Women in videogames and further feminist theory

Part 1: Background reading on Gamergate

Read this Guardian article on Gamergate 10 years on. Answer the following questions:

1) What was Gamergate? 

Gamergate was an online harassment movement after a game developers ex boyfriend accused her of trading sex for good reviews.

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

Conspiracy theories about them forcing 'woke' ideas into modern video games by dictating developers character races, genders, and sexualities, and having influenced most major games of the last five years.

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

Diversity isn't being forced by anyone and it is just naturally increasing as the diversity of players and developers increases.


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 is described as a movement aiming for women to have equal social, economic and political treatment to men. It challenges the idea that men naturally hold more power. Patriarchy is the system of male dominance in society which restricts women’s equality.

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

She believed mainstream feminism lacked diversity and ignored the experiences of poor and non white women. 

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

Her work focuses on how gender, race, class and sexuality interact to shape oppression. She challenges the idea that all women share the same experiences and highlights the importance of acknowledging differences among women and how this impacts their experiences. 

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

Intersectionality refers to race, class and gender which must all be considered to shape a person’s oppression or privilege. Hooks argues that you cannot understand gender or class properly without considering racialisation.

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

She concluded that mass media plays a major role in constructing gender identities and reinforcing gender roles seen in advertising, film and television.

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?

It means gender is shaped by cultural and social factors rather than biology, and it changes across history and societies. This links to Butler, who also sees gender as constructed and fluid.

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

Some feminists see women’s magazines as promoting exaggerated femininity and pushing women towards consumerism based on insecurity. Others point out that women also take pleasure from these magazines. I somewhat agree with both points but I lean more towards the argument that it’s an attempt to capitalise on women’s insecurity. 

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 shows that gender ideas are not fixed by using the example that colours like pink and blue have changed their gender associations over history. I agree that gender roles are in constant change as we see more and more men staying home with children as their wives focus on their careers. 

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

Whether the media is commercial or public, the platform used, the genre, the intended audience, and how the media fits into people’s daily routines.

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

Van Zoonen can be linked to bell hooks as they both discuss how different races and classes experience media representations in unequal ways. 

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 could link to hyper reality as women are accepting representations that have little resemblance to real life but still influence how they see themselves. 

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 believes oppression differs depending on race, class and sexuality which means power isn’t a simple male/female divide. Van Zoonen develops this by saying power involves multiple relations of subordination, which directly links with hooks’ intersectional approach.