If there are always competition between guys and I just got sucked into it then the stories I told should also be familiar too and yet I got /r/thathappen -ed. So either my experiences are common and that was a silly comment or my experiences aren't common.
I know some dick measuring comes with the turf. I'm no stranger to it and am a pretty competitive person. I have no real issue with a dick measuring contest that's measuring both dicks. It's not a contest if someone takes a tape measure to your dick then mocks you for it's size. But when I try to measure their dick they laugh or get offended because clearly their dick is huge, they're black. I'm definitely going to stop this dick measuring metaphor now but you see my point. Usually you're one of very few girls in the conversation and no one actually believes you when you say you're into gaming.
Hell, I had a fucking kick ass Poison Ivy from the Arkham games costume I used on Halloween the year each of the games came out and each year I had guys either telling me I didn't know who I was or quizzing me on who Troy Baker voiced in which games to make sure I really knew before they hit on me. Mind you they were drunk and there were plenty of people who told me I had a kick ass costume or bonded with me about the games or even exchanged facts with me about the games and Batman comics until one of us couldn't provide any more. Those people are fine. But I digress.
My point, I guess, is that there's a difference. And I've experienced both sides of it. It's not necessarily there to keep women out of fandoms and it's not like every or most people react that way. But it's there and that mixed with the constant competition that you've described well that's just part of the culture can be exhausting and I don't feel like dealing with it anymore. And that attitude combined with this entire post of "Why don't I know women who game?" well...that's part of why you don't know women who game. That and there aren't as many of us, etc. But maybe some of us don't feel like getting into a dick measuring contest or being called a fake gamer so we game mostly in silence.
As for your last three paragraphs about me being a bitchy cunt who demands respect I haven't earned...well, that's another reason why I pointed to my Halloween costume. Dick measuring contests aren't a threat and I can hold my own. I'm not a novice unless you're talking about games that I don't like in which case I'll say I don't like them and move the fuck on with my life. That doesn't mean I want to have to do that all the time. But I shouldn't beat you in a dick measuring contest only for you to say "Oh, well...no, I mean...you could have found that stuff out on Google" or otherwise.
My boyfriend is far more casual of a gamer than I and has to prove he games far less than I if the subject comes up. And if the subject does come up and he's around and I get sucked into another "Yeah, hun, MarioKart isn't really gaming" (most recent quote of when I said I game before (no we weren't talking about MarioKart)) and he vouches for me, suddenly the tone changes to "Oh, wow, sorry dude! She's a keeper!" So it can't really help but feel a little bit gendered when it happens more often to women I know and when men vouch for them suddenly it's sunshine and fucking rainbows everywhere.
But all that aside, even if it's not gendered, maybe I just don't want to be involved in dick measuring contests all the time and wish I could talk about one of my hobbies without getting into one. Should that be so much to ask for?
TL;DR- Obviously I disagree with you about most of that, so I'm gonna stick with my username of bitchycunt and write a nice long rant about it.
