Feminist Frequency and the Truth About Video Games
Since 2013, the Feminist Frequency series Tropes vs Women has been an important voice in examining and reshaping how female characters are portrayed in video games. Featuring executive director...
View ArticleHow Games Journalism Lost Its Soul
In the first decades of the 2000s, when the violent video game debate was at its height, games journalism (aimed at an audience of avid gamers) was at the forefront…View Post
View ArticleGaming Disorder: The World Health Organisation Jumps the Shark
Earlier this year, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced plans to include gaming disorder—video gaming that interferes with other life responsibilities—in their International Classification of...
View ArticleNetflix Has Their “Han Shot First” Moment with 13 Reasons Why
Netflix recently announced they have bowed to pressure from complainants arguing that their show 13 Reasons Why’s graphic portrayal of a youth suicide was insensitive. Netflix have stated that they...
View ArticleWhy the Joker Has Provoked a Backlash
On 4 October, an event transpired that, in some circles at least, seemed to provoke as much anxiety as the impending eruption of a volcano: a movie was released. The…View Post
View ArticleAre Student Evaluations of Teaching Biased Against Professors?
Part of the ritual of college life is that, at the end of every semester, students dutifully fill out evaluations of their courses, rating their professors’ teaching ability and their…View Post
View ArticleNew Evidence Questions Whether “13 Reasons Why” Caused an Increase in Teen...
Since its release on 31 March 2017, the television show 13 Reasons Why, which features the graphic suicide of a teenage girl, has been the source of controversy as to…View Post
View ArticleThe Firing of Bo Winegard: When Academic Freedom and Outrage Collide
Image by Bwsmith84 at English Wikipedia, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10541370 The recent firing of Dr Bo Winegard, psychology professor at Marietta College, has sparked...
View Article“A People’s History of the United States” by Howard Zinn
Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States considers the history of the US from the perspective of the underdog: the lower classes, workers, women, immigrants, African slaves and their… View Post...
View ArticleThe History Wars
In September 2020, President Trump caused a stir by announcing a 1776 Commission to “restore patriotic education” to US schools. The idea of the national government writing history in such… View Post...
View ArticleDe Jure and De Facto Censorship: Why We Need to Be Concerned About Both
The last few weeks have seen dustups over the decision by the foundation overseeing Dr. Seuss’s works (i.e. Dr. Seuss Enterprises) to cease publication of six books deemed problematic, as… View Post...
View ArticleDistorting Scientific Findings: Death by Press Release
Despite the current zeitgeist, in which many prefer to approach questions of fact through postmodernist analysis, other ways of knowing or lived experience—for many questions, there is no better...
View ArticleSensitive Masters and Wheelchair Accessible Torture Chambers: Dungeons &...
In recent years, the culture wars have come for roleplaying games such as Dungeons and Dragons. Role-playing communities are split on whether their game platforms are becoming what is often… View Post...
View ArticleEvil Orcs: Accusations of Racism in Dungeons and Dragons
In the 1980s, the popular role-playing game Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) was hit by a moral panic that lasted into the 1990s: some people became worried that, because some of… View Post The post Evil...
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