Review of Shira Chess's Play Like A Feminist.
Tof Eklund, Contributing Editor
In Play Like A Feminist. (and its tie-in website) Shira Chess takes on the daunting task of addressing three audiences: feminists who don't play videogames, gamers who don't identify as feminists, and feminist gamers. Inevitably, some of those audiences are better served than others, but I don’t think it was a mistake to try and bridge this gap.
Play Like A Feminist. is part of MIT's Playful Thinking series, a set of brief, accessible interventions into game studies. This book meets all three of those expectations, and the first two are necessary precursors to the third, as it is the brevity and accessibility of the work that allows it to function as an intervention.
Feminist audiences who are looking for a way into the world of video games, video games worth their attention, or who are wondering whether they should "bother" with video games will find great value in Play Like a Feminist. Chess proposes feminist gaming circles as a way to approach the medium. Similar to book clubs and the proverbial sewing circle, they would pick a game and meet to discuss it.
There are so many games, especially single-player games, that I would love to play alongside other players and meet to discuss. When people talk about gaming groups, they inevitably mean groups of people they play a game with, and while they inevitably talk about the game, it's usually a mix of strategy and griping. There are online forums, but I'd sooner read a phone book (remember phone books?) than a Steam forum, and at this point in my life, I'm proud to not have a Reddit login. This is more like the feminist knitting circle I was part of as a graduate student: there's whatever you're doing with your hands, and there's the conversation.
Really, Chess is calling for a rebirth of the salon, not the kind that cuts hair but the sort that was so essential in the development of feminist and other progressive thought in the 18th and 19th centuries. The games she chose for her circle reflect this: they're stunning, mostly short, single player games that call for passionate (but never shouty) discussion, preferably over coffee, tea, wine, beer, or whatever suits you. If you want to hear what this looks like, check out the Not Your Mama's Gamer podcast, where they start by sharing what they're drinking and then get into that week’s games, applying intersectional feminism like a scalpel or a machete, as needed. (Also check out our podcast, if you haven't yet! -ed.)
This review was delayed a couple of days because, after reading what Chess's circle thought of Stardew Valley, I reinstalled it on my phone and spent altogether too much time watering pumpkins and petting ducks.
In addition to Stardew Valley, Chess recommends Florence, Reigns: Her Majesty, Monument Valley, Donut County, and Gorogoa. I can't think of a better starter selection of games for "non-gamers," assuming they have a smartphone and motivation. That's perhaps the most important thing Chess does in Play Like a Feminist. She presents a case for play as a feminist value, one that women and feminist thinkers have often denied themselves.
I had to stop and think about that. Chess points out that feminist writers often use the language of "self care" to push back against the constant encroachment of domestic and emotional labor on women's free time, and makes the case that women have internalized the need to be "productive" at all times, viz the popularity of crafts. I think all of that is true, but I'm not sure if play is as rare in feminist thought as Chess claims.
There's no shortage of feminist writing about sex, good sex as well as bad, or about women’s desires and pleasure, sexual and otherwise. Classic works of women’s literature, such as the Regency novels of Jane Austen and the Brontë sisters address both the playing of instruments (the piano forte) and of certain games, like whist, and some of my favorite feminist writers, like Kathy Acker, Donna Haraway, Jack Halberstam, and Hélène Cixous have a distinctly playful writing style.
Still, there is a gap. The games girls and women are allowed to play have often been a highly restricted subset of those allowed to boys and men, and women’s sports are still constantly being looked down on, despite the fact that many women’s leagues were created not to protect "the fairer sex" but after women embarrassed men by beating them at their own game(s). Even the word “play” is more often used negatively with women: when a man "plays around" he’s (presumably) having fun, but a woman who "plays with" a man's feelings, "plays matchmaker," or "plays politics" is seen as both fake and manipulative.
The only major flaw in Chess' argument for womens' right to play is that there are times when she verges on making it a duty. It becomes the work of feminism. When she calls on readers to "Play All the Things" she says that "PWNing leisure means trying new things, pushing our bodies and experimenting with play that might (initially) make us uncomfortable." There's nothing wrong with choosing to push yourself to try something new, and it's certainly the case that some forms of recreation involve discomfort, but this sounds more like protest than play to me. Play can be a form of protest, and Chess devotes a chapter to this important topic, but protest is rarely leisurely.
Everyone deserves leisure. May Day celebrates the unionized laborers who fought for a forty-hour work week: their slogan was "eight hours for work, eight hours for rest, eight for what we will." Of course, the men in those unions didn't consider all the domestic labor women were expected to do, unpaid, at all hours. Play Like a Feminist. asks male gamers to consider women as having an equal right to and deserving equal access to all forms of leisure, including video games.
As such, the book's appeal to (implicitly male) gamers who are not feminists (but are willing to read a book on gaming and feminism) is simple and appealing. All Chess asks this audience to do is consider women their equals. Chess is familiar with a broad range of feminist theory, but that's what she boils it down to: gender equality. This is one of those moments when I almost wish Play Like a Feminist. was a different book: 500 pages long, scholarly, and deeply nuanced. I think gender equality is a necessary component of an intersectional feminism, but that it's not sufficient: in particular, it risks erasing difference and defining "equality" in terms of access to (white, cis-straight) roles and spaces. Chess’s previous work, Ready Player Two: Women Gamers and Designed Identity, attests to her ability do that kind of scholarship.
But Play Like a Feminist. is a slender tome, and it needs to be. In particular, Chess has to be clear and concise about the goals of feminism: she's taking on a long history of the term being demonized and completely mischaracterized by opponents who weren't willing to admit that they were fundamentally opposed to equality in any form, from Phyllis Schlafly and Rush Limbaugh to the modern “incel.” Play like a Feminist. is a timely intervention, not an elaborate consideration from all angles. I accept that, but it does mean that there are times when Play Like a Feminist. stops to tell me "I don't care about you."
As a feminist and a lifelong "gamer" (though I distrust the latter word), I understand why Chess can't give me more depth with regards to either games or feminist theory. But as someone who is nonbinary, transgender, and deeply concerned with intersectionality, Play Like a Feminist. acknowledges my existence just enough to exclude me from consideration. In some ways, that's doing me a solid: I'm used to people rejecting the possibility of my existence. Chess doesn't do that. I need to be absolutely clear here: Chess embraces intersectionality and is absolutely not a TERF. Full stop.
But Play Like a Feminist. is addressed, first and foremost, to women who can be encouraged to play video games… and need encouragement. That's a large audience, but not an inclusive one. I've had the same experience Chess has of having "non-gamer" female colleagues and acquaintances ask me to recommend games they might want to try. But I know far more women who are absolutely gamers, albeit on their own terms, be they consummate board gamers, devoted to JRPGs, or even kickass at military shooters despite (not because of) the especially aggressive misogyny so common in that community. Chess acknowledges that about half of all game players are women, but women who enjoy competitive or violent games will find very little in Play Like a Feminist. that speaks to them.
Anyone who is gender non-conforming is likely to feel rebufffed by the book, at least at certain moments. The first time the word "nonbinary" appears in Play Like a Feminist. is on page 47: "The focus of this chapter is on women specifically, however my goal is not to be dismissive about the leisure needs of men and nonbinary folks." Men aren't the focus, but they have a place: they are presumed to have access to games and leisure, not without issue, but with considerably greater ease than women. The only other time the word "nonbinary" appears, it is in a similar caveat a few pages later. After considering how women are denied and deny themselves leisure and play (relative to men), Chess writes "Nonbinary and gender-fluid individuals all have their own, likely nuanced relationships with leisure (as do we all)."
Okay, I get it. This book isn't about me. It's consideration of feminism and patriarchy (or, better, kyriarchy: the intersections of power and prejudice that create inequality) defines me as an outlier, whose experiences are real but not relevant. Play Like a Feminist. touches on the issue of class briefly, noting the barriers that poverty and overwork pose to video gaming and all forms of leisure. Chess cites a number of other works that address intersectional issues like race and queerness, but does not incorporate those scholars' findings.
Chess' experience creating a feminist game circle informs every aspect of Play Like a Feminist. What she accomplished with Athena's Gaming Circle is impressive, but specific, and that defines the scope of this book. If I understand correctly, Chess' group was relatively white, heteronormative, professional-class, and skeptical about video games. As such, Play Like a Feminist. is most relevant to that demographic. I would love to see Chess follow this up with a longer, more scholarly work, something that takes the feminist gaming circle beyond a rebirth of the salons attended by the likes of George Sand and the Brontës. It will take the work of many hands, but I hope to see a new wave of gaming circles emerge, reflecting the lived experiences of folks along the many intersecting axes of people who need feminism.
Enjoyed reading this piece? Well, why not read our reviews of the Netflix docuseries High Score or indie meditation on loss and storytelling Welcome to Elk.
