Exploring gender and femininity with computer lab dress-up games

polygon.com:

During the school day, the downstairs computer lab was insignificant. It was a room with irritating fluorescent lights and the oppressive silence that comes when a group of seventh graders is forced to use a computer under the watchful eye of a teacher. It was where I went to do nothing more than pretend to type a proper paragraph. After school, the computer lab was a very different place.

Between 3 and 7 p.m., the computer lab was open to students whose parents didn’t allow them to be latchkey kids. Despite finally hitting our teen years, we were meant to stay under adult supervision until we were picked up. Frankly, it was embarrassing, and the title “teen center” only seemed to make things worse. Yes, we were finally teens. No, it did not mean much. The only saving grace was that all the “teen center” adults in charge of watching us were too exhausted or too young to care about what we did. Finally, the computer lab was truly open.

Computer Lab Week is our ode to the classic “school” games, like Oregon Trail and Number Munchers, that kept us from being productive. Sure, you should be doing homework, but Carmen Sandiego is on the loose!

I was the new kid suddenly thrust into white suburbia and fully controlled by what my mom dictated and my own insecurities. Standing out was never an option, but assimilating and falling into the background were. I was always late when it came to trends, and even then, I barely got to participate in them due to my sheltered home life. I simply followed as best as I could. Going to the computer lab became a gateway into everything I was afraid of. Those after-school hours provided a brief moment where I could pretend to forget everything else.

As kids we all learn a set of random rules