“The Double Edged Sword of Online Gaming: An Analysis of Masculinity in Video Games and the Gaming Community” is about the double sided analysis of violent video games on adolescents mental/emotional/sociological development. Overall it explains how these video games showcase mainly male characters and normalize violence as a way to ‘win’. For young boys this kind of media often normalizes and perpetuates rigid masculine norms like toughness, violence, and emotional restriction. However, on the other side it does also provide a space for young boys to make friends with similar interests and find belonging in that.
When it comes to my project this is important because it shows how young people gravitate to certain forms of media, for boys it is usually video games. What comes from the use of these popular violent video games is often harmful societal standards and gender norms found in the ‘Man Box’. These include the idea that to identify as a man, these young boys must use aggression and violence to get what they want; further, emotional restriction is normal and expected as a man and to be tough is how boys are supposed to act. This is very different from what popular media for girls understand and take away. However, the difference in the media that young boys and girls view is usually unknowingly pushing certain gender/social norms, this article is one example of this for boys’ relationship with video games.
This week, I haven’t done too much for my MA project but I have begun to think about who I am going to interview and how I am going to find people to interview. I think I will interview 4-5 people of different genders ages 20-25 and then also my younger sister and maybe younger brother under age 18 to get a young perspective on how media is either continuing to push these norms with new tools like AI or if it is actually getting better for younger generations.
Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media. (2021). The double-edged sword of online gaming: An analysis of masculinity in video games and the gaming community. Retrieved from https://geenadavisinstitute.org/research/the-double-edged-sword-of-online-gaming-an-analysis-of-masculinity-in-video-games-and-the-gaming-community/