Women And Non-Binary VALORANT Community Split Over T-Bagging Ruling

There seem to be many forms of flexing on your opponents in gaming nowadays, with the extensive catalogue of emotes being added to pretty much every shooter title. However, does a Fortnite Floss, a League of Legends thumbs-up emoji, or an Apex Legends quirky voice quip really live up to the good old teabag and body-shooting? It's the ultimate form of disrespect in gaming, but are these bad manners (BM) now outdated? Do they actually have wider implications when used? Or are you "soft" if you're offended by it?

Well, it's a debate that has been discussed vigorously, and now it's split the female and non-binary VALORANT community.

Following an incident in the official VALORANT Champions Tour: Game Changers Academy series, hosted by Galorants, the teabagging debate has divided their competing players, with some believing that disqualification of rounds was not necessary.

VALORANT Game Changers Academy Team Punished For Teabagging

The VCT Game Changers Academy series is a C-Tier event that sits beneath the professional scene, designed for female and non-binary players to advance their careers and break through into the top level of competition. With this in mind, the Riot-backed series run by Galorants follows a strict ruling policy, and this apparently forbids teabagging and sprays.

During the competition in May, one team reported instances of teabagging to the admins, in which they attempted to have the other team disqualified. "Icarus" of an amateur team called StimKittens reported uses of teabagging to the admins following their game against SuprisE, in particular from "Korosu".

With the reports circulating, many have seen the admins' ruling as harsh (albeit the punishment dished out is unclear), leading to claims that the women and non-binary scenes won't be taken seriously until they can stop being "soft". 

Teabagging In VALORANT Splits Women And Non-Binary Community

Popular Game Changers star and four-time champion Melanie "meL" Capone weighed in on the debate saying, "if you can’t handle some BM, don’t compete". She added, "teabagging is the most sanitized, most basic form of BM that I'm shocked it actually still offends ppl 20 years after it was created."

The ruling from Galorant's reverberates into the main Game Changers series, showcasing that even the professional women and non-binary players cannot perform the action, leading VersionX's "Starlight" to add a crying emoji to "we really get dq’d for teabagging."

However, some members of the community have stood by the rule. One fan said, "Disrespecting other players, especially in an organization like Galorants that is attempting to have a safe space for women to play, shouldn't be welcomed."

Icarus, the player who originally reported the teabagging, did take to Twitter to apologise for bringing it up to the admins. However, the community is still largely in favour of the action and flex being allowed, much to the disagreement of the officials.