The majority of today’s video games continue to reinforce gender stereotypes of the past. We pride ourselves on the idea that technology is reducing the gender gap by allowing the sexes equal opportunity to computers. Video games allow this opportunity at an early age. However, these new games for children bolster the inequality between the sexes by reinforcing old gender stereotypes.

In games such as Duke Nukem, women are portrayed as weak creatures who depend solely on the male hero to save them from evil alien beings. Men are portrayed as competent fighters. Duke Nukem and other games like it instill ideas of the past into young boys who play these games. On the other end of the spectrum, games such as Barbie Fashion Designer, the top selling game targeted to girls, exemplify the stereotype that girls only care about fashion and other somewhat trivial matters.

How men and women are portrayed isn’t the only way these games are gendered. Games for boys assume and teach different computer skills than games for girls. Duke Nukem requires and enhances hand-eye coordination, problem-solving ability, and provides skills that could lead to substantial computer use in the future. Barbie Fashion Designer has increased computer use among girls but in a manner that does not promote much computer knowledge. It requires only that the user point and click with a mouse.

Why can’t the gaming industry offer a product for both boys and girls that provides similar entertainment and educational tools? Games of exploration and problem solving that lack blatant and subtle degradation of women could be the future of the industry.

Suggested Reading:
Justine Cassell and Henry Jenkins (eds), From Barbie to Mortal Kombat: Gender and Computer Games. Cambridge: M.I.T. Press, 1998.