Home / Regular Issue / JSSH Vol. 29 (2) Jun. 2021 / JSSH-8100-2021

 

Male Dominant Sport: The Challenges of Esports Female Athletes

Nur Hafizah Yusoff and Yuza Haiqal Mohd Yunus

Pertanika Journal of Social Science and Humanities, Volume 29, Issue 2, June 2021

DOI: https://doi.org/10.47836/pjssh.29.2.35

Keywords: Female athletes, esports, gender, minority, sociology, stereotype

Published on: 28 June 2021

This article discusses the challenges experienced by female athletes in esports. Esports is categorized as a male-dominated sport. Since most of the players are male, female athletes struggle to sustain their careers. A qualitative approach was used where ten women who were actively involved in esports were interviewed. The respondents selected through the purposive sampling method were active in esports, representing esports team/club, and involved in massively multiple online role-playing games (MMORPG). Data were analyzed using thematic analysis and presented descriptively and narratively. The findings indicated gender stereotyping women as not competitive at MMORPG, sexually explicit comments from male opponents, communication issues, especially with male players, and the perception that women are not suitable to play the extreme, aggressive and masculine type of online games. The game features are more significant to men compared to women, who are often associated with femininity. Indirectly, such impressions hamper the opportunity for women to be more active and progressive in esports.

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ISSN 0128-7702

e-ISSN 2231-8534

Article ID

JSSH-8100-2021

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