Scarlett is not female. Female is a sex. Woman is a gender. Scarlett identifies as a woman, but is not female.
While a minor point, it's important to remember when discussing eSports, because apart from Scarlett no woman has had nearly the same success (as a player).
Edit: Come on guys. How else do you want me to say it? I tried to be as PC and limited as I could. The downvotes are unnecessary. It's impossible to have a discussion on this topic when it's not okay to point out that Scarlett may have an advantage in that she was exposed to male levels of hormones for most of her life, socially developed as a male at one point, and didn't face the adolescent stigma of gaming that girls her same age would have.
I have nothing against Scarlett (except that she plays Zerg) and her life choices are her business (except that she plays Zerg), but she isn't female and, barring some significant advances in biology, never will be.
You are technically correct, she was born biologically male, and she certainly must have had a more straightforward relationship with gaming while growing up that was more socially accepted than if she were born a girl.
I wouldn't make the testosterone argument, definitely not as an "advantage". There's little evidence that biological characteristics actually affect gaming tastes or skills other than correlation (if this is false I'm happy to read any sound studies).
It's also remotely possible she doesn't attract (that much) hate from the gamer community because many of the guys just think she's just even more of a societal misfit than themselves.
But today she has a large and respectful fanbase, several of whom don't even know she was born male. While there was a bunch of flaming when she first came on the scene over 2 years ago when she first attended Iron Maiden tourneys, she's now quite well-loved because of her skill and online personality (she's one of the most-followed SC2 players on twitter).
Not being a biologist, I can't really say anything with regards to the hormonal advantage, though I wouldn't be surprised if it did play a part - the brains of young men and women are different, and it's likely that hormones play a role.
She does attract a ton of hate. Any reddit thread focusing on Scarlett will have heaps of ridiculous comments (in both directions). James Harding made his famous comment about Scarlett which InControl decided to white knight even though Scarlett herself said she found it harmless, and everyone on reddit took that opportunity to shit all over her.
I do think she gets about 1000% less hate than she would have if this were 1994, but there's still stupidity on both sides of the gender equation.
> Edit: Come on guys. How else do you want me to say it?
How 'bout don't? Biological sex is pretty complex, you're not her doctor, and we're having a casual conversation about a woman. "Female" is a perfectly acceptable descriptor (well, aside from the whole Ferengi-esque feeemale weirdness.)
While a minor point, it's important to remember when discussing eSports, because apart from Scarlett no woman has had nearly the same success (as a player).
Edit: Come on guys. How else do you want me to say it? I tried to be as PC and limited as I could. The downvotes are unnecessary. It's impossible to have a discussion on this topic when it's not okay to point out that Scarlett may have an advantage in that she was exposed to male levels of hormones for most of her life, socially developed as a male at one point, and didn't face the adolescent stigma of gaming that girls her same age would have.
I have nothing against Scarlett (except that she plays Zerg) and her life choices are her business (except that she plays Zerg), but she isn't female and, barring some significant advances in biology, never will be.