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I’m a girl.
I’m a girl who plays video games.
I don’t want to play a character
dressed in a bikini.
I don’t want to play a character
with big boobs that jiggle in the wind,
or defy gravity.
I don’t want to play a character
who has unrealistic spherical breasts.
I don’t want to play a character
with her butt hanging out.
I’m a girl.
A girl who wants to enjoy games,
without fan service overruling the plot.
I speak my opinion,
and my gamer pride gets insulted.
You want to question my gamer pride?
Go ahead.
Give me a controller,
and prepare to be schooled.

– Stephanie Metz

Stephanie Metz received an honorable mention for the Jane Candia Coleman Award in Fiction in 2017. She’s a member of the Madwomen in the Attic Writing workshops. Metz lives in West Mifflin. Many writers featured in Chapter & Verse are guests of Prosody, produced by Jan Beatty. Prosody airs every Saturday morning on WESA 90.5 FM.