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Game Console Owners Are 42% Women, 37% Men. Quick, Pretend To Be Surprised

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The gender demographics for gaming console owners in the United States, according to a Pew Research Center study, break down as follows: 42% are women, and 37% are men. That probably shouldn’t seem surprising or weird, but no doubt it will, given that gaming marketers have been trying to convince us all since the ’90s that games are for boys. Somehow, women have prevailed over assumptions about whether or not they “should” play games, and we’re buying consoles anyway. Imagine how much more we’d buy if those products and their associated marketing materials cared about us? Gaming might even start to be perceived as a downright feminine pastime, along with other equally rad pattern-based hobbies like knitting and sewing. Ahhhh. Please, transport me to that alternate universe, post-haste!

Anyway, let’s all look forward to a bunch of guys reacting to this news by claiming that these women aren’t playing real games (whatever those are), and that although they buy consoles they probably don’t really play them (suuure), and that if these statistics included PC gamers then it would show such-and-such sexist justification, because all women prefer to sit around eating bon bons and making their boyfriends play games for them, and [insert any other equally nonsensical argument here].

It’s worth pointing out the rest of the demographics in the survey as well. The pervasive assumption that the majority of gamers are white seems to be another one that needs to get thrown in the bin:

survey

As the data above shows, game console owners are 39% White, 43% Black, and 45% Hispanic.

Yet another statistic that goes against the grain of the assumed stereotype about gamers? While 56% of console owners are in the 18-29 age bracket, 55% are aged 30-49. So, on the whole, console owners aren’t that young — and the stereotype of the white teenage boy screaming into his headset during a Halo multiplayer match? Well, that guy is definitely a minority. A vocal minority, sure. But a minority nonetheless.

So why do we keep acting like that guy is the only guy who plays games, again? Marketers? Developers? Bueller?

(via Boing Boing, image via Gamerologies)

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