A study released in early 2015 has confirmed a relationship between video game usage and rape myth acceptance (RMA) via interpersonal aggression and hostile sexism. While studies have already been done researching relationships between sexism and media consumption, video game research has been limited despite its rapid growth as a form of widely-accepted media. This can confirm the notion that video games may have more effect on media users than television, or any other more passive form of media.Jesse Fox, PhD., a professor at The Ohio State University, conducted this study among 351 adult men and women after noticing that video games generally feature a more objectified version of women than other forms of media, such as television. This could be due to the fact that there is a general idea that more men play video games than women.
However, reports were released back in late 2014 that claimed adult female gamers were the largest gaming demographic, surpassing the often-stereotyped under-18 male demographic. So if just as many, if not more women are playing video games, what explains the less diverse, more objectified portrayal of women in video games? And if highly interactive mediums such as video games do have high effects on consumers, why does it continue?
Maybe, the issue lies in the overall effect of video games on media users. Media scholar Marshall McLuhan was a major advocate of the medium theory. Medium theory states that the medium used to transmit messages was far more important than the actual message content. He once said that, "the medium is the message." McLuhan is credited with coining the theory "technological determinism", which says that technology causes certain behaviors. According to McLuhan, the positive relationship between video game consumption and hostile sexism is simply caused by the medium of video games itself.
To compare the mediums of video games and television, television has obviously been around much longer than video games. Television was once what many consider video games today; it was revolutionary for its time and was rapidly gaining popularity, where it eventually got to the point that every household had a television. The statistics of video game usage today suggest that video games are wildly popular among all ages and gender today. While television was gaining similar popularity in the 20th century, it had very influential programming and major effects on its consumers. Shows like "Leave it to Beaver" and "The Brady Bunch" in the 1960's portrayed what many people thought of as the "ideal family", and the emergence of The Simpsons in the 1990's further promoted stereotypes and desensitized views of family through animation. Today, video games such as "Call of Duty" and "Grand Theft Auto" have had similar effects of desensitization, but simply through a more interactive medium.There are those, however, who naturally disagree with with McLuhan's Medium Theory. Critics of the theory claim that McLuhan failed to recognize the relations of power and dominance that came with the rise and shaping of media. They also say that it can ignore key factors such as environmental factors, semiotics, and other important items media often use. Many see McLuhan as a "utopian", who thought that all improvements in technology would lead society to become better as a whole. In addition, a naysayer may claim that video games have been proven not to lead to aggressive behavior in children or adults.
If these critics are correct in their opinions, how does one explain the connection stated previously in the study discussed above? It may simply be the fact that game producers and designers are not aware of the fact that the male gamer stereotype is slowly declining. But the fact remains, that a highly interactive medium like video games does have more effect on consumers in some aspects than less interactive forms of media. This aspect happens to be the portrayal of women and the inherent sexism that can come with playing video games.
Society has been defining what women should look like for a while in all forms of media, not just video games. For example, Victoria's Secret came out with an advertisement in late 2014 with the tagline "the perfect body" - the advertisement featured women who were all similar looking in that they possessed qualities that men and women today would generally consider to be attractive. After receiving backlash on the ad, the company decided to pull the tagline and change it to "a body for every body." So while media still attempts to portray these images through print, television, and Internet advertising, consumers are recognizing this and are calling for change.But why is this only happening in advertisements and television programming, while there has been no call for portrayal in video games? This could be because video games are still a relatively new medium for media. Those who agree with McLuhan would say that it is not just the content we should be looking at, but that the medium of video games is the most important determinant in this conversation.
The structure of the post is well done. The title is explanatory although i think it could do more to sum up the study in one line. It answers the questions of who and what, but i think you could even answer why. The wording used makes it somewhat difficult to understand what the study concluded as the term "positive relationship" doesn't really explain what the relationship is. Also it would probably make more sense to simply say between video games and negative attitudes towards women rather than what you have, which confused me. The photos were explanatory and well integrated into the piece at the proper places, although if the first were placed in the text how the other two were i think it would look more appealing.
ReplyDeleteIn terms of the content of the post, I feel like you relied too heavily on the chapter readings to explain the study's findings and should have mentioned and gave more attention to what the study said was the cause of the correlation. That being said, you did use the chapter extremely effectively to analyze the study, so that was well done. The links to the reports you had mentioned were well done, as I personally was shocked by some of the claims made by them, so having the link to the supporting evidence was smart. (Although I think the one about the most popular gaming demographic wasn't a very strong argument, but that's purely personal opinion).
The main points as it relates to the readings are McLuhan's media theory which claims the media is more important than the message, which is definitely significant for video games as they are a more involved medium. Also mentioned is McLuhan's idea of technological determinism that says that technology determines behavior to a certain extent.
As i mentioned earlier, I think the addition of what the study found to be the main cause of the correlation would be a big improvement. Also, it would be useful to make more clear in the headline and opening paragraphs what exactly the study found. I was uncertain as to what the correlation was in the beginning, whether it negatively or positively influenced it due to conflicting language in the headline. It's clear that media theory is the big point you drove across here, and you did a good job at saying other possibilities, although I think you should have said why media theory is more significant than these other possibilities. The piece was otherwise well written in terms of grammar and language as well as overall structure.