I would think of it more as a double standard. In today's world, gender is being slightly more blurred (as women aren't commonly in the kitchen and are working, and men aren't killing things with their bare hands and helping out with chores and kids). However, in areas more gender heavy than others, crossing that line will guarantee you attention. Ah, let me correct myself, it will usually spot you a label, but not necessarily attention; more on that later.
Please note that a majority of comments are stereotypes, there are exceptions everywhere and I don't want to apologize after every statement.
As society pressures men differently, it pressures women differently as well.
Olivia Faraday said:
I do think there are a lot of girls who are a little bit ashamed of their hobby, so they try to make it a sexy part of their identity rather than feel they're failing as women. My sister is like this. She loves JRPGs, shooters, and MMOs, but she's also a gorgeous and fashionable hair stylist who's big into clubbing and shows that air on MTV. Obviously, it would be better if these women felt like it's okay to be anything they want, but it's not that easy for some of them, and I don't think it's worthy of hate. The world is at fault, here.
So I'll leave it at this: a vast majority of the gaming community are males from the ages of 18-28 (or whatever that number is that I'm sure we all can assume); any single human being usually seeks a partner that shares the same hobbies; if someone spends a majority of their time surrounded by the same gender, they don't think much of it; now slowly mix in the other gender and I'm sure you can see where I'm going from here. Society is changing, http://www.cracked.com/blog/5-ways-we-ruined-occupy-wall-street-generation/ (#3 and #1) and with that, people are spending a lot of time "socializing" but not actually being social. So on the topic of gaming, a male heavy community who is slowly becoming more inept at interacting with the other gender, and then mixing in females, the result is a tad disgusting (Not all men are inept, but I'm sure everyone here who has played a game for more than an hour in their life has their own bias/assumptions to 90% of other players encountered [CoD community likely being the worst]). Basically, the more immature will lack the know-how to polite interaction and will likely be a troll instead.
Now here's why I think it's a double standard. Everyone is likely aware of the reaction when a female enters the gaming community. However, I do think the special snowflake is starting to decrease a little (not by much), mainly because half of the time when my full group encounters another full group (not a lobby of randoms) they're likely to have one female. Either this is because they are the special snowflake picked up by a small group of men so they don't have to deal with others, or it's because women are becoming more commonplace in gaming (I'm assuming the latter). Now, let us think about it this way; let us take a female heavy community and toss in a few males, do you think the reaction is similar to "special snowflake syndrome?" I think not. That is where the double standard lies; life is not a harem. I am currently majoring in a field that is 90-95% female, and a good percent of the men in that field are homosexuals (nothing against that), but as a straight male, that warrants me labels but not attention. I don't strut into class daily announcing that I'm a male and neither do the few others in that class. By simply being in that class we don't get strange looks or perverted notes slipped to us, it's just a different standard. Sure comparing college and the gaming community might have different levels of maturity, but I still believe that the effect is the same as anyone from one stereotype doesn't carry any of the description. However, the attention gained varies per gender thus I state it's a double standard.
TL;DR http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2004/03/19
