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http://crossmark.crossref.org/dialog/?doi=10.1007/s11199-016-0678-y&domain=pdf
Web End = http://crossmark.crossref.org/dialog/?doi=10.1007/s11199-016-0678-y&domain=pdf
Web End = Sex Roles (2017) 76:421435 DOI 10.1007/s11199-016-0678-y
FEMINIST FORUM REVIEW ARTICLE
What is a True Gamer? The Male Gamer Stereotypeand the Marginalization of Women in Video Game Culture
Benjamin Paaen1 & Thekla Morgenroth2 & Michelle Stratemeyer3
Published online: 10 September 2016# Springer Science+Business Media New York 2017
Abstract Women and men play video games in approximately equal numbers. Despite this similarity, video gaming is still strongly associated with men. A common justification for this stereotype is that, although women might play games, they should not be considered true or hard-core gamers because they play more casually and less skillfully compared to their male counterparts. In this contribution, we review the existing literature on gender and gaming to investigate the male gamer stereotype in terms of its accuracy, persistence, effects, and future perspective. We conclude that the stereotype varies in accuracy depending on the definition of gamer. We further argue that the persistence of this stereotype can be explained by the fact that almost all professional and highly visible figures in gaming culture are male. On the other hand, female players who achieve a moderate level of competence are rendered invisible or are actively marginalized. We argue that the effects of the male gamer stereotype can be harmful to women, precluding them from the positive outcomes of video game play such as enhanced access to fields of science, technology, and engineering.
Keywords Gender stereotypes . Gamer stereotypes . Video game culture . Video games . Female gamers
Think of a gamer; who do you picture? According to Williams (2005, p. 5), you might imagine isolated, pale-skinned teenage boys [sitting] hunched forward on a sofa in some dark basement space, obsessively mashing buttons. Although recent research indicates that most people do not believe in the isolated, pale-skinned image anymore (Kowert et al. 2014), the gamer image seems to remain strongly associated with being male (Shaw 2010). The video game industry continues to create content that panders towards the presumed preferences of a young, male, heterosexual audience. These preferences are reflected in both a lack of female video game characters and hyper-sexualization of the female characters that do exist (Behm-Morawitz and Mastro 2009; Burgess et al. 2007; Dill and Thill...