- Is heteronormativity a kind of technology? (And so you have a definition and don’t need to start your response with one – technology (noun) the practical application of science to commerce or industry.)
- One of the articles describes our current moment as “post-feminist.” According to the authors, why is this? Do you agree we are in this moment?
- Is the “masculinist geek culture” the same as the “masculinist culture” of the military? How so?
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Introduction to Women's Studies 
2. We are currently living in a society that is considered “post feminist” due to the social stigma behind feminism. According to an article titled “Everyone Can Make Games” written by Alison Harvey and Stephanie Fisher, “post feminist articulations on this topic serve as neoliberal agenda and its attendant set of practices and visions of intelligible subject positions in media culture and production”(Harvey 577). This is due to the social stigma behind the feminist movement that people believe that it could be considered as men hating. In the technology and gaming perspective, this movement that currently is part of our current moment is working on implementing more women into the gaming world, not only in the job market but also in video games themselves. Since the perspective of introducing more women into actual games is a new idea (considering video games have not been around for too long), this could be the start of a new movement that is past feminism alone (thus explaining the ‘post-feminism’ word selection). This could be the start of something new and a movement that diverges away from the stigmas behind the feminist movement.
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There are various aspects that can atest to the male dominance both of the military and gaming industry. The question is what makes the “masculine geek culture” the same as the “masculine culture” of the military? The “masculine geek culture” has to do with the culture in gaming in which mostly males run and have careers in. In the “masculine culture” of the military men also dominate and have managed to make far more progress than women in. So in both military and gaming culture men seem to shape it and why is this? This is because men have underhandedly shaped policies in which discourage women in these fields due to their accusations of them either not being tough enough and/or sufficiently knowledgeble to partake in these positions. This is why “………….despite the range of statistics showing nearly equal play across males and females, and an increasingly wide range of games, platforms, and controllers available on the market, on the production side, the constitution of the labour force remains strikingly homogeneous” ( Harvey 579). Men have created a culture in which it is abnormal for women to have a gaming job or a military job and this is why the male culture between these completely different fields remains the same
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There is a generally anti-feminist sentiment in the gaming industry, which is plagued by a masculinist culture. The author writes, “While other types of responses, including anti-feminism, were also present in the public discourse regarding DEI and WIG initiatives, a post-feminist logic was characteristic of women already working in video game design” (580). According to the authors, there is evidence to suggest that feminism has become negative label. This would explain the harassment of Anita Sarkeesian. The authors suggest a however that the shedding of this label may not be to ditch the feminist goals but might be for the “evacuation of politics and cultural influence from the call for greater diversity” (584). This explains why some women don’t identify as feminist, but still support feminist objectives. I’m not sure that I would agree that our current moment is “post-feminist”, since there are so many individuals including myself who identify as a feminist. I think society is sort of split in this manner. My jaw always drops when I hear of other women refusing to identify as feminists. I am even more surprised when I hear that these women are still supportive of the objectives of feminism. It is something that I heard a lot during this election season and it is something that I am still learning how to cope with. So I would say that I agree to an extent that we are in a post-feminist time, but not completely because there are still people who still think positively about feminism.
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3.Is the “masculinist geek culture” the same as the “masculinist culture” of the military? How so?
Yes the “masculinist geek culture” is the same as the “masculinist culture” of the military because in both the minorities are woman and they discriminate them without seeing it wrong for example since if you are in a enviroment full of hipocrats and someone is a hipocrat you are not going to see a difference since you probably will se it as normal. Its the same case in both if woman are being mis treated they wont realize because they are not strong or geek mans. However is not that woman are bad or not interested in the subjecy is just that we are not been getting the same opportunities since we dont have the knowlege because they wont provided it.
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Masculine geek culture and masculine culture in the military are quite similar because it denotes the superiority that men have over women regardless of strength and mental capabilities. The contradiction in gaming and technological advances that women are not programming games; however, the voices of women are common in GPS, Siri, or Galaxy. Woman are on capable of fulfilling demands- this creates an perception for women. This culture hides the identity of women that can contribute design yet Male dominant society does not see women in those roles (579). The roles required for women does not have much brain power, just enough to communicate effectively
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3.) The “masculinist geek culture” is the same as the “masculinist culture” in the military. In both cultures, women are not seen fit to hold certain positions or play certain roles because of cultural assumptions . For example, in “Vulnerable Warriors-Military Women, Military Culture, and Fear of Rape”, Rose Weitz states “Fear of sexual violence constrains women’s lives in many ways. Underlying that fear is a set of widely shared cultural discourses which define women as physically vulnerable, assume women are incapable of protecting themselves and others, stress the ubiquity of male sexual predators, and hold women responsible for avoiding such predators”(Weitz 164). Because women are treated based upon the cultural assumptions made about them, their potential and abilities are underestimated. They are held hostage to what others say about them. As mentioned in “Conceptual Model Of Military Women’s Life events and Well-Being” by Mady W. Segal and Michelle D. Lane, factors such as BMI would limit women from certain combat positions(15). Also, they needed a battle buddy who was a male to walk around with for protection. They were not seen as strong enough on their own. Similarly in “Everyone can make games” by Harvey and Fisher, they state”when we account for the high numbers of women working in non-development roles in this industry, with more senior women frequently found in managerial positions within less technical areas such as marketing, rather than in the creation of content, play experiences, or mechanics”(579). The women did not play much of a role in the actual creating of the games; it was male-dominated. That may suggest that women were not seen fit to make games because it was male-dominated, they did not have the resources to do so or may have felt pressured to work in a male-dominated atmosphere. In both instances, women were not seen as fit to play certain roles.
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Also, about the women’s BMI; I want to mention that the BMI was out of the women’s control and still prevented them from showing some of their potential.
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Yes, it is the same both the terms has the same influence on women, where women are underestimated and not giving the chance .From one viewpoint, ‘nerd culture’ of the 90s was practically characterized by its prohibition of ladies. On the other, male nerds were themselves feminized, constantly delineated as socially ungainly, to some degree decadent people whose energy for innovation served as pay for disappointment at generally manly interests, (for example, game and drinking). In expansive terms, it alludes to the hegemonic culture of prevailing social orders and methods for working which are supported by governments, militaries and enormous organizations. A masculinist culture is based upon patriarchal power structures and is various leveled. At first, overwhelming men executed a masculinist culture, which still now tends to support and benefit men. Be that as it may, singular men can be similarly as mistreated by a masculinist culture as can ladies while on the other hand, singular ladies can wind up profiting from a masculinist culture. The term masculinist alludes to a truly delivered linkage in geology between esteem unbiased objectivist science and the unmarked subject of Western sociology as exemplifying “male, middle class, and heterosexist suspicions” . Masculism does not infer male researchers; for sure, numerous ladies geographers have utilized masculinist ways to deal with learning generation, similarly as male geographers have drawn in women’s activist hypotheses and practices in their examination.”
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I agree with the notion of a post feminist society because women are not going under a struggle like it was in the 1970’s where the Feminist movement was requesting than man and woman share similar task. However, there is criticism when one identifies with feminism. Post feminism can be viewed as an evolving entity-but the stigma of being feminism is negatively portrayed.
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The military and the geek community may share one thing in common, there is an insider and outsider relationship when it comes to women. These communities in general don’t have a very high regard for women and tend to imagine them as sexual beings of lower intelligence, in the geek community for instance this can be exhibited in video games which becomes the hub of interaction with men, something they may be unable to do in real life. They conceptualize the ideal woman and put them in an environment where they are dominant. This community also tends to have unusual interest and in order for them to be viewed as masculine they tend to give them names that they consider masculine for instance adding “bro” in front of every activity.
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The geek idea of masculinity and that of the military is very different and is basically an insider outsider interaction. The geek culture a possibly the one who suffer from toxic masculinity the most, these are guys who at the second to last row when it comes to masculinity. Surprisingly they feel the urge to enable oppressive practices to anyone they believe to be their junior in this regard. These are guys who are either too fat or too skinny, and not athletic in any way. They are however hyper intelligent but generally lack social skills, they are awkward, lack confidence and charisma that is needed to command a room. These men have been consistently ridiculed for what they lack in character and characterized as weaklings. They somehow always have the urge to prove themselves to be men. They make up for the supposed shortcomings by making it up in wealth, or other ways usually in extremes nowadays it’s not news that geeks are becoming overnight billionaires due to some ingenious inventions. They them use their wealth to prove to anyone around them how manly they are, they may buy possessions that are thought of as masculine for instance cars and surround themselves with men they consider to be ideally masculine. They therefore have an inflated sense of self. The military basically represents the manly man that is why the gay community and women have had such a hard time getting recognized in the military. The selective service draft basically gave the military to determine who were men based only on physical appearance and supposed sexuality, getting recruited thereby meant you meet the requirements of man and vice versa. the geek community and the military thereby have different views on masculinity
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Yes, I do believe that the “masculinist geek culture” is the same as the “masculinist culture” of the military. In both cultures, there is a male dominance, where women aren’t looked at as ‘fit’ enough to hold positions that men could. The “masculinist geek culture” has anything and everything to do with the gaming world, where the majority of people who are seen in it or that can play in it are men. That being said you can see how society put a cultural construct on how the gaming world is only for men and not a feminine thing to do. The “masculinist culture” of the military is very similar to the “masculinist geek culture,” not only in the military there are fewer women in combat, but also less as commanding officers. In Mady W. Segel and Michelle D. Lane’s writing “Conceptual Model of Military Women’s Life Events and Well-Being,” it states that women will be paired up with men (battle buddies) that would be there as some type of protection. It also says that the factors, such as BMI would limit women from being in specific combat positions. Throughout these male dominant worlds would are seen as unfit to be in certain worlds. So for a woman to have a job within these fields would look at as abnormal.
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In, “Everyone Can Make Games!: The post-feminist context of women in digital game production”, the authors speak out on the role of a post-feminist discussion within the digital game industry. In the digital game industry, the few women gamer/producers experience a lack of recognition for their work because their gender is viewed as more important. For example, in Alexander’s piece, she warily contests “about being included in particular discussions and within certain context simply because she is a (visible) woman.” Women are underrepresented and therefore must carefully navigate their way through a male dominated industry. Post-feminism emphasizes on a woman’s ability to establish and control her own meaningful narrative, without recognition of the structural limitations foisted on by power inequities. It is agreeable that the US is currently post-feminist. Feminism had a hard time forming a focal point because identifying with any common properties held by all women seemed impossible. The desire for a unified subject of feminism ended its course, thus providing room for a post-feminist era.
Work Cited: sfonline.barnard.edu
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Heteronormativity is considered a kind of technology, even back in the day when such ideas were not discussed about. As stated in the reading by Alison Harvey and Stephanie Fisher it is expressed as an example of heteronormativity, “…the hegemony of play” (578 Harvey). The hegemony of play can be described as young boys playing with cars or dinosaurs, which may be seen as more masculine compared to young girls playing with dolls, which is more feminine. This sort of heteronormativity is played into action at a young age, which only continues to grow as the children become of age. Heteronormativity is viewed as a technology because it is directly related to the social relations of humans, no matter the age. During school years and even when one goes into their work field, heteronormativity follows an individual by the judgment of what he or she is be capable of.
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According to authors Allison Harvey and Stephanie Fisher we are living in the current moment of “post feminism” because some women are rejecting the ideas from earlier feminists. Some ideas are starting to become out of date, and now our generation is in a “post feminist” moment and the authors do an exceptional job by using women in the Gaming industry as an example. The “post feminism” moment is happening now because the feminist actions being taken in the gaming work force is different then those in the past. The number of women working in the gaming field is growing, therefore the focus is no longer focused on the inclusion of women into games but is now focused on the fact that they are no different then men. For example in the article includes another article written by a gaming journalist entitled “I’m Tired of Being a Women in Games. I’m a Person”. This article explains how women in games are only recognized for one reason, because they are a woman rather than for the work they have done. In the past the inclusion of women into gaming would have been a big step, but now the focus has changed. I believe that now we are living in a “post feminist” moment because as society is changing so are the needs and focuses of women. The workforce is no longer what is used to be, and women are now trying to gain the right type of recognition for their work. The authors explain that just because you are female does not mean you are a feminist.
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According to the article we reviewed in class today, “Everyone Can Make games” by Alison Harvey and Stephanie Fisher, “post feminism” refers to modern feminism today. We are currently living in the “post feminism” society and although I must agree that women are not undergoing as much struggle as they did in the 1970’s, they are still experiencing a lot go doubt and criticism. Can anyone really make games? Yet again, games and programming technology is seen as a mans domain. Unfortunately less than 10 percent of females make up the gamer industry. The 10 percent of women in this industry lack acceptance, recognition, and acknowledgement, simply because of their gender. “Such an exploration is particularly warranted given the number of very public and increasingly mainstream discussions of gender-based discrimination in digital games culture from 2012-2014, wherein it seems that diversity has become something of a common sense goal in this domain of production.”(Harvey 577) Although there are not many women working in this industry now, the feminist movement in trying to apply more women into this industry.
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3. The “masculinist geek culture” alludes more often to a “gamers’ culture”, or as authors Alison Harvey and Stephanie Fisher define it, “the discursively imagined ideal player continues to be a white, middle-class, heterosexual, technologically competent, socially isolated, and violence-oriented masculine subject when those who conceive of, design, program, and produce digital games themselves” (578). As far as distinctions between gaming culture and military culture, the major differences include actual combat, face to face interactions, and a chain of command/obedience. Yet, what remains almost alarmingly similar is the masculinist culture found both in the military and gaming.
My previous quote discusses the stereotypical gamer who often also becomes a creator of these games, selling to his same base. This customer-to-producer structure makes it extremely easy for all lenses of gaming — production and use– to be controlled by men. Meanwhile, Rose Weitz points out a similar power structure in the military when she says, “Thus the military in essence suggests to women that the best way to keep themselves safe from (bad) men is to have a (good) man’s protection [31]. At the same time, his policy inherently reinforces masculinist views of women as weak and inferior” (172). Due to the fact that women find themselves being the minority in both gaming and the military, they work at the hands of men- through discrimination, safety, and encouragement. Male game creators and male officers feed into the same masculinist culture.
Continuously, Fisher and Harvey pointed out that women just did not have the access to the tools that would enable them to learn programming languages. “When we account for the high numbers of women working in non-development roles in this industry, with more senior women frequently found in managerial positions within less technical areas such as marketing… it becomes clear that an exceedingly low number of women work in coding or level design,” (579). This lack of experience puts women at a serious disadvantage in the gaming industry, all because they never got the opportunity to learn coding or the programming to make these games. Through the military lens, Weitz quotes a soldier named Alice who says, “I liked the idea of being strong, being a warrior, a soldier. I wanted to be a strong person, physically and mentally” (176). Alice joined the military because she wanted to be considered strong which is interesting because she unveils the mentality that a good soldier is one with apt physical strength. For women who lack this physical strength throughout training, they’re already put at a disadvantage to men because of biology. In short, this culture is the same because it refers back to an oppressive patriarchy where women are trying to make strides.
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The reason why the authors of “Everyone Can Make Games!”: The post-feminist context of women in digital game production” describe modern society as a “post-feminist” society by the way use their rare and “token” position in a male dominated industry like video games. Since women in those position are usually surrounded by only men or have one or two other female coworkers when they have 15 male coworkers they have an audience of just men who would not probably go out of their way to inform themselves on gender issues. Especially since the field of video games there is a lot of threats of sexual violence towards women who try to participate in the field. Women in important positions in the gaming world have the opportunity to present the issues right to men who are most likely a part of the problem. A game designer, Mare Sheppard, used an important presentation as a platform to discuss and educate men in the industry about the gender issues. Another reason why the authors consider modern society as a “post-feminist” society is because young women are refusing to label themselves as feminists, however, they retain the same values of gender equality. There is a stigma attached to the word feminist that young women do not want to be a part of. Young women now seem to focus on individually helping women’s causes without making a show about i
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