Well, it's Monday again (unless you live in a timezone where it is in fact, already Tuesday. In which case, I'm sorry.) Today, I'm going to touch on the subject of gender inequality in videogames. I know, some of you might be rolling your eyes already, but please, hear me out.

Somewhere around the time when the home consoles started popping up like a bad cold, it seems like everyone collectively decided that they were best left on the shelf with things like GI Joes and Tonka trucks, while the girls could continue to make cupcakes with their easybake ovens, and play with Barbies. In fact, pretty muich anything considered "nerdy" throughout the 90s was automatically male. Since gaming, in the eyes of the public tended towards antisocial behavior and girls in their childhood are viewed as the "social" gender by their parents, girls doing boy things, like playing games, was not exactly encouraged by the majority. The one thing my female gamer friends have in common is that they were always seen as the "tomboy" by everyone, directly because of their interests in gaming, and many still carry this label today.

It's no surprise, then, that many girls and women keep the fact they're gamers under wraps because they're often treated like some sort of mythical beasts. Take for example MMORPGS, viewed my many as having a playerbase that's predominantly male. In reality, it's nearly impossible to tell. Many females will simply conceal their gender by playing male characters, and denying that they are male. It just works out to be easier that way, unfortunately.

So, what causes our collective views regarding female gamers, and what causes the attitude that most people have towards them? Marketing, for certain. I think that the way the industry markets to girls and women is fundamentally flawed, no matter the company or the platform. The market is saturated with crappy games, stuffed to the brim with pink, frilly things, and stupid names that somehow see it fit to replace "s" with "z" at the end of words. (Imagine:Petz, anyone?) The fact that anyone plays these is somewhat disturbing, but even more disturbing: this marketing trend actually shapes our attitudes towards female gamers. Given what was said at E3 about "Tween girl gaming" being on the rise, people think that this is what female gamers actually play, and then they grow out of the phase and do "adult" things, or something. Clearly, no one thinks that it's remotely possible that some women enjoy similar gameplay experiences to men. The fact is that male gamers don't help matters. Many guys I know tend to put female gaming up on a pedistal, and will be drawn to women who identify as gamers like moths to a flame. Now, this isn't true of all guys, but it's true of enough for women to just keep quiet about their hobby. So it's possible that we don't even know how many women actually play games. Hopefully, people will stop buying "tween girl" games, and we can put the stereotype to rest. Until then, well, you can expect "Imagine: Self Ezteemz Girl Powa! OMG!" out this fall.

No, not really. At least, I hope not.