Raising Girl Gamers

Every once in a while I get fired up about a topic that just makes me mad. This is one that makes me mad and I just need to dish about it. My girls are gamers and they are good ones at that. I used to play video games with them a lot when they were little and no, I didn’t play some little kid games. I played Silent Hill, Aliens, etc. It wasn’t long before they wanted to play themselves and my girl gamers were born. First let me just tell you a bit about my girls just in case it is your first time here. Roxy is pretty much a genius. She attends an elite magnet program and when she grows up she wants to find a cure for modern warfare using plant extract from readily available resources. ( Yeah, I don’t understand it either but there you go.) Avery is my creative soul whose main purpose in life is to become a Cosmetologist and Make-up Artist. I really wanted a Doctor or Lawyer but she is who she is. So my girls are pretty smart individuals who have a game plan in place. They work toward their goals and work hard. So when it is downtime they like to play video games. I make sure they have every resource available. We have almost every game system out there and they don’t play these games that game developers thinks chicks want to play. No, right now Roxy is playing the latest Halo game and Avery is working her way through The Walking Dead. They do have x-box live and this is the reason I am posting my frustration. I don’t make them play sugar-coated games. Yeah, there is cussing and violence. It is a part of life, you can’t shield your kids forever. As long as they know you can’t do that in real life I’m good. I also let them play with other people around the world and you know what? It normally goes well until somebody finds out they are girls. Then after a short pause this is what you hear:

Let me see your tits.

Seriously!!!? WTF? My girls have distinct responses to that question. Roxy puts her finger in her mouth and pretends she is throwing up. Avery rolls her eyes in a way that is inhumanely possible. They ignore it and continue playing. Then after a few minutes someone will say ( 9 times out of 10, I swear)

Sooo, do you have a boyfriend?

This is when the girls usually throw down their controllers. Really boys all they want to do is play the game. They don’t want to show you their tits, they don’t want to hook up, and they definitely don’t want to see a naked picture of your hooh-hah. Who raises these creeps? Now, granted some of the people playing are in fact adults. Usually a response from me, through the mic, saying “She is 15, do you still want to see her tits?” will send the boys running but it is the fact that there is no respect once they find out they are girls. Now, the dirty responses are usually few and far between. Most of the time they hear “Go back to the kitchen.” or “It’s lunch time, go make me a sandwich.” Sometimes Roxy and Avery get so frustrated they will stop playing and throw down the controller. And, OMG, do not beat these little boys. Then they hear about how they are cheating or their boyfriend is playing, pretending to be a girl. Also, I love how “b*tch” is the automatic term used when talking to my girls. “Why you on this game b*tch” ” Oh, be easy with the princesses so they don’t get all b*tchy on us.”

The funny thing is my girls don’t even blame the boys. They believe this is just boys. They are sexist pigs that will never change and that really frustrates me. They blame their own sex because they say that there are so many girls out there that “pretend” to be gamers just to get attention that the boys don’t take them seriously. Don’t even get them started on the girls that pose provocatively with controllers, etc. My girls love the game, they love playing, and frankly they don’t care if you are a girl or a boy. They don’t demand respect because they are a “girl gamer” and in fact they honestly hate that term. They don’t want to be treated special because they are a girl and they enjoy video games. They want to be treated as an equal because they love the same game you do and want to play as much as you do. They demand respect because it is a human thing, not because they are a girl gamer.

*Disclaimer- This is my personal thoughts and opinions on the subject. Boys also get ridiculed by being called “fags” etc if they don’t play up to “par”. This article was written from my point of view as a Mom, nothing more.*