Microsoft: XBOX One’s Tale of Sexism

For a company that is worth over $300 billion and a high amount of LGBT staff members, it seems Microsoft was quite the ideal career place to have. Just consider all the power of the benefits at your fingertips.

In response to numerous complaints which can only be presumed are in the thousands and thus the large majority being “female gamers”, Microsoft made only a small change in their sexist form published in late November. The change you ask? The following lines were promptly changed the very same day following the immediate backlash, adding sexism to its primary basis of complaints:

The original XBox One Form Letter.
Photo Credit: @missthetarget

Original:
“You’d rather knit than watch me slay zombies, but hear me out on this: Xbox One is actually for both of us.”

New:
“You’d rather do your taxes early than watch me slay zombies, but hear me out on this. Xbox One is actually for both of us.”

In an interview conducted by the Wall Street Journal, the brains behind the mock-up of the form-letter has been more broadcast to allow the gamer and/or user of the console to switch male tones to more female-centric tones to suit the female gamer populace that makes up for 38% of Microsoft’s demographics. The following comment comes directly from the Wall Street Journal reflecting this particular insight:

“The letter is fully customizable and we meant no offense, but understand how the defaults could be perceived,” an Xbox spokesman said. “We’re making changes to the letter defaults and apologize for the oversight.”

TechCrunch.com took a large chunk out of Microsoft with their vivacious reporting on this particular matter following the update in article published by Alex Wilhelm (@alex) on 11/27:

“Propagating sexist stereotypes isn’t something to be tolerated. What’s almost incredible in the letter (before its language is potentially shaken up by the user) is that it manages to be directly sexist in implication, using loaded language like “honey” and comments on the physical appearance of the unnamed recipient, while eliding direct indication of gender. But it’s there. If you can’t see it, open your eyes.”

With a minority consisted of 38% of Microsoft demographics, what other consequences might linger in the near future for Microsoft and its latest next-gen console?

This post originally appeared on 3rd Level Comics.