Esports Cannot Defeat Homophobia With Capitalism

Abstract

Esports, competitive video gaming, is an emerging media industry looking to legitimize itself on the global stage. Part of its efforts include addressing a culture widely perceived as toxic. Toxic gamer culture claims hegemonic masculinity by degrading any seen as feminine, such as women and queer men; while this problem is endemic to gaming, it is particularly virulent in esports due to its struggles to be recognized as a “real” sport. The methods esports authorities have deployed to combat patriarchal homophobia, however, are insufficient. They share much with an anti-queer respectability politics that reinscribes the market as the ultimate cultural authority. An alternative approach would be one based on the principles of transformative justice, which emphasizes the humanity of both perpetrators and victims while demanding perpetrators take responsibility for the harm they cause. Transformative justice has already proved viable in game live-streaming, as seen by AnyKey's GLHF initiative.