Virtual Reality and Postgenderism

Black Swan wrote: »

Computer gaming has exploited virtual gender role definitions and transformations, and may in some ways signal postgenderism changes both contemporary and future. In Looking for Gender: Gender Roles and Behaviors Among Online Gamers by Williams, D, Consalvo, M, Caplin, S, and Yee N (2009) analysis of a large survey data set suggested that women were spending more time gaming than men, and that women derived more happiness gaming than their male counterparts. Men did evidence more aggressive behaviour as expected by their gender roles in contrast to women, but interestingly women gamers evidenced greater health than women non-gamers. The greater happiness and health conclusions of this research flies in the face of past opinions that suggested computer gaming was in some ways unhealthful.

That is quite interesting, I wonder were they studied playing the same games? For both to experience mostly opposing effects is an eye opener.

One thing I found surprising was that in some age groups, there are less male gamers in the 45-64 age bracket. Although the figures slightly favour males below that, but there really is not much differences between the two in it.

http://www.pewinternet.org/files/old-media//Files/Reports/2008/PIP_Teens_Games_and_Civics_Report_FINAL.pdf.pdf
http://www.pewinternet.org/files/old-media//Files/Reports/2008/PIP_Adult_gaming_memo.pdf.pdf
http://www.geekwire.com/2013/dudes-38-xbox-users-female-51-kids/
http://www.polygon.com/2015/11/4/9669110/pew-research-center-female-gamers-statistics
http://variety.com/2013/digital/features/womengamers1200683299-1200683299/

Black Swan wrote: »

Another point that may be explored has to do with labelling of women's changing gender roles during the 20th and 21st centuries. In gaming, novels, films, and episodic TV series we have seen more women assuming leadership roles, sometimes these roles exhibiting both aggression and violence. Methinks it's a misnomer when someone labels these women characters as being more masculine, rather than women performing different and uncommon roles when compared with past expected women's gender roles. These women were not becoming men, rather women's gender roles were expanding and transforming to adapt to a changing environment. For example, in gaming or film does Lara Croft phenotypically or psychologically transform into a man, or a very exciting female bodied hero that some men would like to date virtually or for real?

Agreed, I think when the whole "masculine" trope is brought out in relation to female characters it is more out of laziness on the part of the reviewer/commentator than anything else. For so long it was primarily males in the action roles, so the violence, aggro etc that is part of those movies, just became a cinema cliche as masculine traits.

Lara Croft is an interesting example. I will admit I never played Tomb Raider or saw the movie, however from reading things about the character over the years I was always one to assume it is femininity that was a selling point to both. Plus, she broke the barriers for women in video games and was possibly one of the first examples. Although, Cohen (2000) notes that the success of Tomb Raider can also be attributed in part to the gameplay, graphics and action in the game. Something that a lot of other games of the era lacked.

Cohen, Mark (24 April 2000). "The Desire of the Toy". Lara Croft: The Art of Virtual Seduction. Prima Publishing. pp. 106–109

Black Swan wrote: »

USC's Interactive Media & Games Division explores virtual reality and postgenderism in game development, especially those changes affecting women, as well as those with alternative gender roles. In class they discuss if Lara Croft in Tomb Raider would be considered a feminist. Furthermore, they examine how gender preferences of marginalised groups have been manifested in virtual reality gameplay, whereupon such preferences might not find expression in real life without sanction.

I guess with Lara Croft, depending on what prism one views the character, she could either be seen as a feminist icon or just a digital version of the 90s beauty ideal that is merely an object of the ‘male gaze’. Taking the feminist icon route first, all the prerequisites are there, things like being independent, strong, intelligent etc. So, for all intents and purposes one could say that she is.

As Jones (2002) notes, Croft could be seen as part of the mid 90s zeitgeist of ‘girl power’ that was spurred on into the mainstream with the Spice Girls, and a year later Buffy the Vampire Slayer. For Jones, Croft displays a “bimodal” appeal in that she appeals to both *men and women. There is no doubt that in a short space of time she became a cultural icon. For example, In an Issue of The Face magazine in 1997, she was described as a cross between Pamela Anderson and Yoda! Although, her physical prowess and sexuality was met with ambivalence by both feminist and non-feminist commentators (Kennedy 2002) and follows a similar pattern with other popular feminist narratives in 90s entertainment (e.g.. Thelma and Louise: did their use of guns bolster or undermine the film as being feminist). Hence, Lara Croft is locked in this juxtaposition between physical prowess and sexuality (Kennedy 2002).

Kennedy goes on to point out that she inhabits places like dark caves that would traditionally be defined as ‘male spaces’ in computer games. It is her comfort in operating in what would have been considered as masculine spaces that “disturbs the symbolism of masculine culture”.

On the other hand, there is a line of thought that would view Croft as fodder for the ‘male gaze’. Kennedy uses Lara Mulvey’s (1975) psychoanalytic framework to explain that Croft is not only an object of “fetishistic and scopophilic pleasures”, but unconsciously she is a threat to masculine order. Thus, her femininity may be seen as a threat and Mulvey’s psychoanalysis would view Croft as the “castrated body” that represents the threat of castration. To counteract this, the phallicization of Croft via “fetishistic signifiers” like hair, glasses, guns, belts and long hair. In other words, or at least how I read it, Croft has been given these signifiers as a means to prevent her from being a permanent feature in the ‘masculine space’.

So, I think the Croft character came with the same dualisms of other feminist works in 90s popular entertainment. She will appeal to one section as empowerment, but to another as another symbol of oppression. The observation made by The Face magazine that she was a mix of Yoda and Pamela Anderson is quite close to the mark. The character was a product of her time, and was always going to be at the mercy of the beauty ideals of the time. She was also locked into the stereotypical 'wise old sage' cliche that surrounds Yoda (and other male characters in countless movies) but that is a movie trope that is more static and timeless than ever changing beauty ideals in the entertainment industry.

Although, it would be wrong to come to the conclusion that Tomb Raider was massive just because Lara Croft fitted beauty ideals. It would have been a factor of many things. For example, if the gameplay was terrible would the game still have been as popular? Or if it was a man in the lead role, would it have caught the imagination in the same way?

I see her popularity as hinging on a wide variety of factors such as gameplay, character, graphics, storyline, popularity of the PS1 and the zeitgeist of the nineties and the culture of the time all created a space where it would be possible for a character like Lara Croft to become a household name and eventually make the leap to cultural icon. In a culture that is more disposable than ever (gained momentum in 80s consumer culture and never looked back IMO) it takes something out of the ordinary to transcend the hype and noise to enter the public consciousness in a meaningful way. Could this be done if the character was not larger than life? Probably not. Given the success of the game is down to a wide variety of factors, I would take the view that they played things just right (eg. balance of masculinity and femininity) and I think the success of the franchise among both men and women gamers is a good testament to that.

Does the element of masculinity in the character prevent her being a feminist icon? I will go with a cop out here and say it really depends on what strand of feminism is ones cup of tea. The character is iconic in a mainstream sense though,and that opened the doors for women characters in video games. If Croft was true to feminist ideals, would the mainstream appeal be there to make the character an icon and more importantly would those doors have been opened for women in video games?


Jones, Gerard (2002) Killing Monsters: Why Children Need Fantasy, Super Heroes and Make Believe Violence. NY: Basic Books.

Kennedy, H. W. (2002). Lara Croft: Feminist icon or cyberbimbo? On the limits of textual analysis. Game Studies: International Journal of Computer Games Research, 2(2).

Mulvey, Laura (1975) "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema", Screen 16 (3):6-18.


*Less than a decade earlier Sega and Nintendo were hesitant to feature lead female characters for fear of losing their core demographic of boys and young men. It was Sony who tapped into the youth market successfully by taking the initiative. Kudos to Sony.

Black Swan wrote: »

Postgenderism has been eroding the binary gender distinctions, and has been facilitated by the virtual world of advancing technology (Dvorsky, G and Hughes, J, IEET Monograph, 2008). Old binary male and female mutually exclusive categorisations have been viewed as limiting today's human potential for both sexes. Gender roles have been seen in rapid transition, where choice of preferences, career opportunities, etc., are expanding and overcoming the traditional walled-off limitations of yesteryear.

Social media climbed aboard with this a few years back. In 2014, Facebook updated gender identification from 2 - 58 (Bivens 2015). However, this has come in for criticism in some quarters for only paying lip service to multiple gender identity, mainly because to advertisers you will still be viewed as either male or female on Facebook's background databases for the purposes of targeted advertising. The only place there a users chosen gender identity will exist (and be shown) is to friends on Facebook.

Facebook are playing the postmodern game of multiple identities, it would appear it is merely a box ticking exercise and a purely corporate decision.

Bivens, R. (2015). The gender binary will not be deprogrammed: Ten years of coding gender on Facebook. New media & society. p467