Critically encountering exer-games & young femininity

Jessica Francombe-Webb

OAI: oai:purehost.bath.ac.uk:openaire_cris_publications/6585f0fb-6193-4c13-8b15-301e1ccfa61c • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1527476415619684

This paper builds upon previous research into the Nintendo Wii game “We Cheer” through qualitative analysis of the lived experiences of young girls and their playing experiences. I argue here that this multi-layered approach is important as it allows for exploration of the nuances between representation and everyday lives in order to analyse the complexity and contradictions related to the girls’ heterosexy embodiment and the process of becoming female in a (digital) culture still largely dominated by the socio-cultural constitution of slenderness. Throughout the analysis I aim to demonstrate the way in which the girls’ engagement with “We Cheer” was mediated by their own embodied sense making and work on the self. As such I focus on the partial stories that the girls tell about their own embodied femininities in order to advance studies of media reception in ways that are arguably unique to interactive exer-games such as “We Cheer.”

Media Exer-Games Body Image Femininity embodiment