The American Enterprise Institute (AEI) recently released a video that tackles the issue of sexism and misogyny in the video games industry and community, Game Spot reported.
The AEI is known for its conservative views on the subject of politics, economics and social welfare. One of its resident scholars, Christina Hoff Sommers, appeared in the video and said the feminist views used to criticize certain video games are overhyped.
"Now gamers are dealing with a new army of critics: gender activists and, I don't know, hipsters with degrees in cultural studies," she said. "And these critics are concerned that gaming is largely a hetero-patriarchal capitalist pursuit."
"Why, they ask, isn't it more inclusive," she continued. "Why must there always be male heroes? Why are females portrayed either as damsels in distress or sex objects?"
Although Sommers admitted that the gender activists made a few valid points in their arguments against video games, she noted that their other rationalizations are superficial, according to Kotaku.
According to her, most of the arguments only focus on minor details and do not acknowledge games that show gender diversity.
"There are games that fit a vast array of preferences and games with responsibility proportioned and appropriately garbed female protagonists," Sommers explained. "Yet the video game gender police have become so harsh and intolerant; relentless."
"Many of them want more women on both sides of the video screen," she added. "They want the male video game culture to die."
Sommers also touched on the controversies surrounding feminist Anita Sarkeesian. Recently, Sarkeesian received death threats due to her constant criticisms regarding the male-centered nature of video games.
Sommers, however, implied that Sarkeesian and others like her have used such attacks to support their claims that the gaming community is dominated by patriarchal pathology. The scholar emphasized that this is not the case for gamers, Polygon reported.
"I have spent the last few weeks looking into the gamer culture, talking to gamers, looking at the data," she said. "I don't see pathology or imminent death. What I see is a lively, smart, creative sub-culture consisting mostly of tech-savvy guys from all over the world."
"But also including a small, but distinct group of very cool women," Sommers added. "If you love games, they don't really care about your age, your race, your ethnicity, your gender, your sexual preference."
"They just want to game," she continued. "My suggestion to their critics - stand down."
Check out the rest of Sommers' insights in the clip below.
