gender & computer games literature
This is by far not a complete list but merely includes some theory background, a few classics on gender & tech (of varying perspectives), and more recent work specifically on computer games. Please feel free to email me with suggestions not currently on here.
Introductory Texts on Gender
Bornstein, Kate. “Naming All The Parts” from Gender Outlaw: On Men, Women, and the Rest of Us, New York: Random House, 1995.
Lorber, Judith. “Dismantling Noah’s Ark” in The Social Construction of Gender, J. Lorber & S. A. Farrell (eds.), London: Sage, 1991.
Hyde, Janet Shibley. “The Gender Similarities Hypothesis,” American Psychologist, Vol. 60, No. 6, September 2005, 581-592.
Segal, Lynne. “Shrinking the Phallus: Contemporary Research on Masculinity (I)” from Slow Motion: Changing Masculinities Changing Men, New Jersey: Rutgers, 1990.
Gilligan, Carol. “Woman’s Place in Man’s Life Cycle” from In A Different Voice, Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1982.
Kerber, Greeno, Maccoby, Luria, Stack, and Gilligan. “On ‘In a Different Voice’: An Interdisciplinary Forum,” Signs: Journal of Women and Culture, v.11, n.21, 1986.
Haraway, Donna. Selections of “A Cyborg Manifesto” from Simians, Cyborgs, and Women, New York: Routledge, 1991.
Halberstam, Judith. “New Masculinities” in Female Masculinity, Durham: Duke, 1998.
Wearing, Betsy. Leisure and Feminist Theory, London: Sage, 1998.
Critical Analysis of “Scientific” Theories of Difference, Sociobiology, etc.
Tarvis, Carol. The Mismeasure of Woman, New York: Simon & Schuster, 1992
Fausto-Sterling, Anne. Myths of Gender, New York: Basic Books, 1985
Fausto-Sterling, Anne. Sexing the Body:Gender Politics and the Construction of Sexuality, New York: Basic Books, 2000
Laqueur, Thomas. Making Sex: Body and Gender From the Greeks to Freud, Cambridge: Harvard, 1990.
Bleier, Ruth. “Theories of Human Origins and Cultural Evolution: Man the Hunter,” from Science and Gender: A Critique of Biology and Its Theories on Women, New York: Pergamon Press, 1984.
Bleier, Ruth. “Sex Differences Research: Science or Belief?” from Feminist Approaches to Science, R. Bleier (ed.), New York: Pergamon Press, 1986.
Longino, Helen E. “Research on Sex Differences,” from Science as Social Knowledge: Values and Objectivity in Scientific Inquiry, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1990.
Zihlman, Adrienne. “The Paleolithic Glass Ceiling: Women in Human Evolution,” in Women in Human Evolution, L.D. Hager (ed.), London: Routledge, 1997.
Anderson, Elizabeth. “Feminist Epistemology and Philosophy of Science,” The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2004 Edition), E. N. Zalta (ed.).
Valian, Virginia. Why So Slow? The Advancement of Women. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1999.
Technology and Sport
Turkle, Sherry. “Computational Reticence: Why Women Fear the Intimate Machine” in Technology and Women’s Voices: Keeping in Touch, C. Kramarae (ed.), New York: Pergamon Press, 1988.
Wajcman, Judy. “Technology as Masculine Culture” from Feminism Confronts Technology, University Park: Penn State Press, 1991.
Kiesler, Sara; Sproull, Lee; and Eccles, Jacquelynne. “Pool Halls, Chips, and War Games: Women in the Culture of Computer,” Psychology
of Women Quarterly, 9, 1993.
Cahn, Susan. Coming on Strong: Gender and Sexuality in Twentieth-Century Women’s Sport. Cambridge: Harvard, 1994.
Kay, Tess. “Sport and Gender” in Sport & Society, B. Houlihan (ed.), London: Sage, 2003.
Bolin, Anne and Jane Granskog (eds.). Athletic Intruders, Albany: SUNY, 2003.
Young, Iris. “Throwing Like a Girl” from Throwing Like a Girl and Other Essays in Feminist Philosophy, Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1990.
Gender and Computer Games
WomenGamers and Game Girl Advance websites. Also scan the Women in Games, AoIR, and DiGRA conferences for papers of interest.
Bryce, Jo and Rutter, Jason. “Killing Like a Girl: Gendered Gaming and Girl Gamersí Visibility” in CGDC Conference Proceedings, F. Mayra (ed.), Tampere: TampereUniversity Press, 2002.
Carr, Diane. “Contexts, Pleasures and Preferences: Girls Playing Computer Games“, DiGRA Conference, 2005.
Carr, Diane. “Games and Gender” in Computer Games: Text, Narrative and Play, Carr, Buckingham, Burn, Schott (eds.) Cambridge: Polity, 2006.
Cassell, Justine and Henry Jenkins (eds.). From Barbie to Mortal Kombat: Gender and Computer Games, Cambridge: The MIT Press, 1998.
Consalvo, M., S. M. Grimes, et al. “Digital games and gender: commentary and criticism.” Feminist Media Studies 7(1): 99-110, 2007
Dovey, Jon and Kennedy, Helen. Game Cultures: Computer Games as New Media (discussion of gender throughout), Maidenhead: Open University Press, 2006.
Flanagan, Mary. “Troubling ‘Games for Girls’: Notes from the Edge of Game Design.” Proceedings from DiGRA 2005, 16-20 June, Vancouver,
BC, Canada, 2005.
Flanagan, Mary. “Next Level: Women’s Digital Activism through Gaming” in Digital Media Revisited, Andrew Morrison, Gunnar Liestøl & Terje Rasmussen (eds). Cambridge: MIT Press, 359 – 388, 2003.
Flanagan, Mary. “Hyperbodies, Hyperknowledge: Women in Games, Women in Cyberpunk, and Strategies of Resistance” in reload: rethinking women + cyberculture. Cambridge: MIT Press, 425-454, 2002.
Graner Ray, Sheri. Gender Inclusive Game Design: Expanding the Market. Hingham: Charles River Media, 2004.
Jenkins, Henry. “From Barbie to Mortal Kombat: Further Reflections,” 2001.
Jenson, Jennifer and Suzanne de Castell. “Her Own Boss: Gender and the Pursuit of Incompetent Play“, DiGRA Conference, 2005.
Kafai, Yasmin, Carrie Heeter, Jill Denner and Jennifer Y. Sun (eds.) Beyond Barbie® and Mortal Komb at: New Perspectives on Gender and Gaming. The MIT Press, 2008.
Kennedy, Helen. “Illegitimate, Monstrous, and Out There: Female Quake Players and Inappropriate Pleasures” in Feminism in Popular Culture, Hallows & Mosley (eds.), London:Berg, 2005.
Kennedy, Helen. “Lara Croft: Feminist Icon or Cyberbimbo” Game Studies, February 2002.
Kerr, Aphra. “Women Just Want to Have Fun: A Study of Adult Female Players of Digital Games” in Level Up Conference Proceedings, M. Copier & J. Raessens (eds.), Utrecht: Universiteit Utrect, 2003.
Krzywinksa, Tanya. “Demon Girl Power: Regimes of Form and Force in Videogames Primal and Buffy the Vampire Slayer“, Women in Games Conference, Dundee, 2005.
Laurel, Brenda. Utopian Entrepreneur, Cambridge: The MIT Press, 2001.
Mortensen, Torill and Hilde Corneliussen. “The Non-sense of Gender in NeverWinter Nights,” Women in Games Conference, 2005.
Royse, P., J. Lee, et al. “Women and Games: technologies of the gendered self.” New Media and Society 9(4): 555-576, 2007.
Schott, Gareth. “‘For Men’: Examining Female Reactinos to Nintendo’s Marketing for GameBoy Advance SP,” New Zealand Game Developer’s Conference, 2004.
Schott, Gareth and Horrell, Kirsty R. “Girl Gamers and Their Relationship with the Gaming Culture,” Convergence, v. 6, n.4, 36-53, 2000.
Taylor, T.L. “Becoming a Player: Networks, Structures, and Imagined Futures,” in Kafai, Yasmin, Carrie Heeter, Jill Denner and Jennifer Y. Sun (eds.) Beyond Barbie® and Mortal Komb at: New Perspectives on Gender and Gaming. The MIT Press, 2008.
Taylor, T.L. Play Between Worlds, Cambridge: MIT Press, 2006.
Taylor, T.L. Review of Sheri Graner Ray’s Gender Inclusive Game Design: Expanding the Market (Hingham: Charles River Media, 2004). Game Research, October 2004.
Walkerdine, V. “Playing the game.” Feminist Media Studies 6(4): 519-537, 2006
Yates, Simeon J. and Littleton, Karen. “Understanding Computer Game Cultures: A Situated Approach,” Information, Communication, & Society, 2:4, 1999.
