About

What does Queer Me do?

Queer Me is a digital game library that works to curate video games as queer experiences for young people. Using the concept of media play as social and identity practice (Johansen, 2018), video games can be understood as critical tools for encountering, exploring, and ‘trying-out’ diverse queer identities, as well as for playfully theorising new, queer, perspectives on the world. Queer Me offers young users a selection of video games (as well as a few other multimodal digital texts) which offer the opportunity to explore diverse gender and sexuality expressions; that is to say, games which offer, in some form, a queer perspective through play.

Who are the team behind Queer Me?

Emilie Owens

The brains behind the concept of Queer Me, Emilie is a native of Canada, and has lived and worked in Malaysia, Scotland, and Denmark. She is the co-founder of The Queer Games Library, and is currently the head of communications and media, as well as head of non-games content for the library. Having completed her BA (Hons) in Communications Studies and English Literature at Concordia University in Montreal, she now specialises in researching children’s digital media and play practice. She is currently completing an IntMA (International Master’s Degree) in Children’s Literature, Media and Culture at the University of Glasgow, the University of Aarhus, and the University of Wroclaw.

(she/her)

Laura Cesa

Laura, an artist of Filipino and Scottish heritage, is the brains behind the design and production of Queer Me. She is the co-founder of The Queer Games Library, and is currently head of web and graphic design, as well as head of games curation and social media management for the library. Having completed her BA (Hons) in Time Based Art and Digital Film at University of Dundee and working within the education sector, she is now focused on researching children's identity formation in media adjacent to culture and social justice efforts. She is currently completing an IntMA (International Master’s Degree) in Children’s Literature, Media and Culture at the University of Glasgow, the University of Aarhus, and the University of Wroclaw.

(she/her)

Queer Me co-opts Rudine Sims-Bishop’s (1990) metaphor of the Mirror, Window, and Door to filter games according to criterion developed with an aim to fostering more specifically diverse queer learning: Queer Me, Queer You, and Queer World. This metaphor have since been notably used in the work of Arizpe, Farrell, and McAdam, who propose ways in which the mirror, the window and the door might be used as tools to consolidate “multicultural and multiliteracy” pedagogy and create a more transformative classroom practice (Arizpe et al, 2013, 248-250). Adopting the mirror, window and door concept and framework from the work of Arizpe et al to assign practical implications within the Queer Me curation, provides an accessible clarity and discernment of the selected games and their qualities from a queer perspective.

Arizpe, E, et al. 2013, "Opening the classroom door to children's literature: a review of research" in Hall, K. 2013, International handbook of research on children's literacy, learning and culture, Wiley-Blackwell, Chichester, West Sussex. pp 241-257.

Bishop, R. S. (1990) Mirrors, windows, and sliding glass doors. Perspectives. 6 (3), ix–xi.

Copyright

Queer Me content and materials are the intellectual property of their respective owners.

Video Games © to their respective owners. Further information and credit on the applicable pages.

Website Graphics:

The Team