Scantily clad women, damsels in distress and even prostitutes are popular features on games such as Grand Theft Auto and are often pointed out as contributing to some men’s sexist views of women. But is this view correct?

The short answer, according to researchers from three German universities, is no. [Thus proving Betteridge’s Law of Headlines? – Ed]

Dr Johannes Breuer, Dr Rachel Kowert, Dr Ruth Festl and Dr Thorsten Quandt from the University of Cologne, University of Münster and University of Hohenheim conducted a three year study with German male and female  gamers aged 14 and above to examine the relationship between video game use and sexist attitudes.

“Cultivation theory suggests that long-term exposure to media content can affect perceptions of social realities in a way that they become more similar to the representations in the media and, in turn, impact one’s beliefs and attitudes,” the research report reads.

“Controlling for age and education, it was found that sexist attitudes—measured with a brief scale assessing beliefs about gender roles in society—were not related to the amount of daily video game use or preference for specific genres for both female and male players.”

Research aside however, the report only scratched the surface, having been conducted and published in Germany and analysing video games across different genres and not specifically those with sexualised content and characters. And female gamers are still fighting battles against things such as GamerGate for recognition and equal treatment in the gaming world.

The report “Sexist Games=Sexist Gamers? A Longitudinal Study on the Relationship Between Video Game Use and Sexist Attitudes” is available for download on the Mary Ann Liebert publishers website, but it’s going to cost you $51 (R635.75) to get.

[Source – Forbes]