Paper Information
| Title | Sex & Video Games: How Super Princess Peach reclaims the Vibrator |
| Presenter(s) | Chris Cruz-Boone |
| Session | Gender and Games |
| Time | Thursday, October 18, 3:00p-4:00p |
| Location | Green |
| Format | Paper Presentation |
| Description | Implicitly or explicitly, sex is part of the culture of video games. Female characters are depicted as docile bodies awaiting sexual conquest. The use of this heteronormative narrative (Rich, 1994), of saving and getting the girl, has robbed virtual women of their own sexual power. This research will analyze the game, Super Princess Peach as an ideological work to understand the current position of women in games. Through play, it will study implied sexual themes to help explain how gameplay shapes social perceptions of sex. Sex and sexuality is not a new subject of study (Behm-Morawitz & Mastro, 2009; Brookey & Kristopher, Cannon, 2009; Burgess & Burgess, 2007; Gross, 2005; Consalvo, 2003); however, in respect to the motives of why consumers play video games, narratives about sex have been neglected. |