The other day I had to go spend the afternoon at the Secretary of State (or as you may know it, the Department of Motor Vehicles). I know it’s an old and overused joke to talk about how much time you can spend in this god forsaken place, but the reason the joke is successful is because of the truth behind it. Luckily I wasn’t doing anything crazy, just renewing my license, but I had to wait in excess of an hour just to be seen by the person who gives you a number so that you can wait again for a representative to get to your claim. Needless to say I had some time to kill! I’ve recently discovered that I enjoy Instagram quite a bit; there’s very little personal information on there, people who enjoy your photos can follow you without you feeling obligated to follow them… it has a good flow.
I found myself killing time by looking through the pictures of people that follow me, but I in turn do not follow. These are usually company sites or really just anyone I don’t know. I post a lot of pictures of the video games I play or the nerdy things I buy so I am followed by a few other “nerdy” Instagram accounts. One in particular got my brain turning while I was waiting in line. The Instagram account is for a company that makes 8bit clothing items, such as sunglasses or t-shirts and posts a lot of pictures of classic game trivia questions, video game memes, and other fun stuff but every now and then they post things like this:
And to be honest, I don’t know how they make me feel. I have a hard time not feeling a little bit offended because of the way the girl is portrayed in the image. The verbiage is meant to praise girls who game and really (I think) to celebrate that there are girls who do game out there. BUT, the pictures paired with the “encouraging words” make me feel uncomfortable. I think the biggest reason why is because the images exploit stereotypical ideas of what a “hot” woman should be, or even what a good girlfriend should be. Plus the images remind me of Kotaku’s Fake Gamer of the Week feature.
For example this:
I’m all for the empowerment of women and celebrating the female gamers, but this seems harmful. I mean yes, it is extremely awesome that there are women out there who game and who aren’t afraid to flaunt it, but these feel more like objectification than anything else. Am I getting too sensitive? I’m curious to find out what our readers think!
4 thoughts on “Killing Time at the DMV; Can Certain Praise Turn into Harm?”
I don’t think you being too sensitive, I think there’s a difference between pictures of female gamers and ones that objectifies them like the second one from the top. I think maybe the text has a great deal to due with it. It does give an uncomfortable vibe.
I think you are right. As a female gamer, I find that representations of us online are more objectification than real equality. Women who game are not being represented in these types of pictures as someone other gamers would go to for advice on a game. They are pictured as sex objects and while I’d like to think of myself as attractive on some level, when I’m playing a game, I don’t care whether or not I look good- I care whether or not I’m going to win and/or kick your ass. I don’t think these images are healthy for women because they make it seem as though gaming is a strategy for attracting men, not something we do because we enjoy it!
I agree that this is not a good thing. Images like this can have a profound impact, just like any other “sexy” media portrayal. They show us what society thinks we are and what we ought to be, and some of us start to believe it. Over time, the already exploitative portrayals of female characters in many games and these kinds of images might even make female gamers feel that in order to fit in with the culture of gaming they have to make not only their avatars, but also their real bodies “sexy”. Think of just about every woman in costume you’ve ever seen at a con. Could these skimpy outfits be read as a desperate attempt to prove we belong, to make other gamers like us?
I think it’s sad that thoughtful discussion of this subject is hard to find on most game forums. The male gamer response tends to be, “You feminists need to get over it” as if “feminist” is a slur or “Male characters are sexualized, too”, which while true is not the issue here. In a culture where harassment of women and minorities has become increasingly high profile, the industry cannot afford to ignore its female and minority players or continue to market games the way they traditionally have (see ads for GTA V).