“Misogyny in the world of online gaming? ” A critical discourse analysis about how female gamers are portrayed in the Swedish Media

Sammanfattning: This paper’s purpose is to investigate the discourse in the Swedish media about sexism in the gaming world. A social issue that is highlighted is the constitution of gender in relation to online games. The goal is to gain knowledge about how women are represented in news articles. Producers of news articles seem to take gender constructions for granted. Through Norman Fairclough critical discourse analysis this study analyzes how the language is used in news articles about sexism and games. The theoretical framework of Judith Butler and Yvonne Hirdman are used to discuss gender balances, hegemonic structures and norms that are incorporated in society. The empirical material consists of four articles published in Swedish newspapers about women in gaming. The selection of articles provides an image of how the industry, companies, game critics and gamers look at sexism in gaming. Commentaries to the articles are also discussed in order to show how the audience reacts. The findings indicate that discourses in Swedish news articles are involved in maintaining and legitimizing the social order of hegemony in the world of gaming. Discourses in news articles actively contribute in placing women in the gaming world as victims when writing that women are weak, threatened and harassed. They are part of a wider social practice that together constitutes this image.