International Journal of Cultural Studies· 2026Q1
No game for old (wo)men: Gender, age, and gaming in post-socialist Czechia—A qualitative case study
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- Q1SCImago
- 2026year
Short summary
Retired Czech women (65+) engage in care-oriented and emotionally sustaining play, using digital environments to negotiate aging femininity and assert agency against ageism and gendered assumptions.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Key points
- Eight retired Czech women (65+) participated in a qualitative study on their gaming practices.
- Participants engage in play to negotiate aging femininity and claim autonomy in digital spaces.
- Gaming activities are described as care-oriented and emotionally sustaining.
- The study challenges ageist and gendered assumptions within digital environments.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Abstract
This article presents a qualitative case study of the gaming practices of eight retired women aged 65 and older in Czechia, a generation shaped by post-socialist technological histories and gendered expectations around aging. Drawing on intersectionality, the study shows how participants navigate gaming spaces without identifying as gamers, mobilizing play as a site of negotiation of aging femininity. The aim of this article is to describe forms of care-oriented and emotionally sustaining play through which older women claim autonomy and legitimacy within digital environments shaped by digital ageism and gendered assumptions. The article challenges universalizing and paternalistic frameworks commonly used to study older adults and argues for understanding later-life digital practices as culturally situated forms of agency that reconfigure dominant narratives of aging and/or gender.
The authors' abstract, as published at the source. International Journal of Cultural Studies, 2026 · DOI ↗
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Field: Demography
DemographySocial Sciences