Hegemonic Masculinity Analysis

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.

Author A.B. Harris declares a call to action in his article “Average Gamers Please Step Forward” published in 2012 as he talks about the how gamers shouldn’t settle for how the Entertainment Software Association put the average gamer into a box, Harris (2017) declares that the average gamers are far more credible and intelligent than the perceived demographics suggest (pg.503). He starts to build a bond between himself and the reader by connecting himself with the audience and asserting himself as one of them who all want the same thing, to “change the mainstream” (Harris, 2012, p.506) and show non-gamers they are more than over-sexed male adolescents with a penchant for violence (Harris, 2012, p.504). Harris uses his personal values and experiences

As video games become more and more popular, we will inevitably see an increase in amount of video games being produced. The growth in popularity of video games is facilitated by the creation of a website known as Twitch.com. This website allows gamers and content creators to stream themselves playing video games online and interact directly with a live audience via chat. This new platform makes gaming both more accessible and more acceptable. The social stigmas that accompany video games are diminishing; in fact there has been an increase in competitive electronic sports as well. Logically, the growing interest in video games encourages programmers to make more and more games. Melinda Burgess et al presents an interesting perspective about video games. She explores the prevalence of racial stereotypes and how their effects are detrimental to society as a whole. In Burgess’s essay, “Playing with Prejudice: The Prevalence and Consequences of Racial Stereotypes in Video Games”, she provides fantastic commentary on how top selling video games show “overt racial stereotyping” (Lunsford et al 551) and negatively affect how we think. By providing statistics and data about the videogames that she is critiquing, she effectively shows that there is may be a correlation between video games and how we think and interact with the world around us.

1. Drawing on Webster 2007, explain what is meant by the following concepts: 1) hegemonic masculinity, 2) protest masculinity, and 3) complicit masculinity

According to several sources around 42% of the American population plays video games, and around 1.2 billion people worldwide play video games today. Gaming has become an increasingly more popular hobby since its creation. As such the medium has obviously attracted a multitude of different people and groups, all consisting of diverse backgrounds, body types, sexes, races, nationalities and the like. However, contrary to the numerous demographics video games have come to attract, it is very evident the vast majority of them do not seem to be marketed toward many of them via game characters, and their importance, if any, in a game. Video games show an overwhelming amount of white male characters, despite the many demographics they reach. Of the characters that are not white, or male, that are represented, are often represented poorly. For example, many black characters represented in video games are often characterized as vulgar, and violent. Women represented in games are often characterized as support characters, or objects of sexual desire. Considering forms of sexism, racism, and other such types of prejudices are still prominent in modern society, and these representations obviously do not help how people see these marginalized groups. Ultimately, these representations, or lack thereof, affect people in society in a number of ways, by perpetuating prejudice and harmful stereotypes.

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

Subcultures are male-dominated, a space for working class boys to gain status by exalting their masculinity where they can have access to power, status, and prestige. As a result, subcultures glorify traits associated with males such as toughness, delinquency and bravery all the while demeaning traits associated with femininity. This phenomenon is known as the cult of masculinity, which puts females into a “structured secondariness”. There is a male privilege among subculturists because of this cult of masculinity. Nerd masculinity in online gaming encompasses both a critique and reinforcement of the hegemonic masculinity. Female nerds have more difficulty in fitting in because they are stereotyped as unattractive and face more negative

In today’s society video games play a huge role in male’s lives, about ninety- nine percent of boys play video games. Males tend to spend numerous amounts of hours and days playing these games, so the impact these have on a male's life should come as no surprise. In the film The Mask You Live In, by Jennifer Newsom, the movie shows how on average boys spend fifteen hours a week playing video games. That's a large portion of their time. Majority of the video games the boys play show negative behavior towards women.

Wingfield initiates his essay by including Anita Sarkeesian’s experience to hook his readers and to get his audience to understand the intensity of this issue. Wingfield then transitions to explaining the campaign of #Gamergate and how the attacks of women stem from things that had previously happened by saying “They arise from larger changes in the video game business that have redefined the audience for its products, expanding it well beyond the traditional young, male demographic” (5). Wingfield uses this quote to provide his audience with the history of where this behavior is coming from and as a cue to his audience about his main point, which is discussed later on in his essay. Finally, Wingfield concludes his essay by including a quote by Kate Edwards, “an executive director of the Game Developers Association” referring to males in the gaming industry: “The entire world around them has changed, whether they realize it or not, they’re no longer special in that way. Everyone is playing games” (21-22).

Hegemonic masculinity represent a structure of dominance and oppression in the gender order. This masculinity is socially and culturally endorsed by the society (as noted by Robyn and Wendy) and its granted men benefit in terms of public status and privileges. A fundamental elements of hegemonic masculinity is that women are subordinate to men. Though it is not all men that practice this, but they all benefit from it.

In the mini-series of three twenty-three to twenty-six minute episodes, Anita Sarkeesian explains in full, attentive detailing, the tropes embedded in video games since the very beginning of the Video Game era. The mini-series uses a systemic, big picture outlook to ultimately examine the plots and designs in video games to explain why women have always been objectified in video games. The most well-known way the female character is objectified is through a video game is by placing her in a Damsel in Distress position, woman in the refrigerator position, or any other position that creates a trope. In the mini-series description, Sarkeesian also states that even though critical analysis of the video games will be done, it is certainly probable

I started off the presentation by drawing from Royal’s (2008) article on Framing the Internet: A Comparison of Gendered Spaces. I explained how the Internet is not as equalizing as it seemed in it’s early days, as it in fact represents much of the same gender issues we see in the offline world. Royal’s article emphasizes this point, so I used it as a jumping off point for my case study. I think this was a useful way to begin discussion on the gendered spaces of online video games because it is important to understand and

When you think of the average gamer who comes to mind? On television you probably see some over-weight and unemployed guy who is living in the basement of his parents’ house. The visual discourse in this is that only males are gaming “nerds” and that there is no place in the field for women. The group called The Fine Young Capitalists (TFYC) try to change that narrative with a contest of their own allowing women to create their own ideas for games. Some disturbing contradictions came out of their mission, and it was criticized by game developer Zoë Quinn.

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.