Can't women be good at video gaming too?

Video gaming should be a hobby, either relaxing or competitive, in which the player is able to immerse himself or herself into a different world. But competitive gaming often prevents women and homosexuals from immersing themselves into the game because they face a constant barrage of violently sexist and homophobic remarks.

A very interesting and shocking NY Times article explores this in detail, but I'll summarize:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/02/us/sexual-harassment-in-online-gaming-stirs-anger.html
      The article first details the experience of a female gamer named Miranda Pakozdi who was training for a video gaming tournament, and she was the only woman on her team. Her own coach started to sexually harass her by asking what her bra size is and taunting her by getting close to her and repeatedly smelling her. Pakozdi had to drop out of the tournament.
       In May, a campaign was started by a woman named Anita Sarkeesian to document the portrayal of women in video games, and she received a barrage of hateful comments and violent threats. Someone even made an internet game where you can punch Sarkeesian's face, making it turn bloody and black-and-blue.
       More generally, sexual threats and propositions are common for female gamers, for many men see gaming as male territory and women as mere distractions or attention-seekers.
     Female gamers have even started their own blog http://fatuglyorslutty.com/ in which women post the sexist messages they receive from other gamers. Its name derives from the tendency for people to call them "fat," "ugly," or "slutty." Some examples of messages that were posted on the blog are: "go back to the kitchen slut," "bitches shouldn't play mw3 because your fuck horrible," and "I just watched you play Halo 4... and your CHEST is awesome! Nice Halo play too."

I thought this article was interesting and relevant because video gaming is an important form of media that we haven't talked about yet -- one that is classically male-dominated but is witnessing a growing number of female gamers. The violent sexism reveals the unease of men who feel like other people are invading their territory, as if the world of online gaming belongs to heterosexual men, and to heterosexual men only.
            The comments I wrote down above (that were on the fatuglyorslutty.com blog) show how even in the gaming world, women are solely valued for their appearance and are objectified by men. Their value is only seen so far as they are working in the home or kitchen, but God forbid they do something so manly as play video games! This is consistent with the heterosexual scripts outlined by Kim et. al (2007), where women are treated as sexual objects, and men are obsessed with sex and can't stop thinking about sex. This male script is evidenced by the high number of incidents where male gamers send sexually harassing messages to female gamers, in which they call attention to female appearances and body parts.
          More generally, I was happy to see this article in the NY Times, because that shows that these issues are being taken seriously. Last time I checked, there were about 300 responses to the article. Many of the responses were from male gamers, and many of these responses lambasted the article for shedding a negative light on the gaming community. Many guys had the same response: "Well, that's just the way the gaming community is. If you can't handle it then don't play."
        What do you guys think about that defense? Is it defensible to say that the sexually antagonizing behavior is okay because that's how the gaming community operates?

It's Not Sexual Harassment If She's Attractive

Very rarely do we hear cases of sexual harassment where the victim is a male. It is even more rare that these situations are portrayed in movies or on television. However, when these situations are shown on film or television, sexual harassment is portrayed in a manner that would be considered if the victim was a woman. The media tends to portray male sexual harassment as a joking manner. Take this trailer from Horrible Bosses as example. The clip illustrates the extreme sexual harassment one of the main characters, Dale, faces from his female boss. 

Ridiculous right? In fact, it's meant to be hilarious; what men wouldn't love to have super hot Jennifer Aniston sexually harassing them? Here's what happens when Dale shares his problem with his friends: 

Dale Arbus: At least your boss isn't sexually harassing you.

Kurt Buckman: [sarcastically] Oh, my God! I hear you on that one.

Dale Arbus:  Don't give me shit!

Nick Hendricks: You'll never get any sympathy out of us for this.

Dale Arbus: She's going crazy! It's like a totally hostel working environment there, man. It's not funny!

Nick Hendricks: Yeah?

Dale Arbus: Alright, check it out. Today, she started spraying water at my crotch so she could see the outline of my dick.

Kurt Buckman: That's great!

Dale Arbus: It's not great!

Kurt Buckman: What are you talking about? Why don't you just, you know, just fuck her?

Dale Arbus: Because I'm engaged to be married and I love my fiance, okay?

Dale's friends suggest that the extreme sexual harassment he is facing is not a problem at all. In fact, they support the sexual harassment Dale receives from his boss. Media portrayals of male sexual harassment such as this sends the message that sexual harassment from an attractive woman is welcomed. In fact, it is not considered sexual harassment at all because no man should be unwilling to have sex with an attractive woman. These messages reinforce the stereotype that men are sex obsessed and want to have sex with anyone they find attractive, despite a lack of emotional attachment. 

Media perceptions such as this can lead to less perceived victim trauma if the victim is a male. The  Ferguson et al. (2005) study illustrates that those participants exposed to clips of women engaging in promiscuous behavior reported perceptions of less victim trauma. Perhaps this stereotype that men are sex obsessed will be activated by watching portrayals such as this. Viewers could apply this stereotype to themselves or other men and as a result view male sexual harassment as a joking or non serious manner. 

My guess is that male sexual harassment is taken less seriously because of this stereotype that men are always willing to have sex with an attractive woman. Moreover, I believe that male sexual harassment is portrayed to be a joking manner because there is less of a threat than when a woman is victim of sexual harassment. Men are biologically stronger than women. this diminishes the likelihood that a woman could rape a man. She'd have to be quite strong in comparison to the man or perhaps drug him. 

Ultimately, is it sexual harassment if we find the other person attractive. Do we let some comments slide from attractive aggressors compared to aggressors we find unattractive?