Women and videogames

Women and videogames: blog tasks

Part 1: Background reading on Gamergate

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

1) What was Gamergate? 

-Gamergate was a major online harassment campaign in 2014 targeting women and marginalized groups in the gaming industry. It began under the guise of concerns about "ethics in gaming journalism" but evolved into coordinated attacks on individuals, especially female game developers, journalists, and critics. The movement symbolised broader cultural battles about inclusion, diversity, and progressivism in gaming.

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

-It was accused of "forcing diversity" in video games.

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

-It writes about how nobody is forcing diversity into videogames as it is naturally placed by players and developers themselves.

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’?

-Feminism-a movement which aims for equality for women – to be treated as equal to men socially, economically, and politically. It is a movement that is focused not on ‘hating’ men, or suggesting that women are superior.

-Patriarchy-male dominance in society.

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

-As she had identified a lack of diversity within the feminist movement, and argued that these diverse voices had been marginalised, being put outside the main body of feminism.

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

-She focuses on the intersection of race, class, gender, and sexuality, challenging the feminist tendency to treat women as a homogeneous group

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

-Intersectionality is the overlapping or intersecting social identities and systems of oppression, domination, or discrimination that create a unique whole identity. hooks argues that intersectionality is crucial for understanding how various forms of oppression interact and must be considered to achieve social and political equality.

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

-Van Zoonen concluded that gender roles are heavily influenced by mass media.

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 is not fixed or inherent but is an ongoing process influenced by societal, cultural, and historical contexts. This links to Judith Butler’s idea that gender is preformative and shaped by societal norms and discourse.

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

-Feminist see magazines as a way to tell women how they must live their lives and i agree with this because they are constantly telling women how to dress,act or cook.

8) In looking at the history of the colours pink and blue, van Zoonen suggests ideas gender ideas 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?

-Gender is constantly changing

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

-Whether the media is commercial or public.

-The platform (print vs. digital).

-Genre (e.g., drama vs. news).

-Target audience.

-The role of media in audiences’ daily lives.

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

-Stuart hall where the encoding and decoding shows how consumers take a media product and what it actually means.

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?

-Bell Hooks intersectionality can be linked to how intersections of gender, race, class and sexuality to create a white supremacist capitalist patriarchy.