[Previous message][Next message][Back to index]
[Commlist] ICA Toxic Masculinity Precon
Sun Jan 26 19:03:52 GMT 2025
The Game Studies division's sponsored preconference: "Draining the
Swamp: Toxic Masculinity as A Threat to The Media Industries and
Beyond," call for submission has been extended to Feb. 28. You can
submit via email to (icagamespreconf2025 /at/ gmail.com)
<mailto:(icagamespreconf2025 /at/ gmail.com)>
The short description of the preconference topic is as follows:
The term "toxic" describes harmful behaviors in games and social media,
such as harassment tied to misogyny and racism, exemplified by Gamergate
in 2014. Scholars have explored how these behaviors marginalize specific
identities and perpetuate toxic masculinity, particularly in online
spaces. Game studies provides critical insights into how these dynamics
shape both digital and analog game communities, emphasizing the
intersection of games, media, and networked harassment. While
well-positioned for research in online harassment and weaponization of
digital networks, the need to discuss how these phenomena impact media
and communications has extended to many other fields (e.g., political
communication, science and technology studies, media industry studies,
etc.) This preconference, therefore, seeks to foster interdisciplinary
collaboration, inviting scholars from across all divisions at ICA and
beyond to examine toxic masculinity’s pervasive influence and strategies
for resistance.
As the bold illustrates, we really hope to receive submissions from
scholars insideandoutsideof game studies to foster a robust
conversation. So please consider submitting andtelling your colleagues
and friends!
The complete submission information can be found on the ICA Game Studies
webpage:https://icagames.org/2025preconference/
<https://icagames.org/2025preconference/>and is reproduced below:
Event Date:June 12, 2025
Location: Onsite, Hyatt Regency Denver at Colorado Convention Center
(please note we are simply nearthe convention center, we are not using
the convention center itself)
Submission deadline: February 28, 2025
Toxic describes disruptive, chaotic, and frequently illegal behavior in
games and social media. Since the reactionary Gamergate movement in
2014, users have weaponized the ‘gamer’ identity to harass women, queer,
and people of color who call for more diversity and inclusion in games.
These strategies originated in multiplayer games, frequently directed at
journalists, game developers, and other professionals. We seek
submissions interrogating toxic behaviors, identities, and strategies to
understand better how anonymous and misogynistic speech shapes online
environments in games and beyond.
As more of our professional, social, and recreational networks are
mediated on digital platforms, it is imperative to consider which
identities are celebrated and which are contested and harassed. Feminist
game studies scholars discuss harassment and how it prevents
marginalized identities from fully participating in online spaces (Gray,
2020; Cote, 2020; Consalvo, 2012; Marwick & Caplan, 2018). In this
climate, some have argued that “the future of media studies is game
studies” (Chess & Consalvo, 2022), suggesting that game studies scholars
have valuable perspectives, methods, and insights toward understanding
the relationship between toxic masculinity that privileges cis-gendered
white and Asian men, and networked harassment that allows people to
harass their targets both online and off. This presents valuable
opportunities for analog and tabletop game scholars to contribute their
expertise on how these versions of games may challenge or reinforce
aspects of toxic masculinity in gaming industries and communities.
Game studies is well positioned to organize and host a conversation
about the harmful effects of toxic masculinity in online games and
social media, but is by no means the only communication discipline that
can meaningfully contribute to the study of toxic masculinity. Most
fields and disciplines within the big tent of Communications can
meaningfully engage with toxic masculinity in some capacity. Political
scientists may take interest in the recent increase of reactionary
politics or the self-described ‘incel’ ideology. Whereas public
relations, crisis communication, and journalism scholars may consider
how news coverage can reinforce toxic masculinity, while media studies
scholars can contemplate the representations of toxic male characters
throughout history. Regardless of the specific discipline or tradition,
communication scholars must continue studying how toxic men develop
harassment strategies to use against journalists, academics,
politicians, game developers, and anyone else who must use social media
and the internet as part of their job.
This preconference aims to bridge disciplinary divides and emphasize
collaboration by bringing together practitioners and scholars whose work
highlights the intersection of digital and analog games, media
(including but not limited to games), communication studies, and online
harassment. We aim to offer specific evidence of where and how some
identities can be toxic and how that shapes how people can participate
in online life. Openly interrogating the relationship between video
games and toxic masculinity is an opportunity to showcase how game
studies can be a helpful mechanism for taking seriously what many take
for granted, but more importantly, to shed light on points of resistance
against these pervasive forces of toxic masculinity.
We encourage scholars and practitioners, especially our junior
colleagues, to consider contributing their expertise to our conversation
about the harmful effects of toxic masculinity and harassment in online
spaces in and outside of gaming. Toxic masculinity is not just an issue
in media studies and game studies, so we emphatically encourage scholars
from various traditions and disciplines to consider applying. In this
way, we foster interdisciplinary connections and open up conversations.
Taking place before the plenary session, the preconference will also be
an opportunity to draw as much from the past connections between games
and communications as the present and the future.
Please direct all questions, comments, and concerns to:
(icagamespreconf2025 /at/ gmail.com) <mailto:(icagamespreconf2025 /at/ gmail.com)>
Topics might include (but are not limited to!):
*
What similarities and differences are there between“toxic”, or
abrasive, destructive, potentially illegal behaviors that occur in
video games compared to other online spaces?
*
Examples of effective resistance and strategies against toxic
masculinities from gaming communities
*
Exploring effects of toxic masculinities across different gaming
genres (e.g., FPS, Simulators), types (e.g., esports, Cozy games),
and within both analog and digital formats
*
Communities supporting and subverting toxicity in game adjacent
platforms (e.g., Discord, Reddit).
*
Developing taxonomies, conceptual models and theories around toxic
masculinity behaviors both within and outside of gaming
*
The negative impact (economic, emotional, social, etc.) that toxic
masculinity can have on games, and other popular media industries
*
Unpacking the systemic factors that contribute to toxic masculinity
in gaming and other workplaces as well as affiliated in fandoms
*
Investigate the relationship between toxic masculinity and (gaming)
platform governance
*
Unpacking the relationship between toxic masculinity and extremist
ideologies and the potential threat for violence they pose and how
men use them to inflict different kinds of harm (red pill, black
pill, siege pill, rape pill, etc.)
*
Investigating incel culture (both within and outside of gaming) to
understand this community better, to hopefully prevent even further
radicalization
*
Investigating the individual influential creators who profit from,
and popularize, toxic masculinity (Ninja, Dr. Disrespect, Andrew
Tate, IDubbz, NickMercs, etc.)
*
Analyze the relationship between various ‘manosphere’ platforms,
subreddits, and websites, to highlight specific instances where
platforms enable toxic masculinity
*
Which platform features and affordances enable toxic masculinity?
Which prevent it?
*
Propose solutions for combating the spread of toxic masculinity
*
Highlighting strategies and tactics that people use to challenge
instances of toxic masculinity or misogyny
Types of Submissions (abstracts only):
– Research papers
– Theoretical papers
– Pedagogical works (e.g., teaching about/with games)
– Short papers / roundtable presentations
– Panel proposals
– Industry presentations
– Creative submissions
– Research-in-progress showcases
– Games-in-progress showcases
How to Submit:
Please email anonymized abstract submissions of no more than 1,000 words
in length (inclusive of references) as a PDF attachment to
(icagamespreconf2025 /at/ gmail.com) <mailto:(icagamespreconf2025 /at/ gmail.com)> and
include your name, role/title (i.e., independent scholar, graduate
student, postdoc, assistant professor, etc.), affiliation/institution if
you have one, and preferred email address in the body of the email. In
the subject line please indicate submission type (e.g., Theory Paper,
Creative Submission, etc.).
Submissions may be organized into themed panels outside of submission type.
Deadline for Submission: February 28, 2025
References:
Chess, S., & Consalvo, M. (2022). The future of media studies is game
studies. Critical Studies in Media Communication, 39(3), 159-164.
Consalvo, M. (2012). Confronting toxic gamer culture: A challenge for
feminist game studies scholars.
Cote, A. C. (2020). Gaming sexism: Gender and identity in the era of
casual video games. In Gaming Sexism. New York University Press.
Dibbell, J. (1994). A rape in cyberspace or how an evil clown, a Haitian
trickster spirit, two wizards, and a cast of dozens turned a database
into a society. Ann. Surv. Am. L., 471.
Ging, D. (2019). Alphas, betas, and incels: Theorizing the masculinities
of the manosphere. Men and masculinities, 22(4), 638-657.
Gray, K. L. (2020). Black gamers’ resistance. Race and Media: Critical
Approaches. NYU Press, United States, 241.
Marwick, A. E., & Caplan, R. (2018). Drinking male tears: Language, the
manosphere, and networked harassment. Feminist media studies, 18(4),
543-559.
---------------
The COMMLIST
---------------
This mailing list is a free service offered by Nico Carpentier. Please use it responsibly and wisely.
--
To subscribe or unsubscribe, please visit http://commlist.org/
--
Before sending a posting request, please always read the guidelines at http://commlist.org/
--
To contact the mailing list manager:
Email: (nico.carpentier /at/ commlist.org)
URL: http://nicocarpentier.net
---------------
[Previous message][Next message][Back to index]
