As video games constitute a relatively new medium of expression without an agreed-upon history, any attempt at a genealogy of the form is necessarily provisional in nature. A feminist subfield of the genealogy is even less codified, but recent frictions around gender and inclusivity in games have revealed key stakes in video games connected to larger issues of women in technology and the sciences, issues of gender and representation, and the broader conditions of women in male-dominated fields.
Video games are one of the ways that the young are socialized into familiarity and conversancy with computational media.1 Play also helps shape and reinforce a child's understanding of normative gender roles. As Carrie Heeter has characterized these dynamics, “Video games intricately intersect with gender identity and act as a lightning rod for internal and social negotiations about appropriate portrayals and performance of femininity.”2 Game designer and scholar Mary Flanagan,...
University of California Press