Mechademia Conference on Asian Popular Cultures, 2015: “Gaming/Gender”
September 25-27, 2015 – Minneapolis College of Art and Design – Minneapolis, Minnesota
Special Guest: Brianna Wu
The recent rash of death threats toward feminist media critic, Anita Sarkeesian after her polemic on the violence toward women in video games, has focused attention on what has always been “accepted” as a given: video games are made by males for males. In the crosshairs of a narrowed, constructed male gaze, representations of women have indeed been predominately the sexualized subjects of extreme violence in gaming. This is the case despite the fact that women also play video games, critique and write about video games, and even create video games. An article from The Guardian from September 17th of 2014 stated, “While ‘hardcore’ gaming is clearly still rooted in its traditional user base (playing games is considered the most entertaining media amongst males aged 16-24), what the study shows is a widening audience who are exploring games through new platforms.”
Additionally, in light of the fact that in spite of its massively misogynist aspects, indeed many women not only play these hardcore video games, but actually apparently enjoy playing them; we question how to address these problems — not only just the rampant misogyny, but the broader abuses of that can underlay the misogyny; those societal issues of class, race, ethnicity, gender, and sexualities.
• How women are depicted is not always strictly about sex and violence, but being as those are significant factors, how should women be portrayed in games – particularly action/war games?
• Is gaming as exclusively a “man’s world” and the only role for women being the over-sexualized, highly “consumable” victims?
• Do videogames, anime, and manga simply reinforce negative gender, ethnic, class, and racial stereotypes, or is there a possibility for critique embedded in the games or cultures that produce and consume them?
These topics represent only a few of the broad concerns over issues of gender and gaming currently in the news.
This conference invites scholars, fans, and creators to consider the situation and respond with presentations as we expand the discursive field against the vast mediated (dis)information found on the web. We welcome both in-person presentations at the conference as well as remote presentations via Zoom (much like Skype) for those unable to make it to Minneapolis.
Teachers: We also have an “Emerging Scholars Panel” for your advanced undergraduate students to participate in during this event. They can also register at the same site below.
Please send 250 word proposals to mechademia@mcad.edu by September 1, 2015.
