Over 40 percent of adolescent gamers in the U.S. avoid media depicting women in a “stereotypical and harmful way”, according to a new study.
The Teens and Screens Report 2025, conducted by the Center for Scholars & Storytellers (CSS) at UCLA, surveyed 1,500 adolescents (ages 10-24) about their experiences with gaming.
The report found that 42 percent of women and girls steer clear of games that portray women in a derogatory way.
One of the biggest issues amongst those surveyed was a fear of harassment.
The study found that over half of women and girl gamers felt as though they had to “act a certain way” when gaming because of “gender, race, or other identity.”
Why is this topic so important? “Every hacker I’ve met is a gamer,” says Fergus Hay, co-founder of The Hacking Games, a community that helps people with hacking skills get cybersecurity jobs.
Women currently make up around 30 percent of the global cybersecurity workforce, according to Cybersecurity Ventures. Gaming is a gateway to our industry, and it’s critical to provide girls with a safe and supportive online gaming environment to help move the needle to 50 percent.
In this special CTRL, ALT, HACKED Podcast episode bolstered by a panel of women, Cybercrime Magazine host Amanda Glassner is joined by Charlie Osborne, Editor-at-Large and Taylor Fox, Media Coordinator, to discuss the new study’s findings, recent examples of harassment against women in the gaming industry, and protecting players in this environment.
