









































Abstract: This study analyzes the effects gender and race have on the hostility towards and acknowledgement 
of issues women face in the gaming community. After prompting the gaming community with stimulus 
material that voices a feminist perspective, the study attempted to see how different profile pictures (White 
male, White female, Black male, Black female) affected responses. In other words, the study aims to analyze 
how the same perspective of women in gaming culture is received by the public, despite differences in gender 
and racial representation. Under the context of intersectionality, comments or public reactions of blog pages 
were analyzed by conditions of race and gender, which were then coded and used to conduct a qualitative 
analysis of “hostility” (e.g., vulgar language) and “acknowledgment” (e.g., agreed/disagreed with the blog 
content). The categorized reactions were then used to produce a quantitative measurement to determine the 
public perception of women in the gaming culture. Results revealed statistically significant differences in 
the pattern of hostile and non-hostile responses. Furthermore, an examination of conditions also revealed 
statistically different patterns related to acknowledgment of a problem. Noted patterns of hostility and 
acknowledgement may help to further determine implications of the intersecting aspects of one’s identity in 
an expanding culture and industry of games. 

Aisthesis      Volume 8,  201748

Perceptions of Women and Gaming: Exploring Implications 
of Intersectionality through Quantitative Analysis of Blog 
Comments

by Noah Petters and Edward Downs

Introduction
 Gender continues to be a contentious issue 
within the gaming community. While gender 
originally refers to a social construction of one’s 
identity (Bem, 1993; Shaw & Lee, 2015), within the 
context of this study for analytic purposes, gender 
refers to the representation of oneself as a biological 
female or male. Issues within the community range 
from hypersexualized visual displays of women in the 
virtual world (Downs & Smith, 2010; Jansz & Martis, 
2007; Ogletree & Drake, 2007; Waddell et al., 2014; 
Williams et al., 2009) to the degradation, threats, and 
verbal abuse of women in the gaming community’s 
real world (Consalvo, 2012; Chess & Shaw, 2015). 
Academic research parallels the negative valence of 
real-world occurrences. More specifically, scholars 
have found that when gamers speak with a female 
voice in online game play, they are three times more 
likely than male voices to receive derogatory or 
negative comments from other networked gamers 
(Kuznekoff & Rose, 2013). Gender stereotypes may 
be a reason for this hostile behavior (Aries, 1996). 
 From feminist studies, critical aspects of 
intersectionality address interactions between race, 
class, ethnicity, and gender in comparison to the 

dominant White, male category (Shaw & Lee, 2015). 
Aspects of intersectionality propose that a hierarchy 
exists in society such that if one does not share 
relevant characteristics of the dominant group (i.e., 
White males), then one will be more likely to suffer 
from some social-level disadvantage, discrimination, 
or oppression. In this study, intersectionality is 
used both as theoretical framework and as a basis 
for quantitative measurements of hostility and 
acknowledgment based on the visual identifier used 
in the blogs. 
 While video games allow for immediate responses 
in an arousing online forum, blogs tend to be more 
thoughtful in nature (Baker & Moore, 2008; Baker & 
Moore, 2011). Blogs allow authors to communicate 
subject matter difficult to express in regular and 
immediate social interactions by reducing social 
constraints that hinder discussion of distressing 
events in offline life (Baker & Moore, 2008; Baker 
& Moore, 2011). For instance, bloggers or users of 
computer-mediated communication may be more 
prone to display hostility in an online forum than a 
face-to-face exchange (Kuznekoff & Rose, 2013). This 
study will use intersectionality to analyze if bloggers 
leave more hostile comments on blogs that present 



Perceptions of Women and Gaming: Exploring Implications of Intersectionality

Aisthesis      Volume 8,  201749

a Black (race), female (gender) profile picture, than 
blogs with male profile pictures. To accomplish 
this goal, we begin with a literature review that will 
discuss how perceptions of the gamer identity and 
how gender stereotypes have come to shape gaming 
content and culture, reactions towards women in the 
gaming culture and industry, and previous research 
on gender and race representations.

Literature Review
Gamer Identity
 The term “gamer” has typically connoted a 
negative cultural identity or stereotype that has been 
portrayed in various media (Kowert et al., 2014). It 
is directly associated with someone who plays video 
games, but as Shaw (2012) states, “labeling everyone 
who plays video games as a gamer is misguided” (p. 
29). Historically, self-identified “gamers” have come 
to be associated with and stereotyped as White, 
antisocial, young males, living in the basements of 
their parents’ homes. Furthermore, per stereotypes, 
self-identified gamers tend to be part of an exclusive 
group of people with specific perspectives (i.e., that 
of young, White males). Despite this image, some 
studies have cited and challenged this identity as 
the dominant one (Shaw, 2010). Individuals who 
do not self-identify as gamers may still play games 
as much as those who identify as such, but will not 
have a vocal preference of content or opinion of the 
games or culture itself. This negative association with 
gaming and the lack of majority voice within the 
community’s base has come to marginalize already 
underrepresented groups such as women, both in the 
culture and industry (Shaw, 2012; Consalvo, 2012). 
Online bullying and verbal abuse in games have 
become part of the normal, virtual landscape, and 
the industry’s portrayals of violence, hypersexualized 
women, and lack of racial representations seem to 
still make up most of the gaming content (Lynch et 
al., 2016; Waddell et al., 2014).
 Initially, the game industry’s target audience 
was the young male population, which subsequently 
adopted the term “gamer” (Williams, 2003); 
however, in recent years, as the popularity of games 
expanded, it has come to include not just the initial 
target audience, but both males and females of 
various ages (Williams, 2003). Furthermore, as Shaw 
(2012) states, “there was an assumption that if only 

the industry could get beyond its myopic view of its 
market, they could make more money by offering 
more diversity in their products” (p. 33). The 
gaming industry seems to have noted the potential 
to expand its audience. Recent industry statistics 
suggest that women players now make up about 
half of the game playing market (Chess & Shaw, 
2015). Hartmann and Klimmt (2006) also noted 
differences in male and female gaming preferences, 
which may help to continue progressive industry 
development. While the industry often creates 
games containing violence and hypersexualized 
displays for its initial target audience, they found 
that for women, the social interaction was of greater 
relevance than gender role stereotyping and violence 
in videogames. Additionally, paying attention to 
alternative views will allow for better game creation 
as well as a deeper understanding of the relationship 
between gender and gaming (Hayes, 2005). Industry 
changes and academic research has also allowed the 
gaming industry to expand into different genres of 
games, feature female protagonists, and welcome an 
entirely new audience and generation of gamers. For 
instance, Sony Worldwide Studio President Shuhei 
Yoshida commented earlier this year on a project 
with a female protagonist: 

“As an industry, I think we should continue to 
make efforts to have more females in studios 
on the development side and to get different 
perspectives. Games have become more and 
more popular in terms of who plays, especially 
in terms of mobile. We have a chance to further 
increase the reach” (as cited in Dunning, 2015).

Despite the noted attempts for inclusivity and the 
more progressive evolutions of gamer identity, 
content, and industry, Kuznekoff and Rose (2013) 
suggest that negative stereotypes and representations 
have changed little over recent years.

Public Perception & Reaction
 As aforementioned, understanding the portrayal 
of gender stereotypes may help to understand 
behavior within the gaming community (Aries, 
1996). Gender stereotypes include but are not 
limited to women being more emotional, submissive, 
sensitive, and oversexualized (Shaw & Lee, 2015). 
These stereotypes and tropes commonly used in 
video games have led to extreme feminist activism 



Perceptions of Women and Gaming: Exploring Implications of Intersectionality

Aisthesis      Volume 8,  201750

and were a precursor to a recent issue known as the 
“Gamergate” controversy.  It has also been called a 
conspiracy or movement, but regardless of the name, 
Gamergate was a harassment campaign. The people 
involved in this movement are those who have 
profited from the lack of diversity and those who 
believe that gaming should remain male dominated 
(Chess & Shaw, 2015). This campaign was directed 
toward women in the game industry, feminist 
activists, and their research that tends to confront 
the inherent masculinity found within the games 
and its associated industry (Chess & Shaw, 2015). 
Since 2007, women such as Kathy Sierra, a game 
developer, and Anita Sarkeesian, a feminist video 
blogger, have received numerous rape and death 
threats. These threats have escalated to the point 
where events were cancelled and their addresses 
and personal information were distributed across 
the internet, forcing them to relocate for safety 
precautions (Chess & Shaw, 2015). In October 2014, 
Utah State University received numerous threats, one 
associated with Gamergate, regarding Sarkeesian’s 
planned speech and attendance (Chess & Shaw, 
2015). Sarkeesian’s appearance was subsequently 
cancelled for safety reasons.
 While individuals from the public who 
contributed to Gamergate want the industry to 
remain exclusively male, social justice warriors who 
oppose Gamergate and similar ideals were quick to 
point out other events that have reinforced gender 
stereotypes and excluded women from the industry. 
For instance, at Microsoft’s Game Developers 
Conference in 2016, an event where professionals 
converse on the current gaming climate, Beres 
(2016) from The Huffington Post noted, “women in 
scanty costumes were hired to entertain guests and 
attendees.” After video and photos spread to the 
internet, people quickly voiced their perspective 
on social media sites, condemning Microsoft for 
driving women away and reinforcing disrespect for 
women (Beres, 2016). Microsoft’s Phil Spencer since 
released an apology, reaffirming they are “committed 
to higher standards” (as cited in Beres, 2016).
 Gender remains a contentious issue both in the 
real world and virtual world; however, more research 
is necessary to fully understand the implications of 
those perspectives and determine what the actual 
majority perspective is among gamers and their 

associated culture in relation to representation, 
content, and industry.

Gender Studies in Mediated Communication
 The gaming industry may be employing more 
women, and gamers may come across more women 
online today than in the past; however, Kuznekoff 
and Rose (2013) suggest that negative stereotypes 
and hostile behavior associated with the gaming 
community have changed little over previous years, 
especially those regarding women. Kuznekoff and 
Rose (2013) conducted a study at Ohio University, 
where they measured how gamers’ reactions would 
differ between male and female voices. Rather 
than focus on previous research that dealt with 
stereotypical portrayal of gaming content, the Game 
Research and Immersive Design (GRID) lab at Ohio 
University recorded gameplay and audio output 
from an Xbox 360 console to analyze the reactions 
of gamers (Kuznekoff & Rose, 2013). This study was 
conducted using Microsoft’s Xbox LIVE service, a 
platform where gamers can interact with each other 
around the globe in real time. Computer technology, 
like Xbox LIVE Service, has enabled human 
interaction via voice channels, avatar interaction, and 
video feeds known as shared virtual environments 
(SVE), allowing gaming to go from a solitary activity 
to social one (Kuznekoff & Rose, 2013). 
 Using the online mode of the first-person 
shooter game “Halo 3,” identical, prerecorded male 
and female voice messages were inputted before, 
during, and after gameplay. Reactions from other 
gamers online were then recorded. According to the 
study, the female voice received three times as many 
derogatory or negative comments than a male voice 
or no voice, even when the voices communicated 
the same message. Walther’s (1997) hyper personal 
computer mediated communication (CMC) states 
that the characteristics associated with CMC, such 
as the condition of “anonymity,” can create hyper-
negative effects for receivers (as cited in Kuznekoff 
& Rose, 2013). Specifically, if people in a virtual 
environment feel anonymous and in control, this can 
help explain why hostile online behavior and verbal 
abuse is present; however, this does little to explain 
why women receive three times as many negative 
comments as males.  



Perceptions of Women and Gaming: Exploring Implications of Intersectionality

Aisthesis      Volume 8,  201751

 A more recent study conducted by Indiana 
University’s Network Science Institute analyzed 
“over one billion chat messages from the game-
streaming platform Twitch to study how the 
gender of streamers is associated with the nature 
of conversation” (Nakandala et al., 2016, para. 1). 
Large scale analysis of gender inequality in social 
gaming platforms is limited in number; however, 
like Kuznekoff & Rose (2013), Nakandala’s study 
focused more on the interaction of the community 
rather than the content or representations presented 
to them. Through text and term-based analysis, they 
identified that gendered language and objectification 
is significantly more prevalent with popular female 
streamers, while popular male streamers received 
more game-related comments. Objectification in 
this case is defined as “language that reduce women 
to their body or appearance or as objects to be owned 
or used” (Nakandala et al., 2016, para. 13). These 
results support the idea that sexist perspectives 
prevail in the gaming community, where misogyny is 
the norm and objectification of women is accepted. 
While this study could not consider every aspect of 
context (e.g., streamers’ reactions) and looked only at 
a static representation of comments between August 
and November, it nonetheless suggests that women 
receive more comments with gendered language in 
the gaming community (Nakandala et al., 2016). 

Gender & Race Representations & Implications
 The game community and the industry still seem 
to cater to the gender divide (e.g., White males) 
despite the growth of additional inclusive content. 
The importance of growth for this inclusive content 
is not solely for bringing in additional revenue for 
the industry. If the industry no longer alienated fifty 
percent of the market with “boys only” content and 
instead allowed for greater educational opportunities 
through the use of games, as discussed in Simpson 
and Elias (2011), the industry may indirectly 
shape gender relations. According to Williams et 
al., “there are several reasons why the presence, 
absence, or type of portrayal of social groups matter 
in a diverse society, ranging from social justice 
and power imbalance, to models of effects and 
stereotype formation” (2009, p. 818). The media, 
due to stereotypical portrayals of minority groups, 
tend to reinforce representations of White privilege 

or White power (Dietrich, 2013). In other words, 
minority groups are generally underrepresented, but 
when they are represented, they are portrayed in a 
stereotypical fashion. The subject of race in video 
games has little research and tends to focus only on 
stereotypes of the virtual character (Dietrich, 2013). 
 Studies and analyses have shown societal norms, 
such as White-based representations and gendered 
stereotypes, have thrived both in content and 
ideology (Beasley & Standley, 2002; Dietrich, 2013; 
Dietz, 1998; Downs & Smith, 2010; Jansz, & Martis, 
2007; Waddell et al., 2014; Williams et al., 2009). A 
study done by Provenzo (1991) stated that 92% of 
game cover illustrations were male (115 characters), 
while only 8% were female (9 characters) (as cited in 
Jansz & Martis, 2007, p. 143). The physical attributes 
and language spoken of the portrayed characters 
depended on the character’s race and gender. The 
typical White male stereotype and hyper-sexualized 
female characters were most common. Despite being 
an older study and the recent progressive movements 
of the gaming industry, “for minority players, the 
message communicated here is that along with 
society, the virtual world is also a place they do not 
belong” (Dietrich, 2013, p. 97). While this may not 
be the intended message, the construction of the 
meaning applies to both reality and virtual spaces 
interchangeably, which then later can be applied to 
social relations (Dietrich, 2013). 
 Another study found similar results along 
gender and racial representations in games. Downs 
and Smith (2010) conducted a content analysis of 
489 video game characters in the top 20 bestselling 
videogames from Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo. In 
terms of gender representation, females appeared 
14% of the time, compared to 86% for males. Of 
the 14% of female characters, 25% of them were 
depicted with unrealistic body sizes, and nudity 
was 10 times more likely for female characters than 
their male counterparts. Lastly, 41% of females were 
portrayed in sexually revealing clothing, compared 
to 11% of males. In addition, representation of 
minority groups was low—of the 489 characters, 
50% were Caucasian, 21% African, 7% Asian/Pacific 
Islander, 3% Hispanic, and 19% had an unidentified 
race (Downs & Smith, 2010). In each race category, 
female gender representation was also imbalanced. 
Of Caucasian and Hispanic characters, only 13% 



Perceptions of Women and Gaming: Exploring Implications of Intersectionality

Aisthesis      Volume 8,  201752

and 14%, respectively, were female. Of all African 
characters, only 9% were female. The aforementioned 
studies concerning gender and racial representations 
suggest the continued gender and racial imbalance, 
stereotypes, and misrepresentation of identities 
within games. Individuals who engage with the 
gaming medium, as with television or movies, 
may be prone to model what they view in terms of 
gender roles and stereotype formations should social 
cognitive theory be at the theoretical base (Bandura, 
2002), ultimately increasing the frequency of sexism, 
objectification, and contempt for diversity (Dietrich, 
2013; Downs & Smith, 2010; Williams et al., 2009). 
 The Media School at Indiana University, 
Bloomington published a 31-year content analysis 
of female characters in video games, which suggests 
a potential progressive improvement in content and 
industry statistics concerning women. Referenced 
earlier, Shaw (2012) implied that “if the industry 
could get beyond its myopic view of its market, they 
could make more money by offering more diversity 
in their products” (p. 33). The study indicates the 
industry may be reacting to its critics (Lynch et al., 
2016, p. 13). In terms of quantity, the industry still 
caters to the male consumer market, but female 
interest in games has grown. This increased interest 
has made relatively significant improvements 
in diversity of content and representation in the 
industry. For instance, the International Game 
Developers Association (IDGA) noted that 22% of 
video game professionals are now women (as cited 
in Lynch et al., 2016). The amount of sexualized 
characters started to decrease post 2006; however, 
some genres of games, such as fighting games, still 
employ overtly sexualized characters (Lynch et al., 
2016, p. 13). Furthermore, the number of female 
characters has increased, though it’s important to 
note that these characters are often not primary 
protagonists, which reinforces past research (Downs 
& Smith, 2010). Heflick, Goldenberg, Cooper, and 
Puvia (2011) note the associated risks with gender 
representation, such as objectification and violence 
against women, remain in media (as cited in Lynch 
et al., 2016). 

Intersectionality: Theory and Measurement Basis
 As noted by Shaw and Lee (2015), one of 
“intersectionality’s critical practices include: 
exploring the implications of simultaneous privilege 

and oppression…and [focus] on how personhood 
can be structured on internalized hierarchies” (p. 
82). Since aspects of one’s identity are not mutually 
exclusive to another, such that one’s identity is not 
made up of only his/her race, this study aims to 
use intersectionality both as theory and a basis for 
empirical measurements (Shaw & Lee, 2015). As 
a theoretical basis, intersectionality is essentially 
the interaction between multiple aspects of what 
makes up a person’s identity and how those 
aspects can create hierarchies in society that are 
institutionalized by groups in power (e.g., White 
males). As aforementioned, if one does not share 
relevant characteristics with the group in power, 
one will be more likely to suffer from discrimination 
or oppression, as compared to the dominant 
White, male category (Shaw & Lee, 2015). Using 
intersectionality as a base for measurements allows 
this study to further look at how specific aspects of 
identity impact one’s interactions within gaming 
culture, since it is unlikely that all females or 
males receive the same degree of discrimination or 
oppression in gaming culture. 
 Assuming a hierarchical structure of identities, 
within the context of gender and race, one would 
expect a Black female to receive more negative 
responses than a White female due to the intersection 
of both race and gender. Furthermore, looking at 
the interaction between race (White and Black) and 
gender (female/male) within the game community 
will help to explain simultaneous privilege and 
oppression such that a White female may face 
discrimination by gender but not by race (Shaw 
& Lee, 2015). Assuming the theoretical aspect of 
intersectionality, measurements will be collected by 
manipulating gender and racial variables. We will be 
able to compare comments between race and gender 
and expect to view the following:

H1: Expect to see less hostile comments towards 
women should the blog author be a White male. 
H2: Expect to see more hostile comments 
towards women should the author be a White 
female. 
H3: Expect to see the greatest number of hostile 
comments towards women should the author be 
a Black female. 



Perceptions of Women and Gaming: Exploring Implications of Intersectionality

Aisthesis      Volume 8,  201753

To further analyze a potential gender hierarchy 
in terms of the degree of comments, the following 
research question was asked:

RQ1: Will males, regardless of race, tend to have 
the least amount of hostile comments despite 
their perceived position of women in the gaming 
culture? 

Method
Online Material and Participants
 For the purposes of this study, the blogging 
platform, WordPress, was selected to host four 
different blog pages to be used as stimulus material 
conditions. This platform was selected because 
multiple blog pages could be created within the same 
account, and the platform is not directly affiliated 
with any outside news networks. Additionally, 
the platform allowed others to publicly comment, 
settings permitted, by submitting a random or 
anonymous email along with their comment. Within 
the WordPress community, other users could re-blog 
the specifically viewed page, potentially allowing 
an increase of readers. Comments directly on the 
WordPress platform (blog page) and re-blogging 
were not used in the study, since the blog pages were 
directed towards specific gaming community forums 
on Reddit. More specifically, no data was collected 
directly from the WordPress platform. Finally, this 
platform allowed for both text and picture material 
to be presented, a limitation further elaborated on in 
the discussion section.
 As previously noted, while the blogs could 
be viewed and shared within the WordPress user 
community, the distribution of the four blog pages 
were tailored to gaming communities within the 
website, Reddit. Eight subreddit pages, focused 
largely on gaming, were selected to distribute the blog 
pages (Appendix, Figure 1). Prior to distribution, 
permission to post within each subreddit was granted 
via the moderators of each specific subreddit page. 
Moderator(s) are individuals who can remove and 
change content of a subreddit page to keep content 
specific to that particular page. 
 To collect data for this study, an online post was 
created in each subreddit page that contained a title, 
a brief post explanation, and a hyperlink associated 
with a specific WordPress blog page. Clicking on the 
hyperlink within the subreddit post would bring the 

reader directly to the WordPress blog page, where 
they would engage with the stimulus material and 
then be prompted to comment their thoughts on the 
subreddit post.
 After the research was reviewed by the IRB, 
it was determined that informed consent was not 
necessary, as individuals who decided to post did so 
of their free will in a known public forum.

Conditions and Design                                                                                                       
 To operationalize intersectionality, four blog 
pages were constructed in WordPress and were 
made accessible to the gaming public. Each page 
consisted of (1) a visual identifier (profile picture) 
of the author, (2) the first name of the author, and 
(3) their perspective of women and content in the 
gaming culture (Appendix, Figure 4). Of the four 
blog pages, only the visual identifier and associated 
name of the author were different in terms of their 
gender and race. The visual identifier portrayed 
typical female or male representations, for analytic 
purposes, and racial identification was either Black 
or White (Appendix, Figure 3). Each of the four 
blog pages was assigned a name based on race and 
gender (Appendix, Figure 2). The study tried to use 
names that could seemingly fit across racial divides 
to reduce possible stereotypes that can be associated 
with names of certain ethnicities or races. For 
example, the name “James” was used for the Black, 
male author, while the name “Shaun” was used for 
the White, male author. While each account had a 
different visual identifier, the statement on women 
and content in the gaming culture remained constant 
over all four blog pages. The text material first 
addressed the presence of sexism and harassment of 
women that leads to a hostile game culture and then 
mentioned the issue of diversity in game content and 
within the gaming community. Finally, the material 
mentioned a brief call-to-action to create a more 
inclusive gaming culture. All previously mentioned 
aspects were stated briefly within the blog page for 
the public to become quickly engaged. Both the 
visual identifier and statement acted as the primary 
stimuli for participants to formulate their responses.

Procedure
 Prior to data collection, each of the four blog 
conditions were randomly assigned to two subreddit 
pages (Appendix, Figure 1). Data collection and 



Perceptions of Women and Gaming: Exploring Implications of Intersectionality

Aisthesis      Volume 8,  2017

dispersal of conditions were completed in two 
segments, each lasting approximately 36 hours. More 
specifically, the four conditions were posted to one 
of their assigned subreddit pages, and then after 36 
hours, moderators were messaged to lock the post, 
so no other participants could comment. 

Unit of Analysis
 The unit of analysis for the study was the 
comments participants left in reaction to the blog 
page material. Qualitatively assessing comments 
at the response level (per comment) allowed for 
analysis of the participants’ acknowledgment of blog 
material as well as the hostile attitude or tone of the 
message. After using each participant’s user name to 
determine where comments began and ended, each 
comment was analyzed based on the content or lack 
thereof in reaction to the blog condition. Comments 
were analyzed if they contained whole sentences, 
parts of a sentence, or singular or multiple words. 

Coding
      A total of 127 comments were expert coded—
completed by the first author—across the four 
conditions.
 Comments and their associated perspectives were 
first coded in terms of Acknowledgement: positive 
(yes), negative (no), both, or N/A. “Yes” indicated 
that the comment, in response to the blog, agreed or 
stated that issues such as sexism and racism are still 
present in gaming culture. “No” indicated that those 
issues are no longer present within gaming culture. 
“Both” indicated that the comment acknowledged 
specific aspects of the post or issue. For example, 
the comment may have agreed that women are still 
harassed, but indicated that diversity of content is 
not an issue. “N/A” was coded if the response was 
completely unrelated to the presented stimulus 
material or the participant mentioned associated 
issues not specifically presented in the blog content.
      Comments were then coded in terms of Hostility 
(yes, no, both, N/A). Comments were labeled 
“hostile” if they contained aggressive language 
directed toward the presented issue or the individual 
who posted the blog on the subreddit page. For 
example, vulgar language or racist remarks would be 
labeled as hostile. “Yes” indicated that the comment 
consisted of hostile language, while “no” indicated 

there was no hostility in the comment. “Both” 
indicated that vulgar language was used, but the 
comment may have offered further insight about 
the issues or the poster. Finally, “N/A” was coded 
when the intent or tone of the comment could not be 
qualitatively identified.

Results
 To test for differences across conditions, crosstab 
analyses were employed to examine frequencies. 
Examination of condition (Black female, Black male, 
White female, White male) by hostility (yes, no, both, 
N/A) revealed statistically significant differences 
in the pattern of hostile and non-hostile responses: 
X2(6) = 13.38; p< .05, Cramer’s V = .23. Hypothesis 1 
proposed that one would see less hostile comments 
towards women should the blog author be a White 
male. This proposition was upheld, as the White 
male received the most non-hostile responses 
overall (n = 55) and did not receive any responses 
that were coded as hostile. By comparison, the Black 
male and White female received far fewer positive 
comments (n = 20) and (n = 9), respectively, but 
both had equal amounts of hostile comments (n 
= 3). These results partially upheld Hypothesis 2, 
which proposed that one would see more hostile 
comments towards women if the author is a White 
female. Lastly, Hypothesis 3 proposed that one 
would see the greatest amount of hostile comments 
towards women should the author be a Black female. 
This hypothesis was not supported, considering 
the Black female had the fewest comments overall 
(n = 3), but none were coded as hostile. Although 
the Black female condition received no hostile 
comments compared to the Black male and White 
female conditions, this difference may be due to the 
lack of comments overall. 

54



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Aisthesis      Volume 8,  2017

 An examination of condition (Black female, 
Black male, White female, White male) by 
acknowledgment of a problem (yes, no, both, N/A) 
revealed statistically different patterns as well: X2(9) 
= 17.54, p< .05; Cramer’s V = .22. While most of the 
coded comments did not apply to the discussion at 
hand, a pattern emerged such that more commenters 
were likely to acknowledge a problem when a White 
male addressed the issue (n = 12).

 Research Question 1 (RQ1) asked if males, 
regardless of race, would have the least amount of 
hostile comments despite their perceived position of 
women in the gaming culture. Considering the male 
conditions received (n=3) hostile comments between 
both conditions, RQ1 was upheld. Furthermore, 
males not only received less hostile comments, the 
White male condition also received more positive 
acknowledgment that there are still issues within the 
gaming community (n=12) as opposed to the other 
three conditions combined (n=3). 

Discussion
 This study sought to examine how the general 
gaming public perceives issues facing women in the 
gaming culture differently through analysis of visual 
criteria in an online forum. Using intersectionality 
as a basis for measurements and as a theoretical 
argument, one goal of this study was to determine 
the reaction of the public when the same argument 
was presented by both males and females of two 
different races. Past research (Beasley & Standley, 
2002; Dietrich, 2013; Dietz, 1998; Downs & Smith, 
2010; Jansz, & Martis, 2007; Waddell et al., 2014; 
Williams et al., 2009) has focused more on game 
material and content, rather than individuals who 
make up the content or gaming culture in general. 
A quantitative approach was conducted to measure 

and categorize reactions. It is necessary to note that 
there was a clear quantifiable pattern in the lack of 
acknowledgment and increased hostility to those 
outside of the dominant White male category under 
the context of intersectionality. While the Reddit 
environment seems to be largely non-hostile, it is 
interesting to note that when hostility does emerge, 
it is not directed towards the dominant group. In 
summary, this study’s findings suggest that certain 
aspects of one’s identity (including race and gender) 
increase probability of receiving hostile reactions. As 
for acknowledgment, while the White male condition 
received more positive acknowledgement (n=12), 
without significant data, it would be presumptuous 
to state that the Black female condition received the 
least amount of acknowledgment simply because of 
intersecting gender and race. 
 As with any study, this one is not free of 
limitations that future researchers should note. The 
first limitation to the study was the sample size, which 
may have had a significant impact on the results, 
as only 127 comments were analyzed. Increasing 
sample size would allow for a more detailed analysis 
of trends and significant outcomes. Furthermore, 
the study did not account for repeat commenters, 
and any future research may seek to limit analysis to 
one reaction per participant. Secondly, while coding 
was done at the response level (per comment), it 
is worthy to note that comments may be analyzed 
at the thought or sentence level, allowing for more 
detailed results within a sample size. More research 
is warranted, as many comments left by participants 
within this study were considerably lengthy, with 
some exceeding a single typed page.
 Furthermore, the need to use two separate 
websites presented additional limitations. The use 
of a blogging platform allowed the researchers to 
formulate stimulus material so that both the visual 
identifier (picture) and text (opinion) was visible 
simultaneously; however, Reddit formatting limited 
the researchers to a specific format to distribute 
the material. Rather than presenting the stimulus 
material directly in the Reddit post, a hyperlink 
had to be used to take a participant to the blog 
material. This is partially because the eight subreddit 
pages used within the study limited posts to either 
link-only or text-only formats. While Reddit and 
blogging sites may result in accumulating significant 

55



Perceptions of Women and Gaming: Exploring Implications of Intersectionality

Aisthesis      Volume 8,  2017

data, issues surrounding the formatting of stimulus 
material are necessary to consider. An additional 
limitation under formatting was the perspective and 
portrayal of the stimulus material. Future research 
could account for visual identifier/avatar realness. 
More specifically, one could measure differences in 
responses to real versus animated profile portraits. 
This study only used real profile portraits obtained 
through a database that permits the use of listed 
images. Lastly, because statements in this study were 
broad and generalized, any future research could 
account for limiting material to specific, narrow 
opinions or perceived issues. 
 Another limitation would be page specificity 
or genres. This study consisted mainly of posting 
on first-person shooter or role playing game pages. 
Results or reactions could differ among genres of 
games, which may necessitate cross genre analysis. 
Additionally, while posting content, it is necessary to 
account for where material is distributed to, and how 
specific a researcher’s content aligns with the content 
on the website. For example, while the stimulus 
material consisted of game-related issues and topics, 
it was not necessarily specific to “r/thelastofus,” 
which only discusses topics related to that specific 
game.  
 Finally, by not considering and verifying 
age, gender, and race, researchers are not able to 
determine what the majority perspective among the 
gaming culture is towards issues concerning women 
and how aspects of intersectionality influence those 
perspectives. While hostility towards others is not a 
novel phenomenon on the internet, past research of 
online bullying takes place largely within younger 
age groups and adolescents (Duffy & Nesdale, 2009; 
Park et al., 2014; Seiler & Navarro, 2014). While 
younger individuals may not be sophisticated enough 
to create something like Gamergate, demographic 
information may help to determine future action 
and perspectives of the gaming culture.
      
Conclusion
 The current study further builds upon past 
research concerning gender studies and videogames 
and provides two contributions: the content of study 
and findings. While many studies have analyzed 
the content of video games, this study—much like 
Kuznekoff and Rose (2013) and Nakandala et al. 

(2016)—provides an additional context for how 
individuals of the gaming community react when 
presented with visual differences in race and gender 
in a computer-mediated environment. While 
content analysis will continue to be an important 
area of research, especially with the advancement 
in graphics technology, it will also be necessary to 
further analyze interactions of real individuals to 
provide an additional angle of analysis. Applying 
different feminist theories to gaming and gender 
studies, such as intersectionality, helps to bring 
further understanding of the intricacies surrounding 
the intersecting aspects of one’s identity and the 
implications those aspects have within society or the 
gaming subculture. More specifically, the findings 
of this study indicate that should one not share 
similar characteristics with the dominant White 
male category, they are subject to receive more 
hostile responses. Additional findings indicate more 
acknowledgment when a White male mentions an 
issue, such as the presence of sexism in the gaming 
community, than with other identities. The full 
analysis allows for an additional consideration of 
how race or gender impacts an individual’s social 
experience, as noted in other studies; however, it does 
not answer concretely why these issues or hierarchies 
continue to exist even at a subcultural level. The 
gaming industry seems to be adopting progressive 
ideals (Lynch et al., 2016), albeit rather slowly; 
however, there seems to be certain cross sections of 
gaming communities who are not adopting these 
progressive ideals as quickly as the industry. It is 
clear that additional research must be conducted to 
understand the evolving gaming culture. Potential 
extensions of this study would seek to determine 
who these individuals are and the motivations 
of these individuals who continue to perpetuate 
dogmatic, hostile ideologies in what appears to be a 
progressive, evolving, gaming culture.

Acknowledgments
Riley Collins: Navigation of Reddit.
Jonathan Borchert: Creation of stimulus material.

Funding
This research received a scholarship through the 
Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program.

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Aisthesis      Volume 8,  2017

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Page Title Condition Assignment
r/pokemongo Black Male
r/battlefield_one White Female               
r/elderscrollsonline Black Female
r/thelastofus White Male
r/skyrim White Female
r/assassinscreed Black Male
r/AskGames Black Female
r/ludology White Male

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Female Names Male Names
Aaliyah (B) James (B)
Mary (W) Shaun (W)

Figure 2. Blog-associated names.

Race X Gender Male Female
Black Black-Male Black-Female
White White-Male White-Female

Figure 3. Design diagram. Gender (Male/Female) X 
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Figure 4. Condition design.

Appendix

Why is it so hard to talk about the issues facing women 
in gaming culture?

Everyday female gamers face rampant sexism and harassment campaigns 
simply because of their gender. Many female game characters are 
hypersexualized and female gamers are verbally abused in online game forums. 
Feminist scholar and media vlogger Anita Sarkeesian has received threats of 
violence and death to her and her family just for having an opinion.

It’s not just the players that create a hostile culture but many of the games 
themselves. Misrepresentation of race, gender and hyper-sexualized women 
cater to a specific gaming audience. Even though video games have become 
a more popular medium among many, why does the game culture seem so 
hostile? There is plenty of room for diverse gamers, diverse characters, and 
diverse communities to make those games. Let’s all try to work together to 
create an inclusive space where we’re all just “gamers.”

Comment your thoughts on the reddit page.



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