I don't think this is specific to the Smash community, and I also don't think it's fair to pin it on the community as a whole. The Smash community is so much bigger than this group of top players. Most play in locals with almost no online presence.
We just need to hold the individual people, and where applicable, groups of people accountable.
I think much of the sexual harassment towards women that goes in is emblematic of a wider problem that I see throughout the industry. Both at conventions, events, and working professionally in the industry itself, women are a minority and men are assholes around them. I suspect a lot of these men have next to zero female contact, and just don't behave well in social situations.
I've been to a fair number of Smash events, and a even more general gaming and FGC events, and the way women are treated is always weird and awkward. Obviously these specific people need to be held accountable, but we need to do a lot more to make these spaces inclusive and safe for everyone. I think a lot of the problem is that a lot of communities don't take a zero-tolerance policy to this stuff, and they let things slide, behave permissively, and that leads to worse things happening or happening more frequently.
If you look at sites for events like Evo, they don't even have a Code of Conduct on the website. Without that, it just tells me that they don't care. Because the unfortunate reality is that by default, people will behave inappropriately. So if there's no clear pathway on how to tackle that, then that implicitly, permits that behaviour. I think that's just a tiny part of the issue, but these communities need to be outspoken.
I'm just kind of rambling now, but obviously this is very frustrating to hear. As a straight white cis male I haven't experienced the vast majority of prejudice and harassment that people face in these communities, but I recognise that we need to do a lot more.
We just need to hold the individual people, and where applicable, groups of people accountable.
I think much of the sexual harassment towards women that goes in is emblematic of a wider problem that I see throughout the industry. Both at conventions, events, and working professionally in the industry itself, women are a minority and men are assholes around them. I suspect a lot of these men have next to zero female contact, and just don't behave well in social situations.
I've been to a fair number of Smash events, and a even more general gaming and FGC events, and the way women are treated is always weird and awkward. Obviously these specific people need to be held accountable, but we need to do a lot more to make these spaces inclusive and safe for everyone. I think a lot of the problem is that a lot of communities don't take a zero-tolerance policy to this stuff, and they let things slide, behave permissively, and that leads to worse things happening or happening more frequently.
If you look at sites for events like Evo, they don't even have a Code of Conduct on the website. Without that, it just tells me that they don't care. Because the unfortunate reality is that by default, people will behave inappropriately. So if there's no clear pathway on how to tackle that, then that implicitly, permits that behaviour. I think that's just a tiny part of the issue, but these communities need to be outspoken.
I'm just kind of rambling now, but obviously this is very frustrating to hear. As a straight white cis male I haven't experienced the vast majority of prejudice and harassment that people face in these communities, but I recognise that we need to do a lot more.
