MGibster
Legend
I honestly don't know how significant the art of earlier editions was in regards to how many women and girls played Dungeons & Dragons three decades ago. TSR certainly made efforts to market to women as they make an appearance in print and television ads during the 70s, 80s, and 90s. I suspect there were more reasons D&D largely remained the domain of middle class adolescent white males throughout that time period.
But I can't dismiss that the artwork might have been a part of the reason why D&D was largely male dominated. I refused to purchase many of the d20 splat books produced by Avalanche Press in the early 2000s specifically because of their cheesecake covers. As I said earlier, I'm a context kind of person. The covers of these supplements offended me not because they showed a lot of skin or because of their poses but because the cover of an RPG supplement wasn't the right context for those illustrations.
But I can't dismiss that the artwork might have been a part of the reason why D&D was largely male dominated. I refused to purchase many of the d20 splat books produced by Avalanche Press in the early 2000s specifically because of their cheesecake covers. As I said earlier, I'm a context kind of person. The covers of these supplements offended me not because they showed a lot of skin or because of their poses but because the cover of an RPG supplement wasn't the right context for those illustrations.