How women and queer gamers express and elicit excitement, creativity, and desire in online gaming communities and beyond.
How do cosplayers, modders, fan artists, fanfiction authors, and TikTok content creators build content and communities for marginalized and underserved fans of games? In Play Like a Fangirl, Kristine Ask, Ashley Guajardo, Tanja Sihvonen, and Jess Tompkins look at the collective efforts of such fans to create meaningful and arousing connections to video game worlds, to characters, and to one another. Using pleasure as a lens, they show how fans’ playful practices both reflect current cultural values and shape how we relate to video games and ourselves.
The authors develop the concept of what they call the “fangirl gaze” to show how communities of fangirls can be regarded as oppositional, subversive, and transformative in terms of societal expectations of gender, play, and sex, and how these gazes are read within larger social and political contexts. Accessibly and engagingly written, the book expands upon current understandings of video games’ impact on society and culture by exploring the expressions of desire and sexuality outside of those of white cis-het males in mainstream game culture, shedding light on understudied topics and underrepresented (minority) gaming experiences.
Kristine Ask is Associate Professor of Science and Technology studies at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. She is the author of Digitalization and Social Change and the founder and editor of Nordic Journal of Science and Technology Studies.
Ashley ML Guajardo is Assistant Arts Professor at New York University. She is the author of Sexuality and Role-Playing Games and many articles and chapters on the topic of sex and games. In 2025 she was inducted as a Higher Education Video Game Association Fellow.
Tanja Sihvonen is Professor of Communication Studies at the University of Vaasa, Finland, specializing in digital media, games, and internet cultures. She cofounded the Finnish Society for Game Research and was its first chairperson. She is the author of Players Unleashed!.
Jess Tompkins is a user experience researcher specializing in video games. She has authored academic manuscripts in the Journal of Communication, Games & Culture, and Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media. She is the editor of The Psychgeist of Popular Culture: The Mandalorian.
How women and queer gamers express and elicit excitement, creativity, and desire in online gaming communities and beyond.
How do cosplayers, modders, fan artists, fanfiction authors, and TikTok content creators build content and communities for marginalized and underserved fans of games? In Play Like a Fangirl, Kristine Ask, Ashley Guajardo, Tanja Sihvonen, and Jess Tompkins look at the collective efforts of such fans to create meaningful and arousing connections to video game worlds, to characters, and to one another. Using pleasure as a lens, they show how fans’ playful practices both reflect current cultural values and shape how we relate to video games and ourselves.
The authors develop the concept of what they call the “fangirl gaze” to show how communities of fangirls can be regarded as oppositional, subversive, and transformative in terms of societal expectations of gender, play, and sex, and how these gazes are read within larger social and political contexts. Accessibly and engagingly written, the book expands upon current understandings of video games’ impact on society and culture by exploring the expressions of desire and sexuality outside of those of white cis-het males in mainstream game culture, shedding light on understudied topics and underrepresented (minority) gaming experiences.
Author
Kristine Ask is Associate Professor of Science and Technology studies at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. She is the author of Digitalization and Social Change and the founder and editor of Nordic Journal of Science and Technology Studies.
Ashley ML Guajardo is Assistant Arts Professor at New York University. She is the author of Sexuality and Role-Playing Games and many articles and chapters on the topic of sex and games. In 2025 she was inducted as a Higher Education Video Game Association Fellow.
Tanja Sihvonen is Professor of Communication Studies at the University of Vaasa, Finland, specializing in digital media, games, and internet cultures. She cofounded the Finnish Society for Game Research and was its first chairperson. She is the author of Players Unleashed!.
Jess Tompkins is a user experience researcher specializing in video games. She has authored academic manuscripts in the Journal of Communication, Games & Culture, and Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media. She is the editor of The Psychgeist of Popular Culture: The Mandalorian.
