Trans woman wins biggest prize in women's e-sports

These women weren't competing at (I genuinely don't know what game to say here, I don't think any games are "girly")... I don't know creating and maintaining a Sims family, they were playing Fortnight which is a multiplayer competitive shooter.

It's not that women aren't as competitive, it's that girls are told off and punished from an early age for something that boys are lauded for.

There is physical differences, but women are generally more comfortable with other women. Probably wary of men due to general domestic male violence or sexual assaults/coercive boyfriends when growing up, and if you want to encourage women to participate in an activity, running a women’s only group is not unreasonable.

If your aim is to encourage women’s participation, to increase the numbers of participants and revenue or reach etc, making women and girls comfortable and confident seems worthwhile, and excluding men with that aim is fine.
Then allowing males into the group defeats whatever purpose there was. Just run it mixed and have less female participants, it’s less hypocritical.

I have read that there is a slower reaction time between visual stimulus and female reflexes. I will see if I can find it. Emma Hilton said something about it a while ago.

Adding to the other information you've been given, but the gaming industry is still incredibly sexist on all levels, whether you are a woman gamer who feels the need to hide your sex online to avoid the seemingly inevitable abuse, to the women who work in the industry and are subjected to sexism, harassment and assault.

At the elite level the differences between winning and coming second, third or what have you are tiny. This means that what can look like a small amount of wearing down can have a disproportionate result in placings in competitions. Being even only slightly off your best can see you losing.

I think the talent pool is definitely true, but I think it's more about how girls are treated that puts people off. I remember at primary school when the boys wouldn't allow the girls to join in the football games at break time. There were capable girls, and those who wanted to play were probably better players than most of the boys, but they were actively excluded. Over time, fewer girls bothered trying to join in because they knew they'd be told no, and even the few who continued ended up being targeted during the game with aggressive tackles, not allowed to play their preferred position, etc. The result is they leave the talent pool.

In gaming, it's not uncommon for something similar to happen, and some women are taking to things like voice modulators to attempt to hide. Once it's known you are female you may end up being targeted, not only in the game but also through the voice chat, and then through social media. A rather tame example happened to me, when in a family-friendly game with mild competition, I was targeted with "Kill the bitch, get her, kill the bitch!" comments. My male partner wasn't targeted at all, they focussed only on me. It wears you down over a while.

It's because they have no choice. If they speak out they will be ostracised from probably the only social group they have.

It's full on controlling abuse.

I don't think it's only socialisation. I think girls, as a group, are somewhat less competitive than boys and men.

It's why girls often don't like the same kinds of old school video games boys do. They want a story, something more to invest in.

And this I suspect is a major part of the reason boys dominate at this, or at things like darts. There are a lot more male players, so they are starting with a far larger pool of talent.

It' means that to be competitive it helps to have a girls only section. But at the same time you could quite easily have talented girls or women in the general game and they could do just as well as male players.

100%. He wanted to win over women to make himself feel good. 🤢

It comes down to the principle of having a category for women. In every game, whether it is chess, darts, snooker gaming, monopoly, men do better. This may be simply because they are socialised from birth to win, to compete, to take risks. Girls are socialised to "be nice".

When i was in primary 4, my teacher ran a game of Buzz every morning, the maths game. Every time someone got it wrong you had to sit down. Therexwas a prize at the end of the year for the person who won the most games

I can clearly remember all the girls not trying, how they acted a bit dippy when they got it wrong and got to sit down. Not me - I was determined to win. In the end it was between me and one of the boys. And i was taunted for it. Girls thought I was crazy. Boys were angry. I am asd and didn't care. And I won! Teacher wasn't even happy.

This is what girls are up against. Boys are socialised to get the prizes. Girls defer to them.

Then there is the seismic of a lot of the guys in these games, which puts many girls off. Chess tournaments are renowned for it.

Male socialisation is also a factor. He plays in the women's group because he feels entitled to.

Thank you for this I wasn’t aware

Fair enough I can appreciate that point and the thin end of the wedge theory

Why can't women have women only things just because we want them?

I would call myself a 'gamer', although I'm in my late thirties, so a bit past this sort of thing. I shudder at the thought, but I would align myself with more of the male gamers, at least on this topic.

Yep, good luck finding a female gamer who isn't a full-on TRA. It's interesting because so many male gamers are somewhere on the red-pill/incel/nazi spectrum, whereas female gamers are all "be kind"/"protect the dolls". I guess it's a reflection on how autism expresses differently in males and females.

Literally gaming the system

I literally don't care if they have an advantage or not.
Women's competitions - whyever they are set up - are not for men.

Reaction speed is a primary reason, but there's also things like peripherals are largely designed around male-sized hands, which can further impact on reaction speed and ability. It's not to say they cannot compete, of course, but it's not a level playing field.

It's good to see this story getting at least some traction, as it's certainly not the first case of this sort of thing in this arena. Unfortunately, the generation of people who tend to participate in formal e-sports are totally captured and so speaking out will end up in you being "cancelled".

I’d agree on this - it’s what I’ve seen too. One post was from a girl who started talking about minority genders to be included in the women’s event - it’s like the men’s is the men’s but the women’s is some sort of open category for everyone else. It’s a shame they can’t see that women are deserving of something just for themselves.

I agree with this - but the issue is that this was a womans competition, not a mixed one.

So why do you think there's a women's competition in the first place?
In the mixed competitions, are the winners split 50/50 men women? Or is a woman winning as rare as hen's teeth?
If the women's competition was set up to showcase and celebrate outstanding women players, it should showcase and celebrate outstanding women players.
Same for chess.

I see your point but it's just about the principle at this point; whether it's necessary or not there *is a female category and a male has entered it and won it, depriving an actual woman from winning.

I’m gc and support men’s and women’s leagues in sport, but video games?? I’m not so sure the difference in male anatomy etc play such an important role there and can see an argument for mixed leagues.

There are lots of interesting posts on X about this. Many female gamers are sticking up for the trans players. They seem to relate to the feelings of being isolated, not understood etc these players feel.

One of the girls complained and has been swamped with criticisms. Really bad.

Thing is, it probably is easy to be friends with a trans girl on line - you don't see their msleness, just their avatar. These girls probably live in their bedrooms and have no idea what the impact of men in women's spaces means across the board.