Solutions+to+the+Digital+Gender+Divide

// **SOLUTIONS TO THE DIGITAL GENDER DIVIDE** //

// **The SIMs** //

// Video games are not //all // perpetrators of digital gender inequality, though. There are a number of games that have been built with the purpose of simulating real life situations for men and women alike. The SIMs, a game series named in reference to simulated realities, is unlike typical video games in that it allows for a player to establish multiple goals and achieve them at his/her own pace. The game designers have, throughout years of the game’s development, recreated a multitude of discourse communities within the game. Any player can choose what kind of house and community to live in, what kind of family to build, and what profession they will pursue within the game. Furthermore, individual and group relationships operate on many levels, from professional to romantic, with involved simulations of complex interactions and reactions. In this way, the format and attributes of the game appeal greatly to women, because they can build something less concrete than is pursued through the usual video game point system. //

// One case study that was directed by Katie Salen, the founder of the Quest to Learn School, showed how consistent and guided work with The SIMs can help young girls establish online identities as well as an external sense of self. An adolescent girl was asked to work once a week for over a year in the SIMs with a club of other young women to develop her digital skills. This particular girl, tagged for purposes of this study as Jade, exhibited a poor academic record and weak personal identity, yet found worth in the opportunities the game presented to her. Jade found an online niche by creating her own SIMs characters with original clothing and making them available for download to other users. Soon, this young woman was being asked by a large fan base of other female users to create themed SIMs with specific outfits. Because of her growing competencies and digital information literacy, Jade was able to create a fulfilling identity and career path through the SIMs, which made the IT industry and digital technologies more accessible and friendly to her. //

// **Second Life** //

// Second Life and its youth-friendly offshoot, Teen Second Life, allow for even freer online lifestyles than does the SIMs. A user does not purchase Second Life, but accesses it online. The space, itself, is created primarily by users. Characters, called avatars, are also created by the users. In Second Life, each user’s avatar is a virtual representation of themselves. All interactions between users are “real” interactions that could happen outside of the game. //

// Second Life’s popularity has created a digital space where all discourses have a place to convene online and create digital forums. Females have more freedom within this game because they can choose an avatar that fits their personality and interact within the game in very much the same way they would in real life, making it less likely that girls feel isolated or misrepresented. Users are responsible for about 80% of the content available in Second Life and are constantly making more. Females have ample opportunities to find online support groups, hobbies, social gatherings, and activities that are more suited to the way girls learn. //

// Second Life also promotes an interesting social atmosphere because genders are being unchained from societal boundaries by the anonymity of avatars. Although Second Life avatars are meant to represent the user behind the screen, many people are choosing to switch genders when designing their avatar and present themselves online as 45-year-old sales executive from Michigan instead of a 20-year-old college student, for example. //

// This trend sets up an interesting social climate within the game because typical male versus female attitudes often reach immediate opposition from those who identify with both sides through the combination of themselves and their oppositely gendered avatar. Furthermore, users are beginning to find great liberation from social stigmas as they experience life through the lens of an oppositely gendered digital person. Gender/sexual discourses within the game include gay, bisexual, transsexual, and unidentified individuals and groups. “ In Second Life, the fundamental fact that residents could //choose// to be embodied as a male or female, regardless of their actual-world gendering, made thinkable not only forms of transgendering, but also the possibility that actual-world women and men could embody manhood or womanhood in new ways,” explains anthropologist, tom Boellstorff in his cases study titled, //Coming of Age in Second Life.//

In this way, Second Life promotes an atmosphere where male ideals and visual concepts cannot dominate because there are millions of users representing so many social groups who are actively making new content to fit their diverse needs.