If you want more information on the similar issue in STEM, here's the executive summary of a study that was performed on the matter. It's very instructive! :D
I didn't see anything in that link that talks about the peer pressure girls experience from within their own social circles. Why is that?
Perhaps because that's not the main thing keeping women out of STEM?
However, the summary talks plenty about negative stereotypes and suggests how to counter them - that part could very well apply to peer pressure. Women can believe in, and spread, stereotypes just like men, even when the stereotypes in question negatively affect them. It's like when men spread the stereotype that "real" men shouldn't cry, when that is patently untrue and can stunt emotional growth. Nobody's immune to bias, and we can all stand to learn more. :)
Peer pressure groups don't keep women out of STEM. It literally kills their interest from ever developing so it never becomes an option in middle school and high school. I saw it all the time growing up.
I know this is just a commercial, but it basically highlights the point I'm talking about. Parents are absolutely guilty of this, but the pressure from kids their own age to be popular and be a certain way causes the same result (grown up girl in school looks at science fair poster, but it's revealed she's only using the glass reflection to put on lip gloss).
I think the study I linked and this commercial are saying the same thing: a lot of cultural influence is steering women away from STEM (and, to get back to the original topic of this thread, fighting games). It comes from a lot of places; parents, teachers, colleagues, classmates, and so on. Peer pressure doesn't come from nowhere; those kids had to learn those values from someone, after all. And by calling out the problem, we can bring it to light, and start to move forward on solving it.
I want to see everyone able to get interested, and spend lots of hours into, anything they want. It's not a problem we can fix by ourselves, but we can certainly do our part! :D
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