PewDiePie Reveals His Feelings On Misogyny In Gaming

Following his longest absence from streaming in years, Felix "PewDiePie" Kjellberg has hit the ground running with a new video that directly responds to some of the latest controversies in the gaming world. Specifically, PewDiePie has weighed in on a recent video experiment from Jubilee that attempts to figure out if all pro gamers have a similar mindset. The video delves heavily into the topics of misogyny in the gaming scene, something that PewDiePie himself has confronted in his own unique way in the past.

In the original video from Jubilee, six pro gamers were brought in to share their opinions on hard-hitting topics in the gaming industry. One of the biggest questions tackled in the video is whether or not any of them believe that gaming culture is inherently misogynistic. This is where PewDiePie stepped in with his own video to share some of his views on the subject.

One female gamer with the handle Obviously_Queen felt that gaming was an uphill battle for women. "As soon as we speak, we get called fat, we get called all these ugly names," she explained.

In response, PewDiePie agreed with her point, but later on pointed out that he feels like this happens to everyone who puts themselves in the public spotlight. In fact, Pewds expressed that he felt male gamers have been gone after much more aggressively. 

As PewDiePie explains it, "I think in general, people are much harsher on men, because it's like, 'Oh, you can take it.'" However, he also acknowledged, "You don't really notice how much girls get the same kind of dumb jokes over and over ... it's so run to the ground ... It just stopped being funny years ago, basically."

What's so interesting about the original video from Jubilee is just how even-handed the discussion became. Another one of the gamers in the original video, who goes by the gamertag bENITA felt that her gender had no bearing on how she approached streaming culture. For her, the competition was what mattered and she didn't feel as though people were any harder on her than they would be on a male gamer. 

This seemed to really strike PewDiePie as a bold statement, one that he found a lot to agree with. "You don't want to be put in a box, just because people say, 'Well, it's tough for you,'" said the streamer. However, he seemed unsure of how this perception of sexism could possibly be fixed.

"It's like, how do we fix these issues?" asked Pewds. "Well, maybe just don't bring it up all the time. I don't know."

While that may seem somewhat dismissive, he did acknowledge that there are people out there who seem to take pride in their ability to hurt others' feelings. He disagreed with bENITA's assertion that no men have ever suggested that women shouldn't game.

Whether or not you agree with PewDiePie's comments, it's certainly no surprise that he's weighing in on this subject so soon after ending his break. It should be noted that this is far from the first time that PewDiePie has made his opinions clear on misogyny in gaming. In the past, he came to the defense of fellow streamer Ninja, who was slammed for his refusal to stream with female gamers. According to Ninja, this is done to keep the rumor mill from going wild. He doesn't want there to be any misconceptions regarding his relationship.

PewDiePie agreed with this assessment at the time, saying, "Anyone that's a public figure understands what [Ninja] means ... I've seen it myself. Other YouTuber couples, their relationship becoming more complicated because other people had things to say about it online."

One aspect to PewDiePie's newest video that really stands out, particularly in the early parts of it, is how often the streamer jokingly walks back his statements. After each little riff on Jubilee's video, PewDiePie is quick to follow his comment up with a disclaimer that he is just kidding around. Whether this means that Pewds has learned to take things a bit easier in his time away from streaming or if it's a clever attempt to offer commentary without fully committing to one side or the other is unclear. 

What is for sure is that PewDiePie is back and it appears that he's at least trying not to step on quite as many toes as he has in the past. Let's be honest, sometimes it's hard to see the signs that you've become a toxic gamer, but perhaps we're reaching a point where our most popular streamers are becoming a little more self aware.