Hegemonic Masculinity or Cultural Normalcy?

In "Does Lara Croft Wear Fake Polygons?, Anne-Marie Schleiner writes about the role that video games are playing in a cultural battle for gender equality and the effects that the avatar character has on different genders and cross genders.

Schleiner points out in her essay, how the avatar and game altering edits play upon these different gender roles and allow an expressive reform to the traditional hegemony of traditional masculinity. This is fully summarized in the last portion of her last paragraph, "From Lara as female automaton to Lara as drag queen, Lara as dominatrix, Lara as girl-power role model and Lara as queer babe with shotgun, a new range of subject positions will emerge in on-line game hacking culture that challenge given gender categories and adapt them to the diverse gender sensibilities of men, women and others." (225)

I certainly appreciated that Schleiner was upfront enough in her essay to state that she was not trying to "wrap things up in a puncture-proof bubble of thesis, proof and conclusion." (221) This statement gave me the confidence to not be crucially critical, but more malleable in thought processes.

Reading through Schleiner's essay made me wonder about the messages that she was portraying. The majority of gamers are typically males, which Schleiner points out.
In her section title Lara as Drag Queen I found myself as a protagonist, adversely arguing the notions of her cited authors (Turkle, Clover). It seemed ironic that Schleiner's essay was clearly arguing in favor of gender/cross gender equality but simultaneously emasculating maleness in the form of a queer notion. Marketing strategy would most likely dictate that the game would be made or fashioned in way that would attract a male audience. Any author could argue this marketing strategy in an antagonistic fashion. This would seem logical given the cultural changes and gender placements over the last fifty years. I'm sure that there are some males who would appreciate this point of view, but to assert a notion as though it applies to "the majority of Tomb Raider players" (223) would seem to be a "fallacy" (In the words of a wise DTC 475 teacher). The view that was expressed by these authors made me think of Freud's theory regarding the son's lust for his mother. As well as Freud is regarded, I don't believe that some of his assertions have taken hold.

While I didn't specifically agree with the previous notion I found Schleiner's insight on gender personification to be somewhat thought provoking. It was interesting to see the section titled Lara as a Vehicle for the Queer Female Gaze. It almost appeared to be an intrepid role reversal from queer emasculation to queer feminism. From what I could gather, Schleiner makes comment about the empowering value that Croft's character may hold for gay females. Schleiner comments, "In the fantasy realm of Tomb Raider, the abject is transformed from repulsion to visceral thrill, opening up a queer channel to pleasure for the female gamer."(224) Wouldn't this be the same for many males as well. Wouldn't males get the same visceral thrill that gay females do from playing the game? Just a thought.

While I don't argue that gender equality is necessary in today's society, I will argue the physical differences between genders. These physical differences are the reason for masculine and feminine properties. In many aspects, emotional differences between male and female are extreme. Physiological differences tap even further into the differences between male and female. Culturally the differences and "inequalities" are still present in many cultures today. It is the mentality of the hunter/gatherer vs. nurturer/homemaker that has been ingrained within our cultures and is inherent to these physical traits. The only way this will change is through mutation or genetic manipulation. But alas, this is a different topic all together.



Schleiner, Anne-Marie. Does Lara Croft Wear Fake Polygons?: Gender and Gender-Role Subversion in Computer Adventure Games. Leonardo, Vol. 34, NO.3 The MIT Press, 2001.