Kyle Bikowski

What can gay Mexican video game enthusiasts’ adoption of “Gaymer” (gay-gamer) as a self-identified label tell us about shifting conceptions of masculinity in a globalizing world? Despite gaming’s global explosion, studies of gaming and sexuality focus on U.S. and European experiences. Further, these studies focus on in-game experiences, notably Gaymer interactions with homophobic heterosexual players. These approaches both ignore the rejection Gaymers also experience from the mainstream gay community, which considers gaming a “straight” activity, and the persistent tensions between Mexican video game players and their counterparts in the Global North. More importantly, a focus on virtual interactions erases the complex, joyful communities Gaymers create in actual-world settings. Gaymers in Mexico are part of global networks, not just of other gamers, but also of men, gay men, and pop-culture fans. They blend these networks through performing video game drag shows, attending gaming conventions, or listening to bands who cover video game and anime soundtracks in mariachi style. During a year of in-person and digital ethnography with an informal group of Gaymers in Querétaro, Mexico, I will ask: How do variously marginalized groups perform identities through play to enact joy and create belonging within globalized contexts?