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And so it goes. The banter was somewhat comical, but the larger point certainly isn't: black women are massively underrepresented in a medium that has produced at least a handful of notable examples of nearly every other conceivable population group.Critical race and gender theorists place black women at the "intersection" of racism, sexism, and many other forms of bigotry. As a result of these intersecting forms of oppression, scholars such as Kimberlé Crenshaw argue that black women occupy a subordinate status totally lacking the privileges afforded to men, caucasians and other members of various dominant social groups.Black women are massively underrepresented in a medium that has produced at least a handful of notable examples of nearly every other conceivable population group
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In the United States, the justification for affirmative action programs is frequently challenged: Shouldn't the "land of liberty" be a colorblind society, with race playing no part whatsoever in hiring and promotion decisions? But role assignments matter, as do the role models who fill them. The frequent casting of Morgan Freeman, Keith David, and Dennis Haysbert as presidents and generals (David, for example, voices Admiral Anderson in the Mass Effect series) is sometimes lampooned, but surely these decisions, even those made by non-black creators, had some slight yet non-negligible impact on the election of Barack Obama in 2008.If something is seen often enough, it becomes easier to believe. The under-representation of women in gaming, both as characters and as participants, has begun to remedy itself. Such a development amounts to a virtuous circle, a feedback loop that in this case has gradually but continuously reinforced itself.Mavis Beacon was an iconic outlier, but she also remains the quintessential virtual teacher. The conceptualization of similarly unforgettable black female video game characters, each more vibrant and relatable than the last, appears inevitable as the gaming industry becomes more inclusive with the passage of time. As gaming develops into a field of entertainment encompassing everybody, it will surely begin to properly represent all of us, too.Follow Oliver Lee Bateman on Twitter.New on VICE Sports: Racism in Baseball Isn't Going Anywhere