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.
Listen to the Podcast episode