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Video Games, Mascots, and Movies: Maleness as Default

2/4/2012

10 Comments

 
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Yeah, I usually fight in heels. You?
_I've been reading Derek Burrill's interesting book, Die Tryin': Videogames, Masculinity, Culture.  And though I'm not finished yet, it's making me think more about gender performance and pop culture.  One of Burrill's central arguments is that video games act as a fantasy arena of what he calls "digital boyhood."  In order to succeed in the world of most video games, after all, a player has to beat up bad guys (often using creative weaponry and/or pre-programmed fighting skills), save women, etc.  Video games are a space where boys are digitally sequestered off--in a space free from women, familial duties, and political commitments like feminism or equality, Burrill says.  In playing video games, boys (and men) are often acting over and over to prove their masculinity in this weird, oddly pure, digital arena. 

My point in bringing up Burrill isn't to say that video games are inherently evil, nor that the men and boys who play them are anti-feminist.  Rather, video games strike me as one more setting in which masculinity is established as the baseline--the default--the backdrop against which other things are measured.  Masculinity (that is, mainstream heterosexual male masculinity) is the norm, which makes anything a "deviation."  (I think back to my own video-game-playing days, which centered around Super Nintendo.  Even in the (very few) games that offered an option of a female main character, these main characters were usually overly feminized, often princesses, and even more often scantily clad.  Check out this great blog post about the female characters in Mortal Kombat (one of whom is pictured left). 

Makers of video games would probably argue that male characters sell.  I'm sure movie producers and even authors of kids' books would say the same.  Girls will watch movies with a male main character, but boys won't watch movies with a female main character.  It's hard to imagine Harry Potter being as successful if she had been Harriet Potter.  Why?  Because boys wouldn't have watched it.  As a kid, I remember wanting to be a boy.  Not because I "felt" like a boy or wanted to kiss girls, but because it seemed like boys got to do all the cool, important stuff in the world, and I wanted to do cool, important stuff.

Masculinity (by which, again, I mean mainstream hegemonic masculinity) is the "default" or backdrop in hundreds of different realms.  Another example is school mascots.  Why are the men's teams "Bulldogs" or "Bobcats" but the women's teams are the "Lady Bulldogs" or "Lady Bobcats?"  Why not have the women be the "Bobcats" and the men be the "Gentlemen Bobcats?"  Have you ever heard of that happening?  It's hard to imagine.

I don't know how to fix this.  Maybe if little boys saw their fathers reading books with female main characters half of the time, or saw their big brothers play video games in which the main character was female, then this might all start to change.  But it would either take a big shift on businesses' part (and what video game company is going to compromise their bottom line by being first to that party?), or on the part of people from whom little boys take their cues: parents, friends, older siblings.  As it is, very early on in life, boys and girls learn that masculinity is a backdrop against which other things are measured.  Eventually, this privilege comes to be taken for granted and seen as "natural."  I suspect that this phenomenon has far-reaching consequences, and can't help but contribute to inequalities like the gender-wage gap and the fact that in virtually every industry, and in politics, at the highest levels of these arenas, men far outnumber women.  What do you think?


10 Comments
victoria link
2/5/2012 04:34:31 am

I think the first way we change it is by noticing it...and then talking about it. Exactly what you're doing. :) I'm not a gamer, so I don't notice those types of things. But I do know that Hermione was supposed to be the main character in Harry Potter, but JK Rowling was told by a publishing house exactly what you're saying. So she changed her main character. Looks like it worked...

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Imogen
2/5/2012 06:15:10 am

"Maleness as default" - for all the years of feminist struggle and women's liberation, that is still exactly how it is. Capitalism/marketing is still predominantly a default male domain, even though women make up half the market.

My pet hate is when some is marketing a product that is presumably gender neutral - eg a mobile phone network - and yet they come up with a marketing campaign that is so blatantly sexist that it could only conceivably have been dreamt up with only men in mind

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Loe link
2/5/2012 05:03:09 pm

I'm an avid gamer, and yeah, some of masculine-ness in games is a bit absurd to say the least. The fighter chicks in plate bikinis? Come on, game developers, you can do better!

The problem's two fold, I suppose. 1) most gamers are still mainly straight males, and 2) most game developers are still mainly straight males.

Thus... they create what they know their audience will enjoy, and what they enjoy. Doesn't mean it's right, though. There *are* a lot of female gamers out there, and not all of us enjoy the whole damsel in distress storylines and bikini outfits constantly.

I keep hoping in time, that this will change. Some developers are better about it than others, and in time, I think, others will take the hint. Same goes for LGBT characters in games. They are slowly making their way in there (BioWare with Mass Effect/Dragon Age is probably the best example here).

I know I find myself playing male characters quite a bit simply because the females are sometimes just... not me... at all. Sometimes the games with customizable characters get it right.

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maddox link
2/6/2012 05:32:46 am

I feel maleness is the default in mostly everything. For example:

Unisex clothing = loose pants and straight t-shirts. This is essentially most male clothing.
Ladies clothing = tight fitting pants and tight t-shirts + skirts + dresses + high heels. You will never find this in a men's section.

What about TV Channels? There is OWN and all those "Lady" channels, but the "Men" channels are labelled as sports, or politics, etc. As if women don't do sports or politics too.

It is all too often pointed out that masculinity in a girl is more acceptable than femininity in a boy, and while this may not be because men are "default" I think it can relate back to WHY everything "male" is considered default whereas female is "niche."

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Chey
2/6/2012 06:19:49 am

I can definitely relate to relating to male characters because they do all the cool, important stuff. Or you could say that 'masculine' goals are the ones labeled 'important'. That'll send you down the rabbit hole.

Also, thanks for having this blog, it's been really great for online community/perspectives. :)

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Tom Kivisto link
3/28/2012 09:23:27 pm

I am so grateful to read this such a wonderful post. Thank you for discussing this great topic. I really admire the writer for allotting their time for this impressive article. So i kindly look forward to see next updates.

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Derek Burrill
11/3/2013 04:48:13 am

Thanks for reading the book and starting/continuing a valuable dialogue. All my best.

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