Mohammad Farraj

DMS 448

Throughout history, any work force that is fully analyzed, one could see how it is either male dominated or highly male influenced. The unfortunate truth of a patriarchy is present and causes the opposite gender (i.e women) to push themselves to receive the same treatment, pay and balance that men receive. To make matters worse and even more dark, this type of behavior/concept has reached the gaming industry. Video games in general, were implemented to grant the player to become and create any identity they wish and ultimately have the freedom express themselves whoever they are. Thus completely contradicting the whole idea of both the gaming industry and gaming world. Writers Justin Cassell and Henry Jenkins not only prove this but analyze this as well, with the text, “Chess For Girls? Feminism and Computer Games”.

            In the text, it is portrayed that on a marketing scale, the general audience were for male gamers. Exploring the text, it is stated how a study is shown that proves how these said games are meant for boys. Thus, ultimately having a market of video games for males primarily. In the text, it states how, even, “Too often, the study of computer games has meant the study of boys playing computer games…In fact, too often the very design of computer games for children has meant designing computer games for boys” (Cassell and Jenkins 5). What this shows is that, a study is present to prove that in this time, computer games were programed for males as their targeted audience. This presents a problem because ultimately programming video games for one specific gender is not only sexist but fuels the concept of a patriarchy that too is present in society. Therefore, when gaming companies are unaware of this issue it fuels sexism and ultimately creates a division between the genders.

            In the text, the writers also make the point in how there is a false connections amongst genders. The authors state how, certain genders carry specific roles or attributes because of cultural perspectives. Due to these connections from the genders, it creates class system. In the text, it states how, “Today, however, the binary opposition between the sexes carries much weight, and leads us to speculate about “mas-culine” and “feminine” qualities, likes and dislikes, and activities. We are used to seeing “masculine” and “feminine” as natural dichotomies—a classification system that mirrors the natural world. (Cassell and Jenkins 6). What this shows is that, this ideology that certain genders and identities have certain interests based on who they are have create a space where sexism exist and fuels gender inequality. In addition, this creates the false notion that just because a gender or identity is different, they have certain interests that may be completely false. Ultimately like stated before, this supports the patriarchy that is present within society and has made certain genders second class citizens.  Overall, the writers within this article have proven that gaming companies portray certain genders falsely and market towards males specifically.   

                                                                        Work Cited Page

 Cassell, Justine, and Henry Jenkins. Chess For Girls? Femminism and Computer Games. The MIT Press , 1998, learn-us-east-1-prod-fleet01-xythos.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/5e00ea752296c/4772298?response-content-disposition=inline; filename*=UTF-8”Cassell%20and%20Jenkins%20-%20Chess%20For%20Girls%20Feminism%20and%20Computer%20Games.pdf&response-content-type=application/pdf&X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Date=20200413T032144Z&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Expires=21600&X-Amz-Credential=AKIAZH6WM4PLTYPZRQMY/20200413/us-east-1/s3/aws4_request&X-Amz-Signature=2793258970cb2c6a23ac07392670de5f80738d4af329da1e993297abfb1e6f60.