Comments on: Kotaku Wants Women Bloggers

By: Amber Night

Amber Night — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 01:38:50 +0000

If I Were A Man I’d Be A Blogger…

And the chicks would digg me.

Brian Crecente thinks women don't blog, or at least they don't blog about video games.
I have, for the past month or so, been trolling around on the net to find a woman to write for Kotaku because I feel very str…

By: New Game Plus » Yes, women gamers blog!

New Game Plus » Yes, women gamers blog! — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 05:17:04 +0000

[...] tekanji originally directed my attention to the irresponsible Kotaku post, On Women and Gaming. According to Kotaku, there aren’t any women game bloggers, and that’s our own fault for not blogging. Crecente wrote: While I think that strong woman writers who cover gaming are not proportional to the number of women playing games, the bigger issue it seems is that there aren’t a whole lot of immediately recognizable female writers on the net. I think the ones out there now need to be more vocal perhaps, or maybe I’m just not reading the right sites. [...]

By: Brinstar

Brinstar — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 03:27:20 +0000

I have to agree somewhat with 100littledolls’s second comment. Kotaku commenters are routinely sexist, often misogynistic, and disrespectful. Even posts on Kotaku have exhibited sexisim. There have been quite a few times when I wanted to comment on a post there (at least before I stopped reading), to debate points that asinine commenters bring up, but am unable to — because of Kotaku’s commenting policy. If I am barred from debating an issue I have an opinion on, then why bother reading the site?

I’ve found Joystiq to be a bit better, though.

By: 100littledolls

100littledolls — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 02:57:11 +0000

It’s difficult to want to post at the mainstream gaming sites like Joystiq or Kotaku because of the sexism previously mentioned.

Woman gamers who blog yet don’t comment on mainstream sites aren’t hiding. They just don’t want to spend their time on sites that are hostile to women.

By: Sigel Phoenix

Sigel Phoenix — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 02:43:36 +0000

crecente: The issue that Tekanji is raising is not so much your individual post about finding a female blogger, but rather the history of ignoring and insulting women that precedes it. To draw a random and somewhat clumsy metaphor: if someone spent the last fifteen minutes flicking your ear, and then turned around and offered you a handshake, it would be hard to focus on the handshake as a positive gesture. Rather than dismissing Tekanji’s viewpoint as simply “misunderstanding” your post, perhaps you could consider why she would be skeptical about an attempt to include women that fails to acknowledge the atmosphere that excluded them in the first place.

The “diverse” perspectives you solicit from women and people of color will most likely deal with the sexism and racism that pervade both games and gamer culture. And there are bloggers already talking about these things - problem is, much of the reaction to that blogging involves having shit flung at them rather than the respectful attention that would encourage more blogging by them. Consider that as a possible answer to your question of why there aren’t more non-white/male gamers who blog. Without at least acknowledging that context, your invitation comes off as lip service at best.

By: tekanji

tekanji — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 02:37:02 +0000

Crecente: You may not have said that there aren’t any women bloggers, but that sure was the content of your post when you claimed that we aren’t “out” there without doing your homework.

And as to why we aren’t more “out” there to people like you — look to your own site. Look at all the sexism that you all put into your posts. “Hot flashes” in the title of a PacMan post? And that’s just one of the more tame ones.

Look to your commenters. Women gamers are called attention whores, reduced to what sexual pleasure we can give to men, and harassed if we ever speak out against the treatment we receive online.

Look to the women who are “out” there. Look at Faith, who blogs at Destructiod. She tows the party line of “men rule, women are attention whores” pretty often and she still gets verbally abused, and she got it from your site, too.

Look to your own damn comment, where you hammer on your point again without reading what I said after the first line.

Where are the women gamer bloggers? They’re right here.

By: crecente

crecente — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 01:48:10 +0000

Wow, talk about misunderstanding a post. I didn’t say there aren’t any women bloggers, in fact I said the opposite. What I did say is that women blogger need to be more OUT there. I’m a little surprised you’ve turned that post into a negative when all I was doing was trying to find a female blogger to write for Kotaku.

To highlight what I was saying:
So I know they’re out there, but why aren’t there more of them out there, or more specifically, why aren’t they, you know, more out there.

While I think that strong woman writers who cover gaming are not proportional to the number of women playing games, the bigger issue it seems is that there aren’t a whole lot of immediately recognizable female writers on the net. I think the ones out there now need to be more vocal perhaps, or maybe I’m just not reading the right sites.

By: Jade Reporting » Blog Archive » March 14

Jade Reporting » Blog Archive » March 14 — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 01:42:49 +0000

[...] Kotaku Wants Women Bloggers Now You Know (And Knowing is Half the Battle) [...]

By: Brinstar

Brinstar — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 01:38:49 +0000

I actually briefly met Crecente at the 2006 Game Developers Conference. I didn’t have a chance to mention my blogging activities or speak to him for any length of time, as he was rushing off to something or other, and had only stopped to say “Hello” to Alice Taylor who I was having a conversation with.

I don’t think he’s looking in the right places.

By: tekanji

tekanji — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 07:07:27 +0000

Yeah, well, on the plus side it finally pushed me into making that feminist-oriented community I’ve wanted for ages. It’s in alpha right now, but assuming I can get off my butt and do some design it should be ready to launch in not too long. If you’re interested in alpha testing it (anyone here, really) e-mail me and I’ll give you the link to the forums.