Being a girl gamer in a group of boys is one of the most toxic communities I’ve ever been in in my life. I say this and I’ve raced BMX, a male-dominated sport, for 10 years. 

Everytime I try to play video games with them to simply get better at the game, I get discriminated against and looked down upon. 

In a 30-minute session of Rocket League, I was made fun of for probably a total of 25 minutes just for being a girl and not being as good as them, when they’ve been playing the game for about a year.

Now by no means am I a highly skilled gamer because I just started playing most of these games. But that doesn’t mean I should be the target of all of their anger when they mess up and I happen to be in the general area.

I’m just trying to get better at the games I play because I enjoy playing them, but getting torn down and yelled at for every little thing I do makes it much less enjoyable.

 I play in matches with them more often than the random people online because I don’t want to feel like a bother to someone who’s just trying to rank up, when I’m just trying to learn the mechanics of the game. I shouldn’t be worried about not playing at a high level in a non-ranked match that we’re just playing for fun.

It’s a constant fight between myself, a girl who plays games, and about seven teenage boys who play the same games.

I get torn down for not having as good as a setup as them, for not being as good as them, not playing all of the games that they do, and for not understanding the gaming terms they use.

Not only do I have to try to stop them from using derogatory comments towards me, but I also try to stop the boys from using slurs and derogatory terms. It isn’t something I should have to do in 2021, but somehow it is. 

Somehow the gaming community gets away with using derogatory terms. When everyone’s favorite streamer uses them, no one bats an eye and just lets it slide.

No matter what teenage girls are into, someone will be there to tear them down and tell them that they shouldn’t be interested in it or that they will never be good at it. Look in the comment section of any girl athlete, streamer or celebrity. 

The comments are just tearing them down for not being as good as a male counterpart, or even when they’re better, people say that they’re cheating or hacking.

If you think I’m lying, go look in the comment section of any story about Vanderbilts’ first female college kicker, Sarah Fuller. Or Hannahxxrose, a female Minecraft streamer’s comment section. 

Fuller’s comment section is filled with comments like “Has no business to be on the field, get off” and “you suck, seventh graders kick harder than you. Woman moment.” 

While Hannahxxrose’s comment section is filled with comments like “these saves are for beginners, get better.” and “Tell me the real reason she survived besides pure luck… I’ll wait.”

Comments like this are what keeps most girls from going and being a professional athlete, streamer, etc, and the gaming community is full of prehistoric-thinking boys who think girls can’t be as good as them in a video game, if not better.

Again comments found in Fullers’ comment section, on a post where she announced she’d be the first female kicker on a Division 1 college football team, were “an unborn baby could kick the ball better than you.”, “absolutely disgusting.” and “you did not make history, rather you proved once again that women do not belong in men’s football.”

“You’ll never be as good as Dream.”, “you copied this from Youtube, therefore you can’t actually play.” and “Someone said that she can beat Dream and Technoblade. Don’t get me wrong she’s good, but she’ll never be that good.” were comments also found on Hannahxxrose’s Tiktok clip from her Youtube channel where she used a very entertaining and highly skilled tactic to kill her opponent on Minecraft Bedwars.

Backhanded compliments like the last comment mentioned are also a way that people tear down your self esteem. “She’s good… but she’ll never be that good.” One would think it’s going to be a nice comment, then after you read the rest of it, you realize that they’re just trying to tear them down.