BLOG 4: CHLOE CHAMBERS
I titled this blog “Male Monitor” to show how the male gaze has evolved from older media like photography and film to modern digital forms like the internet. The gaze is “a term that describes how viewers engage with visual media…The “male gaze” invokes the sexual politics of the gaze and suggests a sexualised way of looking that empowers men and objectifies women” (Simmons). A prime example would be in video games. With video games having such a heavily male-dominated player base, it is unsurprising that it means heavy misogyny, but in the same breath, objectification, “two common depictions of women in video games are damsels in distress – female victims to be rescued – or sex symbols – visions of beauty with large breasts and thin hips” (Lo). It’s the only time I personally have experienced discrimination based on a part of my identity multiple times, but I honestly just find it funny when it happens. The game I experience it in is Overwatch, which, when looking at the character designs alone, the male gaze isn’t that prominent, but when looking at the community behind it, it is blatant.
Whenever new cosmetics are released, the focus is always on how characters who fit the male gaze perfectly, like Widowmaker, look, rather than on the actual design itself compared to male characters. As for playing the game, whenever you speak and have a clearly feminine voice, you’re mocked, told not to play certain characters because you won’t have the skill, if you play badly, it is because you are a woman, or if you play a certain “unskilled” character like Mercy, you must be a woman. I think the game industry, especially when looking behind the scenes of these games like Overwatch, the male gaze stands strong, and the effects of it run rampant. For example, the company behind Overwatch, Blizzard, has its own experience with this: “It accused the gaming giant of having a “frat boy” culture, in which female employees are subjected to unequal pay, retaliation, and harassment, which it said the company was failing to prevent” (BBC). Overwatch tries to give a facade of inclusivity, but “Like any form of media, video games are shaped by and shape societal values” (Lo). And as we know, societal values are shaped by the male gaze for a male monitor. I think this is only amplified with the internet as people get more comfortable online. Content creators don’t even realize that they are prime examples of the male gaze when they view character design or use certain language while playing video games. This makes it even sadder because it doesn’t seem to be intentional for some; it just dissuades women from joining the community if even the faces of it perpetuate this harmful behavior. While I am painfully aware of how video games are designed for a male monitor, I do think, if even if only on the surface, slight changes are happening within the communities to be less male-centered, and men do sometimes tend to bash the misogynistic ones.
References
Source 1 – Reading Week 9
Source 2 – Through the Looking Glass: Gendered Gazes in Video Games
Source 3 – Activision Blizzard: More than 20 staff leave after harassment claims
