Avori Henderson Opens Up About Breaking Down Sexist Stereotypes In The World Of Gaming

But Henderson didn't go into the gaming world knowing that. In fact, when she started out, she didn't even know gaming could be a career.

"My fiancé actually told me he wanted to be a gamer, I sat him down and I was like ‘Dude, listen, you play games too much, we need to start focusing on our life and our career.’ I was 19 at the time and had graduated college at the age of 20 so I was super into starting my career and wanting to be successful very early in life."

But once her fiancé explained to her that he actually could have a career in gaming, she decided to give it a go herself. "I dove into it headfirst having never played a first-person shooter, never really dove into video games like that before, but I just wanted to support him so badly because I knew it was a hard goal to achieve."

As one can imagine, there was a little bit of tension when Henderson and her fiancé started competing. Especially when they were starting out together, and Henderson was getting used to the world of gaming. But they quickly put any competition between the two of them aside.

"I think throughout the whole process of it, we actually ended up growing stronger because of it because we learned to rejoice in each other’s successes and I think that’s something you can use in life. You don’t have to be someone’s lover or best friend to rejoice in other people’s successes and I think the happiest people really do that even for strangers. It’s jealousy that gets in the way and that makes people upset and frustrated all the time. I think it really helps me in general, in life to be happy for people’s successes no matter what it was, if it was a goal I was striving for or if it was something I never tried."

As her gaming started to kick off and she was making a career out of her streams, she used something she learned with her past job to help her with her new one.

"With modeling, it’s a lot of physical appearance scrutiny. It’s not just them saying you’re ugly, you have to have your nails a certain length, your hair has to be a certain length, you can’t dye your hair crazy colors. You have to be very cookie-cutter industry standards so you can be booked a lot. But I hated that, I really did. I feel like there’s no other career in the world that I would have been able to take on where I could literally just go dye my hair pink and it’s marketable."

However, just because there were parts that she hated, she knew that she could still take the values she learned, such as dressing well and being presentable and apply it to her streams. "I’m on camera all the time, I was on camera all the time as well with modeling. Obviously, there’s a high standard for myself to look presentable all the time. But I think that’s with every job."

But of course, the difference between the two is that with one, she can express herself in any way she chooses. That, to her, is the ultimate gift, as it allows her all the freedom she wants.

"I think in the very beginning I didn’t know what the stereotypes were so I was just kind of doing my thing obliviously. Over time, I just kept hearing the same things, over and over again. In the beginning, I was just confused."

Worse still, the same insults they threw at her when she first started, such as "Go back to the kitchen", "Girls can’t game" or "She’s not even good", are still insults that are being hurled at her now.

But Henderson is absolutely refusing to let those comments hurt her mental health, or hurt the people who follow her.

"Over time I have learned about them and been able to combat them. All in all, those people are just going to keep doing their thing, keep saying what they say and keep doing what they do, and you can’t really change their mind. But what you can do is set an example and be open about it because you never know who might be facing that same kind of sexism in their life. And by being open about it, talking about it, and leading an example on how to get through it is the best I can do as a content creator."

In fact, she even made a short film about women in the gaming industry who are the victims of hate messages and sexist attacks. The video is incredibly heartfelt and emotional to watch and truly sheds a light on the issues that are hurting women in the gaming industry.

While Henderson admitted to Diply that the world of gaming for women hasn't exactly gotten easier, she is constantly finding herself to be more and more motivated to keep doing what she does best--shut down sexism.

That included hosting and creating the first All-Female PUBG Tournament, "The Girl Gamer Royale," which raised over $10,000 for charity. "I came up with the idea because I realized the sexism that was happening," she said.

After all, the gaming industry is split quite evenly amongst women and men, but sometimes, men just have a louder voice.

Henderson doesn't stop there when it comes to being a champion for women. Besides hosting tournaments and breaking stereotypes, she is also a designer! And the designs she makes are made to specifically make women feel empowered and beautiful.

She explained to Diply that this was something she had been planning on doing even before becoming a gamer. "I had a love and a passion for fashion, so I knew that was something I wanted to do and I really started to miss it when I got into gaming," she said. "When I created my entire clothing line, I designed it to make women feel empowered and sophisticated."

She even has a favorite design! She loves jackets (and really, who doesn’t love a good layer piece), in particular, a floral jacket she did that was pink, brown, and black that goes with literally everything.

The names that she looks at all day long on-screen would come up to her at these gatherings, shyly perhaps at first, but after explaining who they were, Henderson felt as though she were reuniting with a friend. And in many ways, she was! She knows her fans well and loves meeting them.

However, even though she can't connect with them in person, she is making sure to keep up with them online. And for all the girls that want to break into the world of gaming, she has a piece of great advice for you.

"Just be fearless girl. Doesn’t matter what people say, you can’t please everyone. So just do you, and do what you think you need to do in this industry to break barriers, and I know you’re going to make it far."

We love a powerful woman!