The Hateful Side of Electronic Sports: Sexism, Misogyny and Transphobia in a “Man’s
Space”

Filip Mitevski
Kwantlen Polytechnic University
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Petra Jonas
April 11, 2024

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Abstract…………………………………………………………………………………………….i
Acknowledgements………………………………………………………………………………..ii
Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………..1
Literature Review………………………………………………………………………………….9
Methods…………………………………………………………………………………………..28
Findings……………………………………….……….……….….……….……….…….…..….33
Discussion………………………………………………….…………………………………….52
Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………………….61
Appendices….…………….…….……………….…………..…..………....…………………….62
Appendix One – Interview Questions……………….…….……………….…………………….62
Appendix Two – Consent Form.……….…….….………..………….……………….………….64
Appendix Three – Recruitment Poster………………………...…….…………..……………….68
References……………….……………………………………………………………………….69

Abstract
Electronic sports (esports) has been a rapidly growing industry. Individuals have been
increasingly interested in playing multiplayer and competitive video games as well as watching
the best players compete against each other in various esports titles. The industry itself has many
issues such as an alleged pay gap, a ton of alleged exploitation, rampant sexism, discrimination,
and transphobia. This project will focus on discrimination in esports, particularly sexism,
misogyny, and transphobia. Anti-LGBTQ+ opinions and specifically transphobic views have
seen a recent rise in public discourse in North America which has influenced transphobic policy
to be implemented within sports like chess. My interest in pursuing this research project
stemmed from my experiences as a former salaried player in “Counter-Strike” (CS) where
discrimination was common. This research project will address these topics using semistructured interviews with ten esports competitors that identify as women who have a
competitive experience in esports. Their experiences will be important to contribute to a big gap
in esports literature which is mostly filled with quantitative research mostly in the form of
content analysis. This research project is pursued by Kwantlen Polytechnic University student
Filip Mitevski and the project supervisor is Dr. Petra Jonas.

Key Words

Sexism, sexist, misogyny, transphobia, hatred, hate, bigotry, electronic sports, esports, feminism,
feminist theory, queer theory, counter-strike, cs, valorant, manosphere, barriers to entry, barriers,
video games, online, anonymity, intersectionality

Acknowledgements
To my best friend, Aleah, whom I consider my sister. You have been my biggest inspiration in
my life who has helped me become the person I am today. I cannot thank you enough for your
unconditional love and support that you have always shown me in the almost eight years that we
have known each other now. Your constant support through my lowest points over the years
pushed me to persevere, follow my ambitions, and grow immensely as a person. I would have
never continued my esports journey and my post-secondary studies, and I would have never
become the person that I am today had I never met you. The work of my thesis is fully dedicated
to you and how much you have changed my life. You are the biggest reason why I define myself
as a considerate, empathetic, passionate, and ambitious person. You are the biggest reason why I
felt inspired to pursue this project. Thank you so much for everything you have ever done for me
and continue to do for me.
To my supervisor, Dr. Petra Jonas. Thank you for your constant support and guidance throughout
my journey in the Honours program. You helped me tremendously and inspired me greatly to
dive into all relevant topics from day one with your help. I felt truly encouraged to work under
your leadership and you are the biggest reason why I am incredibly proud with how my thesis
turned out. I could not have asked for a better mentor for this project. Thank you for your daily
enthusiastic support in my future ambitions too.
To Dr. Chris Giles, the individual most responsible at this lovely institution that made me into
the student I am today. I still remember the first class I ever took with you in Fall 2018 on
Fridays. I still remember that my first words to you in a one-on-one conversation were that I had
to miss your next class because I had to fly to California for a Counter-Strike tournament. You
pushed me to be the best student I could be ever since that semester. I was simply happy that I
managed to start doing alright in my introductory courses at the time and now I am looking
forward to beginning my graduate studies. It has been a surreal turnaround. You made me fall in
love with criminology, with KPU, and with pursuing knowledge in general. I always wished
every Professor was like you since I met you. I have you to thank almost as much as my best
friend (no one can take her spot, sorry) for my academic achievements and the fact that I
produced this thesis that I am incredibly proud of. Thank you for all your support since 2018.
To Professor Paula Hirschmann, thank you for your time and support, constructive comments,
and deeply engaging with my thesis. I found your constructive criticism as a student of yours to
help me truly step-up my critical thinking and writing skills that I have taken advantage of ever
since that semester. I felt like you truly cared about improving my writing and how I engaged
with difficult topics and that is something that I will be forever grateful for. Thank you for
agreeing to be on my committee and for dedicating your time to help my thesis.
To my Honours cohort. I loved working alongside you and discussing relevant and less-relevant
topics while we worked on our own projects. All of you are wonderful individuals who I know

can and will make a positive impact in our world. I would love to see where your passions and
ambitions take all of you in the near future.
To my parents, Katerina and Nikola, for being the greatest parents one could ask for. I am sorry
that I stopped competing in esports. I know you were my biggest fans alongside Aleah, and I did
feel sad seeing you watch Counter-Strike on your own without me wanting to compete in it
anymore. I hope me finishing my BA, completing this thesis, and pursuing graduate school
makes up for it. I promise to visit you often during my graduate studies.
To all other criminology faculty at KPU, I genuinely loved learning from every single Professor
at this institution. I want to thank all of you for making my undergraduate studies incredibly
memorable and rewarding since day one. Thank you to everyone that took time out of their busy
schedules to attend our thesis defence. It was a wonderful experience.

Thesis Committee:
Dr. Petra Jonas, Department of Criminology, Kwantlen Polytechnic University (Supervisor)
Dr. Chris Giles, Department of Criminology, Kwantlen Polytechnic University (Reader)
Professor Paula Hirschmann, Department of Criminology, Kwantlen Polytechnic University
(Reader)

The Hateful Side of Esports 1

Introduction
Hatred has been on the rise once again in North America, especially in Canada, as people
find it increasingly more difficult to afford to live in the middle of a housing, affordability, and
inflation crises that worsen every day (Al Mallees, 2023). People that have become more stressed
due to the reality of their economic situation blame other groups of people that are different in
character than themselves as a way to explain why their own lives are getting tougher. Some
forms of hatred that recently resurfaced in Canada are misogyny, homophobia, and transphobia,
with an alarming amount of anti-LGBTQ+ protests taking place around most major Canadian
cities just this September (“Cross-country rallies,” 2023). While counter-protesters showed up
alongside them, the fact that they happened in Canada should be alarming to all of us, even
among those that identify as straight and cisgender.
This type of hatred has been around for an incredibly long time, and has always been
there in certain topics such as sports. Misogyny and transphobia have been the “default” position
among men in many sports ever since their existence. Most sports have historically been
considered “made by and for men” which excluded and prohibited women from them (Howe,
2022, p. 456). Formula 1 is one of the very few examples that have recently attempted to be a
unisex sport, though due to historical discrimination, it has only seen a few women drivers
successfully compete in it (Howe, 2022, p. 455). Sexism and transphobia in many sports has
become so ingrained in many people that they do not even attempt to challenge this outdated
view, and many simply accept it. Many would understand the need for a separate women’s and
men’s competition in many sports, where person’s physical characteristics make a massive
difference in how they could “fairly” compete, which is how separate women’s only leagues had
recently emerged in many sports like Formula 1 and equestrianism (Howe, 2022, p. 456). Esports

The Hateful Side of Esports 2

has a unique promise of gender equity that has never materialized within traditional sports,
where physical differences do not matter. The skill differences required to succeed in esports
require no segregation based on sex (Holden et al., 2020, p. 3). From traditional sports, chess
should be considered by most as one of the few sports that are like esports in this aspect, yet the
International Chess Federation (FIDE) banned transgender women from participating in
women’s competitions (Kim, 2023).
Chess may be the sport that is closest to electronic sports (esports) where a competitor’s
physical ability should not matter in competition. This decision by FIDE should be horrifying for
fans of esports that strive to finally have a competitive sport which has true equality for every
competitor regardless of their gender, sexual orientation, or race. Similarly to traditional sports,
esports has historically struggled with gender inequality and the industry has attempted to undo it
via introducing women’s only competitions and tournaments too (McLeod et al., 2021, p. 1283).
While there may have been some marginal progress in esports in correcting the roots of historical
gender inequality in the field, there is still a ton of work to do.
Reflexivity will be crucial in addressing my positionality in this research topic along with
what my lived experiences have led me to know or believe when it comes to issues related to the
topic that I am studying. Personal experiences and biases will constantly be addressed, because I
am in a position of privilege wanting to research a vulnerable population. In my several years of
competing at the top regional level in North America in a popular esport title called “Counter
Strike: Global Offensive” (CSGO), I have noticed that sexism, misogyny, and transphobia are
rampant in the field, and people unfamiliar with the competitive aspect video games have no idea
of just how commonplace it is. It will be important to acknowledge my own position as a straight
cisgender man of European origin researching a population of people that identify as cisgender

The Hateful Side of Esports 3

or transgender women, LGBTQ+ women, or women of colour. These previous lived experiences
that I have from playing in ranked games alongside my closest friend of seven years who
identifies as an LGBTQ+ woman have exposed me to a world that I would otherwise likely be
blind to. Male players send tons of sexist, transphobic, and misogynist hate to women simply
because they perceive them as women who play a video game. Transgender women seemingly
experience it the most out of all women, with people sharing their experiences on platforms such
as “X” (Twitter) daily (Thaena, 2023). There have been countless amount of times where I have
overheard other male competitors state that they would “never scrim (practice) against women,”
“never play with a woman,” or that “all women are bad at the game,” simply because of their
gender identity. While competitors, both semi-professional and professional, are aware that this
phenomenon is present and commonplace, it is not one that they openly talk about in order to not
“ruin” the scene that gives them meaning or pays them a living. These vast re-occurring
experiences from my three years playing as a salaried competitor and several more as an unpaid
one along with personally identifying as a feminist since I was a teenager were the origins of the
research idea behind this project. The connections I have formed from my playing days would
help research a specific population that is otherwise barely researched in the field of esports.
That population would particularly be professional or competitive women and what their
experiences are like, as their higher popularity arguably leads to them to be harassed at higher
levels than the average woman who casually enjoys playing video games. My personal lived
experiences and my understanding of the issues that have developed through them which have
firmly influenced my values will lead me to have a constructivist paradigm as a researcher within
this project.

The Hateful Side of Esports 4

Current research out there on the topics of misogyny or transphobia in esports is minimal,
and it mostly focuses on content analysis or the over-sexualization of women characters in video
games. Video games and esports are not the exact same, as esports specifically means the ultracompetitive, sports-side of video games, while the video games that research of this nature
generally focus on are strictly just on the casual aspect of the content produced by game
developers. It is important to at least address its existence, and there is a possibility to make a
connection of how said over-sexualization of women characters by game developers may lead to
women being treated differently in video games and in the esports industry. Research has shown
that transgender people feel re-assured that they too can have fulfilling and successful lives when
they encounter visible transgender characters in video games that are portrayed as such (Herriot
& Fry, 2021, p. 15). It is important to understand that characters in video games usually abide by
socially constructed cisgendered and heteronormative ideals of what they should look like
(Herriot & Fry, 2021, p. 15), and this could play a significant role in how some people that play
video games view themselves and how others treat them. Women of all backgrounds and
identities come together and create safe spaces for each other in order to combat online hate
(Poland, 2016, p. 160). Research that has particularly focused on how LGBTQ+ teenagers
attempt to feel safer in online spaces show that they have more supportive friendships and safe,
supportive places online which is important for coping, catharsis, or learning how to deal with
the problem of online victimization (Ybarra et al., 2015, p. 134). Transgender women have been
visibly competing in esports for at least about a decade now, with there being about five
competitors that have enjoyed regional or global success across several esports titles. One of
those competitors was a player known as Maria “Remilia” Creveling who sadly passed away in
her sleep in 2019 (Wolf, 2019). During her competing days, she notably cut her career very short

The Hateful Side of Esports 5

due to constant everyday harassment, which is depressingly a big issue for women in esports and
likely the biggest reason behind the alarmingly low participation rate of women competitors in
the field (Holden et al., 2020, p. 12). Research has shown that sex and gender harassment is so
prevalent in esports that exceptionally talented women regularly stop pursuing their passion
altogether (Holden et al., 2020, p.3). In traditional sports, athletes that identify as transgender are
discriminated at a greater level than those that are gay, lesbian, or bisexual (Cunningham &
Pickett, 2018, p. 220), which is incredibly likely to be the true for esports as well. Many other
key concepts that this study will cover are equality, sexism, harassment, misogyny, transphobia,
homophobia, feminism, discrimination, barrios to entry, and more.
One of the biggest reasons as to why there are only about five competitors that have seen
any form of success in esports is mainly due to sexism, where women particularly struggle to
prove their skill level and are simply excluded from the industry altogether (Ruvalcaba et al.,
2018, p. 299). The underlying prevalent stereotype is that women are not as skilled as men
(Ruvalcaba et al., 2018, p. 299). Content analysis in research that has focused on how women
streamers get treated compared to men streamers has shown that women streamers are almost
twice as likely to receive sexist comments when compared to men (Ruvalcaba et al., 2018, p.
305). “Streamers” are individuals that stream their gameplay to the world on platforms such as
Twitch or YouTube, which is normally accompanied by a webcam that shows their face, body,
and live reactions to their own gameplay. It would not be difficult for anyone to simply tune in to
a woman competitor’s stream to find any sexist or hateful comments from viewers, and this hate
is even more common among forums that discuss competitive matches and tournaments that took
place. Online hate in the form of misogyny and transphobia is so prevalent that women try their

The Hateful Side of Esports 6

best to avoid bringing more attention to themselves because they understand it would simply
attract more negativity.
The online world is a place notorious for replicating misogynist and transphobic
sentiment making it impossible to differentiate between online and offline harassment
experienced by women (Poland, 2016). Spaces exclusive to men that are filled with extreme
misogyny are commonplace among communities such as “Men Going Their Own Way”
(MGTOW), “Men’s Rights Activists” (MRAs) whose ideas are often echoed among other
cisgendered men who spend too much time online (Bates, 2021). Writing from anecdotal
personal experiences, these ideas are sadly not uncommon among cisgender men that compete in
esports, especially among those that personally feel like they are “oppressed” by feminism in
gaming (and the world). Some research backs up this anecdotal experience, where findings show
that undesirable behaviour online is common and online harassment is a pervasive issue in the
gaming community (Tang & Fox, 2016, p. 513). For these reasons, the most important
theoretical approach that this study will use is feminist theory. Women’s experiences have
historically been downplayed and underrepresented in all aspects of life, and that is still the
reality of their experiences in esports. Not only do women face many barriers to enter the scene,
a lot of discrimination on the basis of their gender or sexual identity, and daily threats to them
simply because they “threaten” men in video games by being incredibly talented competitors,
their experiences are not researched or talked about enough. Gender and queer theory will be
used especially when researching issues that LGBTQ+ women that compete experience in this
space too. Critical race theory may also be used depending on the individuals that would end up
being researched and interviewed in this study. It should be noted that the shockingly low
amount of women of colour could be attributed to all of the hate and abuse women in general

The Hateful Side of Esports 7

receive in esports which leads to their lower participation in the field (Ruvalcaba et al., 2018, p.
300), and women of colour would arguably receive even more abuse due to their ethnic
background.
This research will contribute to a particular gap in literature where the experiences of
women that compete in esports are not covered enough. Prior research on any individuals that fit
these criteria is incredibly rare and they are often just content analysis by researchers that
understand and explain sociological explanations around why misogyny and transphobia exists
in the field along with how they may affect women that compete. In-depth interviews with
women that have experienced a career in esports which cover these problematic issues within the
scene are virtually non-existent or extraordinarily rare, which is the primary focus of this project.
There is at least notable coverage in online media on this issue and how women are held back
and discriminated against in esports due to their gender, especially when reputable individuals
report on this “open secret” (Gan, 2023). This is one of the several research goals of this project,
which is to bring more attention to the discrimination that women face in esports. It will also
strive to give cisgender, transgender, and women of colour an opportunity that they deserve to
share their lived experiences. The general research question that this project will answer is:
“How do women in esports get discriminated against on the basis of their perceived gender or
sexual orientation?” Sub-research questions that would follow may be narrower in answering
questions that relate to other sub-topics related to the general question. Some examples would
include: “What are women’s experiences like in esports?”, “What kind of precautions do women
in esports take in order to deal with less discrimination?”, and “Have you experienced barriers to
entry in the scene because of your gender or sexual orientation?”.

The Hateful Side of Esports 8

The theoretical framework that this research paper will use to construct knowledge will
be based on perspectives based on feminist, queer, and critical race theory. The framework will
mostly rely on feminist and queer theory which are the most appropriate and applicable for the
research questions and goals of this project. This theory will influence the research questions as
well as identify key concepts and definitions relevant to the topic of this project (Grant &
Osanloo, 2014, p. 13) which is electronic sports (esports).
Research questions that this project will analyze and answer will be influenced by its
theoretical framework. All of them would utilize feminist, queer, and critical race theory to
identify specific goals of this qualitative research. Theory that this research project will help
explain certain phenomena and relationships between participants involved in this research and
their experiences (Grant & Osanloo, 2014, p. 13) in esports.
Defining terms that will be commonly used throughout this project such as what exactly
is defined and understood by this project as feminism, misogyny, sexism, transphobia, online
harassment, and so on, will be vital to understand and define both the positioning and the
theoretical framework of this project.

The Hateful Side of Esports 9

Literature Review
The major theme of this research project is “discrimination towards women in electronic
sports”. “Discrimination” in this project will primarily consist of sexism, misogyny, and
transphobia. Racism and homophobia will also be looked at through some literature and
intersectionality will be applied when possible, depending on the characteristics of future
participants of this study. The definition this research project will provide for the term
“electronic sports” (esports) would be the same as defined in previous literature which is “an
umbrella term for organized and competitive video gaming” (Holden et al., 2020, p.5).

This literature review will first look at how these forms of discrimination exist within a
broader context. It will then look at how they exist in online spaces and traditional and electronic
sports (esports). Previous scholarly research, studies, and books will be covered to get a wider
sense of how discrimination exists in all these spaces and how it affects people it impacts.

Almost all information, theories, concepts, findings, and discourses will be drawn from
sources that apply mostly feminist and queer theories while also including some literature that
has critical race theory. Feminist and queer theories are critical to this research project as the
participants that this research project will study are individuals whose life experiences will be
best understood using them. It will be important to begin with a broader understanding of what
theories and other previous knowledge exist in feminist and queer literature that may be applied
to esports before narrowing down and defining the scope of this research project at the end of the
literature review.
There is no one universal way to define what “feminism” or “feminist” means, as evident
throughout most sources in this literature review such as Tong’s Feminist Thought: A

The Hateful Side of Esports 10

Comprehensive Introduction, Siegel’s A Mixed-Methods Examination of Modern Feminist
Identity, and O. Alichie’s ‘You don’t talk like a woman’: the influence of gender identity in the
constructions of online misogyny. People seemingly define some terms for themselves differently
based on their lived experiences and perceived position in society. This research project will
define what “feminism” means most closely what O. Alichie has written, which is that it is an
ideology “aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal opportunities for women in all
spheres of life” (O. Alichie, 2023, p. 1417). The author further explains that feminist identity
continues to be fluid as there is growing suppression and scathing reactions that continue to exist
in most patriarchal contexts (O. Alichie, 2023, p. 1417). This observation can be seen echoed in
other literature that discuss forms of discrimination in patriarchal societies across different
societal contexts.
In two of Laura Bates’s books, named Men Who Hate Women: The Truth about Extreme
Misogyny and How It Affects Us All and Fix The System, Not The Women, the main topic is how
sexism, misogyny, and hatred exist in patriarchal societies today. The books focus on different
societal contexts, where Men Who Hate Women focuses on the overlap of modern misogynist
and white supremacist rhetoric that is found in fringe online spaces which the author deems a
“modern terrorist movement” (Bates, 2021). This book is the most up-to-date and relevant source
on current extreme misogyny and hatred that exists in online spaces. Laura’s other book
primarily focuses on how the patriarchy affects and holds back women in everyday interactions
between people. She has done content analysis on how media negatively affects the perception
women have of their own body due to how bodies are portrayed in advertising, news, and other
media sources (Bates, 2023). Notably, she has cited important data to back up her points as to

The Hateful Side of Esports 11

how the patriarchy negatively affects women in the workplace, which will be applicable to this
project as esports is the workplace for the participants that will be involved in this project.
The way the author defines “patriarchy” is almost identical to what this research project
would define it as. She defines the term as “a historical system that has been designed by and
those who have always held the most power in our society: white, wealthy, non-disabled men”
(Bates, 2023, p. 38). This research project would add “cisgender” to its understanding of this
term. Bates then cites British and North American sources which point to how women are
conditioned by a patriarchal society to perceive themselves as lesser than men. She makes this
argument citing examples of what women have said to excuse these discrepancies while then
showing these alarming figures alongside real-life examples. The examples of data that she uses
include how men are 23 percent more likely to ask for a pay raise, women are less likely to apply
for jobs they don’t fit the full criteria of, nearly two-thirds of women in tech say their ideas are
ignored until a man repeats them, and how British women perform 60 percent more unpaid work
than men (Bates, 2023, p. 34). One U.S. study that Bates mentions will be important and will
influence some theory in this research project which is data that shows that women consistently
rated their performance lower than men even when they perform equally (Bates, 2023, p. 35).
This research project will be interested in finding out whether this phenomenon is true in esports,
and how women that compete in this field may explain it if they view it as relevant.

The argument Bates makes when bringing up all these examples is that these
discrepancies are so normalized that they are completely accepted in our societies. Women are so
used to hearing that it is their fault for these issues that they stop fighting them, thinking it is how
things are (Bates, 2023, p. 35), when it is the patriarchy that collectively discriminates against

The Hateful Side of Esports 12

them rather than discrepancies being individual faults. Bates argues that women have been
conditioned by society to ignore their problems and instead society belittles women’s
experiences of sexism, discrimination, and abuse (Bates, 2023, p. 37).

One other applicable concept found in Fix The System, Not The Women is when the
author brings up an example of “toxic masculinity” in the British police force. She explains that
“toxic masculinity” within the police leads to a fetishization of black women (Bates, 2023, p.
137). The term “toxic masculinity” will be important to understand and examine in this research
project as it may lead to several findings and interpretations of data that will result from future
interviews. This project deems “toxic masculinity” to be a vital and instrumental part of
misogyny, sexism, transphobia, homophobia, and racism that likely exist in the world of esports.

An interesting pattern that was found in literature outside of traditional and electronic
sports was that the theme of systemic barriers was almost exclusively found in literature that was
influenced by queer theory. An overwhelming majority of previous literature that only focused
on feminist theory did not cover systemic barriers that women may face, or at least they never
explicitly bring up the term. Laura Bates mentions systemic barriers in Fix The System, Not The
Women, and Siegel’s long doctorate thesis brings up barriers in feminism and for feminists
multiple times in their work. Interestingly, all literature that is based on queer theory which
covers LGBTQ+, especially transgender issues in society, mentions some form of systemic
barrier that people face. Attempting to analyze and interpret potential barriers that prevent
cisgender and transgender women from competing in esports is one of the main research
questions of this project. Transgender women obviously exist in esports too and some of them
have enjoyed notable success at the global or top regional level. The most marginalized groups

The Hateful Side of Esports 13

online tend to get discriminated against the most and in esports that would usually mean
individuals that stray from heteronormative social constructs of gender and sexuality. To deal
with this problem in online spaces, research has shown that LGBTQ+ teenagers attempt to create
their own safe spaces with like-minded friends that support each other to cope and deal with
online victimization (Ybarra et al., 2015, p. 134). This project may attempt to find data that may
support or disprove this point in the world of esports.
Previous literature brings up issues such as barriers to legally changing one’s name and
gender marker in higher education (Siegel, 2019, p. 4). An article brings up barriers to genderaffirming care and medical transitioning (Pellicane & Ciesla, 2022, p. 2). One study that focuses
on self-management of mental health discusses perceived barriers when covering the “minority
stress model” among LGBTQ+ youth (Town et al., 2021). Another study similarly uses the same
model and discusses barriers that LGBTQ+ attempt to overcome in society (Ybarra et al., 2015,
p. 131). The same research ties this model to the “minority stress theory” which posits that
transgender individuals experience depression at higher rates due to internal and external
stressors related to their identity (Pellicane & Ciesla, 2022, p. 1). This research project will
certainly focus on barriers that transgender women face in esports, while it will also attempt to
potentially fill a gap where barriers that cisgender women face are not adequately covered. There
are likely various forms of barriers that deter cisgender and transgender women from considering
esports as a career, and my current established understanding of reality prior to pursuing
interviews with this project is that discrimination of all kinds and hatred online and in
competitive video games likely plays a part in women being greatly underrepresented in esports.
This research paper may try to understand whether black women in esports are greatly
underrepresented compared to the percentage of the population they make up in real life. This

The Hateful Side of Esports 14

may seem true anecdotally, and it may be a point to come back to once this project reaches the
stage of analyzing and interpreting data.

The barriers for women in traditional sports, in this case Formula 1, covered in previous
literature could be applicable for barriers that women deal with in esports. This research project
will attempt to understand and analyze potential barriers for women when interviewing
participants on their experiences, and the barriers brought up in previous research in Formula 1
will greatly influence this project’s knowledge of this subtheme prior to partaking in research.
Barriers discussed in previous literature were broken down into five different categories for
women in Formula 1, and they were: 1) historical and current attitudes, 2) assumed physical and
mental inferiority, 3) sexualization, 4) money, and 5) representation or (in)visibility, which
ultimately prevent women from participating in the sport (Howe, 2022 p. 455). When
researching these different barriers for women in Formula 1, the author notes a woman driver
participating in the sport was seen as a “political statement” and that historical attitudes excluded
and prohibited women from competing in sports based on “medical misinformation” and
“gatekeeping” (Howe, 2022, p. 456). The researcher dismisses sex-based differences which is
not applicable for every competitor simply due to their perceived gender, and makes a point that
driving differences between men and women in Formula 1 is not biological but due to different
life experiences (Howe, 2022, p. 458). Notably, women face hostility and neglect when
engaging in masculine sports and they have been denied opportunities that they would have had
if they were men (Howe, 2022, p. 458). The third barrier mentioned in this literature is
sexualization and how women in Formula 1 must overcome and endure it in order to become
drivers (Howe, 2022, p. 459). In previous instances, a driver has been advised not to have pink
on her car so that she could be taken more seriously, and the most successful woman in the sport

The Hateful Side of Esports 15

has been referred to as “perhaps the most hypersexualized female athlete in the current era”
(Howe, 2022, p. 459-460). In Formula 1, similar to the wage gap issue in the workplace outside
of sports, women get way less money and sponsorships to compete than men (Howe, 2022, p.
461) which is strongly arguable that it further prevents women from competing due to the
inability to meet the financial needs of the support (Howe, 2022, p. 460). The issue of lack of
funding and sponsorships exists as a barrier in esports too from anecdotal experience. The author
explains the last barrier in Formula 1 of representation by pointing out that participation levels of
women are fewer than men across all elite level sports (Howe, 2022, p. 461). Not only are there
few women, but there are also even fewer women (and men) of colour involved in this sport
(Howe, 2022, p. 461), which is very likely the case in esports too. It is possible that systemic
racism is a big factor behind this fact. Cultural norms surrounding women pursuing sports may
be a leading factor behind the lack of their representation (Howe, 2022, p. 461) which
considering that much literature explains online video games as a “man’s space”, it may be an
explanation for the lack of representation of women in esports too. This research makes a point
that striving for a higher representation of women at the top of any profession will inspire others
and combat harmful stereotypes via a result known as the “role model effect” (Howe, 2022, p.
461).

When it comes to just research methods in the literature, most of the literature falls under
the category of quantitative research. Content analysis seems to be widely popular among
previous works that make up feminist and queer theory. Surveys with questionnaires attempting
to explain certain observations or theory among certain populations also seem to be frequently
used. Qualitative research could be found in about 20 percent of the literature. This has nothing
to do with the relevancy of their findings, however. Notably, one qualitative research which

The Hateful Side of Esports 16

examined feminist issues detailed how their approach to their research was always influenced.
One example to point out would be when the author stated that they used a constructivist
grounded theory approach to understand “feminist-identifying women and gender diverse
people’s experiences in the present cultural context” (Siegel, 2021, p. 33). Their reasoning seems
relevant to this research paper. There is a high likelihood that this approach would make up the
theoretical framework that will influence my interpretation of data that I collect during this
project.
One theory that is discussed or brought up to explain certain issues in literature is “social
dominance orientation (SDO)”. Siegel mentions it to explain that women who recognize the
importance of an intersectionality subscribe less to this theory (Siegel, 2021, p. 6). One study
that is wholly based around this orientation and examines how it causes gender minority stigma
defines it as a “preference for hierarchical power structures in society (Puckett et al., 2020, p.
1083). Their findings suggest that SDO is associated with higher levels of gender minority
stigma” (Puckett et al., 2020, p. 1081) and trait aggression (Puckett et al., 2020, p. 1088). The
author explains that SDO is associated with a variety of prejudices, “including those based on
race, sex, and sexual orientation”, with previous research showing that individuals with high
SDO display prejudice towards less affirming behaviours such as lesbians and gay men (Puckett
et al., 2020, p. 1083). SDO will be something that this research project will cover in analyzing
and interpreting certain data and findings, as it may prove to be a very relevant explanation
behind certain problems within esports. One predictor of harassment and sexism in online video
games brought up in Tang & Fox’s article is SDO which reflects individual’s endorsement of
inequality among social groups thus resulting in prejudice (2016, p. 515). Their research based
on men’s harassment behaviour in online video games shows that online harassment has become

The Hateful Side of Esports 17

a pervasive issue within the community (Tang & Fox, 2016, p. 513). Through this study, the
authors have determined that there are two types of online aggression in video games, those
being general harassment which insults players in-game skill similar to taunting in traditional
sports and sexual harassment (Tang & Fox, 2016, p. 513) which this literature review will focus
on. The study argues that anonymity for most players may worsen stereotypes and expectations
as to who “belongs” in video games and who does not (Tang & Fox, 2016, p. 513). It further
explains that previous research shows that online games can be a hostile environment for players,
much being common trash talk like in traditional sports, but commonly targeted harassment
towards those that are seen as “not belonging” (Tang & Fox, 2016, p. 513). In video games and
in esports, women are seen as outsiders and thus become targeted for harassment (Tang & Fox,
2016, p. 513) and sexism (Tang & Fox, 2016, p. 515).

The authors argue that individuals high in SDO feel threatened if they perceive that
outsiders can compete with them (Tang & Fox, 2016, p. 516), and in the case of online video
games and esports, this would mean that men would turn to sexist, misogynistic, and transphobic
attitudes towards individuals that are as skilled or more skilled than them in a video game. This
research using SDO concluded that it was related to both sexual and general harassment in video
games and hostile sexism (Tang & Fox, 2016, p. 517-518). Sometimes sexism is so prevalent in
video games that conversely when some men genuinely confront said behaviour they may be
perceived as having ulterior motives (Tang & Fox, 2016, p. 518). Notably, the authors mention
that there is a possible limitation of their research due to discussing online harassment with
players based on their experiences in only one video game of their participants’ choice (Tang &
Fox, 2016, p. 518). They note that previous research has shown that video game genres vary in
gendered preferences (Tang & Fox, 2016, p. 518), and this research project will importantly

The Hateful Side of Esports 18

cover experiences by women in a video game genre known as “first-person shooters” (FPS)
which overwhelmingly consists of cis men and women, speaking from personal experience,
normally do not prefer playing this genre of games. This research that focuses on harassment by
men in online video games concludes that the predictors for this harassment are the same for
harassment in other social contexts (Tang & Fox, 2016, p. 519).

Misogyny is one of the central themes to this research project. Much of the existing
feminist literature focuses on how misogyny affects everyone in society. Feminists seemingly
cannot always agree on defining the term (Wrisley, 2023, p. 189), though the most used and
simplest definition tends to be “the hatred of women” (Wrisley, 2023, p. 191). This research
project would define the term “misogyny” the same. Laura Bates defines it within the same terms
in her books. Other literature accepts this term as a definition for “misogyny”. Wrisley in her
article further explains that this definition is not simply “the hatred of women” but a political and
institutional problem that informs every aspect of society, culture, and politics (Wrisley, 2023, p.
205). It is a worldview that believes in the inferiority of women and justifies their mistreatment
due to a societally constructed gender hierarchy (Wrisley, 2023, p. 205). While this greater and
expanded term will certainly influence how this research project will interpret and explain
certain findings, it will conveniently stick to the widely accepted and simple definition of it.
“Misogyny and sexism on the internet” is a narrow topic most relevant to this research
project if traditional and electronic sports are excluded for a moment. Poland argues that the
internet is simply an extension of pre-existing misogynist expectations and behaviours that are
seen in “real-world” patriarchal societies (2016, p. 41). Her book suggests that marginalized
women experience even greater harassment online (Poland, 2016, p. 11). Laura Bates’s books

The Hateful Side of Esports 19

seemingly further support Poland’s argument that behaviour online is simply an extension of preexisting misogynist behaviours in the “real-world”. Research done by Antunovic seems to
further support this claim in their work that focuses on online harassment towards women sports
journalists (Antunovic, 2019). Literature that focuses on online misogyny and hatred seem to
unanimously echo this claim, and some previous research further shows that “transgender and
gender diverse individuals experience higher rates of bullying than their cisgender peers”
(Pellicane & Ciesla, 2022, p. 2). This connection between behaviour in the “real-world” and the
online world that literature has constantly identified will be important to note for this research
project to explain the application of feminist and queer theory from wider societal contexts onto
experiences of individuals in esports. Online harassment in general should be taken very
seriously, as a study estimates that “about 44 percent of internet users have personally
experienced some form online harassment” (Pevac, 2022, p. 1287).
Results from studies that have particularly focused on studying underlying causes of
misogyny and interpersonal violence have interestingly found that misogynistic men behave
similarly to narcissists and are more likely to engage in violence and hold thoughts of revenge to
protect their inflated egos (Rottweiler et al., 2021, p. 22-23). The author further explains that a
man attempting to restore their own self-worth, particularly when women are perceived as a
threat to traditional gender hierarchies, may subscribe to misogyny as a result (Rottweiler et al.,
2021, p. 22). Bates has mentioned that some men in extremely misogynist groups online may use
feminism and feminists as an explanation behind why they believe in ideas that are misogynistic
(Bates, 2021). I deem this claim to have some relevancy to this research project due to a preconceived opinion that I have formed prior to conducting interviews which backs up this claim
by some of the literature. Anecdotally speaking, several women in esports that have used this

The Hateful Side of Esports 20

point in casual conversation to explain sexist, misogynist, and transphobic behaviour they have
encountered in matches or ranked games. It would not be surprising that men view women that
compete well in esports as a threat to “traditional gender hierarchies” where women are not
“supposed” to be playing video games, which are seen by many as just a “guys only” hobby.
There are very little number of women that have seen any form of success in esports,
only about five at the top level across various esports titles. Previous research in esports shows
that the reason behind why this is the case is due to sexism, where women particularly struggle to
prove their skill level and are simply excluded from the industry altogether (Ruvalcaba et al.,
2018, p. 299). The same research mentions a stereotype that is sadly common between men in
the field, which is that women are not as skilled as men (Ruvalcaba et al., 2018, p. 299). Content
analysis in other research that has focused on how women streamers get treated compared to men
streamers has shown that women streamers are almost twice as likely to receive sexist comments
when compared to men (Ruvalcaba et al., 2018, p. 305). “Streamers” are individuals that stream
their gameplay to the world on platforms such as Twitch (the most popular streaming platform
for gamers) or YouTube, which is normally accompanied by a webcam that shows their face,
body, and live reactions to their own gameplay. It would not be difficult for anyone to simply
tune in to a woman competitor’s stream to find any sexist or hateful comments from viewers, and
this hate is even more common among forums that discuss competitive matches and tournaments
that took place. Popular women that stream which receive low number of comments compared to
other popular streamers would approximately get one comment every two minutes that can be
categorized as sexual harassment (Ruvalcaba et al., 2018, p. 307). This study does not however
note how women that stream their gameplay typically react to sexist and hateful comments.
Anecdotally speaking, they generally do their best to ignore them, and popular streamers have

The Hateful Side of Esports 21

several moderators which are actively moderating their chat for unwanted comments. The
minimal research that has been done with current and past women esports competitors, especially
those that are considered “feminist icons” like Geguri from an esport title known as “Overwatch”
(now Overwatch 2), suggests that the very few successful women in esports avoid attaching
themselves to feminist labels for their own safety (Cullen, 2018, p. 950). The gaming and esports
environment is so negative towards women that players understand that labeling themselves as
feminists in the video gaming industry easily leads to a further increase in negative attention by
men in a male-dominated industry (Cullen, 2018, p. 950). Online hate in the form of misogyny
and transphobia is so prevalent that women try their best to avoid bringing more attention to
themselves because they understand it would simply attract more negativity.
Misogyny and transphobia may have been the “default” positions among men in many
sports ever since their existence. Most sports have historically been considered “made by and for
men” which excluded and prohibited women from them (Howe, 2022, p. 456). Formula 1 is an
example of a traditional sport that recently attempted to be a unisex sport though it still only saw
a few women drivers successfully compete in it (Howe, 2022, p. 455). Sexism and transphobia in
many sports has become so ingrained in many people that they do not even attempt to challenge
this outdated view. Many would understand the need for a separate women’s and men’s
competition in many sports due to perceived physical differences between average cis men and
women (Howe, 2022, p. 456), alongside historical barring of opportunities for women. The skill
differences required to succeed in esports require no segregation based on sex (Holden et al.,
2020, p. 3). Esports has a unique promise of gender equity that has never materialized within
traditional sports, where physical differences make no difference in competitors’ abilities to
perform.

The Hateful Side of Esports 22

Previous research shows that sex and gender harassment in esports had led elite women
and LGBTQ+ gamers to completely stop pursuing their passion (Holden et al., 2020, p. 3). It also
further backs up some points made by other research done in online video games, importantly
that historic anonymity in online gaming has fostered growth of antisocial behaviour which has
led to a third of women gamers to report abuse or discrimination by men, with one in ten women
claiming to have been threatened by rape by men during online play (Holden et al., 2020, p. 9).
This research by Holden et al. also further supports other findings where the success of women
in video gaming has threatened and pushed men and boys in gaming to be at greater risk for
antisocial behaviours (2020, p. 9). These authors further explain that online harassment of
women in recreational and professional video gaming is well documented (Holden et al., 2020, p.
11) and provided GamerGate and Remilia as examples. Maria “Remilia” Creveling was the first
and only transgender woman to compete at the professional level in an esports title known as
“League of Legends” in what was known as the League of Legends Championship Series (LCS).
Her career was very short due to anxiety brought on from constant harassment from viewers in
comments sections and live-stream feeds which were overwhelming with transphobic and sexist
statements about her appearance and gender identity (Holden et al., 2020, p. 12). Other examples
that are mentioned in their research further add context to simply how prevalent sexism is within
the field even among elite men that compete in esports. Backing up other research done on the
treatment on streamers, this article shows how a very popular streamer known as
“Annemunition” who had more than 300,000 followers on Twitch has spoken out about how bad
online toxicity is, especially for women or people that are “othered” by the community (Holden
et al., 2020, p. 18-19). The term “toxicity” would be understood by this project as significantly
rude, disrespectful, or unreasonable language used against someone online. In other words, cyber

The Hateful Side of Esports 23

harassment, and cyber bullying (Sheth et al., 2021, p. 1). It is simply a way people online refer to
any instances of sexism, misogyny, transphobia, racism, and other forms of hatred under one
term.
Building onto an example of transphobia in esports from previously mentioned research,
there is still a massive gap waiting to be filled when it comes to particularly researching
transphobia in esports. In traditional sports, previous research reveals that athletes who identify
as transgender are discriminated at a greater rate than those that are gay, lesbian, or bisexual
(Cunningham & Pickett, 2018, p. 220), which is incredibly likely to be the true in esports too.
This research article notes that LGBTQ+ prejudice has had a decrease over time and sports have
had a dramatic improvement in the past decades for lesbian and gay athletes (Cunningham &
Pickett, 2018, p. 221). The authors note that they expect to find similar patterns for trans
prejudice in the future once there are more trans-inclusive healthcare options and training for
trans inclusiveness in the workplace (Cunningham & Pickett, 2018, p. 221). It has been five
years since this journal article was published and I would disagree that this has been true thus far.
It may be that those patterns have not emerged due to a lack of adequate training and transinclusive healthcare, but recent developments in the current sociopolitical context that this
research project is taking place in would likely suggest that there has been no improvement in
trans and nonbinary prejudice. Similarly, to transgender prejudice, stereotyping can be
considered a form of prejudice against a certain group of people. When it comes to transgender
stereotypes in video games, previous research suggests that adequate character representation in
video games would lead transgender youth to know that they too can live fulfilling and
successful lives (Herriot & Fry, 2021, p. 15). While this claim is not made from sports or
esports-related research, it follows a similar claim that this research project would consider a

The Hateful Side of Esports 24

barrier for women in esports. It supports the importance of adequate representation and visibility
for certain people in certain spaces.
Most research that has been done on video games or esports using a feminist lens has
been conducted using various types of content analysis. They would mostly focus on the
portrayal of characters by video game developers and what messaging and symbolization these
characters would send across to their players. Several studies have been done focusing on video
game characters that resemble harmful sexist and misogynistic beliefs towards women and how
they may have affected women that enjoyed playing video games (McCullough et al., 2020, p.
266). The way the same journal article defines “internalized misogyny” is the same way this
research project will define this term which is “the devaluing of women, distrust of women, and
bias toward men among women” (McCullough et al., 2020, p. 268). The authors mention that
other research has found that frequent enjoyment of video games leads to more overt and
antagonistic beliefs against women and that women gamers may also share negative attitudes
toward women in relation to gaming (2020, p. 268). Their own research has supported their
hypothesis that the more frequently women play video games, the more positively could
internalized misogyny be predicted within them (McCullough et al., 2020, p. 272). Their
research also found that more frequent enjoyment of video games in general leads to more
negative beliefs about women such as women cannot be trusted, they are less competent, or they
are poor leaders (McCullough et al., 2020, p. 272). These findings stand out from other content
analysis done of similar fashion where authors typically interpret symbolism and messaging
through characteristics and attitudes of women in video games only based off their own
judgement and opinion. I do not consider that to be the best approach to understanding
misogynistic and sexist attitudes in video games, though the goals of research of that nature are

The Hateful Side of Esports 25

usually different from the goals of this research project. Interestingly, McCullough et al. point
out that one notable limitation in their study is that video game usage is normally restricted to
those that can afford it, so their sample and findings may not be generalizable to individuals from
low-income backgrounds (2020, p. 272). This would have to be considered by this research
project too and listed as a possible limitation, as research in esports would suffer with the same
limitation. The sample of this research was also predominantly white and thus may not be
generalizable to racial and ethnic minority women (McCullough et al., 2020, p. 273), which
depending on the makeup of the future participants in this project, it may have to be stated as a
possible limitation. This project will focus on prioritizing women that belong to ethnic minority
groups as they are likely underrepresented in the field. Anecdotal experience would suggest that
certain ethnic minority groups are much less represented than others, where seeing successful
women of an East Asian ethnic background in esports is way more common than seeing
successful women of an African ethnic background in esports.
Interestingly, all the qualitative research that this literature review has covered consists of
people that identify as women. The ultimate goal of this research project is for the experiences of
cisgender and transgender women in esports to be heard. The preliminary inquiry into this
literature review hinted that a glaring gap in literature that focuses particularly on salaried and
competitive cisgender and transgender women’s experiences in esports exists. It has suggested
that research that has covered the experiences of women in esports has almost exclusively
focused on quantitative methods such as content analysis performed by the author. Depending on
the societal position of the author, it can often be interpreted as how, like usual, a cisgender and
straight man analyzes and interprets interactions and content on the internet and how he
understands they may impact the population that he wishes to research (women). This research

The Hateful Side of Esports 26

project will not focus on any content analysis and instead on qualitative semi-structured
interviews with cisgender and transgender women in esports. Their experiences that could be
shared with the rest of the world through this research can hopefully bring significant discourse
to the topics of hatred in esports, particularly when attempting to understand sexism, misogyny,
and transphobia, which are commonplace in esports. There is a benefit to understanding previous
content analysis done which may fit the scope of this project, as their results and findings have
potential to influence the interpretation of data as well as influencing the research questions of
the project.
There is one noticeable limitation found in literature through this review. The discussion
of transphobic women and trans-exclusionary radical feminists (TERFs) in esports is seemingly
unrepresented in research in esports. Anecdotal experience would suggest that transphobic
women that compete in esports do exist. This research project will research this theme in more
detail and contribute to a significant gap that is missing in current esports literature. Another
limitation found within this project’s literature review is how previous research almost never
interviewed women in esports directly about their personal experiences on topics of sexism,
misogyny, and transphobia in the field.
Many of the themes found in previous research within traditional and electronic sports
through this project’s literature review will be influential in the methodology, discussion, and
findings of this research paper. SDO, barriers for women in competitions, internalized misogyny,
transphobia (transgender and nonbinary prejudice), and online harassment towards women in
general will be vital to the development and completion of this project. The findings from
previous research in literature will inform the knowledge established for this research project
prior to conducting interviews with the correct participants and they will help understanding and

The Hateful Side of Esports 27

interpreting the data gathered through these interviews. Claims and findings from previous
research will be challenged by this research project to find out whether this project’s findings
support or disprove previous findings.

The Hateful Side of Esports 28

Methods
Data were collected from ten individuals who had to self-identify for the most accurate
representation of their answers in this study. Four participants self-identified as transwomen, four
self-identified as just “women” or cisgendered women, and two participants self-identified as
transfem non-binary. This research project will consider the data gathered from the participants
that identified as transfem non-binary as a separate “non-binary” category for the sake of
accurate representation and to note potential differences between answers. It is thus extremely
important to also emphasize that the comparison of data categorized as “cis-gender women” and
“transgender women” is only done so to note differences in experiences in the field of esports.
Otherwise, all individuals that identify as women are obviously women. Compensation was also
included and fully funded by Kwantlen Polytechnic University’s “Student Research and
Innovation Grant” under file-number “KPU-SRIG 2023-28” which was emailed to participants
on the same day as interviews took place.
This research project relied primarily on purposive sampling. Posts were made on “X
(formerly known as Twitter),” where the project topics were advertised to over 6,000 people.
These people mostly consisted of people directly involved with esports who either fit all the
purposive criteria themselves or likely knew competitors who did. Many participants were
recruited through direct messaging on “Steam” which is the most popular store or gaming
platform which CS is played through. The participants who were directly messaged through
either “Steam” or “X (Twitter)” were the ones that the researcher already knew fit all the
purposive criteria set for this project.

The Hateful Side of Esports 29

One hurdle the researcher encountered during recruiting was that individuals who were
directly messaged usually did not respond or were not interested in participating in the research.
There was a theme where individuals who had prior knowledge of the researcher and his esports
background had a much higher chance of being comfortable with being interviewed on camera
than individuals who had no previous knowledge of the researcher. Since the researcher’s most
recent successful competitive esports history was in the “Counter-Strike” (CS) franchise, all
participants that were interviewed had a competitive history in the franchise too. Most had a
competitive history in CS:GO, while all but one continued to compete in “Counter-Strike 2”
(CS2), which just released on September 27, 2023. One individual had no competitive history in
CS2, though they had a salaried esports history in other esports titles unrelated to the genre of
“first-person shooters” (FPS) in their extensive esports journey.

The inclusion criteria that needed to be met by participants was the following:
1. They must be at least 18 years old.
2. They must identify as a woman.
3. They must have played for an esports organization that has provided any salary for their
players, or they must have played in an esports competition that has a prize pool.
The last criterion was defined as such due to the number of salaried esports women who get paid
a living wage. From anecdotal experience, only two salaried women’s esports teams in CS were
paid a living wage, even though there were many other salaried teams. If the criteria were strictly
“women that get salaried a living wage” instead of “women that compete for monetary prizes” or
“women that get salaried any wage,” then the likelihood of finding enough candidates that have
recently competed in esports that are willing to be interviewed would be extremely low.

While snowball sampling did not directly lead to individuals that participated, it was used
through some individuals to identify potential participants which ultimately did not lead to them

The Hateful Side of Esports 30

participating. There was at least two participants that likely participated due to a form of
snowball sampling in the form of “retweets” of the researcher’s original posts on X (Twitter) by
other esports competitors. The researcher speculates this only due to those participants initially
expressing their interest in participating without the researcher reaching out to them through a
direct message of their own. The researcher also did not have a connection with these two
participants prior to pursuing this research project. Snowball sampling thus seemingly connected
the researcher to at least two willing participants that he otherwise may not have interviewed.
Data collection took place online. Interviews were held over the platform “Zoom” and
recorded and stored in a separate passcode-protected OneDrive that only the principal and coinvestigators had access to. Since esports is primarily an online environment, participants who
competed in women’s leagues in esports titles like CS2 could live and participate in this study
from any part of the world. This research project focused only on competitors currently
participating in North American competitions due to prior connections and knowledge of the
researcher. The literature review suggests that there is a possibility that societal phenomena and
contexts differ between esports regions. The realities that women in esports face in North
America may be vastly different from those of other esports regions such as Europe, South
Korea, and China. One research article on the topic of feminism and women competing in
esports, which focuses on the successful Overwatch 2 competitor “Geguri,” suggests that
competitive women in esports do not want to label themselves as feminists (Cullen, 2018, p.
949). This may be the case due to them being esports competitors in South Korea, a region where
the topic of feminism is seemingly viewed as much more “divisive” than in North America,
particularly due to the Korean “4B movement” (Sussman, 2023). According to previous
research, “openly feminist women in the games industry in South Korea experience increased

The Hateful Side of Esports 31

negative attention” from men (Cullen, 2018, p. 950). Societal contexts like these that vary across
different regions of the world is why this research project strived only to seek potential
interviewees within North America. All participants were also fully comfortable and fluent to be
interviewed in English by the researcher. Continuously reviewing collected data, along with
engaging in constant reflexivity, was crucial to this project (Reid et al., 2017, p. 222).
Participants were informed of their ability to give and withdraw consent at any point
during the research process. They signed a consent form prior to setting up an interview or
consented verbally on recording just before beginning an interview. At times throughout the
interview, they were reminded that they did not have to answer questions they did not feel like
answering, they did not have to share information they did not feel comfortable sharing, and that
they could withdraw their consent at any point during the interview at which point all data
collected up to then will be destroyed immediately.
Chapter 4 of TCPS 2 covers “the principle of Justice”, which is one of the four ethical
considerations in research. It addresses how individuals and groups that might be inappropriately
excluded due to attributes such as their race, age, gender, culture, language, and disability should
be included in research (TCPS 2, 2022, p.66). Individuals in this research were not excluded due
to their culture, language, religion, sexual orientation, disability, ethnicity, or linguistic
proficiency. There were valid reasons for two exclusions in this research which match the scope
and research questions of this project. People that identify as men and those that were not at least
eighteen years old were excluded.

The Hateful Side of Esports 32

The data gathered from interviews with participants is divided into three categories to
compare varying experiences in detail. This was only possible due to the participants’
courageous decision to self-identify. The researcher deeply appreciates each participant's
willingness to do so, even though they were made aware that they had the option not to answer
questions they did not want to. The three categories that stemmed from participants’ selfidentification are: “cisgender women”, “transgender women”, and “non-binary”.

The Hateful Side of Esports 33

Findings
Ten interviews were conducted that spanned mostly between thirty-five to fourty-five
minutes, with only two lasting a full hour. Pre-set interview questions were constructed from the
researcher’s personal experiences from competing in “League of Legends” (LoL), “CounterStrike” (CS), and “Valorant” between 2014 and 2022 which were also influenced by feminist
and queer theory. The researcher took an extensive dive into queer theory when constructing
questions inquiring about the experiences of LGBTQ+ women to ensure they approached
sensitive topics more carefully. This was important as the researcher recognizes their bias and
privilege when it comes to discussing and inquiring about topics about women’s experiences and
especially LGBTQ+ women’s experiences. Some previous research which covers video gaming
from a critical race perspective was also included in the literature review to further keep the
researcher’s privilege in check when interviewing women who identify as non-European.
The categories that the data was coded under in particular were the following: “selfidentification”, “barriers to entry”, “compensation and opportunities”, “current state of the
scene”, “forms of discrimination”, “preventative measures”, “transphobia among cis women”,
“memorable moments”, “fan mail”, “discouraged”, “perceptions of women’s leagues and co-ed”,
and “future of women’s esports”. The answers between all participants will be further compared
depending on how they self-identified to see whether there are notable differences in opinions
and answers.
Self-Identification
The interviewer began by asking participants to briefly discuss their competitive history
to “break-the-ice” and begin the conversation. The researcher already had a solid idea of the

The Hateful Side of Esports 34

participants’ competitive history due to third-party websites in CS and Valorant normally
keeping extensive history tabs on all professional and semi-professional competitors and the
competitions they played in. He had to verify these competitive histories of every participant to
ensure they met all the purposive criteria for the interview to even begin. The purpose of the
question was also to ease participants in for the questions that related to self-identification which
inquired about how they identified their gender, sexual orientation, and ethnicity.
Seven of the ten participants identified as Caucasian. Two of the ten participants
identified as Asian, and one participant identified as mixed-race. This ethnic representation is
roughly what the researcher expected to find prior to beginning their research. From the
researcher’s anecdotal experience, it is incredibly rare to find competitors of African origin in
first-person shooters. The researcher has only personally met three other such competitors (who
were all cisgendered men) from his time competing in CS. It was not a surprise to not find a
single woman competitor of African origin in the esports category of “first-person shooters”.
Some prior research which has studied how women of all backgrounds that played video games
for an extensive period viewed themselves had a limitation where the researchers struggled to
find a significant sample of women of African origin (McCullough et al., 2020, p. 269), thus
their results may not be generalizable for women of said origin (McCullough et al., 2020, p.
273). Participant 7 similarly reflected on their time playing CS and who they have befriended
over the years, mentioning that:
I don’t think I’ve ever teamed with a person of colour. Like, why? How could that be
true? I guess I have played with a couple of people of Asian descent, but I guess there’s
an intersection of like, in terms of games that black people tend to play tends to be
fighting games and there’s a bigger European scene in CS.

The Hateful Side of Esports 35

The findings of how participants self-identified in interviews for this research project suggests
that this research project has the same limitation as McCullough et al.’s where its results may not
be reflective of experiences of women of non-European or non-Asian ethnic backgrounds.
Participants were notified before and during the interview that they could choose not to
answer questions they don’t feel comfortable with. Two participants chose not to answer an
identification question regarding their sexual orientation and two other participants did not
answer a question regarding compensation as a result. Every other question posed by the
researcher was answered in detail by participants. Only one woman from all participants
identified as straight, which was a little surprising. However, seven women self-identified as
“LGBTQ+” where two specifically identified as bisexual, three identified as pansexual, and two
identified as lesbian. The researcher initially thought that more participants would refuse to
answer this question prior to conducting interviews. It should be said that this may not accurately
represent the true percentage of women in esports that identify as LGBTQ+. It may just reflect
what women felt most comfortable being interviewed by the researcher, especially if they knew
of him prior to this research project taking place.
Barriers to Entry
Unsurprisingly, all but one participant completely agreed that there are several different
barriers to entry for women in esports. Only one participant mentioned that she did not think
barriers to entry existed for women, as she stated that you can make it to the top based on merit
alone. Participant 1 particularly said “If you are just good enough, people will look at you for
your gameplay [alone]”. There is truth to this, as everyone that makes it to the top does so based
on merit, but most require a substantial amount of luck to make it there too. Connections and

The Hateful Side of Esports 36

networking are incredibly important, and if you are a straight cisgendered man, you likely have
the least chance to be disliked by other individuals simply due to your existence and identity in
the esports scene, thus having a potential for making more connections more easily. To bring up
a particular example shared by Participant 3, she said that: “there were so many times where it
would change their minds (the team she is trying out for) as soon as they heard my voice”. This
is an example of women having a sexist barrier that men do not experience when it comes to
making connections and getting opportunities simply because they are women. To cover a more
extreme example also shared by Participant 3, she also shared a personal experience with blatant
sexism, saying: “I had people straight up refuse to try me out specifically because I was a girl”.
All other participants which stated that barriers to entry exist in esports used strong
language to emphasize how much of an issue they believe it is. Participant 5 explained that
“people just don’t take you seriously as a competitor sometimes [just because you’re a woman]”.
Participant 8 and participant 10 explained that in their opinion, “there’s social barriers, no
physical barriers”. This was the theme that was present among every participant that explained
how they understood barriers to entry to exist in esports, particularly in games categorized as
FPS.
Participant 3 shared her personal experience of how difficult it was for her to even get a
chance to find a team at the bottom division in the league ladder in CS due to a sexist barrier she
encountered. There should be no barrier to entry for any player in said division as a competitor
often befriends another competitor while they play ranked games on a third-party client, and they
normally stumble upon some league experience in this division. As a straight cisgender man, all
it takes to compete in the lowest division in CS is to befriend some people that enjoy your
company and then team-up together for a season to see what competing is like. There is roughly

The Hateful Side of Esports 37

a $20 entry-fee per person involved to participate for at least twelve matches over the span of
two months, and straight cisgender men would most likely universally agree that no barriers to
entry would exist for them in the bottom division. This is seemingly not the case for many
women. Participant 3 particularly explained that “it can be hard to find or make a team on your
own at the beginning” which she then expanded on by giving credit to women’s leagues such as
“ESL Impact” for “allowing a lot more women to get into the competitive scene and feel safe
doing so”. Other participants echoed this opinion regarding “ESL Impact” where they believed it
did a fine job at undoing one of several barriers to entry for women that compete. Participants 4,
5, 6, 8, and 9 all shared this exact same opinion, while the rest roughly agreed that women’s
leagues in esports is a net positive for women. Most participants added that women’s leagues are
needed because co-ed teams are just “not there yet” due to several social barriers.
Some experiences shared by participants spoke about how they believed some people in
the esports scene, or at least more serious fans that follow the esports scene, have problems with
the state of their personal mental health. Participant 7 mentioned that “barriers are a little bit
lessened if you can find a route in” which she then elaborated on by explaining that “I think the
barriers [in this case] are frankly the people who play Counter-Strike a lot have a lot of mental
illness”. Participant 8 used similar language when sharing a personal experience that her and
former teammates of hers shockingly went through which will be elaborated on later, though said
experience made her understand that “there’s some really, really weird people in esports”.
Answers regarding how participants generally shielded themselves from interacting with people
that struggled with their own mental health problems in the scene boiled down to spending as
much time as possible within their own circle of close friends that they fully trust are people who
treat themselves and everyone around them with respect.

The Hateful Side of Esports 38

Compensation and Opportunities
The answers regarding compensation and opportunities for women in esports varied
equally between three types: “currently fair”, “less opportunities”, and “don’t know or no
answer”. There was no difference in the opinion of participants on these topics depending on
how they self-identified. Four participants stated that compensation is currently fair while adding
that it varies greatly between esports titles and even teams. Participant 10 mentioned that
“everyone is overpaid” in esports, thus it is seemingly fair. Participant 1 shared that it is “hard to
call as it’s a case-by-case thing”. Some participants such as participant 6 state that some esports
titles are better at it than others such as “Valorant” and “Overwatch”.
Participants which shared that there are less opportunities for women emphasized that
transgender women and non-binary individuals have even less opportunities than cisgender
women. Participant 4 shared a personal experience, saying: “one of my previous teammates
joked that she would be murdered twice. One for being gay and another time for being trans”.
She then went on to explain that this conversation took place when they discussed certain events
taking place in parts of the world which are not friendly and welcoming to women and even less
so to individuals that identify as LGBTQ+. Thus, even though there are some opportunities that
are only for women, when they are being held in hostile parts of the world, they are not an
opportunity for many women in reality.
One concern that some participants had whilst discussing compensation is the realization
they had that women’s teams were viewed as a “marketing team” by organizations that salaried
them. Participant 8 shared this opinion while reflecting that such funding is still a positive thing
as it leads to more women earning more money. Participant 4 similarly explained that:

The Hateful Side of Esports 39

Women’s teams are kind of seen as like…you just pick them up so you can say that you
have a women’s team, we are kind of like…’we value diversity and everything’ but I feel
like I’ve also heard from people higher up and other teammates’ experiences that other
orgs treat women’s team kind of like a second-tier team in their org.
On the point of women’s teams being picked up for the sake of diversity, participant 1 shared
that even though she is not public about her identity as it would simply lead to unwanted
attention, she “reveals” her actual identity depending on the situation as organizations that may
be interested in offering her teams a salary “may like it as they may seem more diverse”.
Current State of the Scene
The current environment of women’s esports seems to be in a good state overall. Most
participants share the opinion that it is much better than it used to be, even as far back as only six
years ago. Participant 3 mentioned that it is “already night and day from when I started playing
counter-strike six years ago”. Participant 8 specifically explained that “back then it was way
worse, and in the early 2000s”. At the same time, four participants share the opinion that it very
much varies depending on how one identifies, what esports title they compete in, and possibly
what type of environment they find themselves in. Not even one participant mentioned that it is
perfect or ideal. All but one participant mentioned that if you find yourself queuing a ranked
game alone as a woman with nine other strangers, especially in FPS games, then it can be a
hostile environment. Participants 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 10 all shared opinions and experiences that
led to this conclusion.
Interestingly, some participants shared that they felt like women in esports had an issue
with complacency which held back women’s esports, particularly when it comes to taking

The Hateful Side of Esports 40

advantage of new opportunities and making meaningful progress in closing the skill gap between
men and women. There is a difference in competition levels in women’s leagues and normal coed leagues (mixed-gender teams). There is a big skill gap, and that’s where she realized that she
wants more than being the best in Impact as it is not quite that competitive. Participant 1
explained that they never understood how competitors at such a high level can be complacent
with not being the best, saying “some teams, not just Impact, but Australia as well, will just
straight up dodge you or won’t play seriously just because you are the better team”. She
explained that it was not just an issue with women’s teams, but an issue in all forms of
competition in esports, which she did not quite understand. Participant 8 similarly reflected that
it used to be her dream to play for “Organization_R” and she felt awesome about eventually
reaching her dream. She soon realized that her aspirations were greater than others when she
realized that some former teammates were “okay with just being where they are at” as they were
getting salaried.
Forms of Discrimination
Discrimination and hatred are commonplace in esports. They come in different forms and
levels which this project categorizes as “sexism”, “transphobia”, and “misogyny”. This category
of sexism would be more “casual” comments that women in esports may face just by queuing up
a ranked game in a video game. It could also be hateful comments that they may encounter when
competing in an official tournament match when money is on the line. Competitors have the
option to re-watch a live broadcast of their match online usually on Twitch.tv or YouTube where
they can also see the live comments that viewers left in the past during the game. Depending on
the comment, competitors could see comments that could fit the category of “casual sexism” or
“transphobia” more than “extreme misogyny” and vice versa.

The Hateful Side of Esports 41

Hateful comments are so commonplace during official live broadcasts when women’s
teams are playing that many participants do not re-watch broadcasts of their own games. When it
comes to hateful comments on live broadcasts and forums such as HLTV, most participants
shared that the frequency of hateful comments on them are awfully frequent. This project could
not exactly measure which one of sexism, transphobia, or misogyny were most frequent, though
most participants that expanded on how often they saw such comments was frightening.
Participants 2, 4, 5, 8, and 9 particularly recounted seeing awful comments that fall under these
categories for every single official match on HLTV and every single time their match was
broadcasted on a live-streaming platform such as Twitch.tv. Participant 8 further explained that
most comments she would generally see that are hateful are “get back in the kitchen” type
comments which this project considers “casual” sexism. At the same time, participant 8
elaborated one memorable off-putting comment where one viewer commented about how they
would sexually assault her and her team on LAN. She particularly recalled reading “oh the things
I would do to them on LAN” by a viewer during a stream which is borderline criminal.
Participant 8 also shared a similar experience that a friend of hers told her about from the same
viewer that made those criminal comments on stream. That same viewer was a player on a team
she previously tried out for and he said “if I ever saw her on LAN, I’d r*pe her”. These two
experiences with this man made them remember his name so they could stay away from him if
they ever encountered him at an offline tournament or event.
Sexual assault comments are not the only kind that would be considered extreme
“misogynist” comments that women in esports may encounter. Participant 7 shared a personal
experience where she overheard a man that she got on her team say “they are a woman playing
CS, they are mentally ill” casually during a game whilst talking about women playing video

The Hateful Side of Esports 42

games. This opinion that “there’s something wrong if women enjoy a hobby men enjoy” may be
shared by more men in esports than one may suspect. Participant 6 particularly shared how they
noticed that there were many comments about a “Call of Duty” streamer that recently became
incredibly popular where it was common to see the opinion of “if you are good at a game and
you are a woman, you have to be cheating”. These are just more examples of misogyny that lurks
within the minds of some men in esports which are often overshadowed by more “casual” and
more frequent sexist and transphobic comments.
All participants which elaborated on their experiences seeing hate directed their way
mentioned that even though they were thick-skinned, there was a breaking point or at least one
instance that truly bothered them. Toxic remarks in solo queue type game modes where
individuals have the option to queue alone for a higher or lower rating on a ladder-system is a
daily occurrence which will be elaborated on in the following sub-section.
Preventative Measures
Toxicity is so frequent in ranked game modes that participants and other competitors play
daily to improve that they take various preventative measures to decrease the chances of
encountering it. These preventative measures include but are not limited to queuing up with
friends, hiding aspects of their in-game identity, using voice-changers, and muting or blocking
people.
All participants mentioned that they prefer queuing up with a full team of friends over
playing alone. Participant 1 and participant 10 shared that they did so not because they were
avoiding toxicity per se, but because they wanted to play with other individuals that were skilled.
They were essentially just avoiding being teamed up with lower-skilled teammates. The main

The Hateful Side of Esports 43

concern of all other participants was avoiding toxic teammates that would otherwise ruin their
game, day, or week. Participants 2, 4, 6, 7, 8, and 9 mentioned they queue up with friends
virtually every game. They all explained that it is likely that some person will otherwise say
some off-putting comment if one queues for a game alone.
Participants shared that they had several ways in which they hid aspects of their in-game
identity as a preventative measure when queueing up for ranked games. Changing in-game
names is one of them. This is likely dependent on what esports title a competitor plays as it is
easier to do in some video games than others. Participants 5 and 7 mentioned that they have done
this in the past and that they know others who have done the same. Participant 5 mentioned that
even when the interview was taking place, two of their current teammates had their name
changed so people had a harder time recognizing them. Participant 4 and participant 8 shared that
they avoided using certain pictures on their in-game profiles, such as pictures of themselves, so
people did not assume that they were women. Participant 6 and participant 10 shared that they
and their friends use “streamer mode” in Valorant when they play the game’s competitive game
mode. Using “streamer mode” makes it so everyone else in the game does not see their actual
username but instead gets a generic name for the character that they are playing. If they are using
the Valorant agent “Jett” for that one ranked game, their name in the game would be “Jett” for
everyone else. This would be so others do not know that they are playing against them and harass
them for it. Participant 6 shared another preventative measure that may be unique to Valorant.
They shared that they even though they are proud that they could showcase the title “VCT Game
Changers” under their username, they often do not. This was because players on their team
would purposefully sabotage the game to make them lose, essentially wasting more than thirty
minutes of their time. As previously mentioned, participant 3 sometimes changed her identity

The Hateful Side of Esports 44

from female to male on ESEA to have a higher chance of finding a team that may give her a
chance.
Many participants felt that women get treated differently depending on their voice. Trans
women shared experiences that re-affirm this opinion by participants. Some of them mentioned
that they only use the real voice that they want when they are not around strangers in games.
Others mentioned that they are not interested in voice training and that they have personally
witnessed friends being treated with less respect once they seriously trained their voice. One cis
woman shared a personal experience she had where she was tired of being mistreated by random
teammates she encountered when playing ranked games due to her voice. She downloaded a
voice changer and immediately was treated with more respect. Participant 8 shared an opinion
she then concluded that “women get treated with more respect when they use voice changers”.
Participant 6 shared a similar opinion, saying that “cis women and trans women that have voice
trained a lot definitely have a much harder time”. While reflecting on voice training, participant
7 also said:
The moment I start doing it [voice training], the more people will start treating me like a
woman in the game, and that is nice in some ways, because I am a woman, but now I
have to deal with all the sexist pieces of shit bullshit. It is one thing that is legitimately
stopping me from it.
Muting or blocking people is an option that every esports title has at their disposal for
people that play their game. It is one measure that game creators have always included in
multiplayer games to avoid accountability for some of their users mistreating others. Participants
2, 9, and 10 all stated that they muted the entire enemy team from the start of the game. Some

The Hateful Side of Esports 45

participants shared that they mute people, both teammates and opponents, only after they say
something horrible.
Transphobia among cis women
TERFs exist outside of esports and thus it is not surprising that some of them may exist in
esports too. This project does not attempt to claim that women who compete in esports are
feminist by default. When it comes to the topic of whether some competitive cisgender women
refuse to play alongside transgender women on their team, most participants agreed that it
happens. All participants that self-identified as transgender women agreed that it happens
without a doubt. Participants that self-identified as cisgender women were split in their answers.
Only one participant mentioned that she did not think this happened, which was a good thing in
her eyes. Participant 2 explained that it happens in North America though it is a bigger problem
in Europe as the game is particularly way more popular in parts of Europe that are regressive
when it comes to accepting trans women. Participant 3 said that it does happen though less-so
nowadays due to the talent pool of cisgender women being limited. She shared that she has
personally heard someone say: “oh you are not good even though you are transgender”.
Participant 5 particularly recalled that she played alongside a transphobic teammate who would
say bad things about her and that she “should not be playing in the league”, presumably due to
her being transgender. Participant 6 elaborated that women who have been competing for over a
decade are the ones that tend to be “TERF-ier” in her eyes. Participant 10 recalled that she was
told that certain competitors would not play alongside transgender women. It seems that
transphobia is not only present among cisgender men in esports but among some women too.
Intersectionality is key to understanding this issue and explain the findings of this project as

The Hateful Side of Esports 46

women that do not identify as transgender are seemingly less likely to be aware that this problem
sadly exists in some parts of women’s esports.
Memorable Moments
Unsurprisingly, most candidates that shared instances which were most memorable to
them from their time in esports shared individual experiences that only they experienced
personally. However, five participants shared that they considered the same instance of rampant
transphobia shared by a popular public figure in CS over X (formerly Twitter) in 2023 against
Competitor_A to be a big turning point that opened their eyes to rampant transphobia and hatred.
It made them realize that maybe the hatred they thought was slowly going away in esports was
ever-present but hidden. That moment, and particularly the incredible amount of hatred that was
sent towards some transgender women and their cisgender and transgender teammates was an
incredibly tough and memorable moment for them and a huge wake-up call. Participant 3
particularly reflected that “silence also speaks a lot of words, notably the situation with
Competitor_A” when talking about the reaction of other people in the scene over this incident.
Only one participant shared a positive interaction as a personal memorable moment from
their time competing in esports. Participant 8 remembers a fan interaction where fans came up to
her during a LAN event (an offline tournament) and expressed that they found it cool and
encouraging to see teams like hers competing the way they did at the time.
Fan Mail
Receiving private messages on social media or on third-party clients such as ESEA was a
common issue for some participants and other competitors they know or have known. When five
participants shared an incident that stuck with them since and discussed transphobia that was

The Hateful Side of Esports 47

directed towards Competitor_A for being a transgender woman, that was just one of many
examples. Competitors constantly receive messages personally to their accounts when they lose
games that watchers bet on with real money. These are often in the form of personal death
threats, death threats to relatives, along with more targeted racist, sexist, or transphobic hate. In a
way, this is not unique to esports, as traditional sports athletes go through the same type of “fan
mail” from “supporters” when they lose, as mentioned by Participant 1.
Participant 5 shared that when she experienced said targeted transphobia over X
(formerly Twitter) which five other participants brought up as their most memorable moment in
esports that has still stuck with them months later, she received an overwhelming amount of hate
in her personal messages. She said that “every ten minutes someone was saying something
terrible to me. Even the comments on the post, a lot of them I’m pretty sure got taken down for
hate or something, which is crazy for twitter standards, it was bad”. Transphobia and sexism
often gets so unbearable on social media or forums that HLTV has only recently begun
moderating the comment sections of ESL Impact games. Participants 2, 5, and 10 elaborated that
it is only a recent phenomenon, and that a vast majority of comments on some ESL Impact
games end up being deleted by moderators, which is a small step in the right direction.
Discouraged
Some participants shared that they personally knew individuals who competed in the past
and stopped doing so once they realized how bad sexism, misogyny, and transphobia is in
esports. One important finding regarding this is that from all participants that shared the fact that
they knew individuals who stopped competing due to hatred was the source of where the hatred
came from. It was not because former teammates or other competitors were hateful towards them

The Hateful Side of Esports 48

or others. The source of this was the hateful comments they would constantly see in online
forums such as HLTV, online streaming websites such as Twitch.tv, or on social media such as
X (formerly Twitter) which were way too much to handle for some.
Participant 5 which was personally involved on the receiving end of transphobic
discourse over X (formerly Twitter) further shared that said instance of blatant transphobia
discouraged two fellow competitors from playing in the women’s esports scene in CS. She
explained that “it made them stop playing because there are so many transphobic remarks online.
It definitely affects the players. They completely stopped playing Impact because they did not
want that to happen to them”. Participant 9 proves participant 5’s point, as she mentioned that
she never wanted to even attempt to compete in the women’s league due to seeing how rampant
transphobia can be online. Participant 3 had similarly shared knowing people who have been
discouraged before, saying:
I have known quite a few players that have given up on competing or refuse to get into it
because of a couple of like…toxic situations that they have run into, and I feel like that’s
really common early on.
Perceptions of Women’s Leagues and Co-ed
All participants unanimously agreed that women’s leagues are a net positive for women
in esports and the scene as a whole. Participants 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8 and 9 explained that the big
reason behind why women’s leagues such as ESL Impact and VCT: Game Changers are needed
currently in esports is due to many social barriers historically preventing women from competing
in esports. They further elaborated that it allows more women to begin competing in esports in a
safe manner.

The Hateful Side of Esports 49

All participants also unanimously agreed that co-ed teams are the ultimate goal for
women in esports. Most acknowledged that it could just not currently happen in esports, mainly
due to social barriers and men not wanting to play with women. Participant 1 shared her opinion
that she currently does not compete in women’s leagues to personally improve but to win more
money, while participant 8 similarly mentioned that in her career she currently has to play on coed teams to further improve as a player. Participants generally echoed the opinion that there is
obviously no difference in skill between men and women, leading to all of them to conclude that
co-ed is the eventual goal. Co-ed teams would be inevitable if social barriers are adequately
addressed, structural problems dealt with accordingly, and enough time and support is provided
for women in esports to catch up and eventually thrive with nothing else holding them back.
Future of Women’s Esports
One surprising theme that emerged from answers when participants were asked to share
their opinion about the future of women’s esports is that there was an obvious divide between
cisgender and transgender women in their answers. Cisgender women were much more
optimistic about the future of women’s esports, especially when they compared it to its state in
the early 2010s or 2000s. While this is valid and true, transgender women rightfully were much
more skeptical and fearful of the future. They acknowledged that women’s esports is in a much
better spot currently than in the past, though they are particularly afraid of foreign investments in
CS. Many transgender women seem to also understand that even though there is better treatment
of women and more opportunities for women, transphobia still lurks in the shadows of many
esports competitors or followers that identify as men. Even when participants that self-identified
as transgender women reflected on how they are wary of the future of women’s esports, they still

The Hateful Side of Esports 50

acknowledged that there is a notable difference between women’s esports currently and what it
was just ten years ago.
Sometimes competitors are still reminded that there is evident pushback or resistance to
all the progress that women are making in esports. Participant 1 brought up drama that occurred
on social media on the day of the interview which made her realize that some individuals just do
not get the point. There was some controversial online discourse over a Danish women’s team
(Astralis Women) suggesting that the female agent skins (the aesthetic look of the character that
players control in CS) should be free to play (Richman, 2024). They suggested that it would lead
to more women playing CS (Richman, 2024) as currently the only agents that are free to play as
are male. When participant 1 reflected on this drama, some men on social media expressed their
opinion that they should not and seemed to explain their opinion with the idea that “there are
more important issues to fix”. The researcher agrees with participant 1 in that men who oppose
this simply do not “get it”. It would have a net positive impact on esports to do anything to make
video games and esports more appealing towards half the world’s population.
Participant 1 and participant 8 also shared that they hoped that esports would monetarily
stabilize in the future. Participant 10 similarly said “I think everyone is paid too much in
esports”, suggesting that smart business management is crucial to bring much-needed stability in
the scene. Esports has never been a stable career choice for most as it is rare for any competitors
to enjoy rewarding and long-lasting careers. Anecdotally speaking, for each salaried competitor
that gets paid a living wage, there may be at least twenty that are salaried a non-living wage.
Then for those twenty there are hundreds that are almost good enough to compete for these nonliving wages. In 2018, investments in esports were up to $4.5 billion from just $490 million the
year before (Chow, 2022). Salaries for competitors were only a small fraction of this number.

The Hateful Side of Esports 51

The pandemic brought back instability as investments started dwindling, especially for scenes
that survived due to the importance of offline tournaments such as CS. More organizations cease
operations nowadays due to lack of investment or running at a loss for an extended period
(sproutGG, 2024). Some that are still around and pay living wages to competitors have a shady
history as to how they managed to afford their players high salaries. An example of this would be
“FaZe” who had a conflict of interest where they operated their own gambling platform (Noack,
2020), which is a controversial topic in esports on its own and something that is outside of this
project’s scope. It is unclear through this project whether there is any difference in pay in
women’s esports, particularly in CS, when compared to a difference in pay in men’s esports. It
seems that the uneven wage structure and the instability of the scene affects men and women in
esports at the same rate at an individual level.

The Hateful Side of Esports 52

Discussion
The researcher is incredibly grateful for the ten individuals that willingly participated and
dedicated up to an hour of their time to be interviewed for the purpose of this research. As the
researcher identifies as a straight and cisgender man of full European origin, he felt that it is
incredibly important to be well-read on previous relevant literature based on feminist, queer, and
critical race theory. He hopes that the data he obtained through interviewing women in esports
are represented as best as possible in this project.
Esports and video games in general have always been viewed as a “male-dominated”
field (Tang & Fox, 2016, p. 514). This point is backed up by findings where all participants
shared this opinion regarding esports titles that fall under the FPS category. This is where this
project has a limitation. All but one of the participants that were interviewed had a competitive
esports history in only games that are known as FPS. Many only had one esports title under their
experience too which was CSGO and CS2. Some had some experience in Valorant, but only one
had some personal experience in fighting games. The limitation of this research project is that
due to the researcher’s personal connections and years of experience where he was salaried to
compete specifically in CSGO, the findings of this project may only be representative of
competitors in CS or “first-person shooters” more broadly. The findings may not accurately
represent the experiences of competitors in other esports. One example where this limitation was
evident even during the interviews was when some participants that had a broader knowledge of
other esports titles specified that women’s experiences may be much more positive in “fighting
games” than FPS such as CS. The popular speculation among some participants which the
researcher agrees with was a key difference in the competitive environment. In “fighting games”
and “real-time strategies”, competitors usually compete in one-versus-one settings. This means

The Hateful Side of Esports 53

that many barriers that women are faced with in most FPS (“Quake” would be an exception) are
non-existent in esports competition where one individual competes solely against another lone
individual. CS and other FPS are generally a five-on-five setting, or sometimes a six-on-six
setting. This could be a big reason why there are so many “social barriers to entry” for women in
esports especially when it comes to finding a co-ed team.
Discrimination can range from “casual” sexism or bigotry to more extreme forms of
misogyny and transphobia. It can also vary in the ways in which a competitor may encounter any
form of discrimination. It could range from experiencing it directly or indirectly. Direct
interactions would be ones where a competitor would personally encounter them in real-time
where an individual directing hate their way does so in front of the competitor during a game in
which they are a part of together. This could happen in casual game modes such as: “quickplay”,
“matchmaking”, more serious ranked game modes which all multiplayer games have (or in the
case of CS it would mostly be a ranked ladder on third-party clients such as FACEIT and ESEA),
competitive league or tournament matches (examples in CS would be ESEA: Main, ESL Impact,
FACEIT: Advanced, tournament qualifiers, “cash cups”). Indirect versions of these would be
ones where the competitor likely does not experience these interactions in real-time but rather
they occur at separate times between when an individual posts a hateful comment or remark and
the other individual reads said hateful comment or remark. Competitors of any game likely
encounter indirect hateful comments through social media sites such as X (formerly Twitter) or
game-specific forums such as “HLTV” for CS, “vlr.gg” for Valorant, or even “Reddit” with
specific subreddits that were created for different esports titles.
Findings from this research re-affirm findings in other literature. Previous research has
suggested that discrimination in the forms of sexism, misogyny, and transphobia has led to elite

The Hateful Side of Esports 54

women and LGBTQ+ gamers to completely stop pursuing esports (Holden et al., 2020, p. 3).
Participants 3, 5, and 9 shared how they personally were discouraged from competing and took a
long break or do not want to pursue women’s esports altogether due to the amount of harassment
they see online. When participant 5 shared their experience dealing with transphobia every ten
minutes over X (formerly Twitter) she mentioned that she personally knew two other fellow
competitors that stopped competing due to that incident. Since five out of the ten participants
personally shared that this incident of extreme transphobia was one that they still remember
months after it happened and due to the number of participants sharing that they or people they
know have been discouraged from competing because of it, Holden et al.’s previous finding is
re-affirmed with this project.
Previous research suggests that the factory of anonymity which exists in online gaming
has led to an increase in antisocial behaviour. This antisocial behaviour has then led to a third of
women gamers to report abuse or discrimination by men, with one in ten reported that they were
threatened with rape by men while they were playing (Holden et al., 2020, p. 9). Participants 2,
3, and 5 echoed a similar conclusion regarding online anonymity, where they speculated that
some people who are hateful online simply feel like they have nothing to lose, which re-affirms
Holden et al.’s previous claim. To further re-affirm a previous finding by Holden et al., in this
research project, one out of ten participants shared that rape comments were made about them,
their teammates, and friends. Participant 8 sharing her personal experience of a man that
competes in and follows esports saying such comments backs Holden et al.’s finding down to the
exact number. The number of participants which dealt with such rape comments (one in ten),
while not definitive, are consistent with Holden et al.’s findings.

The Hateful Side of Esports 55

Ruvalcaba et al.’s content analysis of streams has concluded that women who stream are
twice as likely to receive sexist comments compared to men (2018, p. 305). Two participants in
this project shared incidents they noticed with women who streamed. Participant 9 mentioned
that in a daily stream, her friend who streamed to about twenty-thirty viewers got four separate
hateful comments in her one session. Participant 6 reflected on controversy surrounding a “Call
of Duty” streamer which was popular at the time who had a poor showing at a local tournament
which led to men accuse her frequently of cheating. She specifically recalled that “if you are
good at a game and you are a woman, you have to be cheating”. This sexist attitude alongside
participant 9’s reflections re-affirm these findings regarding how women receive sexist
comments twice as much as men. It may be even higher than only twice as much.
This sexist attitude of “if you are good, you must be cheating” that women deal with may
stem from men being afraid of women entering their “domain of men and boys” (Holden et al.,
2020, p. 9), lower skilled men feeling threatened by skilled women in a male-dominated
environment (Kasumovic & Kuznekoff, 2015, p. 1), old sexist attitudes, or a combination of any
or all of these factors. Even though two participants in this research project stated that they had
read and greed with Kasumovic & Kuznekoff’s study and findings, the opinions of all
participants were evenly split between “there is no difference”, “casual or lower-skilled men are
worse” and “casual or lower-skilled men are better” when it comes to their levels of toxicity
towards women in esports. Thus, the findings of this research does not support Kasumovic &
Kuznekoff’s findings and explanation.
This research found several different barriers that exist in esports for women which
affirmed barriers for women covered by previous research in Formula 1. It also further expanded
with some new barriers that are unique to esports and would never exist in the realm of

The Hateful Side of Esports 56

traditional sports. In Formula 1, Howe in her research concluded that several social barriers
existed for women, which are also true for women in esports. These social barriers were: 1)
historical and current attitudes, 2) money, and 3) not being taken seriously, and 4) representation
or (in)visibility (Howe, 2022, p. 455). This research confirms that these social barriers also exist
in esports. One specific interesting similarity found in this research with previous research in
Formula 1 is that two participants shared personal experiences where they had a realization that
women’s teams may be viewed as marketing teams by some organizations. There may be a
difference where women in traditional sports, while they may also be viewed as athletes for the
purpose of marketing too, are hypersexualized (Howe, 2022, p. 459-460) while women in esports
may not be. This project does not suggest that this fact exists or does not exist through this
research.
What is unique about dealing against forms of hatred and discrimination in esports and
video games as opposed to traditional sports is the ability for individuals to mute or block those
that harass them. This can happen in ranked games, official matches online, online livestreams,
and interactions on social media. It should be noted that this is not forever effective as the real
goal of esports competitors in FPS games is to participate and thrive in offline tournaments and
events. Whenever women qualify and participate in offline events, the ability to simply mute or
block unwanted individuals from interacting with you in-person is no longer possible. Similarly,
this research project supports previous work which states that women of all backgrounds and
identities come together to create safe spaces for each other online (Poland, 2016, p. 160). Since
six out of ten participants specified that they queue up with friends daily instead of playing
alone, and several specified that there is always some stranger that makes a bad comment, this
claim by Poland is supported. Ybarra et al. similarly found that LGBTQ+ teenagers also feel

The Hateful Side of Esports 57

safer online in supportive online environments which helps them deal with online victimization
(2015, p. 134), and the experiences shared by participants who self-identify as transgender
supports this claim too. One further finding that this research unexpectedly found is that sexism,
misogyny, and transphobia can get so frequent that majority of the participants mentioned that
they avoid using social media or checking previous broadcasts of their matches to avoid
inevitable hateful comments. This showcases just how awful the state of hatred is online towards
those that compete in women’s leagues in esports.
Results from this research affirm what previous literature concludes about opportunities
for women in Formula 1 where women face hostility and neglect and are denied opportunities
that they would have had if they were men (Howe, 2022, p. 458). Participants in this research
shared personal experiences which support this claim, and the amount of barriers discussed in
this research project further support this claim. Participant 3 shared a personal experience where
she was denied being tried out for teams once they heard her voice, and recalled a time where
she showcased that she was “male” on her profile instead of “female” so teams could give her a
chance. Surprisingly, when it comes to compensation in esports for women, this research project
did not make a clear conclusion and thus does not support previous research in Formula 1 which
found that women got way less money and sponsorships (Howe, 2022, p. 461). The researcher
anecdotally personally believes that the very best men still make way more money than the very
best women in esports, though the opinions of participants were split, thus a conclusion could not
be made.
Transphobia is a topic that was rarely covered in previous esports literature. There is
extensive research into mistreatment of transgender athletes in traditional sports, though some
findings in this project are potentially unique that previous research has not covered. Participants

The Hateful Side of Esports 58

in this research that self-identified as transgender women all agreed that they know of cisgender
women that refuse to play alongside transgender women or believe that such cisgender women
exist. One participant that self-identified as “transfem non-binary” also fully agreed that this
problem exists, while the other participant that self-identified as such shared that they did not
know. Some participants that self-identified as cisgender women also mentioned that they
believe such competitors exist. The closest comparison that this finding has to research in
traditional sports is that individuals that identify as transgender in traditional sports are
discriminated at a greater level than those that identify as gay, lesbian, or bisexual (Cunningham
& Pickett, 2018, p. 220). Two participants that self-identified as transgender women in this study
shared similar opinions. Participant 7 mentioned that she feels that cisgender women are
generally “more respectful than cis men”, while Participant 10 mentioned that people in esports
are way more friendly towards “cis women that are LGB” while they are “way more hostile”
towards transgender women. The findings of this research support Cunningham & Pickett’s
conclusion that individuals who identify as transgender face greater levels of harassment than
LGB individuals.
One theme that this research unexpectedly encountered is the controversial topic of
“verification” for women’s leagues. Some participants shared that VCT: Game Changers in
Valorant saw a lot of drama due to the lack of a proper verification system. Three different
participants who self-identified as cisgender, transgender, and non-binary, all raised a concern
over the lack of a proper verification system for transgender women and non-binary individuals
that wish to compete in Valorant’s women’s league. One participant shared a concern that it may
be an issue in CS too, though they were seemingly unaware of a ruling that exists in ESL
Impact’s rulebook which specifies that tournament organizers could contact competitors in this

The Hateful Side of Esports 59

women’s league for verification to confirm a player’s gender such as a doctor or therapist note
(ESL Impact Rules, 2023). In VCT: Game Changers, this rule seemingly does not exist, and
participant 10 explained that all an individual needs to be “verified” to play is to have made a
post on social media that they began to transition. Since enough bad-faith actors had abused this
lax form of verification in VCT: Game Changers, it has likely led to a more hostile attitude
towards all competitors in that league who identify as either transgender women or non-binary.
The participants that shared a want or need for a more firm and thorough verification system for
VCT: Game Changers seemed to do so to protect transgender women and non-binary
competitors in the scene, not create an extra barrier of entry for them. They further claimed that
they knew other transgender women who also shared their view in private and on social media
that this league needs a better verification system.
It is unsurprising that all participants agreed that the creation of separate women’s
leagues is a net positive for women’s esports. It supports previous findings in literature where the
creation of such leagues was a result of historical and current attitudes towards women in sports
(Howe, 2022). It is also not surprising that all participants agreed that the scene has been heading
towards a positive trend, especially when they reflected on what it was like six or ten years ago.
The surprising finding that this research produced is that there was a clear divide between how
cisgender women and transgender women felt about the future of CS for women when it comes
to the places in which women’s only events are hosted. It has only been a recent development,
though the future 2024 Women’s Esports Championship (WEC 2024) will be held in Saudi
Arabia. LGBTQ+ women are rightfully afraid of attending said event, even though it would be a
lovely opportunity, due to fearing for their own lives. Had these interviews taken place in midMarch rather than mid-February, answers would likely be different from all participants,

The Hateful Side of Esports 60

cisgender women included, regarding how they felt about the future of women’s esports. The
head of the Canadian esports federation officially posted on X (formerly Twitter) that they
cannot guarantee player safety and that LGBTQ+ women should travel under their own
discretion (Mnmzzz, 2024) for this tournament. Even though there is seemingly more funding
and more opportunities for women nowadays than it was in the present, is it truly an opportunity
if a woman must put her life on the line to earn some money playing a video game and chasing
their dream? This research project strongly advises women in esports who identify as LGBTQ+
to not attend any event, regardless of their prestige or prize pool, which are held in places that
does not openly welcome them. It is also incredibly hypocritical for an organization such as
Esports Canada to flaunt that “Equity, Diversity & Inclusion” is a core value of theirs while they
are planning on attending WEC 2024 (Mnmzzz, 2024).

The Hateful Side of Esports 61

Conclusion
The goal of this research was to understand how problematic and how rampant hatred in
the forms of sexism, misogyny, and transphobia were in esports. It found that it is a huge issue
that still leads to women in esports to face harassment and hatred daily and discourages many of
them to ever attempt to compete in esports or to eventually end their esports career short. It
further uncovered many different barriers to entry that individuals who identify as women face in
esports that individuals who identify as men do not. Even though these issues still exist and are a
huge problem in esports, at least in FPS titles, they have gotten better over time and the scene is
much more welcoming for women in 2024 than it was in just 2018. This research also uncovered
a surprising finding where transphobia may exist among some cisgender women who compete in
women’s leagues in FPS titles. While the implementation of women’s leagues in esports is still a
new concept in titles such as CS and Valorant, some participants felt that these leagues need to
be run much better for more meaningful progress to be made for women’s esports.
Intersectionality is incredibly important to consider when attempting to understand these
problems in esports as the individuals that are most frequently targeted with hatred,
discrimination, and harassment, are ones that belong to multiple oppressed groups of people in a
male-dominated space that is esports.

The Hateful Side of Esports 62

Appendices
Appendix One – Interview Questions
1. Could you briefly describe your achievements as a gamer and esports competitor? What
tournaments or divisions have you competed in?
2. The findings of this project will be influenced by participants’ answers depending on how they
self-identify. It would compare data between cisgender women and transgender women, as well
as between women of different ethnic backgrounds. Could you tell me how you identify your
gender?
3. Could you tell me how you identify your sexual orientation?
4. Could you tell me how you describe your ethnicity?
a) (If more clarification is needed) How would you like me to refer to your gender/sexual
orientation/ethnicity in the study?
5. What would you describe the environment of esports to be like for women and/or women that
identify as LGBTQ+?
6. Would you say there are barriers to entry for women in esports?
a) If yes, can you think of any experiences that you or someone you know has gone through
which has discouraged you or them from playing or competing?
b) Are there more or less opportunities for women? Are there enough events and are women that
compete compensated adequately when compared to men that compete?
7. How does the reality of competing in esports as a woman compare to what you expected?
8. Do you find the average casual cis-male player to be more negative to you than the more
serious cis-male competitive player, even if they are not explicitly targeting you because of your
gender or sexual identity?
9. Have you or someone you have known ever taken any steps to minimize the risk of teammates
or opponents in games potentially recognizing or assuming that you are a woman?
a) If so, what steps have you taken?
b) Have you grouped up with people you know to play together instead of solo queueing to avoid
“toxicity”?
10. How often do you see comments in pugs (pick-up games), competitive matches, or streams
that specifically target you or others you may know for being a woman? How have these targeted
comments impacted yourself or others whether inside or outside of esports?
11. What are politics among competitive women-only teams like? Are there cis women that
either blatantly refuse to play with trans women or cis women that one may suspect avoid
playing with trans women?

The Hateful Side of Esports 63

12.. Is there any time where a certain comment or interaction you have seen or heard from others
really stuck with you for months or years since you have seen it?
13. What are your perceptions/opinions of ‘ESL Impact/VCT Game Changers’? In an ideal
world, would co-ed teams be the ultimate goal for women that compete in esports?
14. In your opinion, is the esports environment moving towards a more positive or negative
direction when it comes to welcoming and including women gamers?

The Hateful Side of Esports 64

Appendix Two – Consent Form

The Hateful Side of Electronic Sports: Sexism, Misogyny, and Transphobia in a “Man’s
Space”

KPU REB #2023-44
Principal Investigator: Dr. Petra Jonas, Criminology Professor and Honours
Supervisor, (604) XXX-XXXX, petra.jonas@kpu.ca
Co-Investigator: Filip Mitevski, Honours Student in Criminology, (604) XXXXXXX, filip.mitevski@student.kpu.ca
Purpose of the Study: The purpose of this research is to explore sexism, misogyny,
and transphobia in electronic sports (esports).
Procedures: If you choose to participate in the online interview, you will be asked to
answer a series of questions regarding sexism, misogyny, and transphobia in esports
through Zoom; an online platform. You do need to create a Zoom account to complete
the interview. Please sign in on Zoom as a guest to preserve anonymity. The
interviews will be recorded and stored safely in a separate, passcode-protected
OneDrive that only the principal investigators have access to.
Duration/Time: The online interview will take approximately 60 minutes to
complete.
Benefits: The benefits to you include an opportunity to contribute to research
regarding sexism, misogyny, and transphobia in esports in order to identify any
prevalent trends that can be explored through future research.
Statement of Confidentiality: Participation in this research is voluntary and
confidential. The project could only guarantee limited confidentiality due to readers
who are familiar with esports still have a chance of identifying you if you discuss
certain experiences that have occurred. For example, if you recall an incident from a
live competitive esports match from a tournament, readers that have witnessed it

The Hateful Side of Esports 65

happening live could still recall the players that could have been involved in said
experience regardless of how anonymized and coded all information is.
Privacy: The researchers will endeavour to protect your anonymity and identity
through several measures. Your name will not be associated with your responses, and
an ID code will be assigned to you. The information you provide will be stored on a
password-protected computer. Your in-game aliases would not be linked to your
answers or your real names in the project. Your data would simply be discussed with
names anonymized names such as “Participant 1”, “Participant 2”, and “played on
Team A during Tournament B" which would be the names used when describing
certain occurrences in the “findings” of the project. Dates would not be used and
specifics would be left out unless they are directly related to the themes of this project.
E.g. the project would discuss an opponent being sexist or transphobic during a game,
though it would not mention unnecessary personal identifying information for any
individual involved.
Data Security: Your interview data will remain secure and confidential throughout
the whole study and deleted upon completion of the project. The data that would be
collected would only be the answers you provide during the questions in the recorded
interview that takes place. This data could be used in the “findings” section of this
project. The principal investigator will grant access to a participant wanting to view
the “findings” section of this project to the shared folders.
Risk: When utilizing a third-party platform, such as Zoom, there is always a risk of
potential confidentiality breaches and risks in data security. Researchers will store
data locally as soon as it is collected to mitigate this risk. There may be moments
when this research becomes sensitive. If you feel that a question(s) triggers negative
emotional or psychological feelings, you may contact a counsellor near you, or access
free counselling through 310-Mental Health Support.
310- Mental Health Support: 310-6789 (No area code needed)
Call 1-800-784-2433 for 24/7 support if you are in distress.
Other sources:
For Canadian participants:
1) Call 1-833-456-4566 for 24/7 support within Canada (outside of Quebec).
2) Call 1-866-277-3553 for 24/7 support within Quebec.
3) Call 310-6789 for the BC Mental Health Support Line (24/7 and free).

The Hateful Side of Esports 66

For U.S. participants:
1) Text HOME to 741741 to reach a volunteer Crisis Counselor.
2) Call 1-800-985-5990 to talk with trained crisis workers that will assist with
your needs and direct you to the resources you may need.
3) Call 988 or access a live chat with a support worker on https://988lifeline.org/.
Further support for 2SLGBTQ+ individuals:
1) Call 1-866-488-7386 or visit https://thetrevorproject.org/get-help/ to reach “The
Trevor Project”.
2) Visit https://www.saravyc.ubc.ca/resources/british-columbia/ for a list of
2SLGBTQ+-friendly crisis lines.
If you have any questions right now, please ask them. If you have questions later, you
can contact Petra Jonas at petra.jonas@kpu.ca or Filip Mitevski by email at
filip.mitevski@student.kpu.ca. If you are interested in knowing the results of this
study, do not hesitate to contact the research investigators.
If you have any concerns or complaints about your rights as a research participant
and/or your experiences while participating in this study, contact the KPU Research
Ethics Board at reb@kpu.ca or 604-599-3163.

Follow-up Questions and Results: There is a chance that you may be contacted with
quick follow-up questions with a message after the interview has completed. You
could also receive the results and findings of this research project after those sections
are completed if you wish.

Compensation: Participants will be compensated for their time with a $US 25
Amazon gift card which would be emailed to them after the completion of the project.
Participants would then be asked to kindly inform either the principal investigator or
co-investigator that they successfully received their compensation. Even if you
withdraw from the study, you will still be entitled to keep this compensation for your
time. The funding source for the compensation of this project is Kwantlen Polytechnic
University’s “Student Research and Innovation Grant”, under file-number “KPUSRIG 2023-28”.

The Hateful Side of Esports 67

Right to Withdrawal: If you feel uncomfortable with any part of the interview, you
can withdraw your participation at any time, without consequence, until the end date
of this project (April 30th, 2024). You also do not have to answer questions that you
do not feel comfortable answering. To withdraw, you would have to notify either the
principal investigator or co-investigator that you wish to withdraw. This could be
done verbally during or after the interview, over a text message through the platform
you initially made contact with either the principal investigator or co-investigator, or
through a phone call with either individual. Once you withdraw from this study, all of
your data will be immediately destroyed (all files will be deleted from the OneDrives
they were stored in) and it will not be used towards the findings of this project.
By consenting to participate in your research project, you have not waived your rights
to legal recourse in the event of research-related harm.
I have read the above information regarding this project exploring sexism, misogyny,
and transphobia in esports and consent to participate in this study.
Name:

________________________

Signature:

________________________

Date:

________________________

The Hateful Side of Esports 68

Appendix Three – Recruitment Poster
The social media posts on sites like “X.com” that targeted potential participants were the
following:
“Hey Twitter, if you identify as a woman and have a competitive esports history, please DM me
on here or on my steam account (Feedalee) if you would be interested in participating in my
research project! My supervisor for this project is Dr. Petra Jonas, a Criminology Professor at
Kwantlen Polytechnic University. There is compensation included which is a US$25 Amazon
gift card for up to an hour of your time. KPU REB #2023-44”
Initial contact with potential participants via a direct message through a gaming platform such as
Steam were:
“Hey [username of potential participant]! I’m reaching out to you to ask whether you would be
willing to participate in research I am conducting that covers sexism, misogyny, and transphobia
in esports. I intend to interview individuals that identify as women and compete or have
competed in esports to share their experiences with me. I’m a former competitor that has played
for over 4 years, most notably briefly participating in both ESEA MDL/Premier and FPL. I have
always described myself as a feminist who wants equality for all people regardless of how they
identify, and from my experience of playing the game I love I know how common hateful views
are among competitive and casual players. Would you be interested in discussing this more and
participating in an interview in the future? Thank you very much for your time. My supervisor
for this project is Dr. Petra Jonas, a Criminology Professor at Kwantlen Polytechnic University.
There is compensation included which is a US$25 Amazon gift card for up to an hour of your
time. KPU REB #2023-44”
The research project covers sexism, misogyny, and transphobia in esports. I have always
described myself as a feminist who wants equality for all people regardless of how they identify,
and from my experience of playing the game I love I know how common hateful views are
among competitive and casual players. The topic of transphobia is very central to this project.
I did not create physical posters for this project. I have been apart of all relevant “gaming clubs”
at KPU for about two years now and have talked to students that are very into collegiate gaming
and passionately play daily. None of them would fit the criteria of this project. From talking to so
many students that are into esports at our university, none of them have come close to meeting
all of the purposive criteria set by this project. I have been to some gaming-related school events
where people have shared their accounts to meet other people to play with, and once again, no
one has come close to meeting the criteria. The chances of someone slipping through the cracks
when I have previously tried to find competitive esports players on campus is extremely slim.

The Hateful Side of Esports 69

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