Sweet Anita reveals harassment “hell” she endured in game design amid Blizzard controversy

Michael Gwilliam
Sweet Anita explains game design abuse she suffered

Twitch streamer Sweet Anita has detailed her extremely disturbing time as a game design student, as Blizzard Entertainment finds itself in the midst of a lawsuit over a hostile workplace culture.

Anita has been one of the more vocal streamers when it comes to describing the abuse she has suffered, such as with previous stalking instances. Now, she has revealed some shocking details about her time as a student.

According to Anita, when she was studying, she attempted to get a degree in game design and found herself as the only female in a class of 40 boys.

This ended up resulting in a nightmarish situation where she was sexually harassed by those in her class.

(Warning: disturbing content)

Anita opens up on her abuse in game design

“They stared, they took bets behind my back on who would sleep with me first,” she revealed. “They would pretend to hump me behind my back and two kindly offered to teach me what a ‘spitroasting’ was.”

Luckily, Anita had much better luck upon dropping out and opting to pursue a degree in animation instead. Despite once again being in an all-boys class, the situation was much different.

“They all treated me with respect. I dodged a bullet. I knew at the time I never wanted to graduate and work with these men, I didn’t want my life to look like this,” the Twitch star explained.

“It hurts to look back at that decision and know that I was right. If I had stuck at games design my life would have been hell. When I tell people now they don’t believe me, but this is what my generation of games designers grew up to be,” she added, linking to an article on the controversy ongoing at Blizzard.

 

Activision Blizzard is under fire after multiple instances of sexual harassment and fostering a “frat boy culture.”

As such, a lawsuit has been filed by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing after a two-year investigation.

“It’s not a problem with men, it’s a problem with gaming,” Anita concluded. “These are the people we create when we only buy consoles for boys, and then watch them grow up alone in their rooms with no contact with women.”

On July 28, Blizzard employees staged a walkout protest over the treatment of women at the company while some gamers stood in solidarity by boycotting games such as Warcraft, Diablo and Overwatch.

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About The Author

Michael Gwilliam is a senior writer at Dexerto based in Ontario, Canada. He specializes in Overwatch, Smash, influencers, and Twitch culture. Gwilliam has written for sites across Canada including the Toronto Sun. You can contact him at michael.gwilliam@dexerto.com or on Twitter @TheGwilliam