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Examples of sexism within videogames
Examples of sexism within videogames
Negative effects of gender stereotypes in video games
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Electronics, social networking, and video games are all outlets as ways for today’s society to drive off boredom or express themselves un-anonymously or anonymously. The use of electronics and social networks have become deeply embedded into today’s culture. Going without Facebook, Twitter, or an iPhone/phone is unusual by current standards in developed countries. With the fact that electronics and social networking have become the norm, using electronics and social networks as catalysts, video games and gaming have become a norm in today’s generation. A vast amount of males and a minute amount of females play video games throughout the world constantly. Looking at gender in a binary fashion, there are stark differences between the male and female audiences for video games. Similarly to the audience of a game, there are vast differences in the ideals that the video game industry puts onto male and female characters; protagonist and supporting. Acknowledging that there are differences in the audience and industry portrayal of genders, video gaming is considered pre-dominantly a male orientated activity. The sexualization of a female “strong” protagonist, the representation and heavy participation of male audience and characters, and the use of video games as an escape from a “feminine” world, all point to the idea of a “masculine” dominated field.
Video gaming can be considered to be a pre-dominantly male orientated activity due to the fact that there are more male players than female. Female players make up about 39% of the audience, but “[although] the [Entertainment Software Association] boasts that women make up 39% of video game players, sizable gender differences have been found in studies of children’s video game play habit...
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...ch 31.5 (2004): 499-523. Print.
Ogletree, Shirley Matile, and Ryan Drake. "College Students’ Video Game Participation and Perceptions: Gender Differences and Implications." Sex Roles 56.7-8 (2007): 537-42. Print.
Sanford, Kathy, and Leanna Madill. "Resistance Through Video Game Play: It's A Boy Thing." 2013. Men's Lives. By Michael S. Kimmel and Michael A. Messner. 9th ed. New York: Pearson, 2006. 509-19. Print.
Williams, D., N. Martins, M. Consalvo, and J. D. Ivory. "The Virtual Census: Representations of Gender, Race and Age in Video Games." New Media & Society 11.5 (2009): 815-34. Print.
Yee, Nick. "Maps of Digital Desires: Exploring the Topography of Gender and Play in Online Games." Beyond Barbie and Mortal Kombat: New Perspectives on Gender and Gaming. Ed. Yasmin B. Kafai, Carrie Heeter, Jill Denner, and Jennifer Y. Sun. Cambridge, MA: MIT, 2011. 83-96. Print.
... never concretely relates to video games it is only normally assumed. many believe that video games only impact male players through these violent outburst yet a lot of research suggest that the misconceptions regarding video games such as decrease in academics, increased aggression, and a decrease in respect for women is often situation based and rare at that. it has been shown however the video games increase an individual's spatial performance. As is said in the article Gender Disparity in Video Game Usage: A Third-Person Perception-Based Explanation,
Grand Theft Auto IV promotes hetronormative hierarchical distinctions between feminity and masculinity through its framing of female and male bodies, its presentation of females as objects of the male gaze and its encouragement of players to adopt and act out a hypermasculine role. It is of vital importance that we do not exclude race, gender or sexuality from discussions of videogames, because as Leonard (2006, pp. 84) asserts, doing so ‘contributes to problematic, if not faulty, understandings of video games and their significant role in contemporary social, political, economic, and cultural organization.’ Instead as players we must engage in discussion regarding videogames and, as Jenkins writes, we must ‘find a way to move beyond our existing categories and to once again invent new kinds of virtual play spaces’ (1999, pp.
The history of video games began in early 1950s, and it continued in development until today. video games gained popularity as movies and T.V shows, and like movies which producers focus on the story plot, each character role, and the way they are being represented, videogames have the same concerns, especially character 's role and, representation, because most of players will not care about the game’s story, they just want to have fun playing the game, but the player will play as a character, or meet other characters from various gender, and that what make game designers care about the gender and, characters representation. and by the way of presenting gender, it will control the number of players of both genders, because it could connect to their life. games industry made researches about what both genders want in their game,
Reinhard, Carrie L. "Hypersexualized Females in Digital Games: Do Men Want Them, Do Women Want to Be Them?"Department of Communications. 2006. Print.
Since the humble origins of the video gaming industry, individuals used it as a challenge of their abilities. In modern day, this industry is just a popular as any other media which exists in the mainstream world. Video games reflect society’s changing views of the normalities of which individuals and/or groups must abide to. This is exemplified in the evolving representation of the queer individuals within the virtual world. As the video game industry came into focus, so did the LGBT rights movement. This illustrates that society’s views on the LGBT community were reflected in the video games made, however, it was rare that such characters existed as protagonists until the twenty first century. Due to the extreme lack of asexual and non-binary
Not every video game causes post game aggression, but documented in his article, “Players who enacted in-game violence through a heroic character exhibited less postgame aggression than players who enacted comparable levels of in-game violence through an antiheroic character” (Sauer 205). As a graduate of Radboud University, Isabela Granic brings to light the reasons why the youth actually benefit from playing violent video games. For example, in her article, “The Benefits of Playing Video Games,” Granic illustrates the fact that children gain social skills, highly efficient motor skills, and the understanding of the human body as a whole. Noted by the author, “Whereas adolescents and adults often use self-disclosure and direct discussion with close friends to resolve emotional issues, children use play to work them out through pretend-based narratives enacted either alone or with others” (Granic 67).
This journal article is entirely credible and written by two women who know what they’re talking about. This article discusses how video games form stereotypes about both genders and that they impact both gamers and non-gamers. Men are portrayed as aggressive and women are unsurprisingly portrayed as sex objects. A main issue with this is that video games are mostly played by the younger generation meaning these are the ideas being imbedded into the youth of the world. The...
Bissell, Tom. "Extra Lives: “Why Video Games Matter.” They Say / I Say 2nd Ed. Birkenstein, Cathy, Russel Durst, and Gerald Graff New York: W.W. Norton & Company, (2012). 349-361. Print.
Many video games portray women as objectified beings, purely used for sex appeal and to attract the larger male gamer population. We also see men idealised in a similar way as well – the males in video games are portrayed as muscly, brawny men. However, we rarely see a scantily clad man in a game, but there is a vast abundance of games which feature women wearing ‘sexy armour’, or a noticeable lack of substantial amount of clothing. This isn’t female-friendly as these games are made for men, causing women to feel alienated and uncomfortable.
Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 2014. Olson, C.K., Kutner, L.A., & Warner, D.E. The role of violent video game content in adolescent development: Boys’ perspectives. Journal of Adolescent Research, January 2008, pp. 55-75.
From this, it concludes that the media and online gaming can create and reinforce gendered behaviors. These video games affect the child's identity and their perception of others. In conclusion, the video games that contain sexual themes become more graphically portrayed. And the video games that use Damsel and Distress plots reduce women to a state of victimhood. The way female characters’ dress in the videogame reinforced gender-role stereotypes.
3. “Video Games” by Chris Jozefowics. Published by Gareth Stevens Publishing 2010. Pleasantville, NY 10570-70000 USA. Produced by Editorials Directions Inc.
Social scientists have been examining the effect that video games have on behavior. From the introduction of video games in the 1980s, there have been numerous research studies to this effect (Andersen & Taylor, 2008). The issue has become even more significant in the modern context because these video games have become bloodier and more realistic than ever before. Even though boys play these games more than girls in America, the consumption of video games has generally been high. Carey (2013) indicates that 32% of these gamers are below the age of 18. Therefore, it would be crucial to evaluate the effects that these video games have on the behavior of such children.
Gaming has long been considered a male-dominated activity. There have been numerous scientific studies conducted to analyze the impact video games have on an individual and vice versa, however one of the most common discussions concerning the gaming community is sexism. With today’s growing audience and the popularity of smart phone gaming, it is a mystery as to why gaming has managed to keep its male-minded stereotypes. Most games reflect the sexist gender roles imposed upon gamers by society, however today’s response is a heated protest, some more dramatic than others. Most gamers are demanding more female protagonists, and developers are listening, but it’s a slow climb to equality in the world of pixels and fantasy. Let us discuss the surrounding influences of the video game community, some setbacks and remarkable breakthroughs in diversifying, and the ways gamers shape the games they play.
In a society driven by technology, video games are becoming more popular each and everyday. People of all ages enjoy video games in their free time; these games allow the player to become an athlete, a soldier, or a professional fighter at the tip of their fingers. The biggest problem with these video games is that they are becoming too violent. In today’s society, children often brag about the new video game they bought, and the number of people they have managed to kill while playing these games. Video games have become realistic, causing them to intrigue a larger amount of children. Many of these violent video games encourage killing and fighting of enemies, or strangers in the game. Each year a new game system, and hundreds of video games are released, and millions of kids go out and buy them and spend hours playing. Video games have a large effect on school performance and time spent with family. Children would prefer to play their games than sit down and talk with their parents (Saleem, 2012).