Glorified Booth Babes: Felicia Day and Girl Gamers

Sara Walker July 3, 2012 21

Over the weekend, a writer for a gaming e-zine took a shot at Felicia Day via Twitter. Writer Ryan Perez sent several tweets to Day asking what she had contributed to the gaming community, and in the end, resorted to calling her a “glorified booth babe”. This isn’t just a problem for Felicia Day. It’s a problem for us all, and here’s why:

Ryan Perez may be entitled to his opinion and he may have the right to ask if Felicia Day matters at all, but he went too far by asking repeatedly and to her specifically, and then went overboard with his “booth babe” comment.

I applaud those individuals who re-tweeted and exposed the hate. I admire Wil Wheaton for calling out Perez’s publisher, Destructoid. According to author Chuck Wendig’s post, the e-zine originally shrugged off the comment, but they have since apologized to Felicia Day and fired Perez.

I think Destructoid ultimately made the right move, even if they didn’t see it at first. There shouldn’t be any reason for a publisher to support that kind of cyberbullying. It’s hate mail. Period.

It does bring to light the problem for girls in gaming: we’re not allowed to play. Our involvement in the gaming community is limited to being eye candy.

This latest “booth babe” incident comes on the heels of Felicia Day’s “Gamer Girl, Country Boy” flame fest wherein a group of individuals decided to troll Day’s gaming-country mash-up music video. The negative comments run the gamut from questioning the choice of the yellow eye shadow to a dislike of country music to questioning the involvement of women in gaming.

I’m not saying you need to love the eye shadow or country music. But to suggest gaming is a guys-only venue? This is the exclusion of half the population from an activity that supposed to be fun. And this makes sense, how? This has been a problem since the invention of the first console. Guys, girls play games, too. Get over it. (For visual proof check out the Tumblr, real girls gaming.)

Felicia Day has certainly mainstreamed the involvement of girls in the gaming community. But more needs to be done.

Girls, it’s time to stand up, declare your love for gaming, and evict the misogynists. If you play a game – board game, internet game, computer game, console game – then you’re a gamer. Welcome to the gaming community.

POSTED IN » Lifestyle

About the author: Sara Walker View all posts by Sara Walker

Sara writes urban fantasy and speculative fiction. At various times Sara has studied physics, installed burglar alarms, been a bookkeeper, and taught map & compass use. When not at Paper Droids, Urban Fantasy Land or sarawalker.net, she can be found playing Rock Band and Lego video games.

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Northwind

That should read

“girls/women/females but as fellow”
Northwind

RE: Girls, it’s time to stand up, declare your love for gaming…

Not just the girls. The guys who game with girls and see the girls not as girls/women/females need but as fellow gamers need to be standing up against this kind of hate as well. My own personal experiences have been good times had by all and gender bias and stereotypes never entered into it — board, RPG, console, PC, all of it. She was a player, a gamer, and she was either good, mediocre, or stunk, just like the guys (and I played with both guys and gals who made some of our adventures a bit more… interesting than they really needed to be! LOL).

I used to work in a store for many years selling these games and just as many girls and guys were waiting anxiously for some kind of game or accessory they really wanted to buy. So, really, it is not just the girls that need to put the foot down on this. The guys who have personally enjoyed the company of gamer girls need to be doing so as well.
- http://gfonadime.wordpress.com Ariel
  
  Hear, hear!
Isotope_238

This is why I only game with guys I know in real life. As a population, they’re cool dudes. I feel like a wuss for not even trying “real” online gaming, but whatever.
http://dianahurlburt.wordpress.com Diana Hurlburt

Hey, in related horrible news, the hashtag #WhyGirlsAreBadAtGames is trending on Twitter. Every day the urge to hunt these assholes down grows stronger…
- http://gfonadime.wordpress.com Ariel
  
  Gross. “Oh, the geek community is so ~open~ and ~accepting~ of the poor outcasts of society, no worries if you’re bullied, we’ll open our arms and let you find a home here, you precious misunderstood snowflake.
  
  Except if you’re a girl, then you can gtfo.”
Sara Walker

There is also this girl gamer who was attacked on YouTube: http://www.feministfrequency.com/2012/06/harassment-misogyny-and-silencing-on-youtube/#more-2348
Megan Patterson

It’s good that Destructoid did fire Ryan Perez (because regardless of whether or not he was actually drunk or not, as a writer and semi-public figure, he shouldn’t be doing stuff like that), however, more gaming sites need to be doing a much better job of policing their forums/comments for this kind of misogyny. It’s terrible. I feel like these sites should make some sort of pledge to make an effort to not encourage comments like this (like Destructoid and Kotaku), even though it will be hard. I will help guys!
- Sara Walker
  
  They should be doing a lot more. It’s terrible that Destructoid was going to shrug it off and not do anything until Wil Wheaton got involved. These sites hire women to write for them, but only so they can claim they’re not misogynists. The truth is revealed in their reactions. If they’re not standing up to bad behaviour, then they are condoning it.
- Jarvis
  
  I don’t think he was actually fired. From what I understand he himself phoned Destructoid after the Twitterstorm. At least he admitted his mistake.
  It would be very hypocritical to fire him for being sexist when they still have Jim Sterling around.
  - Sara Walker
    
    Hi Jarvis,
    I don’t follow Destructoid, and I certainly don’t plan to. Since Destructoid say they ended the relationship, I (like many others) have inferred that to mean they fired him. But who can really say other than Destructoid and Perez?
  - Jarvis
    
    I don’t read that blog either. It was more from following it on Twitter.
    I’m not sure that Wil Wheaton was actually doing Felicia Day a favour with his tweets. She is not very confrontational (like he is), but I’m fairly sure that she got some tweets after after this that was much more hateful than Perez’s.
    Send her a tweet about how you appreciate what she’s doing and what it means to you. You can’t stop the haters, but you can send some positive vibes.
  - Megan Patterson
    
    I tried to find the comment. I believe they maybe mutually agreed to “cut ties” but still. I don’t think I’ve read anything by Jim Sterling, but again, I do think all of these sites need to make an effort not to hire writers who say shit like this.
http://gfonadime.wordpress.com Ariel

On a different note, that pic of Ms Day is stunning. Gorgeous, talented lady! I wanna be her friend.
- http://glitchdoll.wordpress.com Elissa Smith
  
  Felicia Day is kind of my hero and definitely a good role model for everyone. She makes a living doing exactly what she loves, and puts a lot of hard work into all her projects. Also, the Flog is amazing and you should all watch it.
Megan

Hear, hear! Thank you for standing up for lady gamers! I can barely play online games without boys reminding me that I am different because I am a girl. I am just as good of a player as them, and no I am not going to send them pictures of me. I wonder how shocked they would be if other guys started asking them for pics. Would it throw a wrench in the gender dichotomy and let them see how rude it is?
- http://gfonadime.wordpress.com Ariel
  
  It’s sad because we can’t even turn it around and ask them for pics… if a girl gamer asks a guy gamer for pics, it’s not seen as harassment, but a come-on….which is exactly what they want, and exactly what we don’t. Ugh, as if. /Cher
- Megan Patterson
  
  I DON’T play online at all because of all the assholes.
- Sara Walker
  
  It’s sad to think we have to stand up to bullying in what should be a fun activity. I hope education and discussion will make a difference. http://www.cbc.ca/player/Radio/The+Current/ID/2252831223/