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Would the 'Real' Girl Gamer Please Stand Up? Gender, LAN Cafes and the Reformulation of the 'Girl' Gamer

Authors :
Beavis, Catherine
Charles, Claire
Source :
Gender and Education. Nov 2007 19(6):691-705.
Publication Year :
2007

Abstract

In this paper we consider the significance of cyber "LAN" cafes as sites where on and off-line practices meet in way that complicates binary notions of the gendered gamer. Existing research into computer games culture suggests a male dominated environment and points to girls' lower levels of competence and participation in games. Building on recent studies interested in the constitution of gender through engagement with online technologies, we draw on Judith Butler's politics of performative resignification, and conceptualise digital culture as a resource through which "girl" gamers are mobilised and potentially reformulated, experiencing their gaming identities in contradictory ways, and fragmenting the category "girl" in the very act of articulating their place in a male dominated gaming culture. It is argued that through the meeting of on and off-line practices, LAN cafes operate as a location that is particularly amenable to reformulative work in relation to gendered gaming identities. (Contains 1 note.)

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
0954-0253
Volume :
19
Issue :
6
Database :
ERIC
Journal :
Gender and Education
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
EJ778382
Document Type :
Journal Articles<br />Reports - Evaluative
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1080/09540250701650615