For this week’s blog post, I wanted to write a bit of Kishonna Gray’s journal called Intersecting Oppressions and Online Communities. In this article, the author goes over the sad reality for many women when experiencing the gaming industry. In this article, she mainly focuses. For the most part, the author states she is mostly analyzing women of color. For their research, Kishonna interviews two separate “clans” to learn about first-hand experiences with oppressive online gaming communities. In their study, the author mainly interviews the “Conscious Daughters” and the “Puerto Reekan Killaz” (Gray 9). After reading the responses to the interviews, it was interesting to see how much linguistic profiling was used to target and attack these women. Linguistic profiling is when the sound of someone’s voice, or speaking patterns, is used to determine someone’s racial background(Gray 7). Linguistic profiling seemed to be one of the most significant factors contributing to these women’s attacks in the gaming community.
When I initially read this article and learned about the concept of linguistic profiling, I immediately thought about how this concept was used in other parts of the community. While women seem to be the biggest group targeted by this type of profiling, I felt like children are also targeted in the same way. It’s also an experience I have experienced first-hand. For whatever reason, some of the online gaming community has targeted children through their speech. While it’s not always as heinous as Gray described her own experience, it is still a harsh reality. I remember growing up in video games and being too afraid to interact on these online games, fearing verbal harassment from other players. While it is similar to Gray’s interactions with race, Kids are discriminated against solely on their age.
While it is similar but not the same, I feel like the concept of linguistic profiling is seen in various forms. After reading the article, I wondered if my peers have witnessed this practice used in other forms. Therefore, I wanted to ask if you have experienced linguistic profiling in a different manner described by the author? Also, is there any other example of linguistic profiling we might see in our day-to-day life?
Jacob, I was also very interested to learn about this concept of linguistic profiling. I think subconsciously we as humans may use this tactic to gain more information about those around us with pure intentions, however this is quickly twisted to perpetuate discrimination.
ReplyDeleteI remember in high school witnessing a female friend of mine be harassed for enjoying an online game simply based on her vocal pitch. We'd been engaging in the game with no audio as to not give our identities away, however after a period of time, my friend became verbally involved. Within a matter of minutes, we were kicked off the game after being told it "wasn't a place for girls". When thinking about linguistic profiling, race, and gender, I think it is interesting and somewhat disheartening that such subjective things such as gaming can become so gendered and biased based on the cultural narrative surrounding them.
Hey Jacob! I was also really intrigued by this topic. I really thought about sports with this concept. I also play football and have received some harassment for sounding more feminine than masculine (not from my teammates) but from other people when I tell them that I play football.
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