Teenagers who spend large amounts of time playing video games have a greater likelihood of developing sexist attitudes, a new study has found.
Researchers surveyed 13,520 French youths aged between 11 to 19, all living in the cities of Lyon and Grenoble. Participants were questioned about the amount of time they spent gaming, and about their attitudes toward women and gender stereotypes.
The study's results, published last week in the journal Frontiers in Psychology, identified a correlation between game play and attitudes toward women, who are generally "underrepresented" in games.
When women are included, the authors note, they are often depicted either as "characters needing help or holding passive or instrumental roles," or as "sex objects to win."
"Sexist representations saturate advertising, television and cinema. Video games are no exception," said study co-author Laurent Begue of Grenoble Alps University, in an interview with AFP.
"Content analysis has shown that women are under-represented in popular video games. They have passive roles, they are princesses who need to be saved or secondary, sexualized objects of conquest," he added.
Although there is a "statistically significant" link between sexism and video games, Begue streesed that gaming had a "limited" impact on teenagers' attitudes, with a religious upbringing being a far greater indicator of likely sexism.
“The video game industry may find it appropriate to encourage an evolution in the way women are represented, because sexism on screen can have consequences which are not limited to the virtual world,” the study author said.
“Today, 48% of video game players are female and in addition to the development of sexist attitudes, the repeated exposure to biased female models on games produces body dissatisfaction among women, self-objectification, and eating disorders.”