What it’s about – discordia
I’ve moved to Edmonton. In a way this was good for me. Nobody knows who I am, my reputation hasn’t reached outside of Sweden. It’s nice to be nobody again. The reason I write this, is because the gaming culture took another blow a few days ago. In her closing post, she speaks of some things that I find important to emphasize. Being a woman who speaks about equality and diversity in a still very unequal and non-diverse space will have an impact on your professional life. What I’m being told is clear enough, though. This might seem like a really bleak thing to say, discouraging even. There’s also a mental cost. Zoe Quinn has said it, Anita Sarkeesian has said it. As preparation for the honorary doctorate I received a while back, I spent several hours online enabling various protective measures just about everywhere I have an account. Real talk: the gaming community is misogynist. It is heavy, fighting for something that should be so obvious. We’re not human enough to be heroes.
Curation Forward
We tested Apple's Siri, Amazon Echo's Alexa, Microsoft's Cortana, and Google's Google Home to see which personal assistant bots stand up for themselves in the face of sexual harassment — Quartz
Some 2,000 years ago, the Ancient Greek scholar Hippocrates argued that all ailments, including mental illnesses such as melancholia, could be explained by imbalances in the four bodily fluids, or “humors.” Today, most of us like to think we know better: Depression—our term for melancholia—is caused by an imbalance, sure, but a chemical imbalance, in the brain. This explanation, widely cited as empirical truth, is false. Prozac, approved by the US Food and Drug Administration 30 years ago today, on Dec. 29, 1987, marked the first in a wave of widely prescribed antidepressants that built on and capitalized off this theory. The theory fits in with psychiatry’s attempt, over the past half century, to portray depression as a disease of the brain, instead of an illness of the mind. In the three decades since Prozac went on the market, antidepressants have propagated, which has further fed into the myths and false narratives we tell about mental illnesses.
Reflective Commentary on the Process of Curation
A dad took 12 photos of his daughter as history-making women, and they are incredible.
What better way to learn about important women in history than with 12 beautiful photos starring an adorable 5-year-old girl? Photographer Marc Bushelle, who's also the proud father of his subject, Lily, created this photo series, called "The Heroines Project," because he both wanted to spend quality family time with his wife and daughter and teach his daughter about strong heroines in history. "I thought this also could be a great way to build her confidence and sense of self worth," Bushelle told Upworthy. "This series was inspired by another photographer who did something similar with her daughter." In addition to viewing his work on his website above, be sure to like his Facebook page. Bushelle's wife, Janine Harper, wrote each photo description below. Here's Lily striking a powerful pose as ballerina Misty Copeland. Image by Marc Bushelle/Marc Bushelle Photography. Here's Lily looking smart as Nobel Prize winner Toni Morrison. Image by Marc Bushelle/Marc Bushelle Photography. "Dr.
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AT A press screening of “Batman v Superman”, Henry Cavill had barely taken a step on to the stage when the applause was punctuated by a female voice from the back shouting “TAKE YOUR TOP OFF!” Though Mr Cavill politely laughed—demurring “No, thank you”—his recent complaint that he is objectified by female fans has caused more than a few eyes to roll. Data collected by researchers at USC Annenberg and the Harnisch Foundation might validate Mr Cavill’s claim. Since 2007, the ‘hypersexualisation’ of men on film has increased; in 2014, 8% of male characters were figured in “sexualised attire” (up from 4.6% in 2007), whilst 9.1% (an increase from 6.6%) were shot “with some nudity”. 2013 (incidentally the year that “Man of Steel”, featuring Mr Cavill, was released) marked the high water mark of this trend, with 9.7% of male characters in sexualised attire and 11.7% getting some (or all) of their kit off.
Something Classy — Every woman in every Disney/Pixar movie in the...
Introduction: Feminist Game Studies - Ada: A Journal of Gender, New Media, and Technology
Just over a year ago, Anita Sarkeesian launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund a video project exploring the representation of women in digital games. When the funding campaign for her project “Tropes vs. Women in Video Games” began, Sarkeesian was already an established feminist media critic. Her videos touched upon a range of subjects, from liquor ads to BitTorrent, from LEGOs to Kanye West. Her YouTube channel had thousands of subscribers, and those of us who teach media and gender studies often turned to Sarkeesian’s short, witty, and accessible video essays for classroom examples of media literacy in action. Following a six-part series she created for Bitch magazine examining gender tropes in film, television, and comics, Sarkeesian turned to video games, and made an appeal to her subscribers and followers for capital support for her work. So Sarkeesian, and many others before her who had far less social support, faced a predictable backlash.
Anna Nilsson om hatet och hoten efter sina avsexualiserade bilder | Spela
Illustratören Anna Nilsson, 27, skapade sina egna, avsexualiserade varianter av kända kvinnliga spelkaraktärer. Det gjorde henne till en av veckans största snackisar inom spelvärlden – samt föremål för både hot och hyllningar. – Det är helt absurt att man inte kan lägga upp något så oskyldigt utan att få så mycket skit, säger Anna till Spela. Fightingspelen är – förutom hårda smockor och hadoukens – kända för att vara fyllda av överdimensionerade bröst, klänningslitsar som börjar vid halsen och kvinnliga karaktärer som fullkomligt osar av sex. Till slut fick den svenska illustratören och konstnären Anna Nilsson från Båstad nog av genrens kvinnobild. – Jag ville kritisera. Utsattes för hot Reaktionerna lät inte vänta på sig. Men Annas feministiska ställningstagande har också mötts av negativa reaktioner. Vissa har även gått så långt som att ta till hot. – Jag började ganska tidigt reagera på hur vissa spelstudior porträtterar kvinnor i spel, säger Anna Nilsson till Spela. ”Rent överjävligt”
Joey Gibbs's Blog - Player Agency, Critical States, and Games as Formal Systems
The following blog post, unless otherwise noted, was written by a member of Gamasutra’s community. The thoughts and opinions expressed are those of the writer and not Gamasutra or its parent company. Hello again true believers, and welcome to another of Joey's (pen)weekly blog posts! Joey here, reporting live from FS's UXL. The post is a little early this week - because I'll be out of town for the weekend and likely will have little desire to compose - but hey, I'll chalk it up to being slightly more proactive than is my usual modus operandi. True as ever to my word, today's topic will be player agency - that mystical force that is the hallmark of interactive media everywhere. So what is player agency, exactly? Well, player agency describes the ability of a player to interact meaningfully with gameworld. In my thesis, I am currently defining interactivity as the ability of a player to alter the state of a game system. A neutral state is one that can be undone. Wow. Peace!
