Girlhood games : gender, identity and coming of age in video games / Stephanie Harkin.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Harkin, Stephanie, Author.

Series:

Video games and the humanities ; 20.

Video games and the humanities , 2700-0400 ; 20

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Video games--Social aspects.

Video games.

Femininity.

Gender identity.

Youth.

Coming of age.

Video games--Literary themes, motives.

Physical Description:

1 online resource.

Place of Publication:

Berlin; Boston : De Gruyter Oldenbourg, [2025]

System Details:

text file PDF

Biography/History:

Stephanie Harkin, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australien.

Summary:

From hypermasculine heroes' journeys to the boyish play cultures of modding and hacking, popular imagination has long attributed videogames to boyhood. Yet there is also a complex history of girlhood protagonists and a wealth of unnoticed girls' gaming practices that have gone unaccounted. This book explores the evolution of gender, youth, and identity in games--from the Game Boy Color Sewing Machine to the growing presence of games featuring girl protagonists and social and identity obstacles. Games are shifting away from the heroes' journey and towards the Bildungsroman, or coming-of-age tale. Investigating Girlhood Games and situating them among invisible girls' gaming histories unearths a reflection on gender and games culture, youth and transition, cultural production and self-expression, and the resistant possibilities found in the liminal realm of play.

Contents:

1. Introduction. Girlhood games; Video games and cultural gatekeeping; Post- and popular feminist contexts; Girlhood games as liminal spaces; Representation and power; What to expect reading this book

2. Charting girls in games. Emotional rehearsal in girls' games and multimedia; Casual games and girlhood capital; Girlhood beyond girls' games; Conclusion

3. Navigating the threshold : Oxenfree, liminality, and immanent girlhood. Oxenfree; Girlhood games and the bildungsroman; Growing up and growing sideways; Oxenfree's timeslips; Stuck in the middle; Conclusion

4. Power structures, post-feminism, and nostalgia : memory and resistance in Life is strange. Life is strange; "Home, shit home" : a form of girlhood nostalgia; Rewriting the present; Framing the self (by taking selfies); Conclusion

5. Transgression, horror, & the fairy tale : from hunted to hunter in The last of us series. Reapproaching The last of us; Fear, rage, and feminism in horror; retelling fairy tales through horror; The heroine hunted : Slaying the wolf; The heroine hunter : playing the wolf; Conclusion

6. Self-representation : girls' bedrooms and DIY Games culture : Secret little haven and Lost memories dot net. Girls' DIY bedroom culture : 1990s and 2000s; Girls, games, and cultural production; Exploring the world wide web in Secret little haven and Lost memories dot net; Making girlhood games; Conclusion

7. Conclusion : virtual voyagers.

Notes:

Includes bibliographic references and index.

Online resource; title from PDF title page (De Gruyter, viewed on May 11, 2026).

Other Format:

Print version: Harkin, Stephanie. Girlhood games.

ISBN:

9783111560939

9783111561035

3111561038

3111560937

OCLC:

1546550702

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license