Promotional Information

[A]n imaginative, original, and complex volume that crystallizes feminist dilemmas regarding the origin and persistence of gender roles... Ultimately this book -- pluralistic, experiential, and collaborative -- inspires us to search for games that give voice to participants' exploratory and even competitive desires while enabling them to build identities based on the emotional nuances of real life. -- Sandra Hackman Women's Review of Books Children's games are important--perhaps more than we realize. The flexibility offered by the computer allows a serious investigation of what types of computer games girls are naturally drawn to. The implications for education are important. Unlocking the keys to the intellectual and knesthetic approaches favored by girls could have far-reaching implications. This book is a serious look at this important issue. -- Sheila Widnall, MIT Cassell and Jenkins have produced a collection that takes us far beyond the simplistic treatment too often accorded the subject of 'computer games for girls.' A tour of any 'games' department makes it clear that girls are underserved and not particularly welcome. But, are games a tool for creating a girls' identities, a reaction to the way girls 'are,' a huge as yet unrealized market, or all of the above? A tour of this valuable collection of articles iluuminates the complexity of the relationship between girls and computer games from a vairety of personal, social, political and economic perspectives. It will open eyes and fill knowledge gaps for everyone from researchers to games makers to parents. -- Anita Borg, President, Institute for Women and Technology, and Research Staff, Xerox Palo Aloto Research Center

About the Author

Justine Cassell is Associate Dean of the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University. Henry Jenkins is Provost's Professor of Communication, Journalism and Cinematic Arts at the Annenberg School for Communication, University of Southern California. He is the coeditor of From Barbie to Mortal Kombat: Gender and Computer Games (MIT Press, 1998).

Reviews

"[A]n imaginative, original, and complex volume that crystallizes feminist dilemmas regarding the origin and persistence of gender roles... Ultimately this book--pluralistic, experiential, and collaborative--inspires us to search for games that give voice to participants' exploratory and even competitive desires while enabling them to build identities based on the emotional nuances of real life." Sandra Hackman, Women's Review of Books

"[A]n imaginative, original, and complex volume that crystallizes feminist dilemmas regarding the origin and persistence of gender roles... Ultimately this book--pluralistic, experiential, and collaborative--inspires us to search for games that give voice to participants' exploratory and even competitive desires while enabling them to build identities based on the emotional nuances of real life." Sandra Hackman, Women's Review of Books