A lot of it is just the fact that more gamers really are men and fighting games in particular are almost exclusively male dominated, plus the fact that MK9 was so stripperific. But there is a barrier to chick's getting into the FGC, in my opinion. There are a few girls, ArkhamBeauty, Julia, Lumiya spring to mind, but it's an overwhelming sausage fest.
It's not only that FGC is usually 95+% male, it's that a large proportion of us are immature dickheads who just have no idea how to act appropriately sometimes. I'm sure I'll be called an SJW by some shining intellect for this, but what Aris pulled a few years ago was disgraceful and the fact that the FGC as a whole seemed cool with it is a perfect example: in no section of society is screaming "fucking rape her" actually acceptable and the fact that our scene has its origins in the arcade which was generally pretty aggressive and shit isn't an excuse. Why on Earth would a chick decide to hang out with people who have even the slightest inclination to endorse that? It's a genuinely disgusting thing to do and Aris continues to be inexplicably beloved in the FGC. He commentated on our Evo finals this year and his defence force were out in full. His popularity after that is the single biggest thing you can point to as to why more girls aren't involved in the FGC.
I mean it's inevitable that some people in a crowd are going to be dickheads, but I've heard reports of roofies at Evo, a Smash player sexually assaulted a chick this Evo gone by, there was an incident a while back where a fairly prominent NRS player was literally catcalling a chick on stream. Like it or not, the FGC has a serious problem with girls.
Want another example? Go find the Twitch chat or even stuff here or an Shoryuken when ArkhamBeauty or any other girl is playing on stream. Again, not exactly the kinda stuff that makes chicks feel comfortable or welcome.
Want another example? Go find the thread about Kitana's face when NRS released. There's banter and there's criticizing the art and then there's a solid 40-60% of TYM acting like 16 year olds who listen to too much Lil Jon. Which they are, I guess.
I mean hell to bring the FGC to it's most casual and base level, Maximillian. His sister Tess just so happens to be really really hot. Like, really hot. And she got dogs abuse and horrible shit thrown at him and her when she did a few videos with him, purely for being a hot chick. And these are ostensibly his fans, I heard a rumour someone sent him a Rule34 of him and his sister. Like, what the fuck?
There's a lot of general "girls don't play these games" about it, and while that may be a cyclical issue, anybody who dismisses the issue there is turning a blind eye to how certain members of the FGC in general, our community included, act. A lot of the time it seems that if they aren't cosplaying and you aren't hot, the FGC doesn't want shit to do with girls.
It also seems to be more of a problem in the US than the EU, there's a fairly decent proportion of chicks in the UK scene I believe. I know one of them fucking bodied me online a few times, she had her mike on and was really nice. While blowing my fucking back out, but still. Geordie I think.
(sorry I really had to)
