Nadia Di Leo

Stressing Out the ‘Damsel in Distress’: Intersectional Shifts in Women’s Representation in Video Games - Postdigital Science and Education This paper examines the evolving representation of women in video games, exploring intersectional shifts that challenge longstanding gender stereotypes. Through a qualitative investigation involving s...

The conversation about who gaming is for, and who gets to feel welcome in it, is far from over.
📄 Paper (open access): link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Any article has limitations and should be open to critiques. But when the dominant reaction to a paper about women's experiences in gaming is to mock, demean, and delegitimize, you're no longer critiquing, you're demonstrating the problem.

and the reflexive dismissal of any conversation about inclusion as ideological overreach.

Several dismissed the entire premise that women's experiences in gaming are worth studying at all.
This is precisely what our interviewees described: the gatekeeping, the hostility toward women who enter gaming spaces,

the exact policing mechanism our participants reported. One commenter referred to women critical of representation as "fat blue-haired land whales" and "screeching banshees". Another called feminism "a hate movement".

Then it landed on r/KotakuInAction, a subreddit born out of the GamerGate movement. The response was… illustrative. Women who play 1-8 hours a week were called "tourists". Female gamers who enjoy traditionally male-oriented titles were described through the "pick me girl" framework,

A few weeks ago, our study "Stressing Out the 'Damsel in Distress'" was published in Postdigital Science and Education. It examines how female characters are portrayed in games and how women navigate hostile spaces in gaming communities.

Our paper on women's experiences in video games got posted to a GamerGate subreddit. The comments proved our point better than our data did. [thread]

Stressing Out the ‘Damsel in Distress’: Intersectional Shifts in Women’s Representation in Video Games - Postdigital Science and Education This paper examines the evolving representation of women in video games, exploring intersectional shifts that challenge longstanding gender stereotypes. Through a qualitative investigation involving s...

Check out an amazing new article by @nadiadileo.bsky.social on postdigital feminism, women's representation in video games, and intersectional experiences in gaming communities. Out now in Postdigital Science and Education! link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Stressing Out the ‘Damsel in Distress’: Intersectional Shifts in Women’s Representation in Video Games - Postdigital Science and Education This paper examines the evolving representation of women in video games, exploring intersectional shifts that challenge longstanding gender stereotypes. Through a qualitative investigation involving s...

Stressing Out the ‘Damsel in Distress’: Intersectional Shifts in Women’s Representation in Video Games by
@nadiadileo.bsky.social et al.
link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Stressing Out the ‘Damsel in Distress’: Intersectional Shifts in Women’s Representation in Video Games - Postdigital Science and Education This paper examines the evolving representation of women in video games, exploring intersectional shifts that challenge longstanding gender stereotypes. Through a qualitative investigation involving s...

link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Merry Feminist Christmas! Another important article on postdiital feminism for the end of the year :) Link in first comment

I am speaking at the...Child & Teen Consumption Conference at King's College London (22-24 April 2026)

Lovely to be heading to King’s College London to speak at the Child & Teen Consumption Conference. Looking forward to joining scholars and practitioners exploring how childhood is changing. Grateful to the organising committee for bringing this together! @clpn.bsky.social

I made a thing! ✨
So excited to share my new little corner of the internet. It's my personal portfolio where I'm documenting my journey as an Academic (more or less). Come say hi!
nadiadileo.neocities.org
#webdev #neocities #portfolio #frontend

Just concluded an enriching Youth and Horror: An International Conference where I presented 'Fear Frames: Catharsis through Horror Manga and Anime.' The global reach of this conference provided incredible insights into how different cultures approach horror media and youth engagement!

I'm excited to share my newly published paper: "Programming inclusion with Artificial Intelligence: an online inquiry on coding students’ perceptions”.

The full paper (in Italian) is available on ojs.pensamultimedia.it/index.php/si...

#artificialintelligence #programming #inclusion

Had a lot of fun talking about Murakami, networks and lost cats with @nadiadileo.bsky.social at @icsexchange.bsky.social

Publication alert‼️
My article, "Crafting knowledge block by block: A systematic review on the educational potential of Minecraft in schools", is now live in the Italian Journal of Educational Technology!
Check it out here: ijet.itd.cnr.it/index.php/td...
#Minecraft #Education #EdTech

Big news! 🎉 My abstract on Digital Ethnography of Online Communities has been accepted for the Computational Social Science meets Qualitative Research Workshop at @lsemethodology.bsky.social this November! Honored to be part of this gathering of innovative minds. 💻🌍

A big thank you to the organisers for supporting my submission with a bursary 🥹

I'm thrilled to announce that I'll be joining the Youth & Horror: An International Conference at the University of Birmingham on 1–2 July 2025! I’m excited to share my work on “Fear frames: catharsis through horror manga and anime” during the Creative Methodologies panel.
#YouthAndHorror

I’d love to hear your thoughts and feedback as I continue to refine the experience!

Excited to share my latest project! I've developed an interactive dataset that dives into Reddit posts and comments about OMORI. This platform features a dynamic timeline to explore conversations and trends on the game.
Check out the demo video to see the platform in action!
#OMORI #InteractiveData

Cover page of an issue of the newspaper "Foggia Occupator," depicting a young girl and a man dressed as Santa Claus

A page of the newspaper "Foggia Occupator"

Excited to share that my paper on applying RAG to digital archives has been accepted to #AIUCD2025! See you in Verona to talk about digitised newspapers and AI 🗞️

There are a lot of tutorials on youtube! It’s awesome, I founded it very relaxing ahah

Minecraft has been my favorite hobby since childhood, accompanying me through my teenage years (and yes, I was in my FNAF phase).
There's something special about building the bridge between childhood joy and professional skills.
#Minecraft #3DModeling #Blockbench #PandemicProjects

Feeling a bit nostalgic today about my first "job" during the COVID-19 pandemic: creating 3D models for Minecraft using Blockbench!