MISOGYNY IN MOM’S BASEMENT: MALE-CODED REALITIES & UNNATURAL FEMININE POWER

Project Abstract

This essay applies Julia Kristeva’s Feminine Abjection and Laura Mulvey’s Male Gaze to the context of Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) ludonarrative storytelling (i.e how gaming narratives intersect game mechanics to provide an immersive reality). The primary focus is on how women participate in gaming cultures such as tabletop roleplaying games (TTRPGs), by analyzing the damsels, temptresses, or romantic figures within a hero’s journey; a trope seen across multiple narrative mediums, especially in early gaming spaces. I argue that gaming narratives cannot be immersively inclusive while promoting and publishing content that centers masculine heroes through marginalizing femininity. D&D modules appeal to the male gaze through monstrous threats such as the dragon goddess Tiamat from The Rise of Tiamat; or they by perverting the woman’s role into a vampire’s possession in Curse of Strahd. Both modules were re-released in 2019 without excluding misogyny from the narrative, despite women pleading for inclusive gaming. D&D’s community is built on creating new identities unless they are powerful female identities. Female power challenges masculinity, which cannot be allowed in a masculine-affirming narrative; for example, the 2016 show Stranger Things used a powerful female who is excluded from participating in D&D and often outcast from own plot; the boyhood fantasy narrative reduces her to a passive agent. My project analyzes these ludo narratives through interdisciplinary criticism in media psychology, gender studies, feminist theories to uncover role assignments, expectations, and aesthetics. The gap between modern gaming and narrative inclusion excludes studies on a woman’s purpose in gaming; this essay identifies embedded misogyny in narratives and advocates for women to be active agents in immersive narratives and game system principles.

Conference

Pop Culture Association South / American Culture Association South, October 9-11th, Dr. Andrew Black, /-link.

Funding Type

Travel Grant

Academic College

College of Humanities and Fine Arts

Area/Major/Minor

English Literature

Degree

Bachelor of Arts in English Literature

Classification

Senior

Name

Andrew Black, PhD

Academic College

College of Humanities and Fine Arts

This document is currently not available here.

Share

COinS