Part 1, part 2, part 3 and now part 4:
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One could easily argue that when a player plays a character whose gender is opposite to their own that the player is portraying a gendered view of the other gender. This is demonstrated in the assumption of a gendered stereotype – males play women characters as either the slut or the bitch, with a “touch of ice princess”; and women play male characters as either a complete “macho slime ball” or as their “dream guy”. On the other hand, once the player realises the error of their ways, we hope, there could be some changes in that player’s portrayal of the other gender. Unfortunately, what does appear to be the case is that, despite knowing better, players still revert to some form of gender stereotype. They lapse back into that role which is more comfortable to play/perform despite their attempts at creating their character differently, producing stereotyping that is not only bound to the other gender, but to their own as well. The assumption of same gender stereotypes does seem to be mostly bound to female players; they assume the role of either the Amazon woman – female only in terms of biology, attitude and habits stereotypically male – the slut, the bitch or a woman completely reliant on others. The assumptions of these gender stereotypes do not make for great playability: stereotypes do happen to be rather one dimensional and flat; they do however offer some level of comfort to the first time player, since you know what to expect and how to deal with it. In their article Saving Throw For Half Cooties Gaming and the Femininely Advantage Brandes and Hepler discuss the manner in which these stereotypes are portrayed. The “complete slut” and “total bitch” stereotypes involve male players creating female characters that are inhumanly beautiful who will sleep with anyone to get their way or they are females who are obnoxious and insistently whiney cruel ice princess (Brandes &Hepler).
The first often appears among guys who are frustrated in their own love lives and compensate by playing “loose” female characters, using the role-playing to act out fantasies of sexual power. Unfortunately, this often reveals a very aggressive and antagonistic attitude to all women, as the frustrated man sees them as targets or enemies instead of fellow human beings. One male gamer we’ve known would only play female characters, announcing every time he wanted something from an NPC [non-playing character], “Okay, I have sex with him. Now does he give it to me?” in just those words…The worst misogynism we see is at conventions. In the ‘96 Shadowrun Gen Con tournament, one player picked up his character sheet, a female physical adept and without even reading her history, slammed the sheet on the table and announced, “Oh great, I get to play the bitch.” The next year, at JohnCon, a friend of ours ran a “World of Darkness X-Files” one-shot. The man playing Dana Scully, whenever in the middle of combat or an intense investigation, interrupted the other players to announce in a whiny falsetto, “I have to go to the bathroom now. I broke a nail.” Now, not only was this utterly out of character for Scully, he was unable to think of a single mannerism for a female character other than a derogatory (and inaccurate) 1950s-era stereotype. Some men who describe a female character as a “bitch” seem to only mean “a strong-willed woman who can get something done.” If you mean that, say it. Unfortunately, these problems are rarely contradicted by published gaming supplements (Brandes & Hepler).
The “Amazon babe” however, is a poor attempt by male players to avoid feminine stereotypes. Because they are actively trying to avoid these stereotypes male players then create:
a female character, fantasy race, werewolf tribe, or Amazon society that is clearly as good or better than men: they have more testosterone than an army base, rip people apart with their bare hands, and kill their own children so they have more time to party. In fact, they have gone so overboard in not using feminine stereotypes, these characters are now masculine stereotypes… Rather than taking the time to think about their female character, such players simply assume that for women to be strong and interesting, they must be just like men…While it is a nice reflex to throw out derogatory feminine stereotypes, going too far in the other direction isn’t the pinnacle of character creation, either. While there are real women who are similar to these stereotypes, such characters become clichés quickly. Realistic and original characters lie somewhere between extremes (Brandes and Hepler).
However, gender is not only a performance in terms of actions and behaviour adopted, but it is also affected by what is done to you.
“If gender is a kind of doing, an incessant activity performed, in part, without one’s knowing and without one’s willing, it is not for that reason automatic or mechanical. On the contrary, it is a practice of improvisation within a scene of constraint. Moreover, one does not ‘do’ one’s gender alone. One is always ‘doing’ with or for another, even if the other is only imaginary… But the terms that make up one’s own gender are, from the start, outside oneself, beyond oneself in a sociality that has no single author (Butler: 2004; 1).
This means that a male player can intend to create and play a well rounded female character that does not rely on feminine wiles to further her path, but due to the assumptions carried by those he plays with, what he did not intend to happen happens. In this situation, the player’s lapse back into that which they know is not his action, but rather that of those around him in order to maintain their level of comfort. Matt Wilson (2006) mentions in A Feminist Gaming Manifesto, Part 1 “the biggest assumption that happens, even if it’s an unconscious one, is that the predominant group is the norm, the default”. This then forces/makes it easier for players to lapse back into the accepted/expected behaviour of the dominant group. If this is truly the case, it accounts for the actions of the player lapsing back into the ‘accepted’ stereotypical character or characteristics.
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