Videogames: Women in videogames & Further feminist theory

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?
Traditionally, women in video games have often been portrayed in stereotypical and limiting roles, either as sexualized objects or damsels in distress.

2) What recent games have signalled a change in the industry and what qualities do the female protagonists offer?
Recent games, such as Tomb Raider, Horizon: Zero Dawn, Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, The Last of Us, Dragon Age: Inquisition, and The Walking Dead series, signify a positive change in the industry.


3) Do you agree with the idea that audiences reject media products if they feel they are misrepresented within them?
I do not think that audiences will reject media products because of misrepresentations, I only think that women will tend to reject them, not all but most.


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? 

According to Anita Sarkeesian, over the last 10 years, the video game industry has undergone both significant progress and persistent challenges.

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

Despite the progress, Sarkeesian highlights that gaming remains male-dominated. She humorously notes that the top-selling games a decade ago (Call of Duty, Halo, and Madden) are still dominating the charts in 2021.

3) How has the conversation shifted on representation in videogames? 
Anita Sarkeesian observes a positive shift in the conversation regarding representation in video games. She notes that it's no longer taboo to voice feminist critiques of video games and industry culture.

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: Feminism is a movement advocating for equality for women in social, economic, and political realms.

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

bell hooks published "Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center" in 1984 to address the lack of diversity within the feminist movement.

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

bell hooks focuses on challenging the traditional feminist goal of making all women equal to men, emphasising that not all men are equal due to factors such as oppression, sexuality, and ethnicity.

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

hooks stresses that understanding intersectionality is vital for achieving political and social equality. She argues that overlooking the influences of racialization hinders the understanding of experiences related to class, gender, sexuality

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

van Zoonen links gender roles closely with mass media, highlighting how media contribute to observable gender identity structures in advertising, film, and TV. She suggests that media mediate images that prescribe societal roles for women.

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?

van Zoonen sees gender as socially constructed, meaning it is not a fixed property of individuals but a part of an ongoing process influenced by cultural structures.

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

Feminists view women's lifestyle magazines differently. Some may critique these magazines as commercial sites reinforcing exaggerated femininity and pulling women into consumer culture. Others might appreciate them as spaces where women can find pleasure and express their identities.

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?

van Zoonen's work aligns with Stuart Hall's encoding/decoding model. She builds on Hall's idea of negotiated readings, emphasizing that gender construction is a social process where women and men actively engage in decoding and interpreting media messages.

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

van Zoonen discusses transmission models of communication where women are portrayed as oppressed by the dominant culture in media messages. This idea links to the Marxist concept of false consciousness, where individuals may adopt beliefs that do not reflect their actual social and economic interests.

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

Van Zoonen's emphasis on gender construction within media aligns with Stuart Hall's encoding/decoding model. Both theorists explore how meanings are produced, encoded, and decoded in media messages.

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?

This idea can be linked to the concept of the "male gaze" introduced by Laura Mulvey. The transmission model aligns with Mulvey's argument that women often passively consume media produced from a male perspective.

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?

van Zoonen suggests that power in feminism is not a binary male/female issue but reflects the "multiplicity of relations of subordination." This aligns with bell hooks' emphasis on considering multiple intersecting factors such as race and class in understanding power dynamics within feminism. Both theorists highlight the complexity of power relations within various social contexts.