Male Gaze- The male gaze is the act of depicting women and the world, in the visual arts and in literature, from a masculine, heterosexual perspective that presents and represents women as sexual objects for the pleasure of the heterosexual male viewer.

Voyeurism-An interest in observing unsuspecting people while they undress, are naked, or engage in sexual activities. The interest is usually more in the act of watching, rather than in the person being watched.

Patriarchy-a social system in which men hold primary power and predominate in roles of political leadership, moral authority, social privilege and control of property. Some patriarchal societies are also patrilineal, meaning that property and title are inherited by the male lineage.

Positive Stereotype– refers to a subjectively favourable belief held about a social group. Common examples of positive stereotypes are Asians with better math ability, African Americans with greater athletic ability, and women with being warmer and more communal.

Negative stereotype-a stereotype that describes the undesirable, objectionable, or unacceptable qualities and characteristics of members of a particular group or social category.

Counter-Type-a positive stereotype that emphasizes the positive features about a person. An example of a countertype is that all religious people are kind.

Misrepresentation-a false statement of a material fact made by one party which affects the other party’s decision in agreeing to a contract. If the misrepresentation is discovered, the contract can be declared void and, depending on the situation, the adversely impacted party may seek damages.

Selective representation– is only showing (representing) some events/conflicts, not all, sometimes chosen based on importance, proximity to home, and viewer preference.

Dominant ideology– the attitudes, beliefs, values, and morals shared by the majority of the people in a given society.

Constructed reality-when people and groups interacting in a social system create, over time, concepts or mental representations of each other’s actions, and that these concepts eventually become habituated into reciprocal roles played by the actors in relation to each other.

Hegemony-media hegemony is a perceived process by which certain values and ways of thought promulgated through the mass media become dominant in society. It is seen in particular as reinforcing the capitalist system.

Representation :

Male Gaze	Feminist ideology that women are objectified and represented as sexual beings in visual media for the satisfaction of the heterosexual male viewer.
Voyeurism	Gaining sexual pleasure from watching others engaging in sexual activity.
Patriarchy	Society dominated by male power.
Positive and negative stereotypes	A positive stereotype is a favourable attribute or belief around a certain social group. A negative stereotype is a non-favourable belief regarding a social group.
Counter-types	A representation that counteracts or contrasts to the ‘social norm’ or stereotype.
Misrepresentation	Giving out or presenting false information about someone or something. Representing someone in a way that goes against their identity.
Selective representation	Deciding what to share/ only representing certain events.
Dominant ideology	The belief’s, morals and idea’s shared by the majority of people in society.
Constructed reality	The way people present themselves is constructed by our life experiences and our interactions with others. Also, the way in which the media presents something as reality.
Hegemony	Leadership and dominance.
Audience positioning	The way in which a media text is constructed to manipulate the audiences point of view.

Identity :

Fluidity of identity	The idea that identity is always changing and developing.
Constructed identity	The idea that identity is something that is personally contructed.
Negotiated identity	The ‘middle ground’, where personal identity meets constructed identity to meet personal expectation and others.
Collective identity	The different identity groups in society.

1. Male gaze – The male gaze is an objectification of and towards women.
2. Voyeurism – an interest in observing people while they are undressed, naked or engaged in sexual activities.
3. Patriarchy – A society in which men hold the dominancy and women are excluded from this power.
4. Positive and negative stereotypes – When a group of people are widely fixed to a particular idea of a person or thing and receive negative or positive feedback.
5. Counter-types – An opposite view to a stereotype.
6. Misrepresentation – Giving misleading information/fact made by a party to affect other party’s.
7. Selective representation – Only showing parts of some events or conflicts.
8. Dominant ideology – This is the ideas, attitudes, values, beliefs and culture of the dominant/ruling society.
9. Constructed reality -A way of advertising that allows media to be seen as a reality.
10. Hegemony – The leadership or dominance by a state or social group.
11. Audience positioning – The techniques used to apply the understanding of the ideology of the text to the audience.

1. Fluidity of identity – The ability to change how to see/view the world, yourself and actions.
2. Constructed identity – An identity formed by personal and others perceptions interests.
3. Negotiated identity – Agreements/discussion on a persons identity with another persons.
4. Collective identity – An identification which is shared between groups and individuals.

1. Male gaze– A concept in which men objectify women
2. Voyeurism– An interest in watching people engage is personal, sometimes sexual activities where they do not know
3. Patriarchy– A society dominated by males
4. Positive and negative stereotypes– When a group/person is boxed into a stereotype and either receives positive or negative feedback from it
5. Countertypes– Representation in which the stereotype is opposite to the person
6. Misrepresentation– Giving misleading information
7. Selective representation– Only showing some/not all the events of something so you don’t know everything that happened
8. Dominant ideology– Attitudes, beliefs, values, and morals shared by the majority of the people in a given society
9. Constructed reality– The way in which something is represented that allows media to be seen as a reality
10. Hegemony– global dominance and influence of powerful commercial mass media organizations
11. Audience positioning– The relationship between the text producer and receiver and how they react and respond to a text

1. Fluidity of identity– The ability to change how you identify yourself
2. Constructed identity– Identifying yourself differently to others by things you go through and things you have interests in
3. Negotiated identity– The idea in which you come to an agreement of ‘who is who’
4. Collective identity– A shared identification between people and groups

1. Male gaze – the perspective of a notionally typical heterosexual man considered as embodied in the audience or intended audience for films and other visual media, characterized by a tendency to objectify or sexualize women.
2. Voyeurism –  an interest in observing unsuspecting people while they undress, are naked, or engage in sexual activities.
3. Patriarchy – a system of society or government in which men hold the power and women are largely excluded from it.
4. Positive and negative stereotypes – a positive stereotype refers to a subjectively favourable belief held about a social group. A negative stereotype represent negative expectations about the out-group.
5. Counter-types –  a positive stereotype and emphasizes the positive features about a person.
6. Misrepresentation – the action or offence of giving a false or misleading account of the nature of something.
7. Selective representation – when some groups of people are represented more in government than others. 
8. Dominant ideology – denotes the attitudes, beliefs, values, and morals shared by the majority of the people in a given society.
9. Constructed reality – that people shape their experiences through social interaction.
10. Hegemony – leadership or dominance, especially by one state or social group over others.
11. Audience positioning – the techniques used by the creator of a text to try to get the audience to understand the ideology of the text.
12. Fluidity of identity – having the ability to change how you see yourself, the world, and your actions.
13. Constructed identity – when you have developed a clear and unique view of yourself and your identity.
14. Negotiated identity – when people reach agreements of “who is who” in their relationships.
15. Collective identity – the shared sense of belonging to a group.

Quotes:

Levelling up article (games with representation) – “Sony’s most recent masterpiece showcases people from all walks of life in a way that seems natural and refreshing” – (The quote is expressing that big game companies are starting to actively produce games with different racial backgrounds with natural/realistic design.)

“The Call of Duty franchise is one of the most popular in the world, yet it treats Muslims, Arabs, and Middle Easterners as an interchangeable monolith.” – (Meaning that stereotypes still happen in modernised games such as Call of Duty. Specific ethnics are being stereotyped as terrorists or gang members.)

Why diversity matters article (diversity in games) – “PlayStation recently sponsored Pride London, providing a joyous, hugely colourful presence in the parade” – (The quote is about how playstation has started to ‘show’ their support for the diverse of the LGBTQ+ community.)

“The industry traditionally projects an image that is young, white, straight and male, but there is growing understanding” – (This is stating the traditional game design before people wanted change, and wanted an equal part in video games for different ethnics, beliefs and sexuality.)

Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema (The male gaze) – “In a world ordered by sexual imbalance, pleasure in looking has been split between active/male and passive/female” – (This quote is about the male gaze and how men actively fantasise/look at the female figure.)

“Women displayed as sexual object is the leit-motiff of erotic spectacle: from pin-ups to strip-tease from Ziegfeld to Busby Berkeley, she holds the look, plays to and signifies male desire” – (I think this quote is talking about how women are seen and looked at as if they were objects, just for mens sexual desire, gaze and gain.)

Feminist Frequency Site – “conjunction with other aspects of their design, to make them exude sexuality for the entertainment of the presumed straight male player.” – (This quote is about the way in which video games represent female characters body language in a sexualised manner, to appease the ‘male gaze’.)

“The sexualization of female characters is about designing them, dressing them or framing them in ways that are specifically intended to be sexually appealing to presumed male viewers or players.” – (The quote in the feminist site talks about female game characters wearing lingerie style armour instead of appropriate attire for the game type, and game makers can easily change this but refuse because of the male attraction to the specific game. It’d what draws men in, relating to the ‘male gaze’.)

I produced a ghost busters’ game. I used both ganders within my games cover. I used the male character as the ghost because men are considered to be mysterious due to not sharing emotions and details about themselves. The female character is used as the buster. I used a female character to go against those ideas of society that females cannot do what males do. I also decided to cover up the female to not sexualise her which corresponds to Laura Mulvey’s idea that women in video games are usually sexualised.

I used a female character as my dominant signifier of busters of the ghosts. I decided to do this because if women are presented to be lower than men I wanted to put a woman above a man in status to prove that in video games its not just men who can play the fighter character roles with male players but female characters can which helps show that female players can also do the same.

After doing wider research I came across some facts which show how the female characters in games are presented less.

“playable female characters were found to appear less frequently than male characters”

“The sexualization of women involves the use of female bodies in a way that renders them the object of a sexual gaze or perception by others; their bodies are objectified and they are reduced to that of a sex object”

These quotes can be found on Wikipedia.

Social media forms have learnt to accept these conventional ideas as its how it has been for years and video game companies refuse to change their dominant signifier from a male to a female. That’s why I made the decision to change the main character to become a female in order to change people’s opinions and views on women in video games.

 My video game is countertype; radical as it goes against what has been done before and what works in the video game community. It shows positivity towards women without presenting negativity to men due to the fact that we cannot just flip gender roles as that will be deemed as unfair and its not what people such as Jean Kilbourne works towards and works for. Jean works for equality not the flip of gender roles.

I was told my games cover had a good representation of gender roles and that I’ve created the perfect split between genders to keep it fair and just.

If I were to completely alter my representation id use the female as the ghost and the male as the buster and give back the male role of being the strong hero trying to save the town. Id also oversexualise the female character and bring back all the same representations of characters we already have no matter how unfair and unjust they are.