어린이 게임에 재현된 성 고정관념-국내 어린이 전용 인터넷 사이트를 중심으로

Gender Stereotype Represented in Children's Games on Korean Internet Portal Sites

This study examined how and to what extent gender stereotypes are represented in children’s games on two Korean internet portal sites by analyzing the names, character images, and story lines of games on the sites Results indicate that gender stereotypes operate even in cyberspace One third of the games portrayed stereotypes about men's and women’s traits and roles. In these games, men were often described as fighting for justice and for the weak. In contrast, women were often portrayed as dreaming about romantic love and focusing on looking physically attractive to others. The ratio of games related to men and romance as compared to games addressing women and romance was 1 to 37. Make-up games and dressing games, which actively reproduce the image of women focusing on their looks, constituted about 28 to 33% of the children’s games on each site. The extent to which women were portrayed as performing domestic work such as cooking and arranging house differed by game-maker. Implications of these findings are discussed.