I wanted to expand on our discussion we started in class about video games and address the gender ideologies that they reinforce. I had to play an online video game for a class, either Toon Town or Everquest. These games both try to appeal to men and women by setting up differences between the sexes. First you are to identify what sex you are which begins the sterotyping of the genders. Then you pick what you look like and what you wear. In Toon Town for young children the girls have skirts and pink clothes and the boys have pants and blue clothes. In Everquest many of the female avaitars are sexy and scandalous.
In our discussion in class we addressed if video games increase violence or are the cause of violence in young children. Many of us agreed that for most people video games are a way to let out frustration or a way to enter another social world, not influencing a person to be violent. But maybe the messages its sending us about gender ideologies is as dangerous to our society. We don't know that everyday sterotypes are being reinforced. It is so natural today to pick your gender and when you do it leads you down a certain path with certain expectations. Video games are just another way that provides us with the idea that gender shapes our lives.
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Kara, this is an excellent point. Media can have lots of different kinds of effects. Playing games can reinforce existing identity categories, as you describe. In some cases, though, they can also allow people to try out different identities, to let boys pretend to be girls and vice versa. This is part of the fantasy of play. As the saying goes, "on the internet, no on knows you're a dog."
This also connects to Sara's post above about Craigslist. She played a role that the internet allowed her to construct in order to get her television. People do this in so many different ways online. Something to think about.
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