Offering a refreshingly different perspective on sexism within the gaming industry, former professor and scholar Dr Christina Sommers has released a new video on YouTube simply titled “Are Video Games Sexist?” Check it out below:
If you haven’t heard of Doctor Sommers before, don’t worry. With all the political anger currently directed at the gaming industry, we’re currently seeing lots of opinions surrounding the ongoing scandals from people that have nothing to do with the industry, including figures such as Adam Baldwin, Joss Whedon, and editorials from political websites such as the Guardian and Breitbart. The good doctor is arguably the most interesting person yet, a classical feminist from the free loving 60’s with a PhD in philosophy and writing positions on websites and newspapers on all sides of the political spectrum.
Her lengthy experience and qualifications seem irrelevant to many commentators however, with controversial gaming outlets such as Kotaku and Polygon, who have been heavily involved in the recent GamerGate scandal, have dismissed the entire piece, slandering her as a conservative and anti-feminist for her dim opinion on industry personalities such as Anita Sarkeesian- whom she called out as unqualified ‘Hipsters’.
The reason behind this? It’s because the video was published by the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank whose members also include former members of the Bush administration. Now, let me make something crystal clear. Dr Sommers is not the AEI. They are just the folks that publish her videos onto YouTube. To balance things out, she also writes for ‘liberal’ publications such as Slate, TIME, and the Huffington Post. Putting the cherry on the cake, Dr Sommers is also a registered democrat. Remember what I said about slander? Yeah. The politicisation of sites like those owned by Gawker and Vox has become a real issue within the industry, and this unprofessional behaviour from the full time professionals is pretty damning proof.
Where do you all stand on Sommer’s video? Is this just another political pundit muscling in on the scandal, or does the doctor offer valid points? Remember to stick to GamerHeadlines for all you objective and corruption free gaming news.
