Race and the Digital: Racial Formation and 21st Century Technologies

Racial Unity

While I do not consider myself an avid gamer, back in high school I did play on Xbox Live so I do have some sense of familiarity with the platform. Now personally I never had any insults or racial slurs directed at me; although that was largely due to the fact that I rarely had my microphone plugged in to engage with the other gamers. That being said, however, hearing derogatory and insulting comments being directed at other gamers was not uncommon, especially towards female gamers. In her article, Gray mentions clan membership as a way for female gamers to curtail some of the racism and sexism found on Xbox Live and you pose and interesting question about whether or not these clans are a form on cyberfeminism. To an extent I do believe that these online clans are a form of cyberfeminism, but as we have read and seen time after time is the lack of racial unity among groups. As Ebony mentions in her comment, regardless of skin color, women need to work together and support each other. Unfortunately we do not always see this. As Gray mentioned in her article, the participants (female gamers that were studied) could not understand why White women would not want to join their gaming world as opposed to subjecting themselves to discrimination (424).

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