This past Saturday Spike TV sponsored the 2013 Video Game Awards which is now rather inexplicably branded as the VGX Awards because everyone knows adding an “X” to the end of things instantly makes them cooler and more extreme and not at all gives an impression that an eleven year […]
feminism
141 posts
The more active I’ve become in both the so-called “social justice” and feminist gaming communities the more I’ve grown to resent being told and seeing others be told to be more “nice” about things. Perhaps even worse than the direct and obviously aggressive responses or hate messages are those littered […]
We opened the week with Alex’s description of 3 Games Studies programs at 3 universities. This is, of course, a mere sampling, but a good place to start. Alisha’s post on (Mis)Representations of Women brought us back to the discussion that we had about MGS’s new scantily clad, mute, female […]
With the increase of video game consumers and gamers ever on the rise and the console war between the upcoming Xbox One and Playstation 4 rising to its peak, it’s really no surprise we’ve also been seeing an increase of game or gaming related advertisements on the television between our […]
After about five months straight of playing Animal Crossing: New Leaf I believe I can soundly say that I have thoroughly experienced most of what the game has to offer. And by “most” I mean everything that this taunting game has let me experience, as it continuously holds upcoming holidays […]
As the feminist pop culture community becomes more outspoken and as the campaign for proper female representation in games and the variety of other pop culture mediums gains increasing support, I’ve noticed that there have been a lot of excuses going around. These excuses or justifications cover all the reasons […]
Some things are standard to mention when critiquing and reviewing video games: characteristics that make the game innovative or unique, the fluidity of the interface and the level of the player’s control over the gameplay, its artistic design and the quality of its graphic elements, its replayability, the consistency of […]
As an extension of the previous post I wrote about regarding feminist-friendly cartoon choices and considering that, in my experience anyway, fans of video games and Japanese anime seem to overlap, I would like to offer some suggestions for navigating the wide and extensive world of anime. Much like any […]
It’s no secret that I am a huge fan of cartoons. I was fortunate as a child to have consistent access to cartoon programing (as well as access to video games, which was definitely the precursor to my passion for gaming), something which, as I look back, I am increasingly […]
I have discussed physical representation and female character design in video games at length here on Not Your Mama’s Gamer and it’s an issue I consider to be of pretty great importance when it comes to creating a woman-friendly environment for female gamers (and one that I hope you haven’t […]
For years women in business have been battling what is called the “Boy’s Club;” an ideal that places men above women in the hierarchy of who is more able to conduct business in the business world (an ideal that is dialogued pretty heavily in the television series Mad Men). There […]
To what degree is idealization removed from the definition of objectification? Where should the line be drawn when it comes to acknowledging unrealistic character designs of both genders as the norm and exposing harmful depictions of women? In my growing experience of researching and analyzing female representation in video games, […]
As gamers and consumers we have a certain amount of power. Power that we don’t seem to realize and power that we don’t readily and regularly use. We have economic power. We have the power to throw our support behind a title, a developer, a company…or not. I for one […]
Phil Fish is struggling under the burden of criticism and the malicious conduct of the gaming community. The indie creator who was responsible for the puzzle game Fez, which was created and released after a string of unfortunate and strenuous circumstances, has raised quite a commotion within the gaming industry […]
The Bechdel Test, first introduced by cartoonist Alison Bechdel as a part of her comic strip entitled Dykes to Watch Out For, is a test that gauges female representation in film. It revolves around three simple rules: one, that the piece of work has at least two named female characters; […]
Episode 58: Remember Me and the Plight of the Female Protagonist (“Save As” to download or head over to iTunes to subscribe) In this episode we talk about Dontnod’s Remember Me and Nilin as the female protagonist. We answer a few viewer emails and talk about one of a few new and […]