Using Halo 3 to look at interactions between the sexes in team-based competitive gaming, researchers found that unskilled male players who performed poorly in a match were more likely to berate their female teammates, while acting submissively toward more skilled male players. From the abstract:
The study’s participants were all anonymous and unaware that they were being observed, thanks to Xbox Live’s policies allowing game footage and chat audio to be recorded at any time. Because of its complete anonymity, “Insights into Sexism” is an unbiased look at gender dynamics in the gaming world, showing the harassment female players endure at the hands of insecure men.
Although the men who engage in these harmful behaviors are 100% accountable for their attitudes and actions, hostility toward women - particularly from underachieving men - is a sociocultural problem created by the gendered expectation that men should dominate women in finance, academia, and sport, among other arenas. For more information on the subject, check out Dr. Nerdlove’s blog post on toxic masculinity in the geek world.
