Links for Gender Issues and Role-playing

Sites and Portals

• Women In Gaming
  A series of short articles on women in gaming, including articles by Lisa Hartjes, Lise Mendel, Irina Rempt, and others.
• d&d babes . com
  A female-focused D&D fansite.
• "Gamer Wenches"
  A group attempting to support women gamers, focused on tabletop gaming and the GenCon convention scene in particular. It arose from the GenCon forums shortly after GenCon Indy 2006.
• "Gamer Chicks Rule!"
  Billed as "A community for women, by women" with a tabletop and general F/SF focus.
• The IRIS Network
  An industry-focused, feminist website for female gamers including both video/computer and tabletop games.
• Go Make Me a Sandwich
  A year-long blogging project about sexism and gaming.
• Grrl Gamer
  A site for female players of computer and video games, featuring reviews, articles, and strategy guides.
• ThumbBandits.com
  A primarily video game forum "By Female Gamers - For All Gamers".
• WomenGamers.com
  A news site for female players of computer and
• game+girl=advance
  A weblog and online journal for alternative perspectives on videogame culture.
• Women In Games International
  A group focused on computer/video game developers, working to promote the inclusion and advancement of women in the global games industry.
• Dilemmas of the Lady Game Designer by Lizzie Stark
  Notes on being a larp designers, and the efforts of other women - especially in the Nordic larp community - to write about gender issues.
• Sage Advice Question: What steps is Wizards of the Coast taking to help promote D&D to female gamers?
  Answer #1: "First of all, we need to put a face to the female gamer. We need to let people know that they're out there, and we want to create a community of women gamers -- a place for people to discuss their unique challenges as female gamers." (Sara Girard, Associate Brand Manager)
  Answer #2: "Well, first of all, we've got this book, called Confessions of a Part-Time Sorceress by Shelly Mazzanoble. In addition, I think we've already got a bunch of female fans out there. When I was at Game Day, I saw five tables full of D&D players with at least two women at every table -- in one case a woman DMing the game. I think that D&D, as women are discovering now, has a lot to offer them in terms of an experience that they find enjoyable." (Christopher Perkins, Story Design Manager)
• Women in Gaming Web Ring
• Women Fighters in Reasonable Armor

Women RPG Authors

A list of links for notable women RPG authors was here, but has been split out into its own page:

• Notable Women RPG Authors

Articles on Gender in RPGs

• "Scantily Clad and Well Proportioned" - Sexism and Gender Stereotyping in the Gaming Worlds of TSR and Dungeons and Dragons by Chris Danielson
• Encounters at the Imaginal Crossroads: An Exploration of the Experiences of Women in Role-Playing Games by Christopher Justin Dyszelski
  A 325-page doctoral thesis on women in tabletop RPGs.
• Saving Throw for Half Cooties: Gaming and the Femininely Advantaged by Jennifer Brandes and Chris Hepler
• Maid to Adventure by Amanda Dickerson
• The Head of Vecna: Women in Gaming and Other Myths by Hilary Doda
• The RPG Times: I am Woman, Watch Me Role-play by Jenny Hardesty
• Hazel's Women in Gaming Page by Jenn Iannaconi
• "Revenge Of The Gamer Chick" by Beth Kinderman
• Gamerene.com Writer Index: Beth Kinderman
  A series of essays hosted by gamegrene.com, including several looking into gender issues in gaming.
• "The Inevitably-Named 'Rape in RPGs'" by Shataina
• Zephrin's Home of the Lesbian Gamer
• OOC (Out Of Character) by Beth Kinderman
  
• "Women in Gaming?" by Sandy Antunes
  A peculiar rant by a popular RPG website owner from November 1997, as part of his "RPGnet Soapbox" column.
• The Female Adventure(r) by Brandon Blackmoor
• The GPA - Marketing
• Gender Swapping on the Internet by Amy S. Bruckman (1993)
• Psychology of Cyberspace - Gender Swapping
• Dragon Magazine Cover Analysis by Morgan Davies
  Part 1 , Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7 - plus Dragon Editor Response

• The Joys of Transgender Roleplaying by Beth Kinderman
• Making Realistic Female Characters by Beth Kinderman
• How to Perpetuate Gender Stereotypes through RPGs by Beth Kinderman
• Actually Playing Female Characters by Beth Kinderman
• The Girl's Guide to Gender Bending by Beth Kinderman

Articles on Gender in Computer Games and Other Media

• Gender Differences and VR
• Real Genders Choose Fantasy Characters: Class Choice in World of Warcraft by Nicholas DiGiuseppe and Bonnie Nardi
• Game Studies - Lara Croft: Feminist Icon or Cyberbimbo?
• Girls and Gaming: A Summary of the Research with Implications for Practice
• Television and Gender Roles
• Gender Differences in Cognitive Functioning by Heidi Weiman
• Genderplay: Successes and Failures in Character Designs for Videogames by jane
• Women in Games by Stevie Case
• Films Preferences by Race, Age, and Gender

Discussion Threads

There are a variety of blogs and independent sites where people have published material on women in gaming.

• zdashamber's "Really long discussion on specific things to do to better include women in gaming" (April 2006)
  An analysis of the UK Institute of Physics's February 2006 site visit scheme report on Women in University Physics Departments (550KB PDF).
• Matt Wilson's "A Feminist Gaming Manifesto" and (Manifesto, Part 2)
• John Kim's Feminism tagged LJ Articles

On RPGnet, the forums on a popular RPG site with a broad array of games and topics discussed.

First RPG.net Report: Woman
In game Rape in D&D

On The Forge, a discussion group on game design, which has had many threads addressing issues relating to gender.

• "The Depiction of Women in Gaming" (May 2001)
• "Racial/Gender mechanics?" (Jun 2001)
• "Well armed, large breasted women put people off games?" (Jul 2001)
• "Goddess of rape?" (Dec 2001)
• "Exalted Freeform- Unstated Social Contract in Action" (Jun 2002)
• "Sex and Sorcery: Male and Female Story Types" (Oct 2002)
  This is commentary on the book Sex and Sorcery, written by Ron Edwards and available through www.indiepressrevolution.com.
• "Sexism and gaming" (Dec 2002)
• "Playing the opposite gender?" (Dec 2002)
• "Use of Gender Pronouns" (Dec 2002)
• "Women at the Forge" (Apr 2003)
• "Horseplay gone too far?" (May 2003)
• "Casanova, homosexuality, and underage sex" (May 2003)
• "Most attractive setting for female players" (Sep 2003)
• "Cross-Gender Play, or Walk a Mile in My Stilettoes" (Oct 2003)
• "Feminist Game Design" (Feb 2004)
• "Male Dominance in RPGs" (Feb 2004)
• "Trollbabe, Feminism, and the Chainmail Bikini" (Mar 2004)
• "Lines, Veils and Breaking the Ice" (Apr 2004)
• "Dead Inside Playtest, Gender Ratios, Mild Analysis" (May 2004)
• "Mechanical Gender Differences" (May 2004)
• "Why am I not a Woman?" (May 2004)
• "[Eclipse] Gender and Social Class" (May 2004)
• "Mechanical gender differences II [Mongrel]" (May 2004)
• "Mechanical Gender Differences III (I'm Embarrassed)" (May 2004)
• "Character/Player Gender Relationship" (May 2004)
• "Gender: Dead horse flogging!" (May 2004)
• "Gender Based versus Gender Biased" (May 2004)
• "Reasons for Cross Gender Play" (Sep 2004)
• "The Hidden Sex Keyword" (Jan 2005)
• "Women, sexism, and gaming" (Jan 2005)