Forbes - I’ve been reading about this recent rather fantastic Twitter trend among the gaming crowd, #1reasonwhy, over the past few days. It was sparked by Luke Crane of Kickstarter who asked why there were so few female game developers in the industry.
Oh Lord, when will it end?
There certainly IS sexism in the game industry, but it is aimed at BOTH genders. ANY entertainment medium ANYwhere is going to use stereotypes and tropes in order to create characters that feel familiar or realistic. And as such, you will ALWAYS have character qualities that may come off as "sexist" because, hey, these are stereotypes based on real people, which is why we can relate to them.
But then again, you don't hear me crying and saying "bawww bawww Max Payne was written as a drunk, pill-popping, insensitive, murderour jerk! That is sexist to men and that offends me!" Nope.
Heck, I can't think of many women who are offended by games, either, unless they simply have an axe to grind. Most of this talk about "oversexualization" in video games is being brought up by White Knights and women who already have an agenda.
You know what? I'm going to write article after article about how chick flicks are sexist against men. You have that loyal nice guy but then the main woman breaks off their engagement and runs away with her "childhood sweetheart". That's sexist! Oh wait. Since I'm a man, I'm not allowed to be offended by stuff like that. Okay.
I just don't know why this always transforms into a feminist discussion. It's not gender-specific. Contrary to popular belief, scantily clad women are not inserted into games to exploit women. It's to try and attract a few shallow sales from their target demographic...men.
"There are real problems facing women in both the inside and outside of the gaming industry. I just don’t think this is one of them."
^^ agree!