I found this article on Google scholar called Barbie to
Mortal Kombat: Gender and Computer Games written by Justine Cassell and Henry
Jenkins (published in 1999) which has relevant valid questions that have still
not been solved today. One part I found interesting was when they explain that there
is an “assumption that computer games are boys’ own games” which could result
in the disparaging of girls’ interest” (page 33). Clearly this is a little
outdated because many girls do play games, however it is continually dominated
by men. I can’t comprehend the abuse that that women from Ted talks in the
lecture endured from those men and why it would matter if she wanted to
research about the tropes of women. Interestingly in the article, the authors refer
to games such as Quake and Tomb Raider as “boy games” which seems to be going
against what their argument is. This is possibly because of the time it was
published however I am unsure.
The article continues, and says “in every domain in life,
men are considered the normal human beings, and women are ab-normal” (page 34).
I think the representation of race and minorities could also easily be
contributed to this statement.
I also found this on Ted Talks (significantly filmed
in 1998). I think it is interesting that they have been addressing and
questioning why video games are dominantly marketed to males. It’s a long video
so I only watched the beginning, but they are questioning why it is an untapped
market. Parts of the argument are outdated and I wonder if she was attacked for
having these opinions and conducting her research.
This previous blog post describes the
progress with women heroines however these strong women are the exception
rather than the rule. The games she has mentioned seem popular so I can’t
understand why there are not more of them, other than the fact that men want to
keep it as a “boy’s only club”.
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