Bitch, the case of. Part 5

Part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4 and now part 5:

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If the dominant group is accepted as the norm the behaviour of that group is also seen as the norm, and those who deviate from such behaviour will be excluded (Wilson; 2006). Thus if there is a player in the group that does not conform to the expected norms he will feel pressure to conform to those norms and return to the accepted behaviour. When a new player joins an established group of players, the established players become the predominant group that provides the norms. They then enforce these norms, getting the new player to adopt those norms, or their actions will, unintentionally, lead to the exclusion of the new player. What they view as the norm regarding gender and identity will also have an impact on the manner in which they treat the new player. This in turn demonstrates that gender and identity are also reliant on what happens to you.

It also accounts for the characteristics that the player’s characters adopt as the players own identity and gender and his experience of it influence his performance of the character. This is accounted for in terms of the players own narrative being impacted by those around him and their narratives. In the above-mentioned scenario, it was established that the new player would have difficulties fitting into the established group, but these could be overcome, even would be overcome, in time especially if the new player was male and carried similar assumptions to the other players regarding gender. It is a possibility that the new male player will carry the same gender assumptions as the other players he is joining is a possibility as within the gaming context – the type of games available, the core books needed for play and their artwork – the games themselves establish gender and other relevant gaming stereotypes.

The question is now what would happen to the female player who enters an established group of male players? Not only does she have to deal with the norms, beliefs and practices of the group, but also their shared gender assumptions; which would affect the construction of their characters; including hers. She is after all aware of the portrayal of her gender within the gaming world. A portrayal that reaffirms the stereotypes that society produces within the sphere of entertainment. This sphere includes the afore – mentioned gaming context of games available and the artwork within the literature available for gaming. All of which demonstrate the position of power and privilege that is occupied by the male players by virtue of them being male. Society considers male as the norm and female as abnormal (Butler: 2004; 2), thus power is given to those that are/create the norm. This position of power and privilege is created by the domination of the industry by male gamers, a position that has been re-enforced by the actions of the producers of games. They create games to attract and maintain the attention of the dominant group – male gamers.

Can the producers of games however; be faulted for their actions? The producers of games may and may not be faulted for their actions: clearly they are at fault for perpetuating these stereotypical views; but if society treats those of a different gender to the norm as “less than human” and the abnormal or “contaminators or untouchables” then it will be there for all to see in products produced by society (Butler: 2004; 2) (Lehr: 2001; 194). It is also accounted for by the fact that “cultural expectations for girls and boys are starkly different” (Lehr: 2001; 16). These starkly different cultural expectations occur early in one’s life and are perpetuated by those around you. This is done by those who raise you: environment shapes brain development and children assigned to either male or female roles receive different behavioural messages from their parents from an early age (Lehr: 2001; 4). Behavioural roles are then confirmed in the socialisation which occurs amongst children. If children can actively “gender” socialise each other, how much more so could teenagers and young adults do so?  During this process more boys than girls are encouraged to take part in certain activities such as role-playing – it is expected of boys to engage in things that are “macho” or at the very least portray macho elements – and through the manner in which they are socialised interact differently within these activities; perhaps accounting for the manner in which RPG’s portray certain genders.