The Council on Gender Sensitivity and Behavioral Awareness in World of Warcraft
Screened/Exhibited:
Video Oediv, Campbelltown Arts Centre, Sydney Australia
Mutated Game Form, Woodbury University, Los Angeles CA
Angela Washko: Playing A Girl, Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art, NY
Subversive Strategies in Online Gaming Culture, Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki Finland
A Haven, Art Connects New York, NYC
Angela Washko: It's Just Not Fair, Austin Peay State University, Clarksville TN
In early 2012 Angela Washko founded "The Council on Gender Sensitivity and Behavioral Awareness in World of Warcraft" as an intervention within World of Warcraft, the most popular massively multiplayer role playing game of all time. Instead of continuing to following the quest structure of the game - killing dragons, getting better equipment, joining more competitive guilds...while performing as "The Council on Gender Sensitivity and Behavioral Awareness in World of Warcraft," Washko facilitates discussions with players inside the game about the ways in which the communities therein addresses women and how players respond to the term "FEMINISM". Washko is interested in the impulse of the player-base to create an oppressive, misogynistic space for women within a physical environment that is otherwise accessible and inviting. Furthermore, WoW is a geographically, politically, economically, socially, and racially diverse community (a much more varied community to engage with than she has in physical public space). Consequently these discussions within the game space create a much larger picture of the American opinion of what women should and should not be today.
In this particular performance, I discussed several male players' decision to play female toons (avatars) and also got into a discussion with a female player about her belief that if you wear revealing clothing it's your fault that you get raped (hardcore slut-shaming).