Women writing in all areas have experienced some level of online abuse during their career and according to a report published in the Guardian newspaper, abuse is now considered to be a “job hazard for all female writers”. For the women writing about technology and gaming, however, it’s a whole different ball game.
It’s a Man’s World
Tech and gaming are traditionally male dominated industries. There are plenty of women working in these areas, whether for an SEO agency or as a freelance writer reviewing the latest game releases, but an awful lot of them are hiding their gender under a male nom de plume as a means of self-protection.
Catherine Adams, a researcher from Nottingham Trent University in the UK, interviewed 100 tech writers to find out whether they had experienced harassment and how bad it was. She discovered that:
- 62% of female tech journalists have experienced some form of sexist abuse.
- 20% of female writers covering technology issues deliberately disguised her gender by writing anonymously or using an ambiguous name, so as to avoid sexist and misogynistic abuse.
- 39% of respondents changed their working practices because they were afraid of being targeted.
The situation is no different for women working in the gaming industry. One female writer, who has to play online games in order to write a review, confessed that she tried to avoid speaking when playing so other [male] players didn’t figure out there was a woman online.
Online Abuse in the Comments
Most of the abuse comes via the comments section. Women report receiving insults about how they can’t possibly know anything because of their gender, rape threats, threats to kill them, and the like. Some commentators will deliberately dig up personal information and refer to it online. When interviewed on BBC Radio 4, Ms. Adams described how some writers had had their addresses and telephone numbers published in the comments sections, as a way of further intimidating them.
Face-to-Face Abuse
It isn’t just online abuse either. Many female writers and journalists have suffered a lot of face-to-face incidents, from male editors who refused to listen or take them seriously in the newsroom, to men hitting on them or stalking them.
Only 31% of women interviewed have experienced an increase in abuse over the last 12 months, so there are signs that things are improving, perhaps as more and more women enter this traditionally male dominated arena. Despite this, 86% of women felt more could be done to stop the abuse and many of them are abandoning their tech writing careers because they can’t handle it anymore; those that do stay are admired by their peers.
It’s Time for Change
Professor Carolyn Byerly, co-author of Women and Media says: “More and more women must speak, write, organise against men’s violence and other wrongdoing and bring these out into the open and develop ways to address and stop them.”
It won’t be an easy task to change such a toxic climate within the tech industry, but for women considering becoming a tech or gaming writer, there is hope.
