports in the marginalized gender scene, anything besides strict adherence to gender expression norms is met with an overwhelming amount of hate from women and men alike and we have seen countless examples of this. When transgender players competed at the top level of Valorant at VCT GC Champs, any ways in which they were not stereotypically feminine were mocked and their removal from the space was called for consistently. This extends to women’s spaces online too where transgender people get called out for their voice not being stereotypically feminine sounding so consistently that a majority of them do not even use voice chats in most communities (but this is a much broader issue beyond the scope of this piece). Many have also said that women’s spaces online are full of little jabs and cliquey behavior that can seem small at first, but every time someone shows an ounce of individuality and gets it hammered down, they feel less accepted in the space and less willing to participate. I myself have distanced myself from some of the most prominent spaces for women and queer women in esports because they felt more like a close social circle than a welcoming community to outsiders, and I know I am not alone in feeling this.
Little slights against people who do not fit the mold quickly turn into a mountain of reasons for someone to feel unsafe in a community, and many fem-identifying people that I know who do not conform to traditional femininity commonly say that they leave a community because they just don’t feel welcome there anymore. Even childish stuff like not commenting on someone’s selfie while talking about every other, or not inviting them to game sessions, or just the way people collectively talk and develop a dialect within a community can all contribute to this too. Refusing to actually recognize and welcome a fem-identifying person unless they sacrifice their individuality and sense of self for the sake of homogeneity is the furthest thing from inclusion possible, and many women’s spaces in gaming and esports reinforce stereotypes, either implicitly or explicitly, that push this narrative. I encourage readers to stop for a moment to consider how the respective women’s spaces they participate online may be implicitly or explicitly pushing stereotypes that only further marginalize already fringe elements of the community.
One of my greatest frustrations with the direction advocacy and activism work is headed is that it has diverged into two paths. One path is hardline traditional activism, galvanizing people and getting out in the streets and on media to raise awareness and fight for what they believe in. The other path, and one that is much more common, is dominated by lip-service and valuing optics over people. When a group proudly proclaims itself as a bastion of inclusivity for women in gaming, only to turn tail and go silent when that activism requires action, they cannot be considered an advocate. When women’s spaces in gaming value being brand-safe over having values they actually follow, they lose all value to the community beyond being a place to spam with your stream link when you go live. Many women’s spaces in gaming purport themselves as activists when someone from the stereotypical population they serve is affected, but when it is someone who does not conform to traditional femininity, they are noticeably silent.
This sort of “screw you, I got mine” activism plagues all facets of activist work and has become especially prevalent in online spaces where many believe that by merely existing, they can manifest change. This is not the Field of Dreams, you cannot adopt an “If you build it, they will come” mentality, and this sort of behavior is emblematic of someone who lives in an ivory tower, removed from the practical reality of our world. Many women’s spaces do not consider the struggles of community members beyond those of cishet white women, and it is increasingly apparent in the fight for transgender rights for example. Claiming to be an activist for gender equality, but being noticeably silent on the 517 (and counting) anti-trans bills up for consideration this calendar year in the US as of writing (Trans Legislation Tracker, 2024) is hypocritical and makes other work hollow. With the ongoing culture war being waged over the rights of non-stereotypical women everywhere, silence on one topic while being outspoken on another reeks of an indifference borne from diluting values for the sake of brand safety.
Given the current climate in gaming and esports as a whole, with layoffs and budget cuts rampant at all levels, it is understandable that women’s spaces in gaming would want to be brand-safe in order to help garner sponsorships as some may feel they are already rocking the boat as it is. Activism tends to scare away big brands who prefer that their partners vaguely support a cause as opposed to actively engaging with it, so it is only fair to try to keep your nose clean as an organization. However, if a women’s space in gaming is going to primarily be centered around milquetoast, brand-safe activism, they should be up front about it. If they are going to cater to cishet, able-bodied white women, they cannot parade around the token outliers they convinced to be a part of their organization in order to say they truly support all women and fem-identifying people. If you are going to say you are a group centered around activism and gender-equality, actually do that. Hollow, empty announcements sponsored by x and y brand and events that adhere to, and normalize, a very specific kind of femininity do not meet the criteria of supporting and recognizing everyone who is in that space.
Valuing optics before people will only lead to a dilution of your mission and a lack of actionable change and numerous people I have spoken with have voiced their frustrations at just how unwilling to take actionable steps many of the largest women’s spaces in gaming are. I see this movement of corporatized lip-service across society and media in general, but many of these examples are found in companies that do not have activism as a core mission. To see women’s spaces in gaming, who vocally portray themselves as activist for positive change, act in the same way is disheartening.
There are a very large assortment of reasons that affect women from prominently being a figure in culture as a whole and numerous publications outlining them. One of the better ones, Handbook of research on gender and leadership by Susan R. Madsen very succinctly illustrates these issues as such.
Women’s spaces in gaming and esports are not insulated from these barriers, and many of these spaces were created to escape said barriers in a dedicated environment. Issues such as male gatekeeping, discrimination, lack of mentoring, and many more are largely resolved by creating a dedicated space for women and fem-identifying people to grow and thrive, independent of male influences that may obstruct them. Some of these issues, however, persist to a greater degree in these women’s spaces and have become frustratingly common. Some examples that myself and others have noticed include:
Where Do We Go From Here
Complaints and pointing out missteps without suggestions for a path forward are useless and serve only as fodder and mindless chatter, so next I will discuss some suggestions for steps forward. I would like to preface this by saying that these are not the only possible solutions, nor are they achievable or realistic for every group, but if we collectively strive to do better, the results will follow. While this piece is borne of the collective frustrations of myself and numerous others who feel marginalized in communities supposedly meant for them, by no means is it meant to be an attack or call for the dissolution of these spaces. We can all strive to do better, and do better we shall.
Throughout this piece I have highlighted the ways in which stereotypical cishet, able-bodied white women are the standard to which many women’s spaces are built around, and I know I speak on that from somewhat of a privileged position as a white woman myself. However, an innumerable amount of women have felt marginalized in women’s spaces because they do not fit the stereotypical mold, and that is heartbreaking. Women’s spaces should endeavor to do better in welcoming and including people from backgrounds other than their own and should create a community of care and concern around the concept that a woman is anyone who truly says they are one.
Do not tolerate intolerance, do not look beyond little slights, backhanded bullying, and microaggressions, and make sure that if you call your space inclusive, it is inclusive for people who aren’t exactly like you too. Understand the expectations you set and norms you reinforce by your words, actions, and intentions, and look beyond them to create a better space for all. While it is impossible to police and monitor every chat and every voice channel, creating a culture centered around being friendly and welcoming to every woman will only serve to benefit the community you oversee. Femininity is not one narrow definition, not everyone likes the same things, not everyone wants to be the same things, so make strides towards normalizing that being different is still something to be celebrated and welcomed. If women feel uncomfortable in your women’s space because of their other identities, look inwards and examine why and how you can fix it.
Generally speaking, women’s spaces in gaming were created to provide a safe enclave for women to grow and thrive in an environment free from the trials and tribulations that co-ed communities generally face. Furthermore, many of these spaces have banded together as communities for the sake of activism within their own communities, on social media, and in daily life. If a group wants to be seen as an activist, actually be one. Stopping activism at things that do not affect cishet, able-bodied white women waters-down any work you do and shows that you are willing to bend and concede ground to people who would not do the same for you for the sake of brand safety. If you are going to be a space for all women, do it, but don’t push them to the side when it comes time to seek sponsors and brands. Marginalizing a specific subset of your community to appeal to a wider audience only hurts those who are already struggling as it is.
I know I talked a lot about activism and how women’s spaces tended to lean on gender-equity activism, but I also want to make it clear that everyone doesn’t need to be an activist. It takes a lot of time, energy, and effort to move the needle in terms of activism and being uncomfortable with it is perfectly reasonable. For that reason, I do not want people to feel forced into activism just because they are creating a safe space for women in gaming. However, you need to be empathetic to the plight of other women’s communities that do choose to do activism work or, in some cases, are forced into it. For many women from marginalized backgrounds such as trans women, immigrants, and more, they need to be an activist simply to keep their own rights and feel safe online in any way. So be understanding and supportive of their situation at the very least. Echoing and amplifying someone else’s message takes a great deal less effort and still can make an impact by reaching a wider audience.
In the end, effectively serving a community involves a melding of your own beliefs and ideas as the leader(s) of that community as well as listening and understanding the beliefs and ideas of the community members. No successful community, especially one for those marginalized, exists without prioritizing the community first. Create a culture in the community that fosters growth and mutual support of all members before anything else. Furthermore, create a community culture that encourages members to come forward when things aren’t as they should be. If someone is afraid to report the injustices they deal with, very rarely will there be meaningful change. However, once they feel safe doing so, making actionable change and moving beyond empty platitudes as a response will engender good-will and lead towards positive community development. It all comes back to listening, and by listening you can truly hear and understand the issues that the community may be facing.
European Institute for Gender Equality. (2024). woman. European Institute for Gender Equality. Retrieved March 6, 2024, from https://eige.europa.eu/publications-resources/thesaurus/terms/1286?language_content_entity=en
Madsen, S. R. (Ed.). (2018). Handbook of Research on Gender and Leadership. Edward Elgar Publishing.
Statista & Clement, J. (2023, November 6). U.S. gamers by gender 2023. Statista. Retrieved March 3, 2024, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/232383/gender-split-of-us-computer-and-video-gamers/
Trans Legislation Tracker. (2024). 2024 anti-trans bills tracker. Trans Legislation Tracker: 2024 Anti-Trans Bills. Retrieved March 3, 2024, from https://translegislation.com/
World Health Organization. (2024). Gender and health. World Health Organization (WHO). Retrieved March 6, 2024, from https://www.who.int/health-topics/gender#tab=tab_1
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