issue 31 // volume 42 Flawed by Design: Non-Toxic > Analyzing ‘Toxic Masculinity’ in games Adam Tatelman Arts Editor n video games media, moralizing busybodies like Jonathan McIntosh have said that video games promote “toxic masculinity.” To the uninitiated, this might seem like a nebulous buzzword with no clear definition. In this case, the uninitiated would be correct; “messages in media and society that teach men to be violent, unemotional, and chauvinistic” does seem a bit vague. Do such messages exist? Probably. But the idea that they are the default for an entire medium should be scrutinized, lest people mistake this gross overgeneralization for fact. Consider Joel Miller, protagonist of The Last of Us. In the opening scene of the game, his daughter is killed in a shooting, right before his eyes. The animation and the voice talent behind the scene have been widely praised for capturing the drama of the moment—that of a father in tears, cradling the child he couldn't save. Joel is the typical grizzly white male character seen in many action games, but he is allowed to react with sorrow, not with the immediate anger or violence that is sometimes assumed of the genre. A single example neither establishes nor bucks a trend. Fortunately, Joel is not alone. It is not hard to find games featuring men whose positive masculine traits are central to their characters and the stories they inhabit. Lee Everett becomes a surrogate father to the orphaned Clementine in The Walking Dead. Booker DeWitt does the same for Elizabeth in BioShock Infinite. Even Master Chief, Halo’s faceless, stoic protagonist, struggles to deal with the loss of his lifelong friend Cortana in the fourth game’s aftermath. These games are merely a few examples of many. Indeed, they are only the most popular. Considering the aforementioned games’ widespread success, well-rounded characters clearly sell better than ubermasculine caricatures. Let’s not forget that most modern video games give players the freedom to choose how their character behaves, rather than locking them into a stereotypical man-box. Are there examples of toxic masculinity in gaming? Yes—but many are in jest. Using characters like Duke Nukem and the Doom Marine as examples of toxic masculinity isn’t helpful because these characters were only ever meant to be parodies of one-note action heroes. That Duke is presented as an Memories in mixed media > Douglas College alumni exhibit in Amelia Douglas Gallery Cheryl Minns Columnist he Amelia Douglas Gallery presents its latest exhibit, Louise A. DeGagné and Gregg Steffensen’s this part remains with me as part of the 13th Annual New West Cultural Crawl. The opening reception for the mixed media works exhibit will feature the artists and take place at u a.m.—2 p.m. on August 13. For an early preview, gallery visitors can check out the works on display beginning August 4. DeGagné and Steffensen have each created new mixed media works specifically for the exhibit. The theme of this part remains with me comes from “pronounced memories and feelings from a young age that remain with clarity,” according to the artists, who are alumni of the Douglas College Stagecraft Program. “We chose to use lowercase letters because these thoughts and feelings we’ve drawn from exist in the background of out lives,” they explained. Both artists work with an acrylic-base medium, as well as their own preferred mediums. Steffensen’s work is primarily photo transfers and mark-making. “My work is a dialogue between humanity and the mechanical environments we have realized to enable our existence. | am especially interested in decommissioned, abandoned, and forgotten objects, sites, and structures,” Steffensen wrote on his website, GreggSteffensen.net. DeGagné’s work consists of a combination of plaster, pastel, ink, conté, and paper. “I work with depth and isolation with multi-layers and multi-textures of materials. Drawing on my experience as a scenic artist, I make use of a range of mediums/materials in achieving depth in my paintings,” DeGagné wrote on her website, ideal is a joke in itself precisely because he is someone nobody should emulate. The humour in that should be obvious. In the early 2000s, anti- games activist Jack Thompson used Fox News as his personal soapbox to claim that video games cause real-world violent acts. In fact, U.S. federal crime statistics show that violent crime has decreased as video games have become more popular. Although the two trends are quite likely not related, this still clearly debunks Thompson’s argument, so why do we reconsider it now that it’s been redressed as a gender issue? Even if games were teeming with bad male role models—and clearly the best-selling modern games aren’t—people can still distinguish between fantasy and reality, and so have the choice to imitate bad behaviors or not. I suggest the term “toxic LouiseADeGagne.com The artists have previously participated in the Eastside Culture Crawl, opening their shared studio space to the public. DeGagné and Steffensen will present a talk about the exhibit at 10 a.m. on September g in the arts // no. 7 masculinity” be put up for review. Nothing good can come from pathologizing violence as an innately male trait. Such generalities are just as nonsensical as saying that greed is a Jewish trait, or that fanaticism is an Arabian trait. If critics can’t take an honest view of the characters they criticize, then they have no leg to stand on as critics, so don’t let them paint a benign form of entertainment as something it’s not. Sources for crime statistics relative to video game popularity; https://nargaque files. wordpress.com/2014/06/ gallup-violent-crime-rate- graph.gif?w=4746h=258 http://vignette2. wikia. nocookie. net/vgsales/images/d/d6/ Us_revenues_1995-2007. png/revision/ latest ?ch=20080624061913 Image of A love of nowhereby Gregg Steffensen gallery. The talk is open to all members of the community. This part remains with me will be on display in the Amelia Douglas Gallery on the fourth floor of the Douglas College New Westminster campus from August 4 to September g.