Gamergate, gender, and the virtual public sphere : exploring the online experience of female gamers

The Gamergate episodes on Twitter in 2014 revealed the challenges that women face when engaging in public discourse in the video game community. Women are harassed and attacked for expressing personal views that challenge patriarchy within the context of these virtual social groups. The backlash that women receive when speaking online raises an important questions that academic scholarship needs to address. What do women experience when participating in predominantly masculine communities, and how does this help us understand patriarchy in the public the sphere? This study used a critical cultural approach to textual analysis and focus group research as a methodology for researching female gaming experience. A discourse analysis of tweets on Twitter during two key moments of the Gamergate episodes was conducted. The findings from the discourse analysis were used to inform a series of questions for focus group research with female gamers. The findings of these two studies show that discourse on Twitter reflects and reproduces patriarchy, and this sexist online discourse has an impact on female gamer's experience with online engagement. The findings show that women who join virtual networks must overcome barriers to discourse that are placed on them by men. Women who do participate in public discourse within these communities tend to fragment their femininity by emphasize stereotypically masculine. The findings suggest that patriarchy positions women as outsiders to the video game community, and that female participation in this community is seen as an invasion of a private sphere. In order for online forums to be a true platform for public discourse, women have to be allowed to join online conversations without sacrificing their femininity.