Video games, Marketing and Gender

The stereotype that only boys play video games is far from the truth.  According to the Entertainment Software Association, 45% of all gamers are women.  With women making up so much of the gamer society, I wanted to discuss how marketing and gender are represented in video games.  Advertisers and game companies tend to work with stereotypes when trying to appeal to the general public, rather than speaking to women who identify themselves as gamers.  Games marketed towards young men usually involve lots of aggression, explosions, blood, gore, guns, justifiable violence and domination.  The task of saving the damsel in distress is the key objective in most games.  These are seen as masculine aims.  There are few games that have a female protagonist, and far less that have the entire game based on a female character.  Marketing to women on the other hand is quite different.  Due to the age old stereotype that girls like the color pink, companies have created pink controllers, consoles, etc. to entice more women to get gaming.  

Another marketing strategy used by companies is placing popular female celebrities in their advertisements.  Below is an ad of Beyoncé playing a Nintendo DS with a child.  This could represent the stereotype of women caring for and raising children.  Also, there are numerous games that involve cooking and physical fitness, more stereotypes that are linked to women.  I believe this is a way for companies to say that female gamers can still be feminine even in the masculine world of gaming.

Women's Work

Women’s Work

Traditional gender roles in this society seem to have created occupational differences for men and women.  It is learned, with the help of media, that men are expected to get a job and make money to support and care for their families.  Whereas, women are to stay at home, watch the children and tend to the household responsibilities.

 Numerous TV shows depict this traditional lifestyle, such as Father Knows Best and I Remember Mama.  Before the First World War, it was very uncommon for women to hold position in the workforce.  As explained in “Class Dismissed”, women in the workforce tend to be working class at a job with no possibility of promotion.  These are women working jobs for the money, not as a career.  Recently however, many have strayed from the traditional gender roles .We are seeing more women in the workforce holding high power careers.  But with more women at work, who’s watching the kids?  The men.  One example of this was clearly visible in a TV reality show called Modern Dads.

This reality show follows the lives of 4 stay at home dads.  They take care of the children and tend to the household chores while the highly successful wives are off at work all day.  This show depicts a role reversal of traditional gender roles within a family.  I watched one episode in which the dads were trying to set up a poker night.  In it, the men seemed scared to ask their wives if they could go out and play poker with the guys.  It appeared that because the men perform the domestic duties and make no income they are not seen as the head of the household.  Therefore, the power in the family is shifted to the wife.  With more shows like Modern Dads in mainstream media, traditional gender roles and stereotypes in the family may be replaced with more equal household partnerships.

Objectification of Gender in Media

Mass media tends to place men and women into clearly defined gender categories each with its own set of standards.   These gender roles that media forms can be stereotypical, objectifying and offensive.  Images of women in media emphasize their bodies and sexuality.  Women are depicted as passive and dependent on men rather independent and self-sufficient.  Images of men emphasize control, aggression and even violence.  They are portrayed as powerful and masculine.  This objectification of gender roles through media shapes the way men and women within society tend to behave and act in everyday life.

Let us consider contemporary music videos and how they portray men and women, in relation to desire, sex and power.

Especially in music videos, women tend to be objectified as sex objects.  This is not only degrading to women but also sets unrealistic standards for the society.  Furthermore, one does not see women over the age of 35 in such music videos or other forms of media.  As George Gerbner explains in “The Electronic Storyteller”, older women’s romantic and sexual aspects seem to vanish making them undesirable.  This decreases their visibility in many media forms.   These women often play roles of mothers, witches, evil stepmothers and even grandmothers rather than being portrayed for their sexual appeal.  However, men do not have such limitations.  This makes it common for older men to be seen with younger women.  One example of this would be 43 year old Jay-Z surrounded by groups of younger women in his music videos.  Even though he is in his 40’s, he is still seen as powerful, confident and successful.  Likewise, Sean Connery’s romantic appeal did not diminish even throughout his movies in his 60’s.  For example, in the movie First Knight, Connery was 65 and his love interest Julia Ormond was 30.  With this objectification of gender, media is creating “ideal” stereotypes for men and women that can result in unhealthy behavior and offensive, unrealistic views of individuals within the society.