book: Girlhood Games
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Girlhood Games

Gender, Identity,and Coming of Age in Video Games
Language: English
Published/Copyright: 2025
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Video Games and the Humanities

About this book

From hypermasculine heroes’ journeys to the boyish play cultures of modding and hacking, popular imagination has long connected video games to boyhood. Yet there has been both a long history and rapid rise of girlhood heroines and a wealth of unnoticed girls’ gaming cultures that have gone unaccounted. This book explores the evolution of gender, youth, and identity in games, from the Game Boy Color Sewing Machine to the teen girl social and identity obstacles found in games like Life is Strange. Video games are shifting away from the heroes’ journey and towards the Bildungsroman, or coming-of-age tale; uniquely representing girlhood through play and interaction. Girlhood Games: Gender, Identity and Coming of Age in Video Games unearths a reflection on gender and games culture, youth and development, storytelling traditions and historical canons, self-expression and cultural production, and the resistant possibilities unveiled through play.

Author / Editor information

Stephanie Harkin is a Lecturer at RMIT University, Australia where she researches girls’ digital cultures, feminine gaming, and digital preservation.

Topics

  • Publicly Available

    Frontmatter

    I
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    Dedication

    V
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    Preface

    VII
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    Contents

    IX
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    1 Introduction

    1
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    2 Charting Girls in Games

    28
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    3 Navigating the Threshold: Oxenfree, Liminality, and Immanent Girlhood

    55
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    4 Power Structures, Post-feminism, and Nostalgia: Memory and Resistance in Life Is Strange

    70
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    5 Transgression, Horror, & the Fairy Tale: From Hunted to Hunter in The Last of Us Series

    102
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    6 Self-Representation: Girls’ Bedrooms and DIY Games Culture: Secret Little Haven and Lost Memories Dot Net

    132
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    7 Conclusion: Virtual Voyagers

    161
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    References

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    Index

    191
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Publishing information
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook published on:
October 15, 2025
eBook ISBN:
9783111560939
Hardcover published on:
October 15, 2025
Hardcover ISBN:
9783111559735
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
Front matter:
10
Main content:
194
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783111560939
eBook ISBN: 9783111560939
Hardcover ISBN: 9783111559735
Keywords for this book
Girlhood; Video Games; Coming of Age; Young Adult
Audience(s) for this book
Game scholars, game designers and students; young adult/literary scholars and students; feminist media scholars
Safety & product resources
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