Video Games Why The Gender Bias Essays - Childhood, Girl, Women

Video Games: Why The Gender Bias? This Christmas, like millions of other parents, I bought my two children, a boy and a girl, a popular home video game system. I thought they could share it and when asked if this was OK with them, they replied, "Sure mom, that would be great." So, we planned on installing the little goody onto the TV in the family room, so that both kids would have an equal chance to play. So, "What then?" you may be asking is the problem. The problem arose when we went to shop for games for the system. They weren't hard to find. They were in all the local toy stores and Walmart and Kmart too! But, there weren't any for girls! I looked high and low and came up empty handed. Why was this happening? Surely, girls must want to play video games as much as boys do! Why then, aren't game manufacturers producing any video games that feature girls as the main character? On a recent trip to our local Walmart store, I found over two hundred video game titles, yes I counted, for our game system, but of these only two had female main characters. One of them was, you guessed it, Barbie! The other one was a female warrior dressed in a scantily clad leather outfit. I'm pretty sure the latter was designed for young men, and not for young girls. Surely, a big retailer, like Toys-R-Us would have more of a selection. So, off I went on my merry way only to be once again disappointed. Toys-R-Us had over 300 titles in stock for our game system and only the same two titles I found at Walmart were available there with one new addition, which was the Spice Girls CD. It's price had been reduced, so I guessed it was left over from last year when the Spice Girls used to be popular. I ended up purchasing 4 games for my kids to play. I found a few with cartoon characters as lead characters, that I felt would be appropriate for kids. I bought Rugrats, Loony Tunes, Grand Turismo (race cars), and Tetras (puzzle). All, except the puzzle game, had male characters in the lead, but at least these were rated as non-violent. After some careful research, I found that video games are a 7 billion dollar a year industry that out surpasses even the movie industry by 2 billion dollars each year ( 2 ). Mostly, these games are being sold to boys and young men. Girls currently represent only about 20 percent of the market, having been pretty much written off by important manufacturers like, Hasbro, Sony, and Sega ( 3 ). Girls have extensive buying power though, nearly 84 billion dollars annually, and over 6 million of them live in households with gaming systems ( 3 ). From ages, 6 to 10, girls play video games as much and as often as boys in that same age bracket, and one survey reports that if there were more games out there that they enjoyed, 85 percent of girls surveyed would use their gaming systems more ( 1 ). Girls don't seem to like the same kinds of games boys do. Instead of the violent, time-limited games boys go for, the girls like games that offer strong narratives, interaction, and creativity. It's not enough to simply convert or replace existing software for girls; the basic structure should be changed. A 1995 survey in Children's Software Review found only 28 of the 344 games with female characters in leading roles ( 3 ), proof that few producers have created games exclusively for girls. I believe this is largely so, due to the male dominance in the whole computer and technological industry. Males are turning out a product for other males. Then why aren't women out there designing a product girls will enjoy? Some are trying, but I have found it a catch-22 situation. Men are leading the technology industry because they are the ones inviting other males to join their ranks by making only games geared towards boys and young men. Girls are less likely to deem this area as fun and inviting and thus, turn their attention to other areas of study once college bound. Some companies are beginning to look for ways to encourage girls to get more involved in information technology. Girl Tech is one such group, in hopes of reaching 3.4 million Girl Scouts, they are sponsoring a

Communities Essay Supplement Sample

Communities Essay Supplement SampleThe Communities Essay Supplement sample is one of the best resources for teachers to use as a practice in preparing their students for taking this Essay section of the standardized test. This Sample Essay provides you with a unique opportunity to practice how to write a comprehensive analysis on various issues related to the communities where your students live.In fact, this Sample Essay can help you prepare your students for taking the final test in a couple of ways. First, it allows you to see how to deal with a variety of topics that you will be faced with on the last day of the test.You can make use of the Sample Essay in order to help you prepare yourself for the test. It teaches you how to write a comprehensive analysis in the form of a review or guide. You can then modify it according to the questions on the last day of the test.The second benefit that you can get from using the Sample Essay is the chance to get your students involved in the writing process. After all, what you do not want is to write the Analysis based on what you think your students are thinking and feeling. Instead, you want them to incorporate what they have learned about the topic so that they can think critically and work independently in order to come up with the best conclusions.In order to make use of the Sample Essay in this way, all you need to do is to review the analysis you want to write on the community area where your students live. You then need to select the Sample Essay that you want to use and write a summary of the content that you would like to present in the Analysis. You should then ask your students to write comments on the points you have written.After the students have submitted their comments, you can then collect their responses and use these comments to come up with supplementary activities that will help them deal with the topic that they have just read about. By doing this, you are able to make use of the Sample Essay as a means of sharing information with your students.The Community Essay Supplement Sample is a resource that you can use to help you prepare for the tests that you will be taking in order to help your students become well-rounded learners. The Sample Essay, with the comments that you will be collecting during the process, can help you come up with a well-rounded writing that reflects the thoughts and feelings of students who live in the communities where they live.Once you have read this Sample Essay, you will know that it is one of the best resources that you can use in preparing for the community section of the Standardized Test. This Sample Essay can help you prepare for your students as well as help you deal with the different types of issues that are sure to come up during the last day of the test.