| The intersection of video gaming and feminism has been regarded as contentious, especially in light of patterns of misogyny and sexism in gaming culture. However, as video games become more commonplace, feminists and video game scholars look to gaming as a form of cyber-discourse. Informed by the history of blogging and electronic gaming, and the theoretical frameworks of cyberfeminism and new media studies, this study looks to the blogosphere to characterize a gaming feminism. Three areas are examined to characterize feminist gaming discourses: intersectionality, prevalent topics, and feminisms. I utilize a grounded theory approach with open coding and close readings of postings from a public, text-based, and feminist-identifying blogging site called The Border House. This study shows that the bloggers do engage directly with categories of difference, although gender is more substantially discussed than any other identity category, and the subject of intersectionality is not as pronounced. The prevalent topics derived from my analysis are representations of video game characters and oppression/privilege through gameplay mechanics, toxicity with respect to sexism in gaming culture, and signs of activism through community engagement via connectivity with feminist gamers and allies. The gaming feminism in this slice of the blogosphere does not call for the adoption of radical measures, but an understanding of gaming in the full context of its sociopolitical import. |
