The trouble with Games Workshop.
When I first got into GW I was the "girlfriend" of a gamer. As a fantasy and sci-fi buff well before I met him as well as an art student I was over whelmed with this world of amazing stories and cool games. However to be part of this world it became apparent early on that "girlie" girls were not welcome. In fact you could only participate at all if you were the silent snack bringer (hello, not something I was ever going to be) or if you became "one of the boys". You were subject to stares, hostility, "banter" (verbal abuse dressed as jokes) but once they find out your "one of the boys", you're be fine ish.
I lost all my armies to my ex about 16 years ago, I never really had the money or time to go back.
Since then I have seen something, looked at GW through a different light and while there are some staff members who are wonderful, there is something very, very wrong with GW.
Child as young as eight are often left in GW on weekends and holidays to play. The first army they are exposed to, and the first game is usually 40K. All hail the Emperor?
Women are either sexualized demons (literally) or virgin nuns with guns, or just not there at all.
Male is perfect and order, and strength and female is not.
The mind is superior, emotion is weakness.
The odd female might be here or there but gender neutral is as close to "female" as it gets.
This fuels this toxic environment of "boys club" to an extreme. Boys (and girls) who are too young to distinguish between the ideals of a fictional place and reality are exposed to some pretty horrific ideas about what is "male" and "good". In the desire to create brand loyalty they create a geek/nerd cult and it's values are extremely ugly. This mentality persists all the way back to head office (the Vatican of GW).
The "boys club" is cruel to those they feel do not measure up, who fail their targets or just are not "right" and work place bullying is extremely common (not that anyone can complain) but I have known several people who have or work there (all men) who get paid much less than they are worth (often if plastic) to suffer abuse all day long (but, you know, it's banter).
My issues is that it's a games company, you know, fun, games? Play?
Children, especially boys who might not fit into societies cultural norms of "maleness" are often drawn to GW and instead of finding and antidote to toxic masculinity they are given a different brand. This mentality affects the geek/nerd community as a whole because is usually the first place they go. If misogyny, gynophobia and ever narrowing parameters for masculinity are where you join your community it colours everything that comes after.
This means it "weeds out" girls that won't be "one of the boys" and leads young men to grow up thinking this kind of culture is "theirs" and worth rape and death threats to anyone who wants to change it.
There are so many female and gender non-binary people who miss out (and GW loses there money) because of this culture in and around their games and stores.
Girls don't need pink armies, (unless they want one) but they deserve equal representation in a multiverse of games and stories. Ones where they are not hypersexualized devouring beasts or virgins serving "The One". Female space marines could be an actual thing, no special armour (it doesn't need boobs). An interesting story, a new codex, something. (Sister's of Battle are not in power armour, they are the Faith Militant of the Imperial Guard, they are not the same).
The problem is they don't think there is a problem. If you are not "brand loyal" you can't work for GW, so no-one from outside can voice the "hello, 21st century calling" because it has been bullied out of them since they started playing! It's such a shame because it does teach maths, encourage reading, and gets shy kids to talk to one another, if only they could make equal space at the table for the other half of the human population. Certain nerdy companies are thriving right now and they don't have a cult-like might set to do it. I can not sing the praises of Hasbro/Wizards of the Coast for the cool stuff they are doing right now. They too started with women being more objects than person, but they changed, grew and grew up making D&D inclusive and fun for girls, boys and gnomish bards.
