Poll: Female gamers and femininity

[Irridium]

In my travels I've found that there are two types of female gamers.

The gamer girl and the girl gamer.

The gamer girl seems to think its necessary to point out her gender, and constantly references it. She is obnoxious and annoying.

The girl gamer is just a gamer who happens to be a girl. Thats it.

For more details on the subject, consult nubers 9 and 10 on the following chart.

Spoiler

 

[DarkHourPrince]

In my travels I've found that there are two types of female gamers.

The gamer girl and the girl gamer.

The gamer girl seems to think its necessary to point out her gender, and constantly references it. She is obnoxious and annoying.

The girl gamer is just a gamer who happens to be a girl. Thats it.

For more details on the subject, consult nubers 9 and 10 on the following chart.

Spoiler

Love the chart and glad to say that I fit into the number 10 category.

 

[RaphaelsRedemption]

In my travels I've found that there are two types of female gamers.

The gamer girl and the girl gamer.

The gamer girl seems to think its necessary to point out her gender, and constantly references it. She is obnoxious and annoying.

The girl gamer is just a gamer who happens to be a girl. Thats it.

For more details on the subject, consult nubers 9 and 10 on the following chart.

Spoiler

That, sir, is a very good summation of, well, all gamers! Thank you. I was gradualy getting irritated at this thread, and I think you have summed up why.

I would like to be a girl gamer. I actively try not to be a gamer girl. And femininity does not come into it when I game. Nuff said

 

[Soggy_Popcorn]

I've always associated being feminine with being giggly and obsessed with fashion and gossip. So how about you?

Like you, that annoys the crap outta me (though I'm male), but I can tell you, there are other kinds of femininity that are very, very good (as in attractive to any male). I have a couple girl nerd friends and only one of them I could characterize as feminine and she's the one that comes across as more attractive.

Oh, and there absolutely are identifiable aspects of femininity.

Like that wierdo sensitivity to anything and everything; guys hate this, and yet will try to placate it.

Or that bizarre need to flaunt their sexuality in that distinctly female, attention-trolling way that the girls above described.

Stuff like this composes the "femininity" that the male brain is wired to gravitate towards.

 

[sharpe95th]

As a big manly man who eats danger and shit victory I only play super manly tough guy games. No but seriously me and all my guy-mates have all tended to gravitate towards military shooters rather than other genres so I was wondering is female gamers find themselves attracted to the steyrotype "feminine" style games like RPGs, puzzlegames, the sims and so on, or do you find yourselves making a concious effort to avoid those games because you don't want to be steryotyped as a female gamer?

 

[Anonymoustache]

As a big manly man who eats danger and shit victory I only play super manly tough guy games. No but seriously me and all my guy-mates have all tended to gravitate towards military shooters rather than other genres so I was wondering is female gamers find themselves attracted to the steyrotype "feminine" style games like RPGs, puzzlegames, the sims and so on, or do you find yourselves making a concious effort to avoid those games because you don't want to be steryotyped as a female gamer?

Can I choose C. None of the above? I play video games that are good, a select few would be classified as 'girly' games I suppose if someone were really desperate to do so, but a lot would be considered stereotypically male.
And I don't make a conscious effort to avoid 'girly' games, I just prefer the games that happen to have male connotations.

 

[yeah_so_no]

I have a pastel pink purse with hearts on it, my fingernails are currently pastel green with nail art stickers on them, shopping is fun, I squeal and coo over cute things, and I have fuzzy bunny stickers on my DS. I would say that makes me pretty dang girly. I outgrew the "disdain everything 'feminine'" mess long ago and embraced my inner girly side and let it come out and play, and I am happier for it.

I gossip about my friend's love life (because dude, it is like a drama), love shopping, and also fire up my 360 or PS3 on the weekends and read gaming blogs and online mags in the evenings after work.

Viva la pink, and it's time for me to replace the fuzzy bunny stickers on my DS, because they're wearing off, and to figure out a way to cutesy up my 360, because it is very not cute and so not my style right now--maybe some large, flower stickers or something. XD

So, in short--be who you are and enjoy what you like.

 

[KimberlyGoreHound]

I'm sort of in the middle. On one hand, sometimes I'm well groomed, wearing a pink summery skirt and a white top. Other days, I'm in combat boots (and/or a gas mask as pictured), red plaid skirt (or kilt), heavy metal shirt, and starting fights with guys twice my size at concerts.

I usually do wear makeup though - whether in a traditional feminine sense with the former outfit, or more of a gothic/metalhead look (dark eyeshadow/lipstick) to go with the Slayer tee and combat boots.

If there was an inbetween option, I'd pick that, but as such, I say no, I'm not very feminine.

 

[Grigori361]

Does it matter? I game. I'm a girl. I am tired of hearing from women obssessed over whether they are fitting in with some pre-determined measure of "femininity". Why try to define it? Why not ask "are you happy with the person you are"?


/snip
..

Thank you and well said.


That I am as butch as hell has nothing to do with my being a gamer. I am also profoundly uninterested in what random strangers think of me or whether or not I fit in to the scale of "femininity". I am just me and gave up long ago trying to be what others thought I should be.

(Male) Heh, I second that, and if two of my gamer lady friends were here they probably would too.

 

[sketchesformysweet]

I don't think playing video games makes a girl any less feminine. There are plenty of girls who play sports and still manage to pull off the girly-girl act/look, and video games are progressively moving towards being a uni-sex activity, with many games being aimed at a girly-girl demographic.
But no, for me a girl being a gamer doesn't make her any less feminine or sexy or whatever else...

 

[Kuroneko97]

I'm feminine to the point that I like cute things and will wear the occasional lip gloss. But when it comes to actual personality, I'm simply a nerd. I like computers, video games, anime, manga, reading, drawing, etc. I think I'm halfway. A slightly feminine Otaku.

The thing is, I love the lolita style of clothes, but I don't have those clothes. And not many people know that two of my favorite games was Gears of War 2 and Grand Theft Auto IV; I really loved the gory violence and blowing myself up.

 

[Hitokiri_Gensai]

Hmm... im mostly feminine i think... that said, i can out shoot (real guns!) 95% of my male friends, i work on cars on a regular basis and the last time i gamed seriously i was running around CS 1.6 in the CAL leagues maiming anything that happened to have a heartbeat.

my other side though, i rarely wear jeans, i loveeeee clothes, jewerly and make up. Hmm... im weird.

 

[Dango]

I know a few female gamers and they're quite feminine. Much more than you would expect.

 

[AmayaOnnaOtaku]

I'm just curious how many female gamers out there consider yourselves to be feminine. How do you define femininity anyway? Me, I've never been much for it. I have my moments: I wear certain types of jewelry and I've been known to wear a skirt once or twice. But I don't wear makeup and I much prefer jeans. I've always associated being feminine with being giggly and obsessed with fashion and gossip. So how about you?

What you consider feminine are the kind of girls I want to punch. Nothing against you but they grate my nerves like nails on a chalkboard. Vapid, shallow, self-centered, wastes of genetic material.

Personally I can care less what others think of me and how I dress. I prefer platform goth boots and converse chuck taylors to high heels, I wear little makeup, and my handbag is from thinkgeek. I hate the mall and most of my friends are male. I am feminine but I am not "girly"

 

[Housebroken Lunatic]

Is it considered feminine to play naked?

I hope not, because if that's true then I'd be the most feminine guy on the planet during certain parts of the summer. (Seriously, The Housebroken Lunatic doesn't sit well with the scorching heat from that blasted ball of plasma in the sky. I prefer wintery chill over a sunny day any day of the week)

 

[Housebroken Lunatic]

Hmm... im mostly feminine i think... that said, i can out shoot (real guns!) 95% of my male friends, i work on cars on a regular basis and the last time i gamed seriously i was running around CS 1.6 in the CAL leagues maiming anything that happened to have a heartbeat.

my other side though, i rarely wear jeans, i loveeeee clothes, jewerly and make up. Hmm... im weird.

No you're not wierd. You're description tells me you're inadvertedly coming close to perfection.

Sure, cars might not be my main interest, but guns, marksmanship and videogames certainly fit the profile.

And the cherry on top, you like to dress up and paint your face (in ways that my imagination has already went ahead and assumed is tasteful).

Tell me, whats your weapon of choice, pistol or rifle?

Im your average run-o-the-mill hobby sniper myself, so I tend to hit pretty well with a rifle, but I find pistols to be somewhat difficult to get nice results out of, even though they are both terribly fun to shoot with of course.

 

[jackknife402]

Does it matter? I game. I'm a girl. I am tired of hearing from women obssessed over whether they are fitting in with some pre-determined measure of "femininity". Why try to define it? Why not ask "are you happy with the person you are"?

I am happy with myself most of the time. I rarely think about such measures, as I was not happy when I did. Now I do what pleases me. One of these pleasures is gaming, hence why I am here on this forum. My boyfriend seems to be happy whether I wear trackpants or dresses, and I am equally comfortable wearing both, so why should I agonise over whether it's "feminine" to do so or not?

On a serious note, if you have no definition of femininity, why are you asking female gamers whether or not they consider themselves to be feminine. I can't discuss a topic that is not well-defined. You have two questions. One is: What is femininity? The other is: Do you consider yourself to fit into that defined category of "femininity".

Personally, I consider both to be irrelevant if you are happy in and of yourself, but no matter...

taken from a guy's view point, women like to fit in with some sort of standard anyways....just an observation through my life...

 

[ArcaneFyre]

Of course, you can be a male with feminine qualities. A lot of women I know value that in a guy, so I don't really hide my feminine qualities, or at least things that society deems "feminine".

 

[Hitokiri_Gensai]

No you're not wierd. You're description tells me you're inadvertedly coming close to perfection.

Sure, cars might not be my main interest, but guns, marksmanship and videogames certainly fit the profile.

And the cherry on top, you like to dress up and paint your face (in ways that my imagination has already went ahead and assumed is tasteful).

Tell me, whats your weapon of choice, pistol or rifle?

Im your average run-o-the-mill hobby sniper myself, so I tend to hit pretty well with a rifle, but I find pistols to be somewhat difficult to get nice results out of, even though they are both terribly fun to shoot with of course.

i like both honestly. I conceal and carry a Sig Sauer P228 non rail variant, and used to have a Glock 17C i customized and shot for competition shooting, i also have a Remington 700 LTR with a SWFA SS 10x42 mil dot scope with anti reflection device chambered in .308. Right now im looking into possible picking up another Glock, maybe a 19 for CCW or possibly, because im INSANE, a Glock 21/22 with a Guncrafters .50GI conversion kit.

Besides all those i used to have a suppresed Remington 341 .22LR, scoped with a 10x30 scope that i used to plinking, and/or possible assassination attempts >.> maybe. >.> dont judge me. xD

to the actual question, i note a lot that its easier for a woman to have masculine tendencies than it is for a man to have feminine tendencies, and this is all just a product of society and how youre "supposed" to be, whether or not you agree to these things, or try to fit into them should seem irrelevant to who you are as a person rather than to how society should see you.

 

[Naal]

I'm a female gamer and yes I consider myself feminine. Why?

I used to be a 100% tomboy. Only within the recent years have I started to become more "Feminine." IE: Makeup, making an effort to look presentable, growing my hair out, wearing female clothing, wearing jewelery on special occasions and taking interest in other such female activities. (Girl night out, shopping in groups, etc)

When I was younger I wore only male clothing, because, well I didn't really have a 'girly' influence in my life. My older sister and I didn't get along, my mother was a tomboy too and my dad and I are very close. All my friends growing up were boys also. After I turned 20 (Turning 23 in a month) I started dating, and well... I guess nature took it's course in setting me straight. I used to try to fight it, but now I've fully embraced my feminine features.

Personality wise I'm still myself. Goofy, strong and quick witted, but with a less abrasive and more motherly tone.