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Gender in the media
Female representation in the media
Gender in the media
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The sun, that shines ever so brightly, wakes you from your deep slumber. It is noon. Exhilarating dreams of being a secret agent illuminates your mind, but cannot be expressed in the real world, so you close your window blinds. As you walk away from reality, a light bulb then appears above your head. You have an epiphany. You realize you can be the crime fighting, devious, secret agent you always wanted to be, but you must do one thing first—turn on the game console. You are now channeling yourself into a different world, where every fantasy you have ever had is considered normal. As you continue to dwell in your fantasy, you encounter a very submissive woman with enormous sized breasts, and other curvy features to match—features that then become expected in the real world. Although, there are others that disagree, this hypersexualization of female characters in video games is taking a toll on gamers, by portraying fantasy to be something real. Gamers are becoming more prone to objectifying, and expecting women in the real world to have unrealistic bodily features. Also, based on the negative connotation that these video games entail, females are discouraged to play such video games, because it leads to negative self-perceptions. Consequently, hypersexualizing female characters in video games should be discouraged because it teaches gamers to accept stereotypical views of women, desensitize them to interpersonal violence, and, worst of all, it causes female gamers to have negative self-perceptions. The depiction of female characters changes as technology advances, thus demonstrating as time progress, the more hypersexualized female characters become. In October 1958, Physicist, William Higinbotham invented what is known to be t... ... middle of paper ... ...Amanda."Orientations to Video Games Among Gender and Age Groups." Simulation & Gaming. 41.2 (2010): 238-259. Print. Ivory, James D. "Still a Man's Game: Gender Representation in Online Reviews of Video Games." Mass Communication & Society. 9.1 (2006): 103-114. Print. Kennedy, Helen. "Lara Croft: Feminist Icon or Cyberbimbo? On the Limits of Textual Analysis." The International Journal of Computer Game research. (2002). Print. Mulvey, Laura. "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema." Screen 16.3 autumn 1975 pp. 6-18. 1975.Print. Reinhard, Carrie L. "Hypersexualized Females in Digital Games: Do Men Want Them, Do Women Want to Be Them?"Department of Communications. 2006. Print. Smith, S.L., Lachlan, K.A., & Tamborini, R. (2003). "Popular Video Games: Quantifying the Presentation of Violence and its Context." Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media. 47 (1)
“Most reported effects of videogames – particularly in the popular press – appear to centre upon the alleged negative consequences… Research has consistently shown that playing computer games (irrespective of genre) produces reductions in reaction times, improved hand-eye co-ordination and raises players’ self-esteem,” (Griffiths p. 47), states Mark Griffiths in his article, “The educational benefits of videogames”. When people think of video games, they often tend to think about the negative side effects that video games can have on a person. Will Wright in his article, “Dream Machines” also defends video games by providing positive effects that video games have on those who play them. Wright presents
With countless inventions throughout the 20th century, audiences had a strong interest in technology and the amazing unpredictable future they present. On the other hand, technology, particularly after society witnessed the effects of WMD’s (weapons of mass destruction) in the World Wars, sparked fear and ethical concerns regarding technological abuse (The Levine Institute 2017). As such, in a society filled with innovative technology like televisions, SF filmmakers have been able to take advantage of these widespread worries and wonders and explore captivating themes in a fictional world free of racial, religious and political boundaries. Both Blade Runner and Lucy play on the concerns of audiences and portray a dysfunctional society dominated by dehumanising consumerism and technology. SF, which is viewed as a male-dominated genre, has also been heavily influenced by gender roles during the Golden Age of Science Fiction (1935-1956); a dry period following the World Wars that saw SF increase in popularity (Dirks 2017; Lilly Library 2010). During this time, females were seen as delicate housewives and were not encouraged to pursue science and maths, thus appearing uneducated in these areas (Coob 2005). Men, however, were strongly seen as science, mathematics and machinery lovers (Brewer 2017). As such, SF became a genre for male readers and male writers,
While beauty pageants, Barbie, and icons such as Marilyn Monroe present a more provocative and sexual image than standard 1950s sitcoms, such as Leave It to Beaver or I Love Lucy, they do still fit into a prescribed gender stereotype. Most significantly, do not challenge the overarching notion that women are to be feminine and aim to sexually please males (Meyerowitz 16). Rather, they present and support the culturally-defined understanding of the ideal woman, physically. 1950s beauty pageant contestants, Barbie, and Marilyn Monroe all embodied the ‘perfect women.’ These women, icons, and toys were voluptuous, but petite. They were small in frame, had larger breasts, full hips, and a tiny waist. Their hair was done in a very feminine style
Often in videogames female roles are over sexualized and over dramatized within the limited supportive roles that they play, often playing the role of the sidekick. When their the protagonist they’re reduced to nothing but sex icons to appeal to men. Often scantily dressed and a bust size within the D cup and up range. Characters like Lara Croft of the Tomb Raider Series debutting in 1996 and Bayonetta in her own series called Bayonetta which released in 2010. Yet even though they are far apart in terms of release they both feature a lead female role whom dresses in an obscene manner. Why is this? The simple truth is that sex sells, games with female characters with mini skirts and tight shirts generally manage to sell decently well. This causes an issue in the min...
Westford, Massachusetts: The Murray Printing Company. Company, 1978 Kulik, Sheila F. Home Page. 17 Feb. 2000 http://www.feminist.com/femfilm.html. Rosenberg, Jan. “Feminism in Film.”
Since the humble origins of the video gaming industry, individuals used it as a challenge of their abilities. In modern day, this industry is just a popular as any other media which exists in the mainstream world. Video games reflect society’s changing views of the normalities of which individuals and/or groups must abide to. This is exemplified in the evolving representation of the queer individuals within the virtual world. As the video game industry came into focus, so did the LGBT rights movement. This illustrates that society’s views on the LGBT community were reflected in the video games made, however, it was rare that such characters existed as protagonists until the twenty first century. Due to the extreme lack of asexual and non-binary
This journal article is entirely credible and written by two women who know what they’re talking about. This article discusses how video games form stereotypes about both genders and that they impact both gamers and non-gamers. Men are portrayed as aggressive and women are unsurprisingly portrayed as sex objects. A main issue with this is that video games are mostly played by the younger generation meaning these are the ideas being imbedded into the youth of the world. The...
The main female critic exposed to numerous dangerous situations that Wingfield references in his essay is Anita Sarkeesian. Due to expressing her opinion on the stereotypes of women in video games, Anita has been receiving rape and death threats from people who disagree with her arguments (Wingfield 1). Wingfield included Sarkeesian’s experience to show an example of the things that women go through when they express themselves in the gaming industry (Winfield 4). The #GamerGate campaign, a twitter hashtag dedicated to intimidating female critics, is one of the factors that is promoting this negative behavior toward women. Wingfield claims that ever since this campaign has initiated, the threats against women have become more intense. Although this behavior seems to have started to occur recently, the harassment is stemming from “larger changes in the video game business that have redefined the audience for its product, expanding it well beyond the traditional young male demographic” (Wingfield 5). This shows that gamers are not only reacting negatively to gaming criticism done by women, but it also shows that their reaction is occurring because of the changes that have been applied to
Ever since I was little I remember playing games where I would fight the bad guy and win the girl in the end. This never seem to affect me or make me wonder what small effect it had on my thought process. In games such as Zelda, call of duty, assassin creed, gears of war, Mario, and even halo you play as a white heterosexual male. The idea of playing this way never seemed to phase me as a young child. As I grew up and became more aware of the difference of people and the need for other as well as myself a need to be able to connect and find one 's self in different place such as games, movies, and TV shows. I became aware of the one sided views that video games seem to have. Then I realized that it was seen as acceptable to only have the one sided displayed due to the lack of speaking out on the need for change.
Playing video games has become an increasingly common activity for the youth world-wide; in contrast, this also results in a rise of concerns by the media and researchers about youth-engagement with video-games. This critical essay discusses some of the primary concerns of video-gaming, focusing primarily on youth engagement, from the age-group of 13-18, in relevance to the stereotypical gender-bias that exists within video-games. Many video games promote the passive role of women in our society relative to the dominant sex - men, thus, casting unjust roles and gendered societal expectations of women in our society. This is done by casting female characters in video games in subordinate roles, sexualizing the female body in the production and marketing of video-games in efforts to promote sales, and excessive brutality and violence directed towards females predominantly by males.
Many video games portray women as objectified beings, purely used for sex appeal and to attract the larger male gamer population. We also see men idealised in a similar way as well – the males in video games are portrayed as muscly, brawny men. However, we rarely see a scantily clad man in a game, but there is a vast abundance of games which feature women wearing ‘sexy armour’, or a noticeable lack of substantial amount of clothing. This isn’t female-friendly as these games are made for men, causing women to feel alienated and uncomfortable.
Post-modern feminism questions the very origins of gender, sexuality, and bodies. According to post-modernism, the emphasis or de-emphasis of difference by cultural and liberal feminists is meaningless, because the difference itself and the categories difference creates are social constructions. Fausto-Sterling's post-modernism, however, depicts this social construction in a unique manner; she attempts to illustrate the role of science in the construction of gender, sex, and bodies. In doing so she discusses three main ways in which science aids in the social construction of sex: first, new surgical technology allows doctors to literally construct genitalia; second, socially accepted biases affect the way scientists design, carry out, and analyze experiments and results; and third, bodies can be physically changed by the social conditions of their environment.... ...
Video games have been a growing industry for about 30 years and has never been bigger. As a whole, the industry made around $66 billion last year, and is expected to make even more this coming year. Because of this growth, gamers have sought better graphics, better stories, and even more violence. Developers have satisfied this want with more M rated games that include heavier violence, stronger language, sexual themes, and intense blood and gore. Past acts and laws have been put in place to try and eliminate violence in video games. These laws have stiffled the industry's freedom of expression and caus...
3. “Video Games” by Chris Jozefowics. Published by Gareth Stevens Publishing 2010. Pleasantville, NY 10570-70000 USA. Produced by Editorials Directions Inc.
Science fiction, as Samuel R. Delany writes, is a 'significant distortion of the present' (1984, p.177). In an age where our social and political discourse are constructed by the images of the media, from the way we think about issues such as the 9/11 attacks to even those that concern gender; where then do we draw the line between the realities of the present and the fantasies and magic science fiction has manufactured for its viewers (Gamsom, Croteau, Hoynes & Sasson, 1992, p.374)? How can we then apply this to the discussions of gender, especially when the female presence in the media still takes on traditional roles despite today's more progressive gender relations? Science fiction has been instrumental in perpetuating the hegemony of