They say technology is gendered, a man dominates not only the Technoculture world but some may suggest that they have dominated many other aspects of our world all together. Is this true? this can become a lengthy debate one that may ruffle a few feathers. However we cannot dismiss cyberfeminism which argues that females are not disadvantaged or marginalized in relation to new media.
Royse et al's study did find that females are less likely to buy games more directed towards the female base, therefore females game buyers did not go out of their way to buy a "girly" game, this may possibly be due to the fact that females do not want to be viewed as any different to any other gamer whatever gender they may be, a game centered around pink backgrounds and saving the stranded kittens may not seem any more amusing to the female base than any other player above the age of ten, however this can also be up for debate.
Lets take gaming as an example and the negative stereotypes attached to the female "character" so is it true when people say that "sex sells" many may agree and many feminists may root for it, is it possible that technology is so gendered towards the male audience, that using women as sexual objects no longer seems strange? This may need a lot of research and until one has all the facts we cannot fully argue whether technology is or is not gendered, many assumptions do not make facts but this is a starting point.
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
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Maybe the pattern of using the 'woman as sexual object' is an engrained one--that technology has nothing to do with it, but is a manifestation of it. Instead of suggesting that "women as sexual objects no longer seems strange", I think it might be more like women as sexual objects has never been strange. I think we shouldn't really consider technology as gendered or stereotypical, but instead consider what it reveals about ourselves...
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