Episode 141: Hidden Advertising of Feminine Games

Phil Salvador interviews Dr. Stephanie Harkin, lecturer at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) School of Design Games Program in Australia, about her research on femininity in gaming, particularly in girls' lifestyle magazines. Dr. Harkin discusses her journey from media studies to focusing on feminine games. She highlights her findings on the lack of representation of feminine games in traditional gaming magazines and her discovery of Girl Gamer magazine, which promoted Nintendo games in a lifestyle format. We explore the coverage of games in magazines like Total Girl and the broader cultural context of game representation.

You can listen to the Video Game History Hour every other Wednesday on Patreon (one day early at the $5 tier and above), on Spotify, or on our website.

Mentioned in the show:

Girl Gamer cover: https://archive.gamehistory.org/item/e6beceaa-f36f-46d7-bc2a-f4599773e10e

MCV pink issue: https://archive.gamehistory.org/item/39c2181c-d395-44b7-9e64-2f1c8333a922

Pokémon Personality Quiz: https://gamehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Pokemon-personality-quiz-1200x847.jpg

Pac-Man Nail Art: https://gamehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Stephanie-Harkin-Pac-man-nail-art.jpg

Big Bowser House (mistakenly referred to as "Donkey Kong Big Brother House"): https://gamehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Big-Bowser-House-cropped.jpg

K-Zone: https://archive.org/details/K-ZoneJanuary2006 

Imagine Magazines: https://archive.gamehistory.org/folder/6187132e-315c-4be5-8498-8c55ac478ebe?sortField=date&sortDir=asc 

See more from Dr. Stephanie Harkin:

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/saharkin.bsky.social

Games Exhibition: https://www.feminineplay.org/ 

Upcoming book: https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/isbn/9783111560939/html

Video Game History Foundation:

Email: podcast@gamehistory.org

Website: gamehistory.org

Support us on Patreon: /gamehistoryorg