Isabelle Murray - Queer Fear: Homophobia, Transphobia and Sexism in the Tabletop Gaming Community

 Queer Fear: Homophobia, Transphobia and Sexism in the Tabletop Gaming Community

    Throughout my four years in Fresno, CA, I had been heavily involved in the local tabletop gaming scene. I spent two of those years working for one of the largest hobby and gaming stores in the city, getting to know the community very well and caring for it very deeply. However, my time in the community was often shadowed by the ever looming black sheep that people seldom discuss, even meeting the idea with hostility. This, of course, was the homophobia, transphobia, and especially sexism that permeates not only the local scene of Fresno, but gaming as a whole. 

    The tabletop gaming community is an assorted bunch of individuals that come in every shape, size, race, and creed. This is an analysis into one of the larger communities in California. The Central Valley of California with it's heart of Fresno, a mecca for those across the valley to come and roll dice. Games of many kinds are played in the myriad of stores scattered from Fresno to Oakhurst and beyond. Though games like Dungeons and Dragons and other tabletop games remain popular, the most popular by far is Warhammer 40'000 by Games Workshop. Warhammer 40'000, or simply Warhammer 40k, is a tabletop wargame that uses small miniature soldiers to simulate battles between two forces with dice, tape measures, and lots and lots of patience. This is the game that everyone plays here in the Central California scene and has the largest following by far. The community has thrived for decades, but there has be little progress in the area of inclusivity and acceptance. 

    The tabletop gaming community has always been a "boys club," however recently there has been a general shift towards acceptance of queer people and women in the hobby as a whole. Though some acceptance is now present, there is still the feint animosity prevalent throughout the hobby. In a 2017 survey of gamers at the gaming convention Gen-Con, researcher Tonya A. Maynard reported, "Approximately 75% of the men I spoke to during that weekend scoffed at the idea of queer women existing in the convention space." Some even going so far as saying that Maynard would "have better luck finding a unicorn" (Maynard 21).Though throughout her research, Maynard soon discovered that much of the homophobia and transphobia that was prominent throughout the gaming scene was deeply rooted in sexism towards women and femininity. As one of the trans gamers that Maynard interviewed recalled:

"One of the top tournament competitors in a game that one of my friends judges is trans female. Before she transitioned, she was also competitive. After she transitioned, she started dating one of the other competitors, even higher ranking than herself. The last world championship, her boyfriend barely took first against another player. That player proceeded to shit-talk after the tournament about game play at first. But then, the rant turned to how “and he’s dating a fucking tranny! An ugly fucking tranny!” What struck me about this wasn’t just the fact that dating a tranny was an insult, but that this particular tranny had been playing competitively in this community, with this individual for over a decade. Now, she no longer existed to them. She was just the tranny that her boyfriend was dating" (Maynard 53)

    Stories like this are not uncommon amongst trans gamers. In our community specifically, similar stories have played out. In our case, a transwoman who has been apart of the community for years came out and transitioned before our eyes. Every week for game night at out shop we would see her as she slowly transitioned into herself. She spoke to me about her experience saying that though her experiences as a transwoman have been mostly well in our community, her experience as a woman had not been as positive. She has felt very minimized ever since coming out, as if as women her voice and opinions now hold much less weight amongst the men. People would more often assume she is a newer player, as opposed to one who had been in the hobby for over two decades. This assumption would often include the question, "did your partner bring you here?" In her words, "It is a men's space, even if they won't admit it. Masculinity is the rule and it is no less a men's space than a pool hall or a car garage." The comparison to a pool hall particularly struck me as the similarities were all too present, especially when it pertains to women. "Women are there, but if they are, they are the focus of high sexualization or high criticism." Almost every woman I spoke to had a similar story to tell. Gross, condescending men attempting to reign in on there space, as if there was a threat. This very much aligned with research done by Rigby L. Bendele of Virginia Commonwealth University. Her research stated that about 62% of women in gaming communities would experience some form of harassments from male peers on a regular basis (Bendele 21). 

     Having surveyed some of the local gaming community here in Fresno, I had asked a simple question. Would they like to see more women and queer people in the community? Most would answer with an overwhelming yes, while some answered along the lines of "not particularly." Only one out of thirty-six people surveyed were strongly against it. As a whole, from my experiences and the data collected within the survey, I can safely say that the community does want to be more inclusive, especially with a recent influx of much younger people joining. However, as Bendele put it, "A desire for diversity and inclusivity doesn't make it so" (Bendele 32-33). There is still great amounts of progress to be done within the local scene and beyond as there is still intolerance and ignorance that must be addressed if there is to be progress and true acceptance. 

    As a non-binary queer person of color, I often felt very out of place in this space that was dominated by conservative, white males. My time working for the dominant gaming store in the central valley had put me in a position where I was forced to take a critical look at the community I was apart of and the people involved within it. Though women and LGBT+ people came in and were welcomed by myself and my supervisor, it was a different story when it came to the community as a whole. This disconnect was felt much more when my supervisor left the store. A real leader in the community as a whole, his views helped steer the community towards general acceptance but with his departure there has been a gradual shift back towards the shadows of queer fear and misogyny within the community I hold dear. 

    I hear the cries of those surveyed, "why inject politics into my hobby" and pleas to "leave politics at the door" by the majority of gamers in the community, that being the white male. However for people of color, women, and LGBT+ people, this is not an option they possess like the white men. It is who we are and a weight we carry everyday as opposed to something "political" or a "social issue." 

Works Cited:

    1. Bendele, R. L. (2019). Negotiating masculinity in tabletop roleplaying game spaces (Doctoral dissertation, Virginia Commonwealth University, 2019). Richmond, Virginia: Virginia Commonwealth University.

    2. Maynard, T. A. (2017). A matrix of marginalization: LGBT and queer women's experiences in nerd spaces (Doctoral dissertation, Ohio University, 2017). Ohio: Ohio University.