Androcentrism and Violence in Online Video Games: Perpetuation of Gender Inequality

Abstract

This article aims to offer an analysis of the presence of hate speech, harassment, and cyber‐violence towards women in the interaction within massively multiplayer online video games (MMOs), an act of gender‐based violence perpetrated through new technologies in an environment generally described as androcentric. Filling a gap in the experience in Spain, a qualitative methodology was applied that allowed us to analyse the forms of harassment towards female video gamers, as well as some of the consequences of experiencing these situations for them. A systematic analysis of the discourses was carried out after five focus groups and 15 in‐depth interviews with young people between 18 and 29. Amongst the results, it is worth highlighting that, as occurs in offline reality, in MMOs gender schemas and asymmetric relationships are reproduced that perpetuate gender‐based violence. On the one hand, female gamers affirm that they suffer sexist violence in gaming environments through the use of language focused on physical appearance, hypersexualisation, and undervaluation, and are often considered intruders. On the other hand, they also report experiencing overprotective and paternalistic behaviours. Female gamers sometimes decide to leave their games, or avoid certain types of games apriori, because of toxic behaviours perpetrated by male gamers, which generates feelings of discrimination in their experiences as players, perpetuating androcentric patterns in this sort of environment. Applying a gender approach, this article will examine the social implications of these behaviours in order to propose appropriate social and educational responses.