Women in video games & Further feminist theory

 Part 1: Background reading on Gamergate

Read this Guardian article on Gamergate 10 years on. Answer the following questions:

1) What was Gamergate? 

It was a harassment campaign that included all women working in the video game development and gaming press, as well as the industry's LQBTQ+ community 

 
2) What is the recent controversy surrounding narrative design studio Sweet Baby Inc? 

A group with more than 200,000 followers on PC games storefront Steam, as well as thousands in a Discord chat channel, believes that Sweet Baby Inc is secretly forcing game developers to change the bodies, ethnicities and sexualities of video game characters to conform to “woke” ideology. 

3) What does the article conclude regarding diversity in videogames?

Nobody is forcing diversity into video games, it is happening naturally as the gamers and game developers themselves diversify. And Gameragte didn't intimidate omen out f vide games then and women still will not tolerate intimidation now. A wider range if people involved in the gaming industry is good for diversity and creativity , this time the industry must show its support for these people - no matter what a few aggrieved players may think. 

Part 2: Further Feminist Theory: Media Factsheet

Use our Media Factsheet archive on the M: drive Media Shared (M:\Resources\A Level\Media Factsheets) or here using your Greenford Google login. Find Media Factsheet #169 Further Feminist Theory, read the whole of the Factsheet and answer the following questions:

1) What definitions are offered by the factsheet for ‘feminism ‘and ‘patriarchy’?

Feminist - a movement that aims for women's equality and to be treated equally to men - socially, economically and politically. it does not focus on 'hating' men or believing that they are superior   

Patriarchy - a male dominated society 

2) Why did bell hooks publish her 1984 book ‘Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center’?

She argued that there is a the lack of diversity in the feminist movement and that these marginalised groups ned to be heard. 

3) What aspects of feminism and oppression are the focus for a lot of bell hooks’s work?

hooks challenged feminists to consider gender’s relation to sex, race,

class and intersectionality

4) What is intersectionality and what does hooks argue regarding this?

Intersectionality - the term is used t describe overlapping and intersecting social identities and related systems of oppression, domination or discrimination. 

hooks argued that experiences of class, gender, sexuality etc cannot be completely understood if the influences of racialisation are not considered, and that understanding intersectionality is vital to gain political and social equality, as well as improving our democratic system. 

5) What did Liesbet van Zoonen conclude regarding the relationship between gender roles and the mass media?

Van Zoonen concludes that there is a strong relationship between gender (stereotypes, pornography and ideology) and communication, but it is also the mass media that leads to much of theobservable gender identity structures in advertising, film and TV.

6) Liesbet van Zoonen sees gender as socially constructed. What does this mean and which other media theorist we have studied does this link to?

Gender as a social construct means that society coherently labelled certain aspects of life to lie within the binaries of male and female, therefore the ways in which men and women are supposed to act are contracted to fit within the binaries of society. David Gauntlett links to this as he says that "identity is fluid" meaning that people do not have to stick to the binaries in which society believes they fall into, Judith Butler extends a similar message, with "gender is a performance" - therefore people 'act' how they believe men and women are supposed to act in the society that live in. It is important to note that these performances change when culture, ethnicity and religion is considered. 

7) How do feminists view women’s lifestyle magazines in different ways? Which view do you agree with?

Feminists have criticised women’s magazines as commercial sites of exaggerated femininity which serve to pull women into a consumer culture on the promise that the products they buy will alleviate their own bodily insecurities and low self-esteem. 

Feminists of the 1970s saw the ‘media-created woman’ – the wife, mother, housekeeper,

sex object – as a person only trying to be beautiful for men.

Van Zoonen argues that women’s magazines mediate images that tell women “how to be a perfect mother, lover, wife, homemaker, glamorous accessory, secretary – whatever suits the needs of the system”.

8) In looking at the history of the colours pink and blue, van Zoonen suggests ideas of gender can evolve over time. Which other media theorist we have studied argues things evolve over time and do you agree that gender roles are in a process of constant change? Can you suggest examples to support your view?

Gauntlett argues that "things change over time", regarding sexuality and gender. I do believe gender roles are in a state of constant change as the more open society becomes with the fluidity of sexuality. An example from the media is more representation of the LQBTQ+ community beyond those of the gay and lesbian orientations. There are now a larger representation of transgender characters is the media, as well as non-binary, asexuality, pansexuallity and more. The media is no longer putting people in the binary of gay, lesbian and straight but exploring the fluidity of sexuality. There is also a rise in more GLs(girls love AKA lesbian romance shows) which are catching up with the production of BLs(boys love AKA. gay romance shows), showing a cultural shift in the acceptance of womens' sexuality that does not surround men. 

9) What are the five aspects van Zoonen suggests are significant in determining the influence of the media?

Whether the institution is commercial or public

• The platform upon which they operate (print versus digital media)

• Genre (drama versus news)

• Target audiences

• The place the media text holds within the audiences’ daily lives

10) What other media theorist can be linked to van Zoonen’s readings of the media?

bell hooks' Intersectional Feminism: Van Zoonen's ideas are often discussed alongside hooks' work, which demands consideration of race, class, and sexuality alongside gender in media representation, challenging the monolithic view of "woman" or "man". 

Stuart Halls' Reception Theory: While Van Zoonen focuses on production and representation, her work acknowledges that audiences interpret these constructed gender norms differently, linking to reception theory's focus on how audiences decode media messages (e.g., men vs. women viewing eroticized male bodies).

Cultivation Theory (George Gerbner): Like Cultivation Theory, Van Zoonen suggests media's cumulative exposure gradually shapes our worldview, but her focus is specifically on how this shapes our understanding and expectations of gender roles and identities.

Stuart Hall's Representation Theory: Van Zoonen builds on Hall's idea that media doesn't reflect reality but constructs it, arguing that gender is a key category within these constructions, heavily influenced by patriarchal power structures.

11) Van Zoonen discusses ‘transmission models of communication’. She suggests women are oppressed by the dominant culture and therefore take in representations that do not reflect their view of the world. What other theory and idea (that we have studied recently) can this be linked to?

Judith Butlers' theory that gender is a performance, whereby women are artificially acting out what they think a woman should be in the eyes of society, not who they actually are or even what they believe a woman should genuinely be. 

12) Finally, van Zoonen has built on the work of bell hooks by exploring power and feminism. She suggests that power is not a binary male/female issue but reflects the “multiplicity of relations of subordination”. How does this link to bell hooks?

hooks suggests in her intersectionality feminist theory that black women are at the bottom of the hierarchy pyramid and are subordinate to their white female counterparts because of the power associated with the white race and are subordinates to their black male counterparts on account of the subordination of women.  

A/A* Extension tasks: TED talk

Finally, if you’re interested in some of these ideas, there is plenty more reading and watching you can do. For example, watch this TEDx talk by renowned Nigerian/American novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie ‘We should all be feminists’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hg3umXU_qWc

A/A* Extension tasks: Anita Sarkeesian Gamespot interview
If you're interested in this topic and aiming for a top grade, read this Gamespot interview with Anita Sarkeesian of Feminist Frequency and think about some of the following questions:

What reaction did Anita Sarkeesian receive when she published her videos on women in videogames? You can find more information on this on Sarkeesian’s Kickstarter fundraising page.

How does Sarkeesian summarise feminism?

How has the videogame landscape changed with regards to the representation of women?

What is the impact of the videogames industry being male-dominated?

Finally, to find out more about the online backlash and #gamergate, this Guardian feature links the online abuse to the American alt-right movement also credited with electing Donald Trump.