Well, my daughter is only 3 so she's a bit young. However I have been introducing her to the star wars universe and I fully intend to teach her to play X wing when she's old enough, as long as she's interested of course. I think X wing would be a great way to have father daughter bonding time.

I think so too... which is why my wife and I play as often as things allow both of us to sit down at the table and play. My wife is actually exceptional at looking at the board state and making maneuvers. She is learning how to anticipate and I can see that in time she will be quite good at the game. I certainly would like for us to go to events together and I guess that was part of a factor in why I was concerned about all of this and realized that I had not paid attention to the fact that I was only seeing and hearing men being excited about it.

For my wife, Zombies are her preferred method of unleashing hostilities though, and X-Wing is more something she does because I really really like it. That certainly may be a factor.

There have been several threads like this, and as Sithborg says, they don't end well.

It's a shame: it's a conversation that needs to be had, but knees jerk and tempers flare and now everyone's yelling and nothing's getting accomplished. I think it's a conversation better had in person, where people aren't pseudonymous and tend to be more closely bound by social norms about swearing, flipping tables, etc.

Maybe, but OTOH this thread has the potential to open, for example, dosiere's eyes about the things that happen in gaming groups. He was previously unaware of it, so much so that he finds it difficult to believe that a more-or-less standard* accounting of the experience of being a girl and then a woman in gaming could be true. He was also unaware of the sort of harassment girls and women receive in video games Presumably there's at least one lurker who was also similarly unaware of the prevalence of harassment. When a thread like this appears, there's a chance a few more people will learn a few more things. Absent the thread, there is no such chance.

*Being drugged and assaulted is not standard, mind. But it's also not as rare as you'd want it to be.

The fact that the conversation doesn't end well underlines the fact we need to keep having it.

Get a conceal carry license so you can carry a firearm.

Someone grabs at your rear you have the right to defend yourself if I'm not mistaken.

Really? Instead of guys not being creepy abusive jerks, women should arm themselves?

I've been involved in law enforcement for ten years. I've been involved in the gaming community for more than twice that.

I've never encountered this phenomenon that this girl is talking about. Maybe she lives in a rapist heavy environment, or games in a sexual offenders rehabilitation clinic, or I dunno. She just seems to be flipping her **** about something that doesn't seem to happen.

Well, my daughter is only 3 so she's a bit young. However I have been introducing her to the star wars universe and I fully intend to teach her to play X wing when she's old enough, as long as she's interested of course. I think X wing would be a great way to have father daughter bonding time.

I think so too... which is why my wife and I play as often as things allow both of us to sit down at the table and play. My wife is actually exceptional at looking at the board state and making maneuvers. She is learning how to anticipate and I can see that in time she will be quite good at the game. I certainly would like for us to go to events together and I guess that was part of a factor in why I was concerned about all of this and realized that I had not paid attention to the fact that I was only seeing and hearing men being excited about it.

For my wife, Zombies are her preferred method of unleashing hostilities though, and X-Wing is more something she does because I really really like it. That certainly may be a factor.

That's cool, my wife's not really into miniatures gaming, but she does enjoy Eldar Sign so we play that.

The fact that the conversation doesn't end well underlines the fact we need to keep having it.

Indeed, though we doing really well here, the next logical progression from here should be talking about how to recognize and prevent it.

Warning... subject matter is strong and may cause a reaction... it did in me...

I was actually having a good weekend, enjoying the Hoth Open, all of the fun with the podcast switcheroos, and being on Twitter during all of it. At the same time, I have been backstage on our local theatre's production of Steel Magnolias. And then I came across James D'Amato's (One Shot / Campaign Podcast... for those of you that follow any of the Star Wars RPG people) post:

James D'Amato

@OneShotRPG

I want gaming to be safe and open, but we need to work to make that happen. Everyone in my audience should read this http://latining.tumblr.com/post/141567276944/tabletop-gaming-has-a-white-male-terrorism-problem …

I will warn you, there is strong language in here... and it is about Male White Gamers. I'm sure not everyone on the forums here is one of the people causing the problem. In fact, I don't know that anyone is, but the following questions/thoughts immediately occurred to me:

1) Star Wars in general started off on the wrong foot on this. Over the years, disparity has been addressed some, but it was obviously white guy centric at the start and through the metal bikini...

2) I've watched a lot of games and listened to a lot of podcasts within X-Wing. Aside from one match with Kris Sherrif's canadian store, I don't recall seeing or hearing another woman on a show. Perhaps I have missed them and they are more populous than I have had the opportunity to see, but I'm not currently convinced of that.

3) I've followed several large events in whatever media was available. I've seen a lot of white guys. I know there are others that play, if you want to involve other nationalities, but I really do not know what the diversity is. What I do know is I have seen a lot of guys like me.

As we promote the X-Wing culture as "Fly Casual" and how friendly it is to new people... why don't we have more women involved in our hobby? I wouldn't say it was lack of interest in Star Wars. I also wouldn't say that women are not good at tabletop games or strategy games. As I don't have a local gaming store, I am an odd man out at this. The closest gaming store at all is 30 miles away (which is new and better than my previous 50+ mile trip) but the wife of the owner is heavily involved, they just don't play enough X-Wing often enough for my preference.

As the post is in a non-specific tabletop game, the post is not necessarily pointed at our group. But, on the other hand, it's not specifically NOT pointed at our group? So, are we part of the problem or are we making our stores a safe place for women to join our ranks and in time they will be seen on the top tables at the Open Series and Worlds?

Please be respectful of others as you venture into the comments (or leave one) below...

It's a threat narrative.

Get a conceal carry license so you can carry a firearm.

Someone grabs at your rear you have the right to defend yourself if I'm not mistaken.

Really? Instead of guys not being creepy abusive jerks, women should arm themselves?

Living in Texas, I have mixed emotions about both sides of this:

1) Living in Texas, I assume any woman is potentially carrying a firearm and/or mace (pepper spray, whatever)

2) Living in Texas, I assume guys are going to treat women like ladies and do things like open the door for them

I'm also not naive. I think anyone has the right to defend themselves, but I don't see that they should be forced to. I also think that we should also treat other people like we would treat them if they were our mother or father, though I am biased and had a really good home life.

People at the FLGS I go to wouldn't tolerate the kind of behavior she's talking about in the article, in fact one of the owners is a woman.

Get a conceal carry license so you can carry a firearm.

Someone grabs at your rear you have the right to defend yourself if I'm not mistaken.

Really? Instead of guys not being creepy abusive jerks, women should arm themselves?

Living in Texas, I have mixed emotions about both sides of this:

1) Living in Texas, I assume any woman is potentially carrying a firearm and/or mace (pepper spray, whatever)

2) Living in Texas, I assume guys are going to treat women like ladies and do things like open the door for them

I'm also not naive. I think anyone has the right to defend themselves, but I don't see that they should be forced to. I also think that we should also treat other people like we would treat them if they were our mother or father, though I am biased and had a really good home life.

Its a form of victim blaming. IE instead of trying to focus on the assailant its the girl's vault because she wasn't prepared to shoot anyone who groped her.

Warning... subject matter is strong and may cause a reaction... it did in me...

I was actually having a good weekend, enjoying the Hoth Open, all of the fun with the podcast switcheroos, and being on Twitter during all of it. At the same time, I have been backstage on our local theatre's production of Steel Magnolias. And then I came across James D'Amato's (One Shot / Campaign Podcast... for those of you that follow any of the Star Wars RPG people) post:

James D'Amato

@OneShotRPG

I want gaming to be safe and open, but we need to work to make that happen. Everyone in my audience should read this http://latining.tumblr.com/post/141567276944/tabletop-gaming-has-a-white-male-terrorism-problem …

I will warn you, there is strong language in here... and it is about Male White Gamers. I'm sure not everyone on the forums here is one of the people causing the problem. In fact, I don't know that anyone is, but the following questions/thoughts immediately occurred to me:

1) Star Wars in general started off on the wrong foot on this. Over the years, disparity has been addressed some, but it was obviously white guy centric at the start and through the metal bikini...

2) I've watched a lot of games and listened to a lot of podcasts within X-Wing. Aside from one match with Kris Sherrif's canadian store, I don't recall seeing or hearing another woman on a show. Perhaps I have missed them and they are more populous than I have had the opportunity to see, but I'm not currently convinced of that.

3) I've followed several large events in whatever media was available. I've seen a lot of white guys. I know there are others that play, if you want to involve other nationalities, but I really do not know what the diversity is. What I do know is I have seen a lot of guys like me.

As we promote the X-Wing culture as "Fly Casual" and how friendly it is to new people... why don't we have more women involved in our hobby? I wouldn't say it was lack of interest in Star Wars. I also wouldn't say that women are not good at tabletop games or strategy games. As I don't have a local gaming store, I am an odd man out at this. The closest gaming store at all is 30 miles away (which is new and better than my previous 50+ mile trip) but the wife of the owner is heavily involved, they just don't play enough X-Wing often enough for my preference.

As the post is in a non-specific tabletop game, the post is not necessarily pointed at our group. But, on the other hand, it's not specifically NOT pointed at our group? So, are we part of the problem or are we making our stores a safe place for women to join our ranks and in time they will be seen on the top tables at the Open Series and Worlds?

Please be respectful of others as you venture into the comments (or leave one) below...

It's a threat narrative.

.... no thats not at all what that means. If you actually watched that video you would understand that a threat narrative is something that is used to justify a witch hunt against a minority group based on the actions of a small number of individuals in that group. It does not apply at all to trying to prevent sexual harassment in a gaming community unless you think that it is your right to harass women and people preventing that are oppressing you in which case please leave.

No woman is unsafe in the stores I go to. She might hear someone say something stupid, but if I hear them, I'd stop them.

And what's wrong with a woman being able to defend herself if she so chooses?

Or did you automatically jump to the ill-conceived conclusion that the original suggestion meant that it was the only option and we should force women to do it?

Frankly, the argument of women being able to defend themselves is "victim blaming" is asinine and used only by those who have no rational arguments.

Is there a problem with women being harassed? Possibly. Never seen it in my 20 years of gaming. But that's also because that type of stuff ain't tolerated around here.

Now I have HEARD of it, through hear-say of it happening at ONE store in the Atlanta area. But that's hearsay and rumor only.

But again, all this is not real evidence, as my sampling is only a small portion of this country, and anything anyone says here that is not a peer-reviewed study is nothing but hearsay and conjecture.

I have a hard time believing what the account int he article OP posted actually happened as stated.

But I'm not going to discount it outright, because there is a chance it could have happened.

But the basic rule is this:

Don't be a rude.


There are plenty of women and girls breaking into the more male-dominated areas of video-gaming. I see it every day at work. (for the record, I sell video games for a living).

I see more and more getting into RPG groups as well.

It's only a matter of time before we see more female representation in table-top gaming in general and X-Wing in particular.

And most women I know can more than hold their own against any guy who decides to harass them. Both verbally, and physically. They do NOT need white-knights coming to their defense. They can handle themselves just fine.

But again, that's this area....may be different else-where.

Warning... subject matter is strong and may cause a reaction... it did in me...

I was actually having a good weekend, enjoying the Hoth Open, all of the fun with the podcast switcheroos, and being on Twitter during all of it. At the same time, I have been backstage on our local theatre's production of Steel Magnolias. And then I came across James D'Amato's (One Shot / Campaign Podcast... for those of you that follow any of the Star Wars RPG people) post:

James D'Amato

@OneShotRPG

I want gaming to be safe and open, but we need to work to make that happen. Everyone in my audience should read this http://latining.tumblr.com/post/141567276944/tabletop-gaming-has-a-white-male-terrorism-problem …

I will warn you, there is strong language in here... and it is about Male White Gamers. I'm sure not everyone on the forums here is one of the people causing the problem. In fact, I don't know that anyone is, but the following questions/thoughts immediately occurred to me:

1) Star Wars in general started off on the wrong foot on this. Over the years, disparity has been addressed some, but it was obviously white guy centric at the start and through the metal bikini...

2) I've watched a lot of games and listened to a lot of podcasts within X-Wing. Aside from one match with Kris Sherrif's canadian store, I don't recall seeing or hearing another woman on a show. Perhaps I have missed them and they are more populous than I have had the opportunity to see, but I'm not currently convinced of that.

3) I've followed several large events in whatever media was available. I've seen a lot of white guys. I know there are others that play, if you want to involve other nationalities, but I really do not know what the diversity is. What I do know is I have seen a lot of guys like me.

As we promote the X-Wing culture as "Fly Casual" and how friendly it is to new people... why don't we have more women involved in our hobby? I wouldn't say it was lack of interest in Star Wars. I also wouldn't say that women are not good at tabletop games or strategy games. As I don't have a local gaming store, I am an odd man out at this. The closest gaming store at all is 30 miles away (which is new and better than my previous 50+ mile trip) but the wife of the owner is heavily involved, they just don't play enough X-Wing often enough for my preference.

As the post is in a non-specific tabletop game, the post is not necessarily pointed at our group. But, on the other hand, it's not specifically NOT pointed at our group? So, are we part of the problem or are we making our stores a safe place for women to join our ranks and in time they will be seen on the top tables at the Open Series and Worlds?

Please be respectful of others as you venture into the comments (or leave one) below...

It's a threat narrative.

.... no thats not at all what that means. If you actually watched that video you would understand that a threat narrative is something that is used to justify a witch hunt against a minority group based on the actions of a small number of individuals in that group. It does not apply at all to trying to prevent sexual harassment in a gaming community unless you think that it is your right to harass women and people preventing that are oppressing you in which case please leave.

Regardless of what I believe, you are not a moderator and have no authority to compel me to do any such thing.

I stand my my assessment that it's a threat narrative.

The only problem I ever see with women in gaming is that they end up beating the men:)

I've been involved in law enforcement for ten years. I've been involved in the gaming community for more than twice that.

I've never encountered this phenomenon that this girl is talking about. Maybe she lives in a rapist heavy environment, or games in a sexual offenders rehabilitation clinic, or I dunno. She just seems to be flipping her **** about something that doesn't seem to happen.

I wish my experience was the same as yours, but I've run across an awful lot of this in my time in gaming, either things I've seen and heard firsthand (most recently, just last GenCon), or heard from my wife, her friends, our other female friends, or -- most heartbreakingly -- a good friend's daughter, who went to her first convention this year. The things people said to this fifteen year old girl would have gotten me into some real trouble, if I'd been there to hear them.

Most of the time, this stuff is invisible to guys because it's not happening to us. I've never heard a woman get catcalled by construction workers, either, but maybe I just don't hang out around construction sites in the big city enough, y'know? That doesn't mean it doesn't happen, it just means I don't see it. There are, what, 60,000 geeks at GenCon? Lots of background noise. Lots of jostling in the vendor hall. Lots of crowds, lots of distractions. Sure, nobody's grabbing my ass "by accident" during all that, but I can absolutely believe that in those close quarters, it happens all the time to gals. Why would I assume they're lying, instead of the opposite?

I'll certainly admit that the original post's stories may be remarkable. Maybe she's unlucky, or maybe she's just way more active in geekdom than most...but none of her stories are unbelievable, not one of them, taken one at a time. I've heard just about the same story, at least once, for every single one of the instances she shared (or seen it firsthand). It doesn't take very many terrible people to ruin a crowd of people, y'know? 60,000 geeks in Indy. Say one in a hundred is the sort of prick who'd act this way, and suddenly you've got 600 folks running around, spending 10-12 hours a day making other peoples' convention experience miserable. That's a lot of man-hours of wrecking someone's fun, wrecking someone's sense of safety and security, and making the hobby unwelcoming. So even if 99% of us are cool, or at least aren't actively uncool, there are enough jerks left to totally ruin someone's good time.

The title is incendiary. The language of "terrorism" is incendiary. The ultimatum-style post is incendiary, sure. But if you read that, and your first thought is "Oh, man, white male gamers are the real victims here," I think you're not seeing the forest for the trees.

Is this a real life conversation? A much lower percentage of girls are playing x-wing because they don't enjoy the same things boys enjoy... Your basically asking why aren't there more girl football players! Because they don't wanna play. I live in an area where I go to multiple stores to play x-wing. I have made and have many friends that play x-wing. Out of the hundreds of people I play with and yes it is hundreds I think 2 have wives that are interested and wanna play and do play. Out of those 2 I think one actually enjoys it and the other is just using it as more time to spend with there husband. People bring there girlfriends and wives a lot though and I have never seen anything like that that would persuade a girl/woman to not want to play. They don't wanna play because it's just not something the regular girl enjoys. And don't say well I'm a girl I like x-wing.... Well of course there are exceptions to everything.

The main reason I did not put it in Off-Topic, which maybe it would have gotten a more mature audience, so I understand the concern, is that I'm actually very interested in WHY we think there aren't more women involved in X-Wing. It's as valid a topic as how good a twitter feed was for the Hoth Open. Or how fast a cargo ship can cover the ocean.

If at all possible, don't just go with your knee-jerk reaction. Actually think about why we don't see mothers playing games of X-Wing with daughters in stores like we see fathers playing games of X-Wing with sons.

This is something that has been bugging me a lot lately as well, because Star Wars is for everyone and there are just as many female fans as there are male but our community demographics don't seem to reflect that.

Being a fan of Star Wars does not equate in anyway with being a gamer. Over the years I've run into several people (women) that could recite the OT by heart but had no interest in gaming of any sort except for the old standards like Scrabble, Monopoly, etc.

Maybe they just "feel weird" playing with toys as an adult or uncomfortable around other adults playing with toys acting like children. Some may not have the creative streak that allows them to suspend reality for a couple of hours. Since I have never been to any CON I can't comment on any of the siuations described in the article but I can say that I have never seen any bad behavior during any gaming sessions at the FLGS, except for some raw language after some truly bad die rolls. There several females that play there, magic, rpg's and x-wing and as far as I know they are treated like one of the guys. No more and no less.

Maybe I'm too old to appreciate the decine in what was once called "acceptable behavior" but I was brought up saying please, thank you and opening doors for women. With portions of the younger generation trying to be 'ganstas' or 'playas' and calling girlfriends 'hos' I have to accept that such behavior exists. Rude, obnoxious people are everywhere. You can't change them. You either remove them from the venue or avoid those places they lurk.

One comment in response to Cosplay. You dress up like a super hero and go to a place where others do the same and just because you act like an adult don't expect everyone to do likewise.

Get a conceal carry license so you can carry a firearm.

Someone grabs at your rear you have the right to defend yourself if I'm not mistaken.

Really? Instead of guys not being creepy abusive jerks, women should arm themselves?

On the other hand it would cut down on repeat offenders.

I've got as many female gamer friends as male. That spectrum of 'gamer' includes video games, tabletop miniature games, boardgames and primarily table top RPGs. Most of the girls are into at least two of these. Every single one has also been to conventions (including gaming, anime, comic and SciFi). I've actually spoken with all the lasses at one point or another about their experiences. All of them have received some form of negative attention from the opposite sex while engaging in their hobby. So have most of the male gamers in my friendship group. The general consensus is just that certain hobbies attract the socially awkward so there's always that one lad or lass who doesn't quite understand a polite 'no'.. And often a complete creep or two but there's some in every crowd.

But all of the girls have said that they have generally had worse issues in bars, on streets and in school (or in some cases work). A few of the older geek-girls expressed a strong feeling that things had gotten worse for them as individuals as geek-culture became more mainstream.

I also spoke to some friends in law enforcement and asked their opinions. Every one I spoke to had horror stories, upon horror stories about sports fans. The few stories they shared about geeks and gamers were almost universally about outsiders engaging with those groups (such as large numbers of sexual assaults on women headed too and from a convention in Cosplay).

Now I don't doubt that bad things happen. But I think people need to stop blanlet accusing groups, especially when those groups are already an alternative culture merilly vilified by the media. 'Gamers are freaks and creepy sexual predators' is an easier more sensationalist sell for the newspapers than "in any large group of people you will find disturbing individuals, and your average pub on a Saturday night is the worst place to be".

And when its a good story for the media it all gets wrapped up in politics and false accusations and sensationalism and explodes.

Focusing on videogames for a second, Look at gamergate. Some dubious actions are brought to public attention by a wronged boyfriend (who deffinatly went about it in the wrong way). A legitimate protest about videogame journalism began, gets highjacked by trolls (on both sides), the media catch word of it, and everything gets blown out of proportion. Now the name is a byword for the 'evils of maleness'.

Edit:

Though I have to add. I'm talking from a distinctly European perspective (primarily British). Perhaps this is a genuinly massive issue in certain places and it's being projected outwards?

"Legitimate protest" should in no way be used to describe Gamergate. Ever.

I've been involved in law enforcement for ten years. I've been involved in the gaming community for more than twice that.

I've never encountered this phenomenon that this girl is talking about. Maybe she lives in a rapist heavy environment, or games in a sexual offenders rehabilitation clinic, or I dunno. She just seems to be flipping her **** about something that doesn't seem to happen.

It absolutely happens, and it happens everywhere. Just because you personally haven't witnessed it doesn't mean it's not real. What do you stand to lose by taking women at their word?

Thing is, men who harass or assault women rarely do so in front of other men. If you saw someone cat-calling or groping a woman at a convention or a game store, you'd probably try and stop it, wouldn't you? The men who act that way know that. They are discreet with their violence. In order to get away with it, they rely on other men disbelieving the victims: Stop being so emotional. I've never seen it happen. It sounds like you're overreacting. Don't be so hysterical.

That kind of flippant disregard for women's stories is exactly the reason why women have learned to stay the hell away from gaming communities. It's not safe for them. They cannot trust that men will not harass or assault them, and they cannot trust that other men will believe them if it happens.

Don't be part of the problem. Start by believing women.

I've been involved in law enforcement for ten years. I've been involved in the gaming community for more than twice that.

I've never encountered this phenomenon that this girl is talking about. Maybe she lives in a rapist heavy environment, or games in a sexual offenders rehabilitation clinic, or I dunno. She just seems to be flipping her **** about something that doesn't seem to happen.

I wish my experience was the same as yours, but I've run across an awful lot of this in my time in gaming, either things I've seen and heard firsthand (most recently, just last GenCon), or heard from my wife, her friends, our other female friends, or -- most heartbreakingly -- a good friend's daughter, who went to her first convention this year. The things people said to this fifteen year old girl would have gotten me into some real trouble, if I'd been there to hear them.

Most of the time, this stuff is invisible to guys because it's not happening to us. I've never heard a woman get catcalled by construction workers, either, but maybe I just don't hang out around construction sites in the big city enough, y'know? That doesn't mean it doesn't happen, it just means I don't see it. There are, what, 60,000 geeks at GenCon? Lots of background noise. Lots of jostling in the vendor hall. Lots of crowds, lots of distractions. Sure, nobody's grabbing my ass "by accident" during all that, but I can absolutely believe that in those close quarters, it happens all the time to gals. Why would I assume they're lying, instead of the opposite?

I'll certainly admit that the original post's stories may be remarkable. Maybe she's unlucky, or maybe she's just way more active in geekdom than most...but none of her stories are unbelievable, not one of them, taken one at a time. I've heard just about the same story, at least once, for every single one of the instances she shared (or seen it firsthand). It doesn't take very many terrible people to ruin a crowd of people, y'know? 60,000 geeks in Indy. Say one in a hundred is the sort of prick who'd act this way, and suddenly you've got 600 folks running around, spending 10-12 hours a day making other peoples' convention experience miserable. That's a lot of man-hours of wrecking someone's fun, wrecking someone's sense of safety and security, and making the hobby unwelcoming. So even if 99% of us are cool, or at least aren't actively uncool, there are enough jerks left to totally ruin someone's good time.

The title is incendiary. The language of "terrorism" is incendiary. The ultimatum-style post is incendiary, sure. But if you read that, and your first thought is "Oh, man, white male gamers are the real victims here," I think you're not seeing the forest for the trees.

I'll believe the stories she tells in that article until proven wrong, but she starts and ends with an accusation and call to action against a company with no backstory or facts related to it. It's an odd article to premise this thread on, except for the plethora of harassment examples it contains.

So we're here to discuss the ways we can prevent those abuses from happening in our proximity, thereby making the X-Wing community more inviting to everyone, right?

There are no NPE lists for me, but there are NPE attitudes, of which I avoid events they attend when I have alternatives. Self-aggrandizing elitists can take a hike as far as I'm concerned. Yet instead of confronting it and "making things worse", I choose to avoid both the confrontation and situation entirely. I have many game stores to choose from and friends to play with so I'm not giving up my hobby by doing so.

I have a friend that cosplays. Every "season" she posts reminders to Facebook that regardless of the character portrayed or appearance of the cosplayer, you don't have permission to take photos of them or interact with them without politely asking them first. She only has the Cons to attend for her chosen hobby and must put up with whomever else attends.

Is this a real life conversation? A much lower percentage of girls are playing x-wing because they don't enjoy the same things boys enjoy... Your basically asking why aren't there more girl football players! Because they don't wanna play. I live in an area where I go to multiple stores to play x-wing. I have made and have many friends that play x-wing. Out of the hundreds of people I play with and yes it is hundreds I think 2 have wives that are interested and wanna play and do play. Out of those 2 I think one actually enjoys it and the other is just using it as more time to spend with there husband. People bring there girlfriends and wives a lot though and I have never seen anything like that that would persuade a girl/woman to not want to play. They don't wanna play because it's just not something the regular girl enjoys. And don't say well I'm a girl I like x-wing.... Well of course there are exceptions to everything.

I look at how Rey and related merchandise has been received. I look at how board gaming is exploding. Clearly, women are fans of Star Wars and gaming. The whole girl/boy likes different things is a complete bull answer.