Women and videogames: blog tasks

 

1) What was Gamergate?

It revolved around accusations made by an indie developer’s former boyfriend, who claimed she traded sex for favourable reviews f her game.

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

Accusations of changing ethnicities and sexualities in order to relate to "woke" ideology.

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

It argues that diversity isn’t being imposed on the games; instead, it is developing authentically as the gaming audience itself becomes more diverse.

Part 2: Further Feminist Theory: Media Factsheet

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

Feminism is defined as a movement striving for equality between women and men socially, politically and economically.

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

She wrote it because she saw mainstream feminism lacking representation and excluding many women, particularly those who were poorer or women of colour, leaving them further marginalised.

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

Hooks critiques the idea that equality with men should be the ultimate feminist aim, claiming that not all men possess equal power due to factors like race or sexuality.

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

Intersectionality refers to overlapping social identities that can result in power or discrimination. Hooks asserts that gender cannot be examined in isolation for instance, poor Black women often share more experiences with poor Black men than with wealthy white women.

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

She argued that media research had largely overlooked feminism and that mass media is central in constructing and spreading ideas about 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 means society, often through the media, shapes our beliefs about what is “masculine” or “feminine.” This idea connects to Judith Butler’s theory that gender is performed according to social expectations.

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

Some feminists argue that these magazines exaggerate traditional femininity and push women toward consumerism by implying they need certain products to appear more feminine. Others say they now provide a range of identities rather than fixed.

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?

Stuart Hall also argues that meanings shift with cultural and historical context and thety are not fixed. For example, modern adverts often show both men and women doing household/domestic chores, whereas older adverts typically featured only women.

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 media form or platform it uses (e.g. print vs. digital)

• The type of genre

• The targetaudience

• How the media product fits into the everyday life of its audience

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

Laura Mulvey’s male gaze theory, especially regarding male-targeted content, and Stuart Hall’s ideas on dominant, negotiated and oppositional readings both connect well to van Zoonen’s work.

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?

It ties into Stuart Hall’s encoding/decoding model, where media texts embed dominant ideologies that audiences often unconsciously accept. It also links to the hypodermic needle model, which views audiences as passive recipients of media messages.

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 likewise argues that power dynamics are shaped by other factors such as race, class and sexuality, so gender alone cannot explain oppression.