Girls and video games usually don’t mix. This is a rough generalization, but true for the most part. Girls that play video games really get the short end of the stick. They either get hit on or told that they are no good based strictly on gender. It’s an unfair world. But what if some girls get unfairly recognized over men? Is gender bias taking a strict reversal? A group on Facebook, GoSC (Girls of Starcraft), just recently posted an interview with a female MLG SC2 competitor. What really strikes me, however, isn’t the fact that she’s female. It’s the fact that she’s getting an interview at all. A quick look at her BNet profile shows us that she’s only Silver league. This isn’t a smurf. This is the actual account she points to on her homepage. So why?
The only reasonable answer is that she’s female. Now, where exactly does this become an issue? Well, let’s throw some more math at you. She’s in the 99th percentile of Silver league. That’s roughly the 45th percentile in the whole of the ladder. Pros that make it out of open bracket play are in the top .0001% (assuming GM). As of yet, I still haven’t watched all of the interviews, but I can guarantee that there were no other Silver players getting interviews from Rachel Quirco. Females are being unfairly promoted. If we promote low ranked girls like this, it’s being counter-productive. Girls should aspire to be not only the best female, but the best player overall. Giving them undeserved attention when they’ve only won 14 games in season 4 in Silver league is not only unfair to the Master league males that weren’t fortunate enough to make it through the open brackets, it’s also showing that it’s alright to not put in the same amount of effort because you’ll get the same recognition regardless because of your vagina.
I fully support GoSC. Don’t get me wrong, but I feel it was stupid of CSN to put their brand on that interview that was completely undeserved. GoSC is more of a support group though. To show that girls that play SC2 aren’t alone. If CSN wanted to promote a female player, they should’ve sponsored TossGirl to come to MLG.