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In this week’s assignment, I found Hargittai and Shaw’s (2014) article to be very interesting. Before this module, I hadn’t quite grasped the extend to which there are gender discrepancies throughout all forms of online spaces, extending even to one the most accessed websites in the world, Wikipedia. I did not, for example, know that only one in five women have made a Wikipedia edit. Hargittai and Shaw state that internet skills are largely to blame (i.e., that supposedly there are more men with high internet skills as opposed to women). Considering that this article was already published a decade ago (and the world is increasingly tech savvy), I’d be curious to know if these statistics and conclusions are still applicable today. What are your thoughts?

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Schmitz (2012) primarily discusses gender performance in online gaming. In these games predominantly designed for and used by male audiences, the visual design and functionalities of female characters are objectified, overly sexualized, and symptomatic of misogyny. This results in female players being forcibly subjected to patriarchal discourse when interacting with these characters. This article also reminds me of how in certain films and TV shows, male and female directors portray female characters differently. For instance, male-directed works often feature numerous close-up shots focusing on secondary sexual characteristics of women's bodies. In contrast, recent works by female directors tend to include more long shots and distant shots of female characters, allowing viewers to clearly observe their expressions, actions, and emotional changes. In comparison, female characters in male-directed works often serve to cater to male visual aesthetics, whereas female directors tend to depict female characters as subjects in their own right, documenting their growth and development. These different portrayals of female characters convey distinctly different perspectives and viewpoints to the audience, similar to the design of female characters in games, which is also a form of gender performance.

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Sakr, M. (2020). ‘It just opened my eyes a bit more’: student engagement with Instagram to develop understanding of complex concepts. Teaching in Higher Education, 25 (7), 858-871.  https://doi.org/10.1080/13562517.2019.1613356 PDF

Based on Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed and bell hooks' concept of “liberatory theorizing,” the researcher proposed a project for 60 second-year students in the BA Education Studies program. The project aimed to stimulate class discussions, encouraging students to take photos and link their daily experiences with theory.

The students were asked to capture and share images on Instagram that represented central course concepts of a sociology module, such as gender, heteronormativity, power, cultural capital, capitalism, hegemony, etc. The goal was to empower students to analyze and critique societal constructs using critical pedagogy. Engaging with their peers led to sharing various perspectives and a broader understanding of the course concepts.

I found the article quite interesting. It highlighted an important topic: the divide between academic and personal life that some students experience. While some students may have felt uncomfortable with this division, I believe making students more aware of the world around them is crucial. Integrating our learning with real-world experiences can create a more meaningful and impactful educational journey.

Living in today’s fast-paced world, I often feel like life is passing me by. The constant hustle and bustle can sometimes leave me feeling out of touch with reality, as my focus is primarily on achieving my goals. However, as I grow older, I am starting to realize the significance of slowing down, cherishing the moments amidst the race against time, and reflecting on what is happening in the world around me.

I started walking my dog at 5:30 a.m (look how photogenic she is!). The world is quiet and peaceful, and I have time to think and enjoy the beauty that is around me. I even stop and smell the roses.

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Navigating online spaces via videogame play – Francis Bryn Jones

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Navigating online spaces via videogame play – Francis Bryn Jones

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Before fatherhood, I swore to never allow my future daughter to ‘become a zombie’ by having too much screen time. Now at nearly 3 years old, technology has become so intertwined in our society that even toddlers, including my own, are able to open, scroll, and change applications to suit their particular interest at any time. Although she has yet to play videogames, she is well versed with locating and opening YouTube, and selecting her favorite tv shows, be it Dora the explorer, Max and Ruby, Numberblocks or Super Why? However, as fun and educational as these programs may be, I not only worry about her screen time but also the content of the material she is watching, being able to scroll and switch her show at will when in the backseat of the car.

Although I grew up in a household who were very much ‘anti-videogames’, I remember being transfixed on the games my older cousins would play when I would visit them as a child. How will my daughter feel about videogames? Will she become a ‘gamer’ in the future and what will the videogames she plays look like? Will the games she plays in the future, better represent her, and help positively mold her as a young person? Sadly, “the complicated space of gender representation in gaming, and how girls and women learn to negotiate the creation of digital identities when designing an avatar themselves is not an option” (Schmitz, 2021). Currently, girls and individuals who do not identify with the strict binary system we have under a post-colonial society, must think creatively and almost be able to ignore the toxic culture of popular videogames. Furthermore, due to the far too often explicitly erotic and regularly sexist videogames designed primarily for young men, women, girls, and others, are often left out of the design, and limited in their portrayal and representation as members of the gaming community. As the article asks, “how do gamers go about creating, distinguishing, and defining gender in relation to their digital identities?” I would suggest allowing more women in the design and creation of future games so that many representations can be present. This will force our society to reflect deeply on what our children watch and play online and perhaps we will come up with just as exciting videogames that not only thrill, but also provide equal representation to everyone involved, not just the one dominant section of society.

Schmitz, K. (2012). Why Is My Champion so “Hot”?: Gender Performance in the Online Video Game, League of Legends. Schmitz PDF