Valve Corporation, the parent company of Steam, recently announced the upcoming launch of a new app that will enable users to access videogames from their Steam libraries on mobile devices and tablets.
This new app creates even more ways for people, especially children, to view the hypersexualized and exploitative content that is still easily accessible on Steam’s platform.
35 million minors use Steam, and the age barriers that should prevent minors from accessing this content are weak and easy to override. Steam has taken some positive steps, such as implementing censor-bars on certain games’ explicit content; however, these actions fail to address the overt sexually exploitative content that is still available on Steam’s platform.
Hey @steam_games protect kids. Create an opt-in 18+ category, so they're not automatically exposed to sexually graphic games. #parentingtips #onlinesafety Click To TweetHouse Party, one of the games offered by Steam, rewards users for coercive and predatory behaviors against women and consequently normalizes practices that would be considered rape or sexual abuse outside of a virtual world. In the age of the #MeToo movement, people are calling out media that glorifies sexual violence and contributes to a culture that dehumanizes women. By allowing games such as House Party to remain on its platform and be easily accessible, Steam is complicit in perpetuating sexual exploitation and normalizing violence against women.
You can act now by demanding that Steam change its policies to meet higher standards.
We have created an email that you can send to Steam executives imploring them 1) to remove the game House Party, 2) to create an 18+ category for explicit content that requires a comprehensive opt-in to view, and 3) to institute a more robust policy enforcement against selling games that normalize sexual exploitation.