Women and videogames: blog tasks

 Part 1: Reading - Is Female Representation in Video Games Finally Changing?

Read this short Medium feature on whether female representation in videogames is finally changing. Answer the following questions:

1) How have women traditionally been represented in videogames and what percentage of the video game audience is female?

Women have been represented as damsels in distress and are often sexualised. 42% of gamers are female.

2) What recent games have signalled a change in the industry and what qualities do the female protagonists offer?

Some of the recent games which have signalled a change are Tomb raider, Horizon: Zero Dawn, The last of us etc.

3) Do you agree with the idea that audiences reject media products if they feel they are misrepresented within them?

I would agree to an extent because if they do not feel like they are represented with the game then they would not be able to identify with the characters which would make the game boring.


And now read this short Protocol feature on Anita Sarkeesian's talk to the Game Developers Conference in 2022. This covered the progress in gender representation in videogames and references Horizon Zero Dawn and Forbidden West. Answer the following questions:

1) How does Sarkeesian say things have changed in the videogames industry in the last 10 years? 

She talks about how little the gaming industry has changed over the last 10 years. She also voices her views on feminism and the representation of women in video games.

2) Why is gaming still male dominated? Make sure your answer here includes the statistics quoted in the article. 

Gaming studios mostly comprise of male developers whereas females make up 24% of staff.

3) How has the conversation shifted on representation in videogames? 

There is a higher focus on the representation of women and feminism when it comes to videogames and Sarkeesian is a prime example of this.

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 women to be treated equally to men.

Patriarchy: The ideology that there is male dominance in society.

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

She discovered a lack of diversity within the feminism movement and she also realised that diverse voices were being discounted or unheard.

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

Aspects of focus are the idea that women are not equal to men and that Gender, race, sex and ethnicity should be looked at.

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

It refers to the overlapping of social identities and related systems of oppression, domination and/or discrimination.

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

Zoonen suggests that there is a strong relationship between gender roles and the mass media but that the mass media contributes to a lot of the stereotypes in gender.

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?

This refers to the idea of Baudrillard's media-isation and it refers to the idea that gender is a construct made from a set of people in order to perform certain activities in society.

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

Some feminists would view magazines as oppressive and overly sexualising of womens bodies. They create a male gaze and I would agree with this because it places women in a vulnerable position to be looked at by audiences.

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?

One of Gauntletts 3 theories is that things change over time thus linking to the idea that gender may change over time. This can be seen in the modern day where there is more equality within work roles and now there are more stay at home dads than before.

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

Her 5 aspects are: Whether the institution is commercial or public, The platform upon which they operate, Genre, target audiences and 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?

Staurt halls reception theory.

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?

Thic can be linked to bell hooks intersectionality.

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?

bell hooks talks about intersectionality and how multiple factors need to be looked into before exploring feminism.