Gonna explain a bit further.

Is there any physical reason for gender separation in mostly cognitive domains like chess and sports? No.

Are there social reasons? Absolutely. (10+ Tweet thread, this is literally my dissertation topic) https://twitter.com/drpiggyphd/status/1332373698687475716

Once a domain is seen as masculine or is in fact dominated by men - coding, chess, gaming - young women who are making decisions about how to spend their time see that & gather, “I don’t belong.” “I won’t have friends in that hobby.” “I’ll always feel awkward & it won’t be fun.”

So that’s the first problem: interest & motivation in gaming are difficult to cultivate in women bc it’s already so freaking masculine that they know they’re likely to experience harassment, judgment, loneliness, etc. But what about women already interested/invested in the game?

In cognitive domains especially, anxiety directly interferes with performance. Having to stave off feelings that others see you as inherently inadequate (due to gender) takes mental energy that can no longer be put into the game, whether you believe their judgment or not.

So throw a gal who identifies with/values/expresses her femininity into a 99% male tournament, she’s gonna underperform regardless of her actual skill level. Not because she’s bad. But because she has another layer of pressure: to others, she is *the* representative girl.

Furthermore, others’ judgments affect her resources. Studying or training alone only goes so far in competitive domains. You have to train against other humans in gaming to learn humans’ patterns/behaviors or you won’t improve.

If dudes only invite you to play because you’re a girl and they want to get in your pants, or they sandbag to gain favor with you, you literally do not have access to a key component of skill acquisition: feedback. And you’re probably missing another: social support.

As a woman interested in gaming, you’re gonna get discouragement instead of nurturance from family, friends, and other gamers, which affects your motivation to get better, your ability to put time into practice and maintain social relationships, and your mood/happiness.

So unless you are obsessed w the masculine domain, or already have a gal friend that gets you into it, or you have a boyfriend who will guide you & prevent others from hurting you - why the hell would any sane person put themselves into a situation of being an extreme minority?

Ok, so, women-only tournaments
1) They normalize women gaming to the rest of society
2) They remove the component of having to “prove yourself” on behalf of your gender to your male opponent
3) They may make you feel like you have a better shot at winning which is motivating

4) They allow you to meet other women who could be sources of social support/training
5) They give us more exposure which could lead to interest by other players or sponsors to invest in our skill development

Those are good reasons to have them. NOT bc women are inherently bad.

Right now, in this historical moment in which maybe 2% of competitive gamers are women, we need at least a few women-only tournaments. Not because we’re inherently worse, but because we have a ton more societal, social, and personal barriers that dude gamers just don’t deal with.

When should we abolish gender- segregated tournaments? When I can enter a bracket at a National & reasonably expect that by random selection I can be paired against another woman.

Until then - give us a few spaces a year to play without a crowd of dudes around the CRT. 13/13

I also want to add:

The reason I QRT myself was because I wasn’t trying to dunk on the person I was replying to, but because I wanted to expand on my thoughts that women-only tourneys have an important place in creating equality.

Don’t be rude with people who disagree with you.