Thornham

Do males genuinely try to help females out with how to play video games, or are they mostly mocking females’ intelligence by telling them what to do by assuming from the beginning that they do not know how to play a “boy’s” game? In one segment, Sara says, “They’d always be telling me what to do,” and “I was still ‘the Girl’ and didn’t know what I was doing.” Did this girl play up the role of being inferior to gain attention in a room full of boys better interested with what is on the screen? If so, why is it so hard for a female to fit in with males playing video games without acting like the damsel in distress. Does a female that is good at a video game get the same recognition as a male who could match her skill for the same game?

I found it interesting when asked about video games, Household 1 said that it was a form of male bonding. This and the fact that video games are indeed marketed towards males is what I believe to be the reason for this type of activity being deemed masculine. My first job was located next door to a Milwaukee PC, and I would go over to visit the employees every once in a while. I remember walking into the back room where there were dozens of computers set up with "gamers" intently playing Counterstrike. If one of them would look up from the screen and see a girl in the room, their face would give a "what are you doing here" expression, and thinking back, I wonder if it was because I was interrupting their "male bonding"?