Our guest this week is Jenny Haniver, gamer, writer, and curator of Not in the Kitchen Anymore. Jenny records her interactions playing Call of Duty on Xbox Live with a female gamer tag. Listen to hear her story about how the site came about and some of her experiences in this not so female friendly culture. A warning: Jenny shares many of the direct quotes from her gaming experience and with that a fair amount of swearing. Do you have similar experiences you’d like to share? We would love to do a follow up episode to this show with some of our listeners joining in.
We have Jenny back on the show in Episode 76 – Jenny vs Xbox Live.
Rhonda and I spend some time talking about how we are Geeking Out these days. What are you reading, watching, and playing right now? Any suggestions for us to include? Leave us your suggestions in the comments.
Until next time, game on!
Regina and Rhonda
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Published by Regina McMenomy
Regina is a gamer, writer, teacher, and podcaster living in the Pacific Northwest. She completed her Ph.D. in 2011 from Washington State University in Vancouver and continues to teach there part time. Regina’s research interests focus on women and technology, and her dissertation discusses female gamers and identity in digital role playing games. A lifelong geek and technology enthusiast, Regina recently started a Girls Who Code club in support of their mission to close the gender gap in technology.
To continue the conversations about gender and gaming that Regina started during her research, she started a podcast called Game on Girl. Called the “NPR of game podcasts” by Chris Brown of The Married Gamers, the podcast features women involved in the game industry, and tackles some of the complicated issues in the gaming community. Season 2 began in the spring of 2018 and will premiere new episodes monthly.
View all posts by Regina McMenomy
I love keeping up with Jenny's website. While I'm fortunate enough to not have to deal with most of the same shit (I'm mostly part of a gaming community that has a surprising amount of female gamers. most of the time it seems there's at least one woman in the lobby, if not more), I've still had a couple disturbing things happen.
One time I was actually playing Halo Reach, when a guy who had just been added to my friends list recently joined in. While he wasn't outright mean or hateful, he started going through the awkward questing I know a number of girls have come across: Namely, are you single? How old are you? What do you like in a boyfriend? Wow, that's a super high gamerscore; where do you live? Do you ever think you could go for a guy like me? etc etc… To be honest, our third party attendee, the one boasting about how his girlfriend was giving him the reach-around right there, was by far less awkward then the guy giving me third-degree. Unfortunately, it all came to a head when I got asked what my bust size was. I shot him down immediately. A few days later I was playing with some friends when the same guy joined in. He proceeded to freak out on my male friends, threatening to mount one of their heads on the wall. Later he sent me a message, saying he 'wasn't really jealous' and that he was 'cool with me talking to other guys'. Trust me, that's the last time we EVER spoke.
I don't realy expect anyone to watch this, since I have a small channel and this is mostly a gameplay video. But I did talk a bit about my experiences working at GameStop, and how I'd get treated by male patrons (I actually talk more about that in another one of my videos). Plus how I'd get treated online. I guess if anyone here is an Assassin's Creed fan, feel free to watch it ^^
Thanks for sharing your story, RudeOnion! I had similar experiences playing WoW and heard lots of those, "Let me be your boyfriend" stories from people I've interviewed. I think it's an interesting parallel to the kind of harassment that follows gamers like Jenny. At the base, both are forms of sexism. It's unfortunate that standing out as a female gamer results in these types of inappropriate behavior. I am glad you stood up to him and, I assume, removed him from your friends list.
I have your video loaded and plan to check it out as soon as I get my grading done for the day. I appreciate you sharing. 🙂
Hm, I think my last comment got eaten up by the Internet. 🙁
Anyway, I support Jenny's blog. We need to point out the misogynistic and vile commentary put out there against women, and Jenny is doing a fantastic job of doing just that. It's shameful, and it makes me embarrassed to be in the same gender. Keep at it, Jenny!