The purpose of this article is to illustrate how minority gamers, particularly AfricanAmerican males, are subject to the label of deviant within the virtual gaming community of Xbox Live. They are labeled deviant based on the stigma of their physical identity Á blackness, through a process of linguistic profiling. By employing virtual ethnography, the author identifies a process that leads to racism based on how the black gamer sounds within the space. The act of racism emerges through a process involving questioning, provoking, instigating, and ultimately racism. Many black gamers have normalized these racist experiences and have accepted the label of deviant placed upon their bodies.
Recent controversies in gaming culture (i.e., Gamergate) highlight the lack of attention devoted to discussions of actual violence women experience in gaming. Rather, the focus is often situated on in-game violence; however, we must extend discussions of ingame violence and increased aggression to account for the "real world," violent, realities of women as gamers, developers, and even critics of the medium. As such, we provide context with a brief introduction to the events of Gamergate. We then discuss the connections between the continued marginalization of women both in video games and in "real life." Drawing from a range of sociological and ludological research, especially Bourdieu and Wacquant's conceptualization of symbolic violence, we examine the normalization of violence towards women in gaming culture.We conclude with considerations for future work involving symbolic violence and other conceptualizations of violence. This focus allows for a more impactful consideration as to why and how codified simulated violence affects marginalized members of communities. Using symbolic violence to connect trends within games to the lived experiences of women in gaming communities binds virtual experiences to "real" ones. | INTRODUCTIONRecent controversies in gaming culture (i.e., Gamergate) highlight the lack of attention given to discussions of actual violence women experience in gaming. Instead, the focus is often situated on in-game violence; however, we must transcend discussions of in-game violence and increased aggression to account for the "real world" violent realities of women as gamers, developers, and even critics of the medium. We must be inclusive of both the physical, digital, and symbolic threats of violence currently being levied against women who critique the hegemonic structure in gaming. Furthermore, the threats of real and symbolic violence that have been hurled at women must be examined beyond individual acts of discrimination and intimidation. Rather, this violence must be explored through the structural and institutional lenses sustaining a culture of inequality that has isolated women and other marginalized groups.
Examining the experiences of women of color in Xbox LiveEmploying qualitative methods and drawing from an intersectional framework which focusses on the multiple identities we all embody, this paper focusses on oppressions experienced by women of color in Xbox Live, an online gaming community. Ethnographic observations and narrative interviewing reveal that women of color, as outsiders failing to conform to the white male norm, face intersecting oppressions in main stream gaming. They are linguistically profiled within the space based on how they sound. Specifically, Latina women within the space experience nativism, racism, sexism, and even heterosexism as many identify as sexual minorities. African-American women experience racialized sexism stemming from the duality of their ascribed identities. The women within the study have responded by segregating from the larger gaming community and have created their own clans (similar to guilds) and game with other women. The purpose of the clans depends on the type of oppressions experienced by the women within the space. This article analyzes this behavior in the context of linguistic profiling showcasing that this type of behavior can only occur within the setting of anonymity and disinhibition. With the diffusion of advanced technologies in video gaming, there has been a displacement of real world inequalities into virtuality.
As gaming culture continues to marginalize women and people of color, other gamers are also highlighting the inequalities they face within digital gaming communities. While heterosexism and homophobia are commonplace within gaming culture, little is known about the actual experiences of "gaymers" and even less about "gaymers" of color. As such, this article seeks to explore lesbians of color and their experiences "gayming" out and online. Exploring identity development, community building, and connectivity via social networking, the women within this study articulate what it means to be lesbian online and how this impacts their physical and digital experiences. The private spaces within gaming culture that many marginalized groups inhabit are the few spaces that value the articulation of marginalized interests and viewpoints. Ethnographic observations reveal how supportive communities can improve resilience by mitigating the effects of stereotyping, microaggressions, and other discriminatory practices in online gaming.
The collapse of Enron and revelations about the widespread financial wrongdoing of other corporations prompted congressional hearings in 2002. The hearings culminated in the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, legislation that regulates the accounting industry and imposes prison sentences on executives who lie on their corporations' financial statements. There was extensive media coverage of Enron and the other high-profile corporations and of the congressional hearings into their wrongdoing. In this paper, we analyze the media representations of these matters. We focus on media coverage of the political language that was offered during the hearings, on the media's own characterizations of these events, and on how the coverage represented corporate wrongdoing and its control. Our analysis is in three parts. First, we track the 'bad apples' language that shifted blame from the corporations onto individuals. Second, we consider the angry denunciations from Congress that resemble status degradation ceremonies. Third, we analyze the hearings as representations of the scandal story using a critical dramaturgy. We argue that the hearings became a spectacle that deflected critique from the economy and shored up the legitimacy of the government and the economy. The usage of critical dramaturgy helps us to make sense of criminological research about the public's sensibilities of corporate crime.
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