Oh dear, where do I start? (long post ahead)
I know most of you will automatically scoff at anything I say, but I'll bite anyway.
I've been a gamer for over 20 years. Since the early days, gamers have always been, in majority, the nerdy virgin types. Socially awkward, and probably emotionally stunted because they spent their childhood playing games instead of going outside and socializing with people. And yes, it has pretty much always been 90% guys.
Now, I see a lot of negative opinions about women floating around in this thread, and I can't help buy think that it has something to do with the fact that most of you don't really get laid that often, if ever. Guys who are pathetic, ugly, and can't get laid often times have extremely negative views on woman, and it's no mystery why that is. They are resentful towards women because they were rejected at some point, crushed, or kicked to the curb.
I find that generally speaking, the less a man gets laid the more he hates women.
The common criticism of sexism towards women in the gaming world is not entirely unfounded, I'm afraid. When I hear you guys talk about women like they are purely sex objects, or that "a good woman knows her place and is submissive to a man", I have to fucking laugh. It's pathetic, and just based on the posts some of you guys make, I would bet good money on which ones are fat, ugly, or a complete social imbecile when in comes to women.
Get over yourselves guys. Women are not ruining gaming. If they are getting preferential treatment now, it's not going to last forever. The gaming culture needs to evolve as a whole, because it IS sexist and it IS dominated by men (at least the competitive/hardcore types of games). I guarantee you, when the time comes when girls are actually playing competitive games near the amount of people that men are, they WON'T be getting preferential treatment any longer, because people will finally see them as equals.
It's just like affirmative action. That shit won't last forever. When the day comes when blacks are damn near as wealthy as whites, the need for it will disappear. Sadly, we aren't at this point yet.
The same is true for the gaming world. Women shoehorning their way in is an unfortunately necessary step for it to evolve to actually market games to the other 50% of the population. Think of it as a necessary evil.
Rather than play the blame game like so many of you do, instead look at yourselves and really try to see the misogyny in yourselves. Some guys have their heads so far up their asses that they don't even realize that they're sexist at all. It's a common defense mechanism when someone makes a legitimate claim: denial. Blatant, unadulterated denial.
I got into an argument once with a younger gal when I automatically opened the door for her as she was entering the store and I was leaving. It's just innocent chivalry, I thought. She explained to me that holding the door open for women makes them FEEL inferior. And you know what? She's totally right. I never leave the door open for guys. Why? Because even I can admit I can be a tad sexist at times.
Point is, most of you do things on a regular basis that is sexist and you don't even know it.
Even going into an auto shop for service as a woman can be a very different experience than a guy. They take advantage of a woman's ignorance of cars because it's assumed that women know less than men do about cars.
My ex wife gets a flat tire on the freeway. She's by herself. She's got a tire iron, a jack and a spare tire. She's no idiot, she knows what to do. Within 5 minutes a cop shows up to help her, DEMANDS that she let him do it, and literally won't let her do it. She even said "I don't need your help, I got this." The cop tried to say it was about safety and all that jazz. Bullshit. A cop would almost NEVER treat a guy this way. The cop might not even pull over in the first place. She said she was very offended by this. Can anyone really blame her?
Take a minute and think about all those times you coddled a woman because you assume girls are stupid, emotional, and fragile. If you treat them as equals, and I mean actually equals, you will find that they respect you more because you make them feel competent.
And besides, you guys act like feminism is something worth fighting against. I got news for you, IT ISN'T. It's a losing battle. You ain't gonna win, period. Feminism is here to stay. Might wanna get used to that fact.
The entire gaming world is sexist, but fighting games are the cream of the crop.