Chess for girls? Feminism and computer games

A recent Saturday Night Live show (Dec. 6, 1997) featured a pseudo-commercial for ‘Chess for Girls.’ The skit opens with a brother and sister playing chess; the boy soon moves to checkmate his sibling. The girl replies, “Chess is no fun!”, and sweeps the parts off the board in disgust. An announcer comes on and says, “Don’t worry, now there’s Chess for Girls!”, and the commercial launches into a montage of images: a chessboar d filled with doll-like pieces, girls brushing the hair of the queen, girls prancing around with the knights, which are beautiful ponies, the brother exclaiming, “Hey, you can’t move like that!”, the pieces driving around in a convertible and relaxing in their beach house.

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