Heavy Metal Women

A more in-depth study may look at video games from a Marxist point of view, characterizing the games as a modern day “opiate of the masses” with multi-billion dollar corporations publishing the games to keep the proletariat occupied and oblivious to their plights. A feminist may cite the standard role of female video game characters as being the “damsel in distress” and even strong female characters usually being relegated to sex symbol status.

Given that association, this new study took a gander at whether exemplifying sexualized female symbols online changed ladies ' conduct. The Stanford scientists asked 86 ladies matured 18-40 to play utilizing either a sexualized symbol or a non-sexualized symbol (dressed provocatively or conservatively). At that point, specialists outlined some of those symbols to resemble the player encapsulating them. Those ladies who played utilizing sexualized symbols who seemed as though them were all the more tolerating of the assault myth, as indicated by the study. Subsequent to playing the diversion, ladies reacted to numerous inquiries with answers along a five-point scale (emphatically differ to firmly concur), including, "In the lion 's share or assaults, the casualty is indiscriminate or has a terrible notoriety." Those who played attractive symbols who looked like themselves will probably reply "concur" or "unequivocally concur" than those ladies who had non-hot symbols who did not seem as though them. Members were likewise requested that free compose their musings after the study. Those with sexualized symbols will probably self-generalize in their expositions after play. In spite of the fact that this is a little study and unquestionably not a conclusive response to the subject of how computer games influence female players, the outcomes do raise concerns. Upwards of 46% of gamers are ladies, and, as indicated by this examination, in a large portion of the most mainstream

In most video games, you will see that most female characters, if there are any in the game, are animated to be big breasted voluptuous women. A content analysis of images of video game characters from top-selling American gaming magazines showed that female characters are more likely than male characters to be portrayed as sexualized at a ratio of 60:1 (Dill 2). Games such as Soul Caliber and Tomb Raider are known for their display of female characters. Their female characters are on the top 10 list of the most ridiculous female bodies in video games. Common stereotypes of women include that they are whiney, wimpy, and needy.

As boys grow into men and girls grow into women the computer gaming industry begins to focus more on the male population. It is challenging to try and find a game that is not directed at men. The type of bias can simply be having a male figure that is designated as the player, this is a technique that The 7Th Guest employed, or a game that thrives on violence and has very little plot line. The one game that I came across that actually had

"Gamer" is a term that means someone who plays games like computer or video games. But nowadays, most people prefer not to use this term because of the stereotypical identity and label of ‘gamer’ in the society. In the article “Do You Identify As A Gamer? Gender, Race, Sexuality, and Gamer Identity”, Adrienne Shaw is trying to deconstruct the popular stereotype of the ‘gamer’, and she find that the identity as a gamer intersects with many factors, like gender, race, and sexuality.

Overall, it was found from my research that even with the emergence of next-generation systems and shifting landscapes in gaming, there is still a cultural perception of the gamer as white male. There are exceptions to this, which can be seen in many commercials that challenge our expectations of what a gamer might look like and how he or she might behave. Certainly, as time goes on, it’s been found that there is an increased inclusivity in terms of who might actually appear in these commercials. Some commercials have begun to play with and tease out these representations: the commercials of Call of Duty: Ghosts, for example, that featured a wide variety of players. While representations of the gamer have mostly stayed consistent, these examples pre-empt the beginnings of a shift, as the video game industry continues to diversify.

Breuer et al. (2015) conducted their study in Germany to see if sexist video games produced sexist gamers. Unlike some of the previous studies, this study had a very large sample size and was conducted in three separate 'waves' (wave 1 = 4,500 gamers; wave 2 = 2,199 gamers; wave 3 = 902 gamers). Like other studies, they used a survey to measure the degree of sexism of gamers; they had utilized computer-assisted telephone interviews (CATI) in the study. The results of the study found that there was little to no evidence that perceived sexist video games contributed to sexist attitudes among gamers, contrary to previous studies in this field. The authors concluded there was no cultivation effect of sexist attitudes present in video games.

Throughout the years, society has become more accepting of diverse topics and ideas. As society continues to evolve, numerous entertainments have turned to displaying a greater amount of minority groups. Although movies and television shows are rapidly progressing towards this trend, video games seem to be cautiously starting to accept these ideas. Most of the advertising in video games are promoted towards the male population. Despite the fact men have previously been the dominant demographic in this type of entertainment, women have increasingly become a major part of the video game audience. In creating video games in which portray the opposite gender in a realistic way is beneficial to not only the female players but also to the male. It is important to promote the creation of gender-appropriate video games due to it decreasing the amount of sexualization and violence against women which assists in women’s self-confidence and men’s treatment towards women.

Although videogames are an increasing area of academic interest and study, the gaming press, an influential paratext that contributes to the production of meaning in gaming culture, receives less attention. This research proposed the misogynistic attitudes and behaviours expressed during the controversial events of Gamergate in 2014 may be linked to videogame journalism propagating an ideology of hegemonic masculinity in gaming culture that has influenced its audience and ensured the expected ethical standards of journalistic content were not being adhered to. Framed by the theoretical principles of hegemonic masculinity and cultivation theory, and underpinned by the ethical responsibilities of journalists, an in depth content analysis of eight

Games like “Grand Theft Auto” and “Call Of Duty” have major potential to damage the ways young males perceive women. Young males are in fact the target audience by the industry for any game that they create. In these kinds of games they have designed women that are dressed degradingly and with unrealistic bodies. They have females dressed like prostitutes, whores, and porn stars, along in these games they condone violence directly at these girls and make it seem like it’s okay. The gaming industry knows that it’s degrading towards women but refuses to change and or do anything about it because “it’s too much work” or “women don't play these games so why does it matter to them?”. What the gaming industry doesn’t realize is that it doesn’t only matter to females it also matters to some males as well! There was a study done by Rosalind Wiseman, Charlie Kuhn and Ashly Burch. They happened to ask over 1,400 middle and high school students across the U.S. They asked both boys and girls how they felt about gender representation in video games, along with what kind of games they thought girls played. The findings were very surprising, 47 percent of the boys surveyed believe that women were far too often treated as sex objects in video game. "If women are objectified like this, it defeats the entire purpose of fighting," said an eighth-grader Theo of Mortal Kombat to the researchers. "I would respect the [female] character more for having some dignity."” (Burks)

The game was critically acclaimed by all and was praised for its protagonist’s appeal towards many people. The character herself has gone through many critiques as to her representation of a strong female role model, as well as her infamous sex appeal and as to whether or not it is identified as sexual empowerment or objectification. Regardless, the character of Lara Croft revolutionized how characters were written in video game narratives for the upcoming generations.

As video games is such a big medium, they are able to convey messages to the players in a more low-key way, gender representations and stereotyping are both big things that the video gaming industry can effectively play a big part in. Stereotyping refers to one group’s generalised and widely accepted perception about the personal attributes of members of another group (Ashmore & Boca, 1981; Dates & Barlow, 1990). Within most traditional media, gender and racial stereotypes are the most pervasive two. Increased distorted representation of women and minorities can have a negative effect on the way that the viewer sees that particular group. The way that video games are able to influence large masses is another reason to why it is able to be classified as a legitimate form of media. The definition of media as stated above being,“the main means of mass communication (television, radio, and newspapers) regarded collectively.”. Female characters have changed and evolved throughout the time of video games, the first ever playable female character in a mainstream game was created in 1986 and then another well known female character was created by 1996, and that one being the protagonist of Tomb Raider, Lara Croft. By 2014 it is now able to be chosen by the player in a collective of certain games to weather they play as male or female. It isn't uncommon to see a female characters in a video game to be over sexualised, much like mass media in todays age. Female characters are also commonly portrayed as a “damsel in distress”, and the male protagonist is usually the one to save her. Mass medias such as the news and newspapers have this in common with video games, making it out that females usually need some sort of male “hero” in their lives. There is a big push for more women to be involved in the creation of video games

Gender disparity in video games is a topic that both scholars and major gaming icons have discussed before. However, the topic recently resurfaced with the upsurging population of female gamers. The integration of females was a spectacle that caused a massive culture shock. Many members of the gaming community were unsure how to handle the change and took to discriminating females. While discrimination may seem unimportant, many scholars and icons believe it is a prominent factor of gender disparity: an environment which typically favors males, a hostile or “toxic” atmosphere, and repeated stereotypes all manifest certain behaviors of both genders that can cause a disparity to grow. Although some sources claim gender disparity is evident in gaming as a whole, others insist the novelty of female discrimination in video games is less prominent due to a more leveled percentage of male-to-females in gaming. However, both agreed that the competitive gaming community is a different story. Time and time again the competitive gaming community was mentioned for its exclusion of women due to biased and misogynistic members who sexualize and degrade females. These members believe women are inferiors that encroach on their territory with unskilled and seductive natures. Therefore, for the females in the gaming community, their actions will shape the future of women in the competitive gaming community. The change in female treatment is detrimental to gender disparity. Not only because

The portrayal of men and women in video games, as in other media, is a subject of research in gender studies. This topics is discuss in terms of sexism in video gaming. Especially, women are underrepresented or use as objectification in mainstream games. Women in video games are generally, as a rule of thumb, killed, raped, abused or rescued by the male heroes. This is extremely sad to see because the role of women in society is changing compare to ten years ago. Women has been proven themselves to be stronger and tough in different fields such as sports, politics, education but the representation hasn’t change.

Since the first video games were developed in the 1950 – the gaming industry haven’t looked back since. Throughout the century video games has gone through a huge development where the entire planet spend more than 3 billion hours a week playing video games. In the speech “Online Harassment and Cyber Mobs” Anita Sarkeesian, who is a female gamer, talks about the stereotypes of gaming. The type of people who don’t think women should be a part of the gamer world. A world, which is dominated by men and where online harassment of the other gender is something we see everyday. This is the stereotype Sarkeesian talks about and this is the stereotype she tries to get rid of.