games

I found the interview on the Wayback Machine. It's focused specifically on the sexist things they used to say, but they do explain how they had changed as a person

An interview with Jim Sterling about sexism in game culture by wundergeek • June 21, 2013 • People & Events • 7 Comments

Jim Sterling, a staff writer for Destructoid and weekly video blogger for The Escapist, is a pretty big name in the video game blogosphere, as someone who has been doing it for quite a while and one of the few professional video game bloggers out there. He has gained quite a bit of influence as a reviewer for pushing back against game companies who want nothing more than shills for their games instead of real, honest reviews. Sadly, Jim Sterling also had a pretty unfortunate history of saying really sexist things1.

To be honest, I’d pretty considered Jim Sterling a bit of a lost cause, so I mostly stopped paying attention to him for the last year or so. That is, until two of his recent Jimquisition videos caught my attention: This video about the creepy cull of female protagonists in video games and this video about the objectification of women being inherently unequal to the treatment of men in games. (They’re both really good, and if you haven’t seen them, then I urge you to go watch them.)

That made me really sit back and take notice. What happened? Had Jim actually acknowledged the problems with sexism in the game industry and game culture? I was dying to know, but more than that – as someone who had voiced some harsh criticism, I felt honor bound to update the record if such a thing was warranted. I was a bit trepidatious about contacting Jim, since one never knows how these things will turn out, but he was kind enough to agree to an interview, which I feel went really well.

Wundergeek: My biggest question for you is why? What happened that caused you to change your views about sexism in the game industry? What was the turning point? Was there a specific event, or was it a gradual evolution? And what did that feel like for you?

Jim Sterling: You can hold a mirror up to a person as many times as you like, but only the person can look. The nature of online interaction is such that one can pick and choose the things they have to confront, and I simply chose not to confront the idea I was supporting sexism in any way.

I’ve taken to calling my prior attitude, as well as the attitude of other members of the gaming community, the “obviously not” syndrome. In my mind, I “obviously” wasn’t a sexist because I didn’t believe in mistreating women, in hurting women, that sort of more extreme activity the cursory glancer associates with sexism. That’s the insidious thing about misogyny and privilege — you never really think of the subtle things, the more sinister harmful things you may be perpetuating. Making jokes about feminist, being “satirical,” calling someone a “removed slut,” it was all fine and dandy, because I “obviously” didn’t mean it, and “obviously” didn’t think I was a bad person. The trouble is, when you start telling yourself it’s “obvious,” you give yourself no further cause to actually reflect on yourself or your behavior.

I don’t think it was any one thing that changed my mind, though I would strongly credit the work of writers such as yourself for putting under the microscope that which I was unwilling to. I owe a great deal as well to my wife, who has become a more vocal feminist herself over the years, and who patiently educated me in the ways of becoming a more inclusive, more positive influence on the gaming community. I’ve also been blessed with excellent friends who possess strong feminist views — a writer local to me by the name of Tom Head, as well as Colette Bennett and, more recently, Leigh Alexander. Being in the presence of such people has been of amazing benefit to me and the evolution of my career.

As far as how it’s felt, I’d have to say there’s an energizing element to it. People believe that choosing your words to be more gender-neutral, elimating words that can be uniquely insulting, is “censorship,” that it restricts how you write and speak. Far from it, it’s only encouraged me to be more creative, to seek a fresh presentation and open myself up to a whole new vocabularly. It’s difficult, and even scary, to get deeper into the gender issues that affect the gaming world — you never know who you’re going to upset, and accidentally upsetting people is the worst. However, that’s also a special kind of challenge I’ve largely been grateful to face.

This is to say nothing of how much there is to talk about once you open your eyes and stop denying there are any problems. My, but there’s a ton of it!

Wundergeek: You’ve made your feelings known about feminism in the past. What are your views on feminism (and feminists) now? Would you call yourself a feminist? Why or why not?

Jim Sterling: I’ve always tended to be a centrist, historically, never a fan of extremist thinking. Ironically, that’s led to me having pretty extreme views on movements I’ve simply decided are extremist! As far as feminism goes, I think my biggest issue was personal arrogance in assuming I could sort the “extremist bad ones” from the “normal alright ones.” It’s not exactly my place to make that call, yet make it I did.

My views now? Still forming, always evolving. I’ve leaned more liberal the longer I’ve been an atheist not-straight Brit living in Mississippi (funny how that works). I owe a debt of gratitude to many in the feminist corners of the community, though, for being among those who contribute to my growth as a writer and content producer. I feel feminism ultimately benefits every gender the human race has to offer, concerned as it is with smashing enforced gender roles and expectations. With some of the things I do falling well outside of my gender’s typicality, I can more than appreciate that!

I wouldn’t call myself a feminist, nor would I call myself an ally. Not out of disdain or contempt for the terms — quite the opposite, in fact. It’s one of those things where I feel it’s not my place to apply such terms to myself. If what I’m talking about at the time aligns with a feminist view, then great! I wouldn’t just up and say, “Welp, I’m a feminist now, everybody pat me on the back.” Not earned that distinction.