THE BLACK FEMALE PROTAGONIST (And the Importance of Representation to Black Female Gamers)
By Ashlee Lawson-Kilpatrick
Growing up, I was a Black girl, but I often felt like I didn’t quite fit into society’s expectations associated with that label. My interests in cartoons, books, and video games set me apart from what others expected. However, these forms of media provided me with both comfort and a means to explore and understand my identity, mainly since my parents rarely talked about my cultural background beyond the skin color I inherited. It wasn’t until middle school that I learned about my mother’s Trinidadian heritage, and I discovered my father’s Panamanian heritage only at the end of high school.
Media helped me understand many things my parents wouldn’t discuss. However, I couldn’t blame them; they were two immigrants who came to the United States at a young age and had to figure everything out on their own. While the media played a significant role in my upbringing, it was largely dominated by an overwhelming presence of whiteness. The TV shows and movies I watched primarily featured white characters. The books available in my school library typically focused on white protagonists or animals. The video games for sale often lacked representation of anyone who looked like me.
Representation of Black girls like me was mostly absent in the media.
Media representation extends far beyond race and gender. It also includes ethnicity, cultural background, sexual orientation, age, physical abilities, and mental health conditions. The media influences societal self-perception and perceptions of others, prompting discussions about representation across various platforms. There is an increasing demand for authentic and inclusive representation, especially in the video game industry, where discussions have arisen about portraying and integrating diverse characters and narratives into gaming experiences.
For instance, one key example of these discussions in video games is the representation of Black female protagonists. Discussing the representation of Black female protagonists in video games is vital in today’s gaming communities because Black female gamers are an overlooked demographic that deserves recognition and representation in the industry. Their voices and experiences must be acknowledged and celebrated, as they contribute to the gaming landscape that doesn’t adequately represent them.
Representation fosters a sense of belonging by allowing Black female gamers to see themselves authentically reflected in the games they play, which validates their identities and affirms their presence within the gaming world.
This sense of belonging helps counter the longstanding stigma that video games are exclusively for White cisgender males. This stereotype often marginalizes and excludes Black women from feeling accepted in gaming environments. By highlighting Black female protagonists, the gaming industry can better recognize the contributions and experiences of Black female gamers while challenging damaging stereotypes.
To comprehend the importance of Black female protagonists in video games, let’s delve into Black women’s demographics in the American gaming spaces. While there are limited specific statistics available on Black female gamers, the Entertainment Software Association (2024) reports that there are 190.6 million video game players in the United States, with 46% identifying as female. Furthermore, 12% of American gamers are Black or African American. These statistics show approximately 10.5 million Black female gamers, representing about 5.5% of the total gaming population in the United States. In comparison, the general Black female population in the United States is about 23,530,579, making up roughly 6.92% of the total US population (United States Census Bureau, 2024).
Black women are not well represented in gaming compared to their numbers in the general population. This lack of representation raises questions about inclusion in the gaming industry.
Black female gamers face barriers, such as not having relatable characters, targeted marketing that overlooks them, and stories that do not reflect their experiences. This situation indicates that gaming spaces may not be welcoming or inclusive for Black women, which could discourage them from taking part in a medium that should be for everyone.
The experiences of Black female gamers in gaming spaces are greatly shaped by the complexities of their intersecting identities as both Black individuals and women. This intersection of race and gender creates a distinct lived reality, requiring them to navigate environments where they are frequently underrepresented and marginalized. As Kimberlé Crenshaw (1989), an American civil rights advocate and a scholar of critical race theory, explained, intersectionality highlights how overlapping identities can lead to either discrimination or privilege, illustrating the multifaceted experiences of Black female gamers.
In gaming spaces, this intersectionality is evident through hostile interactions, such as racial and gender harassment, and the psychological impact of stereotype threat (Richard & Gray, 2018). TreaAndrea M. Russworm, PhD, professor of interactive media and games division at the University of Southern California, noted that “[a] history of white supremacy runs deep in the gaming industry, both past and present…[and] doesn’t value or even acknowledge Black women players” (Starks, 2023). The continued marginalization of Black female gamers results in their existence and contributions being overlooked.
Black female gamers frequently face negative experiences due to barriers tied to both their race and gender, a phenomenon often described as racialized misogyny. These challenges can create a profound sense of isolation, reminiscent of the exclusion many marginalized gamers feel in the gaming community (Richard & Gray, 2018). Isolation can negatively impact an individual’s mental health by fostering feelings of loneliness, which in turn increases the risk of anxiety and depression (Mann et al., 2022). Loneliness can lead to mental and physical health problems, like increased stress, higher inflammation, and negative thoughts. Over time, these issues can make loneliness feel even worse.
Many Black female gamers reported feeling isolated in gaming spaces due to not only a lack of representation and inclusivity but also the prevalence of racism and online harassment, particularly from men (Starks, 2023). Many female gamers, especially Black female gamers, have faced harassment from males who make racist, vulgar, or sexist comments on platforms like Twitch and YouTube. A 2023 report by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) on hate and harassment in gaming reveals that the harassment rate for women is 8%, while for Black gamers, it stands at 50%. This report does not include specific research on the experiences of Black female gamers. However, the available data suggests that the unreported harassment rate they face could be even higher, potentially ranging from 55% to 70%.
Princess Zelda (The Legend of Zelda)
When analyzing mainstream AAA games and established franchises, it becomes clear that Black female characters are present in the gaming world, though they are rarely the main protagonists. A look at video game history reveals that female video game characters were often depicted in ways that reinforced traditional gender roles. For example, characters like Pauline in Donkey Kong and Princess Zelda in The Legend of Zelda were depicted as damsels in distress, needing rescue from male protagonists (Bashir, 2022). In the 1990s, the introduction of strong female video game protagonists, such as Lara Croft from Tomb Raider, marked a significant shift. However, while many people credit Lara Croft as the first female protagonist in video games, the true pioneer was Billie Sue, a farmer girl from the 1982 game Wabbit for the Atari 2600, which a Vietnamese woman created.
Wabbit’s Billie Sue character
Regarding Black characters, most of their earliest portrayals were as athletes in sports title video games, reinforcing the “Black Athlete Trope.” The first playable Black video game character was widely recognized as the athlete in Atari’s Basketball, which was released in 1979 and depicted in color (Edwards, 2009). However, there is ongoing debate about whether the character in Sega’s Heavyweight Champ, released in 1976, could also be considered the first Black playable video game character, due to the game’s ambiguous black-and-white graphics (Norwood, 2021). Historically, Black characters in video games were often reduced to merely being selectable options in fighting games or serving as secondary characters that supported their white counterparts, who were typically the main protagonists. It wasn’t until 1987 that the first Black male video game protagonist appeared in the lesser-known PC game Mandroid (NowThis Nerd, 2018).
Black female protagonist D’Arci Stern in Urban Chaos
The gaming world didn’t see its first Black female protagonist until 1999 with D’Arci Stern in Urban Chaos (DirecTV, 2022). Since then, a report from DiamondLobby shows that only 8.3% of the main characters in video games are women from non-white ethnic backgrounds (Lin, 2023). This statistic highlights the ongoing challenges of achieving diversity and inclusion in gaming. Black female protagonists are rare, even many years after D’Arci’s introduction. Several recent examples of Black female protagonists in gaming include Nilin Cartier-Wells from Remember Me, Clementine from Telltale’s The Walking Dead, and Alfre “Frey” Holland from Forspoken. However, despite these characters, the gaming industry still struggles to create authentic and well-developed Black female protagonists.
Frey Holland, protagonist of Forspoken
From the perspective of a Black woman in gaming, it is essential to address issues such as colorism, harmful stereotypes, and the portrayal of trauma concerning Black female protagonists to improve their representation, especially since there are about 10 million Black female gamers whose experiences are largely overlooked in current gaming representation (Entertainment Software Association, 2024). Improving representation is not about just ticking a diversity checkbox. It calls for an industry to reflect its diverse audience authentically. Elevating these voices not only combats harmful stereotypes but also enriches the gaming landscape with multifaceted characters who can inspire a broader range of players.
There needs to be greater visibility for dark-skinned Black women, rather than focusing solely on lighter-skinned or racially ambiguous Black women in lead roles. Black women should not be reduced to one-dimensional tropes such as the “Strong Black Woman” or “Sassy Black Woman.” Their narratives should not concentrate exclusively on trauma, pain, or oppression. Instead, Black female characters deserve to celebrate the joy, complexity, and positive experiences that come with their identities.
In conclusion, media representation impacts societal perceptions and individual self-identity. Representation matters, especially for the little black girl I once was who rarely saw herself reflected in the media she consumed growing up. She would often feel out of place, especially with the presence of whiteness in her interest in cartoons, books, and video games. She never really got to see herself as the hero of the story. That little black girl even felt alone and invisible.
Now as a Black woman and still a gamer, I recognize how vital authentic and multifaceted gaming representation is for Black female gamers. Representation is a powerful affirmation of their identities.
When Black female gamers see characters who they can resonate with—characters that go beyond harmful stereotypes, colorism, or narratives solely centered on trauma—it combats their feelings of isolation by reinforcing that their presence and perspective matter in the gaming community. It cultivates a sense of belonging in an industry where they have been historically underrepresented or misrepresented. Addressing the representation of Black female protagonists in gaming is not just a matter of diversity. It is about creating inclusive narratives that acknowledge Black female gamers. By doing so, the gaming industry can provide the representation that many Black female gamers, like my younger self, desperately need to see.
Ashlee Lawson-Kilpatrick
