Is Gaming a Boy's Club?: Women, Video Games and Sexism

GRADE LEVEL: High School

COMMON CORE STANDARDS: Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening

SEL STANDARDS*: Self Awareness, Social Awareness, Relationship Skills, Responsible Decision-Making

Video games are played and enjoyed by many kinds of people. However, women and girls face hate, harassment and sexism as they play games, which makes their experience negative and fraught. In the games themselves, female characters are often portrayed in negative, stereotypical and one-dimensional ways. The lack of female characters, the over-sexualization of them and the violence directed against women are just a few of the problems. Women media critics have called attention to the sexism and misogyny within the gaming world and, in resulting backlash, over the years, many have become victims of violent threats themselves. Gamergate, which emerged in 2014, was a loosely organized online harassment campaign of women and backlash against feminism and diversity in video game culture which involved harassing, heckling, threatening, and doxing several outspoken feminist women.

About the Lesson Plan

This advanced high school lesson provides an opportunity for students to learn more about the world of video games, understand how sexism and misogyny are perpetuated in gaming and express their own thoughts about the topic.

Learning Objectives

• Students will learn some background facts and information about the current state of video games.
• Students will reflect upon their own experience with gaming.
• Students will understand the role of women in video games and the specific ways in which sexism is perpetuated in the gaming world.
• Students will express their thoughts by writing a letter to a video game company.

* Based on CASEL's SEL Framework