Casual resistance: A longitudinal case study of video gaming's gendered construction and related audience perceptions

Abstract

Many media are associated with masculinity or femininity and male or female audiences, which links them to broader power structures around gender. Media scholars thus must understand how gendered constructions develop and change, and what they mean for audiences. This article addresses these questions through longitudinal, indepth interviews with female video gamers (2012-2018), conducted as the rise of casual video games potentially started redefining gaming's historical masculinization. The analysis shows that participants have negotiated relationships with casualness. While many celebrate casual games' potential for welcoming new audiences, others resist casual's influence to safeguard their self-identification as gamers. These results highlight how a medium's gendered construction may not be salient to consumers, who carefully navigate divides between their own and industrially designed identities, but can simultaneously reaffirm existing power structures. Further, how participants' views change over time emphasizes communication's ongoing need for longitudinal audience studies that address questions of media, identity, and inclusion.