Origin Stories: How Women Start Playing Tabletop Roleplaying Games
This phrase gets bandied about frequently when talking about women in gaming: “Women get started playing roleplaying games because of their boyfriend/husband/brother/guy friend/enter other male person here.” In fact, Jessica Hammer addressed this popular line of thinking in her recent Things I Want To Know post. The idea that women get involved in gaming primarily because of men offends me. A lot. Mostly because it hurts my sensibilities as a liberated, young, radical queer feminist lady, but also because I’m a woman who games. I am always the accessory to a male gamer in this scenario, I have no agency, no choice, I’m on the defensive. This assumption about women gamers seems to be popular enough to perpetuate the myth that it’s true. Let me break down why I think this assumption is hurtful to women gamers, and why I also believe it to be a misconception.
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