DISTURBING

Activision Blizzard Subjected Women to ‘Frat Boy’ Culture, California Alleges

The California Department of Fair Employment and Housing is suing the “World of Warcraft” maker.

The California Department of Fair Employment and Housing filed suit against Activision Blizzard Wednesday, alleging the World of Warcraft maker subjected its female employees to a degrading “pervasive frat boy workplace culture.” Women comprise only one-fifth of the company’s workforce, and those employees were subject to sexual harassment, unequal pay, and retaliation, the suit alleges. Female employees who spoke to the bureau said their male colleagues and bosses would make rape jokes and hit on them during work, with one employee even having her naked photos passed between male colleagues before she killed herself on a work trip. Female employees say they were denied promotions and handed tasks while their male counterparts played video games during the workday. Activision Blizzard said in a statement to Kotaku, “The picture the DFEH paints is not the Blizzard workplace of today.”