This is what I was talking about, blissful ignorance. Search Google for “XBox Live rape threats” or really any sort of combination of sexual harassment and gaming and you will find plenty. It’s not just the Anna Sarkessians and Brianna Wu’s of the world getting threatened. As for “fake gamers”, articles like this sort of answer that one:
://www.bbc/news/magazine-18280000
See, this is just a whole lot of opinion which ignores facts, which again is just blissful ignorance. That’s great that you don’t think it should be a problem, but that doesn’t make it so. So let’s counter your personal opinion with actual research and facts, which are dead easy to track down:
://www.latimes/business/la-fi-women-tech-20150222-story.html#page=1
://www.inc/kimberly-weisul/its-the-culture-bro-why-women-leave-tech.html
://www.fastcompany/3037075/strong-female-lead/why-are-women-are-leaving-science-engineering-tech-jobs
://www.businessinsider/women-programmers-stories-of-harassment-2013-3
://www.slate/articles/double_x/doublex/2012/08/sexual_harassment_in_the_gaming_world_a_real_life_problem_for_female_gamers_.html
://www.wired/2014/04/tom_pw/ (this is the github incident where a female engineer was harassed by a male employee and threatened by the wife of one of the founders)
://www.fastcompany/3036174/strong-female-lead/what-its-really-like-for-women-in-tech
://www.polygon/2014/7/22/5926193/women-gaming-harassment (this one is an opinion piece by Brianna Wu, so I’m sure many will ignore it)
://www.newsweek/2015/02/06/what-silicon-valley-thinks-women-302821.html
://www.marieclaire/career-advice/tips/a7664/geeks-attack/
I could add plenty more but I hope you get the point. There are serious problems in our industry right now, and while there are plenty of good people trying to improve it, it still isn’t improving nearly fast enough. But what I find weird is that people who aren’t in the industry who don’t know much about it go out of their way to not believe there are problems rather than keeping an open mind and doing five minutes of their own research.
This is why I thought this thread will be locked, because there really is no debate to why women are leaving (or won’t even enter) tech and gaming so even trying to make it one is just a waste of time. It’s like starting a thread on climate change and ignoring all the evidence it exists just for the formality of maintaing the illusion that there is a valid argument on the other side. Just a waste.
So as a moderator, keep it open or lock it, it’s up to you. But having white males come in and say they think the industry is fine, while hundreds, and in the case of the Harvard study, thousands of women disagree kind of puts it all in perspective. Like I said in my previous post, it’s like when my mother-in-law, a white, middle class teacher from New Jersey claims there is no racism in America anymore because Obama was elected. Sure, she has the right to her opinion, but that doesn’t mean it carry’s any weight.