In Australia, 83 per cent of female identifying gamers experience discrimination and receive offensive behaviour or language while online gaming.
In addition to these stats, half of LGBTQIA+ identifying gamers said they have directly experienced discrimination — to the point where almost three quarters admit to switching off their microphone when playing to hide their gender and avoid harassment.
These are shocking statistics that remains underreported and often unexplored.
As such, Maybelline has launched a new campaign to expose the harmful toxic harassment faced by women, non-binary people and other LGBTQIA+ communities in the Australian gaming ecosphere.
The campaign has seen the makeup brand releasing a video showing two popular male gamers playing a game with their voice altered to sound like a female’s, and the subsequent violence and discrimination they experience while playing as a female presenting gamer.
The video also features two female-identifying gamers, Amber “Paladin Amber” Wadham and Luna “Luminumn” describing the bullying they experience when they play.
“When I started making videos, I didn’t know people were going to give me shit for my voice,” Luna said in the campaign video. “As soon as people realised you were a girl, people just jumped on that.”
Amber Wadham agreed, “Instantly! Instantly.”
“Back when I gamed in high school, I didn’t use voice chat because if I did I wouldn’t be able to complete,” she said.
The statistics on female gamers in Australia confirms their experiences.
The campaign video, created by independent creative agency, HERO, features the four official spokespeople — Australian gamers Amber “Paladin Amber”, Wadham, Luna “Luminumn”, Joel “JoelBergs” Bergs and Drew “DrewD0g” Warne.
During their play as female-presenting users, Joel and Drew receive a number of violent and abusive comments — an experience they were not used to, but that Amber and Luna know all too well.
“It was truly shocking,” HERO Copywriter, Anneliese Sullivan said, responding to the video. “What we could witness in just a few short hours made us only imagine how it feels to face this hate everyday.”
“It’s really our vision for this film to play a part in turning ambivalent gamers into allies for a safer, more inclusive gaming community for everyone.”
HERO Executive Creative Director, Shane Geffen believes the video is critical for exposing a hidden issue across the gaming universe.
“The more we delved into the gaming world, the more evidence we found that it was a toxic environment for female, trans and non-binary players,” Geffen said. “Something that was going unchecked.”
Maybelline’s Brave Together initiative is a joint collaboration with mental health NGO, ReachOut.
Its Director of Marketing and Fundraising, Tracey Campbell wants more people to remember that online spaces can be positive places for young people to learn, relax and connect with their communities.
“We know that gaming has many positive impacts on the lives of so many young people across Australia that love it,” she said. “However, young people also tell us at ReachOut that they also experience things like discrimination, bullying and harassment online.”
“ReachOut continues to call on online platforms to do more to make their products safer spaces for young people. We also encourage young people and their parents to take a proactive approach to staying safe while gaming, and to seek support if they need it from places such as Kids Helpline, ReachOut and the eSafety Commission.”
For Alexandra Shadbolt, Maybelline’s Marketing Director, the campaign aligns with their global initiative Brave Together, which aims to destigmatising conversations around anxiety and depression and increase accessibility for support.
“Since the launch of our Brave Together initiative in 2022, it has been our passion to learn more about the lived experiences of women, non-binary people and other LGBTQIA+ communities to understand where more work needs to be done, whilst providing more immediate support to those impacted by anxiety and depression.”
“In understanding the sheer amount of discrimination these communities face in the gaming sphere, we really wanted to showcase this lived experience for more Australians to see what it’s really like in pockets of our online world. We hope that seeing it all play out through the eyes of our players, more gamers can think differently about their own actions and we can all be more conscious of creating a safer, inclusive space in gaming.”
To celebrate the launch of the “Through Their Eyes” campaign, Maybelline is hosting a live-streamed gaming tournament on March 9th — which viewers can access on Maybelline’s Youtube channel.
The Eyes Up Cup will feature thirty-two Australian female gamers battling it out on a custom Maybelline New York Fortnite mod map designed specifically for the campaign.
Young people concerned about their mental health can call a crisis service such as Lifeline (13 11 14), Kids Helpline (1800 55 1800), visit ReachOut.com for information and support, or make an appointment with a GP or mental health professional.