Critical Gamer's Luke K writes: Same old, same old. Every year, complaints of sexism in videogames and the industry in general come up. Year after year, the same whining, as though there’s a problem which refuses to go away. There is a reason for that, of course – women like to moan. Sure, there are some men arguing the case too, but it’s obvious they’re just trying to prise the underwear off feminists. There is no problem with ‘sexism’ in games; and now, I’m going to prove it.
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Tell any empowered sexy woman that her very image is portraying hate towards women, or that she is demeaning women, and she'll slap the piss out of your mouth.
The article is also written by some pseudo intellectual British guy, who like all Brits thinks he's way cleverer than he actually is. For anyone who doesn't care to read his long-winded article - he's being ironic, and trying desperately to be funny. He fails largely, so I'll save you the time - this whole article is written with sarcasm and pretentious undertones.
Contrary to popular belief, someone can have sexist/racist views without holding any real ill-will or contempt toward the group.
All pictures of women posing sexy are by your definition sexist. Trust me, the women in playboy would disagree that they were being demeaned - they want to be seen as sexy, they crave it and men love watching it, it's a win win. Whether you think women should ever be seen in any sexual way is puritanical nonsense.
It's also stupid to paint an entire industry based on one game. There are porn movies, do we then conclude that the movie industry is sexist and vile? No - it just contains those things. Of course there are going to be adolescent male pandering in games - that's their target market - adolescent males to an children eat this crap up, of course they're going to create it, it's supply and demand and all about money for publishers, so sleazy developers will create something that appeals to a certain demographic that is void of any sophistication, but it doesn't make the "games industry" sexist.
Guess what - there are a ton of female protagonists that portray strength, independence, and fortitude, and yes they can be sexy while they're at it - do these characters mean nothing? Of course not.
because they are getting paid silly
I have heard prostitutes say selling their bodies wasn't demeaning (Hookers on the Point - HBO) because they are gaining something out of it.
of course the person IN the photo likes and enjoys it, that doesn't mean it is not sexist.
The thing is the gaming industry is almost always pandering to men when making these "sexy" characters. There's tasteful sexy and then there's the things industries like videogames commonly do. Shameless camera angles, comically overblown proportions, and incredibly skimpy clothing are pandering to basest interests of males and that's not good for sophisticated settings and storytelling, much less irl culture.
If a game is flaunting a girl's body when it's not in her character or her role in the story, it's pathetic pandering. Even in that if it's done to an inappropriate extent it also devolves to pandering. Videogames do this all the time.
There are notable exceptions like Jade from BG&E and Samus Aran from Metroid and they just so happen to be some of my favorite female videogame protagonists ever. They're sexy but due to their bravery and accomplishments and not their looks. That's where their empowerment comes from.
Oh and that image isn't sexy. At all. Licking a PSP? Ridiculous and cheap appeal to gamers' sexual fantasies.
"who like all Brits thinks he's way cleverer than he actually is."
Wash your racist mouth out there son, dont think every "Britts" are the same.
If not it's pure egocentric slop. Those pictures in the article destroy his points and he doesn't even realize it. And plenty of his comments and points are indeed sexist.
Men say, "take mah moneyz, naow!"
So who's really being exploited?
The way people treat games, you could say the construction industry is sexist, because it doesn't really allow for women. Any sport is sexist. Lots of things are, because there's an inherent dichotomy between the sexes.
I don't see anyone decrying harlequin romance novels for being sexist against men(or women, for that matter), but the two I forced myself to read most definitely were. Yet that seems to be the draw of those books.
I find it highly annoying that I have been gaming for over 25 years and there are not many female characters I can relate to.
It is not that just the fighting games have women who are a bit undressed and overly sexy.
When I made my character in Dragon's Dogma I was happy because I could pick body type and my female character ended up looking like a kick ass character and not someone's wet dream. I loved Shepard in Mass Effect mainly because she was sexy and yet didn't fight half naked with her boobs coming out.
There have been reports that women make up some 40+ percent of gamers, yet I don't think that's an accurate representation of the number of women like yourself; instead, I think it reflects the rise of the casual gamer, and the expanded definition of the word "gamer," as I feel I would not be wrong in saying the majority of casual gamers are female.
Attractive and sexy have come to be synonymous with "sexist," largely in a well-meaning but often misguided attempt at political correctness. The problem with being politically correct is that it's incorrect in terms of reality. While people of different sexes, genders, and races should be treated equally, I don't think there's parity. Without huge amounts of surgery, men can't give birth. Women are generally weaker than men.
An example of something that could be construed as sexist is given in your own comment, to be honest:
"my female character ended up looking like a kick ass character and not someone's wet dream."
It's an assumption on your part that revealing clothes on a woman are what men want/expect/have in their wet dreams, and that this desire is exclusive to men, as well. But I prefer modest clothes: a woman in a business suit, or even just jeans and a t-shirt is sexy as hell to me, and far more appealing than just a miniskirt and a lace bra.
All this is really just to say: I don't think it's as bad as people think it is, though it certainly does exist.
In a video game, there are leaders and in some of those games, those leaders are women. Great! no sexism?
now heres the catch... does the female leader have a final say in all things above her subordinates or allies?
have you ever noticed that your male protagonist character puts himself over a woman that is supposed to be portrayed as a leader who is wiser, more responsible and more experienced than he is? or just one or two of those?
nope, he naturally puts his balls right over her.
Name a game and a situation where a female made the final decision on all things. In a typical military situation, even the leader must delegate somethings.
If she has that much control over everything likely she is doing the dirty work herself, not giving orders.
have you ever noticed that your male protagonist character puts himself over a woman that is supposed to be portrayed as a leader who is wiser, more responsible and more experienced than he is? or just one or two of those?
One your assuming she is wiser or more experienced, two your male protagonist isn't a mindless obedient puppy, he likely has his own personality or way of doing things ect.
nope, he naturally puts his balls right over her."
The main character is above even your esteemed wise and experienced female leader, who will likely do whatever the hell he or SHE deems as the right course of action regardless of other input from a male or female leader.
Another annoying male feminist oh joy, realistic female characters in games are few, fewer still are fleshed out as main characters. Heavenly sword comes to mind so does the metal gear solid series(even if not playable).
Yippee the political thug squad is here.
"Contrary to popular belief, someone can have sexist/racist views without holding any real ill-will or contempt toward the group." Right and if they aren't causing any problems towards the group in question, why is this relevant.
Sorry but the terms racist and sexist/ism, have been twisted around so throughly i don't believe anyones definition of it on the net. And sorry but real life people of all races and both genders promote stereotypes positive or negative, better than games ever will.
I don't mind the occasional half naked bimbo running around in my games. I do mind that in my 25 years of gaming I have not seen enough women designed to be played without a sexy element.
Guys probably want to see their character kick the hell out of anyone or thing that trys to get in their way.
Right since a majority of averages male gamers have kratos physique in real life lol, it's fair that females are made to look equally attractive.
When do you ever see a ugly or unattractive character playing the lead in any movie or book or game, minus horror.
You don't usually because it is fantasy, and no really wants to see a ugly person over a attractive person. It might be harsh to put it that way but it is true.
Sexy element, not exactly sure what you mean, games shouldn't have any seductive, mysterious or temptress type of females. Sorry but having only humorless, cold, ice queen female characters would quickly get dull.
I would rather have better fleshed out personality and individual wise female characters.
It has really been just this gen that characters have actually been remotely life like outside of rpgs and even then it's fairly rare compared to most games in general.
Maybe it's because men make up the majority of the gaming audience? Especially those who own a console? I can recall reading that of the 40% of women who do play video games many of them happen to be *ahem* casual and don't really care about consoles aside from the Wii for its Wii _____ titles.
How often do you see an ugly male protagonist, eh? Or an unpopular one? No, they're all the "cool idealized male archetpye." It's the same for female characters.
And if you look at the raw numbers, male characters (and by extension, male archetypes) are FAR more prevalent in games than female archetypes.
So why do people ignore this and focus on sexism against women?
In Western culture, it's viewed as emasculating. Feminine. Unmanly. Shameful. You get the idea.
This is also why men are statistically FAR less likely to report incidents of rape.