Don Oldenburg

The portrayal of women in video games and the gender dynamics of the gaming community have received ample attention in recent years.

While now nearly half of gamers are female, examining the way girls and women are treated in the culture or commenting on the lack of their presence in professional gaming and e-sports can still ruffle feathers. But The Washington Post was already investigating the relationship between gender and the gaming industry back when Donkey Kong Country was still a new release. ("No hype: The graphics really are unlike anything else in the world of cartridge games.") Here's how then-staff writer Don Oldenburg tackled the topic in a story originally published on November 29, 1994 in his article, “The Electronic Gender Gap.”

“There is nothing at all virtual about the overriding priority given to boys in the video and computer game industries,” he wrote. “It's just plain reality. Unapologetically so.” He quoted one video game company executive as saying that the industry’s most popular products are biased toward boys because: "The bottom line is the dollar sign.”