If you play Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo, or even Atari, and happen to be a female – this article is for you. Here are 5 myths that we have been dying to debunk.
1. We suck at gaming.
This myth is only believed by the naive. Many people have believed that women have less hand-eye coordination than men, and that's why they just suck at gaming. But this is completely incorrect. Yes, men are genetically better at visual and spatial recognition, but that is not to say that women have any less control of their thumbs than men. Some people are just going to be bad at gaming, but not because they are either male or female – stop being so sexist. There are plenty of professional female gamers.
2. We only play casual games.
First of all, being a gamer doesn't mean only playing the most popular or hardcore game out there. I wouldn't say playing Candy Crush is a sport, but I would say that Ms. Pac-Man is. Although 75% of those that play causal games are women, that does not mean women only play casual games. Here is a comparative bar graph that is guaranteed to debunk this myth.
3. We game for male attention.
I wouldn't make myself suffer through a game just for your attention. If any man believes that, well, you're really just flattering yourself. One study compared men and women's reasoning for engaging in game play. The results showed that both men and women play for the challenge. If women solely played to get men's attention, we wouldn't be so good at it.
4. We are either super ugly or super slutty.
So, because we aren't licking a PlayStation controller, we must be too ugly to photograph, right? Wrong. Aside from the clear shaming involved in this myth (shame on you), there is no defining characteristic for a gamer other than they play games. A girl must not be completely undesirable or completely ravenous for her to enjoy some good ol' RPGs. Stop the negativity with this one.
5. We play COD in our underwear.
Just… no. I am rocking sweats and a messy bun when I'm trying to prestige in Black Ops. All of the pictures you have seen online are wrong. No real gamer girl is sucking on an xbox controller – our knuckles are turning white as we beat your killstreak. Those pictures are models that are simply posing with game memorabilia.
These top five myths have officially been debunked. I hope the real "gamer girl" in you could relate to this list, and be sure to share with the boys who will argue otherwise!
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