Harassment and Toxic Culture

Click to reveal information

77% of those surveyed reported encountering gender-related harassment while gaming, such as being subjected to name-calling, inappropriate sexual messages, men exiting games upon discovering the player's gender, gatekeeping behaviors, patronizing remarks, skill-based judgments, and unwelcome advice. Additionally, 59% admitted to adopting non-gendered or male identities while gaming to sidestep conflicts and harassment, while 44% disclosed receiving unwanted inquiries about their relationship status during gaming sessions.

“Toxicity 100% exists. You have women gamers who don’t identify themselves as being female because of the fact that they don’t want to deal with the backlash in chat. You are seeing chat that is very negative for women, and that’s not fair.” (quoted by a professional female gamer in Darvin et al., 20203).