Video Games Still Over-Sexualise Female Characters, Says New Study

J Station X: A new study from Indiana University says that video games still over-sexualise female characters, with nudity and unrealistic waist-sizes still common.

[ZaWarudo]

Males are also over-sexualise, but weird how nobody ever brings that up.

[BosSSyndrome]

No, no they arent. Not nearly to the same degree. Most female characters contribute nothing but being sexy. There are great female characters out there, definitely, but most of them are just eye candy. Its almost completely one sided. And dont try to tell me someone like kratos is oversexualized because hes not. Hes naked and buff to create an idealization of power and primality for men, not to sexually appeal to women, because women typically dont give a **** about that.

[LordMaim]

So describe to me how a naked buff man could be seen as a sex symbol rather than a idealization of power and primality for men, because I'm seeing an irreconcilable double standard in your argument.

[fatsodubmo]

Most females in games are super "buff" as well. So Its all good since its just to idealize power and "primality".

[Big_Game_Hunters]

"not to sexually appeal to women, because women typically dont give a **** about that."

LMFAO!!

[ZombieGamerMan]

Yeah it's still the same thing, not going to foolishly assume women don't get off on seeing a half naked buff dude flex his muscles but there are who do enjoy it and at same time those who can see women in video games that are sexualized the same way men see guys like Kratos & Nathan Drake. Point being if it's a woman with big tits and narrow hips or a guy with rock hard abs with ungodly good stamina someone is getting off an them and should be recognized that no one really wants to play some ugly fat ass

[cleft5]

Right because no woman in her right mind would think Kratos is sexy in that outfit.

[gigoran]

a game where all men are strutting around in sexy swimwear and all the female characters are in long slacks and long sleeved shirts. so that will please feminists, right?

NOPE

again morons will complain. why? because you love complaining to further your sexist campaign

[senorfartcushion]

Unlucky. But you ARE talking to teenagers.

Because Mario is the most famous gaming figure, sexy? Definitely not.

Sod them. I am a film theorist and i apply this same study to my lessons. You are not wrong, you are right.

[CorndogBurglar]

I suppose thats why in the first God of War game you literally have to tap X as quickly as you can while Kratos bangs a chick, right?

That was put in there to symbolize power and primality, right? It was nothing at all to do with sexuality, right?

Get out of here with that nonsense.

[DragonKnight]

"No, no they arent. Not nearly to the same degree."

http://vignette1.wikia.noco...

"No, no they arent. Not nearly to the same degree."

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/DGLI...

"No, no they arent. Not nearly to the same degree."

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/iQQK...

"No, no they arent. Not nearly to the same degree."

https://img.itch.io/aW1hZ2U...

"No, no they arent. Not nearly to the same degree."

https://www.destructoid.com...

And I could keep going until I hit the character limit.

[ChrisW]

Whatever! Plain and simple, there isn't enough partial or full-nudity and sexualization in games.

[nveenio]

"Over-sexualize females"? That's like saying the water in the pool is too wet. :) Video games are about fantasy. If we want to see girls not being sexy, we'll go to Wal-Mart. Same with dudes. If I want to play an out-of-shape 30-something father of three, I'll get dressed and go outside.

[hay]

@DragonKnight, good one. Here's some more.

http://widgetau.org/wp-cont...

http://widgetau.org/wp-cont...

http://media.tumblr.com/4d6...

http://images-cdn.9gag.com/...

http://static3.fjcdn.com/co...

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Yh8p...

http://d2.christiantoday.co... (posh men are pretty much porn for women)

[BG11579]

Like FF15 is not over sexualized already.
It's not just about half naked, it's about how characters are portrayed as object. There is no better example of that then a boys band.

[paradigmfellow]

Agree

[Nathan_Hale53]

Most aren't just for eye candy. Most have great stories or backgrounds that often explain why they are like that. The last sentence makes your sentence irrelevant anyway.

[FrostedFire]

@LordMaim- Double standard of what?You're saying that women do not,have never sexualised a man abs?Or muscles?Sexualization is such a vague concept to begin with,people sexualise feet,hands etc etc.Should we ban them too?The main argument here is about "unrealistic body standards",which like I said in my comment above,that I can point to 100s of pictures of people cosplaying as the men and women of the respective game characters.

[Erik7357]

I haven't seen ryu's nipples yet

[tinynuggins]

Males are definitely not oversexualized the same way. You don't see zangiefs dong flopping around. thank god, but still.

[FrostedFire]

You know men and women are different?Thus requiring different type of sexualization?I thought this was very obvious

[hay]

I hope you do realize that dong requires a bit more than rope physics.

[senorfartcushion]

Haha no they aren't. They aren't overlysexualised for women, that is for you!!

You design the character around who you want to be.

[CorndogBurglar]

Fat Princess is a great game.

[rainslacker]

Edit: Sorry, meant to write a new comment above yours, but meant to reply to this with something else.

Apparently university studies can be based on subjective criteria of what is considered over sexualized.

Was a study even required for this? They never stopped, nor is it ever likely to stop. The study seems to be based on the premise that people claimed it stopped, or it was supposed to.

The part about 47% of all gamers being women seems misappropriated, because it doesn't account for where those women play, and if the games directed at those percentages are also over sexualized. Basically, say half of those women are not playing on consoles or PC's where the kinds of over sexualized characters tend to come from(based on the studies selection of games), then they aren't a factor for consideration on if the rise or fall of over sexualized characters is in direct relation to the target audience of any particular sub market of the industry. The statistic is trying to correlate all gamers as a whole, instead of dividing it up into it's appropriate markets like the publishers actually do.

In fact

"It also suggests that with 47% of gamers today being women, the fact that the video game industry still has problems with the representation of female characters could mean that developers and publishers are losing money by alienating such a significant section of their audience."

This is actually counter to the assertion that the study makes, as it shows that the number of women who now play games is not directly proportionate to the change in over-sexualized females....thus making me conclude that it's not really something most of those women seem to care about or bother with, because they likely find content that appeals to them like every other gamer, male or female, has done since the beginning.

The more logical conclusion is that with more games now available across the board on more platforms, there are now more things that women can find which appeals to them.

"Lynch also tells PBS that “there is a dominant masculine preference and there has been toxic encounters that are gendered in nature. But the game industry has been very receptive in trying to involve more women. It’s having more open conversations [about sexism] than ever before.”

Sure, that happens when the predominate applicant into the field is going to be males for over 30 years. Toxic encounters happen in every industry. The entire tech industry has been receptive to involve more women, but the idea that there is an "Open conversation" is rather funny, since I consider it extremely one sided, and mostly counter productive as a whole. If they're talking about just within the industry though, then yeah, that's going on in most of the tech fields out there, as tech companies have come to realize it's not good to limit their potential applicants based on gender, and there aren't enough applicants to go around without being inclusive.

"Blizzard’s decision to remove a sexualised victory pose from Overwatch perhaps reflects this change"

Yeah, it reflects that Blizzard played everyone and released an even more provocative pose that showed even more than before.

Gotta love how great these university studies are when they use selective data, without taking into account all the details.

My own study of this study says it's a loaded study built to come to a forgone conclusion, and no matter the findings, the conductor would still make the same conclusion, or ignore any extrapolations which actually don't support their own argument.

[Christopher]

They actually did bring that up, though...

"The study says that this sort of representation has declined since 1995 though female characters continue to be objectified more than male characters and are often seen as ‘secondary’ characters too."

That says that they know that male characters are sexually objectified in games, only that female characters are objectified more.

If you're going to make an argument, at least take the time to read the article.

What I want to know is what counts as being "over sexualized" from the perspective of a female character or a male character? Is it focus on sexual organs mostly, which is obviously going to happen primarily with women since men only have the crotch and not the chest? Is it based on how much bare skin is shown? What is the metric for defining what is and what isn't over sexualized?

Edit: Also, a study should be made on how many 'over sexualized' games tend to be aimed at women as well. Look at the Kardashian game. A game about making people 'look good' and all about superficial qualities of a woman is aimed at girls. And, it's those girls who play the game that boost the '47% female gamer' numbers as high as they do.

[PaleMoonDeath]

Men create these things, we enjoy such things, hell even men get over sexialised! ignore these whiny runts, they don't even buy games.

[Omnisonne]

Lots of women sexualize themselves all the time, in means of attracting attention, affection or free drinks. Yet when it's done for entertainment purposes of others, mainly through fictional characters, it's suddenly a bad thing..

Yeah I'm not sure why I'm even commenting on this anymore, next time i'll respond in a similar manner as this:
https://media.giphy.com/med...

[PaleMoonDeath]

Just internet chicks trying to feel relevant or feel attractive is what I feel, I could care less what they don't like, when it starts messing with my entertainment I get pretty angry about it, taking away someone elses joy because they can't enjoy it for whatever selfish reason, screw them.

[Yi-Long]

The only correct response to this nonsense is; 'So!?'

[Kokyu]

This guy gets it

[Casepbx]

Exactly. If you're seriously are offended by something like this then you need a life.

[rainslacker]

So, it's shown that despite this still being the case, the number of women playing video games, statistically speaking, is still increasing.

Which begs the question, does it matter if over sexualized female characters exist for those that want them, since almost half of all game players can find something that suits them?

How is something alienating if one chooses not to play it?

[gangsta_red]

And why not, both male and females in games are pretty much represented by what most would find pleasing to the eye.

[rainslacker]

That's pretty true of all media outlets across the board. Even the news has the attractive reporters, male and female, that appeal to people's sense of what they want to see....except in some cases, but more often than not. Some of those pants suits are pretty hot when they push up those breasts.

Media isn't as naive as the people who complain about this stuff. We find things attractive for a reason, and there's a reason these things are used to attract.

[gamer7804]

Its much easier to try to destroy than create. We live in a free country and should be able to pursue dreams and artistic vision to create characters and stories. if you don't like it. create your own or buy one you do like.

[IraqCombatVet]

Not to pick on you but I really wish people would stop saying "We live in a free country". You people don't even realize all your rights/freedoms are being taken away on an almost daily basis.

Latest example: Sharing Your Netflix Password Is Now a Federal Crime

http://fortune.com/2016/07/...

[Pro_TactX]

Don't be melodramatic. No one is going to be prosecuted for sharing their Netflix password. Netflix offers a plan (that I am presently subscribed to) that encourages sharing by allowing concurrent streaming on four devices. Netflix also allows up to five profiles per account.

[fatsodubmo]

Hey buddy would you kindly "share" your bank account info and password with me? K THX TTYL MUAH XOXO

[dreamoner]

Females over-sexualise themselves in real life. Ban real life!

[dragonyght]

now that just sexist. you don't ever told a women to cover up.well -_- ...only if you are privileged white woman with a blog, than thats ok

[TheCommentator]

Video games are unrealistic to begin with. You don't die or slow down when you're shot once, can survive big falls with little to no injury, heal without medical attention, etc. There's almost never any fat people, handicapped people, gay people, etc.. Men and women are both objectified to look like they belong on magazine covers most of the time.

I could go on, but the point is that video games are unrealistic, twisted versions of reality. People complain that they are too realistic and cause real world violence yet complain that they don't fairly represent the demographic as it exists in real life? WTF. These SJW's need to spend their time complaining about the real issues, like why somebody murdered all those people in Orlando or why some people think "black lives matter" enough to kill 5 innocent police officers with families to prove their point. Okay, my rant has steered off topic now, but the SJW's really need to stop complaining about video games in general because gaming is entertainment designed to help us escape reality, and games should be made the way the artist intends.

[Fierce Musashi]

Their characters, their content, their choice of how they portray them .

Don't like it, make your own. ffs

[Christopher]

Pretty much.

[Hoffmann]

Where is the problem? Is it not absolutely the decision of the consumers what they buy?

[Avalanche]

who cares

[CrimsonWing69]

Who cares!? So do men's' magazines, sexualization for visual stimuli (or physical, whatever floats your boats) is NOT wrong. Granted I do not believe every game needs to overtly sexualize female characters but if it's the creators' desire to do so I say let them do it! Enough with this garbage and enough with pushing ideals and agendas on those who don't share the same sentiment!

We are walking down a very unstable road and believe you and me we will later get into the level of violence in a game sooner or later. I'm a firm believer in if you don't like looking at something then LOOK THE OTHER WAY!!!

[Surt]

Makes me wonder if articles like this are posted to fish out the SJW in the gaming community. lol

[MilkMan]

If they keep making female characters look like men then please don't put them in the game at all. I don't want to play or see a butch running around. Don't care if it's not PC enough for whoever is complaining. I'm a man and I like to see boobs and butt when I see the female character model. I know I'm in the minority but that's how I feel as a consumer. If I want butches I'll go to the butcher shop.
Yep, that how I felt at 6, 9, 12, 22, 30, and now 44. I like to see the female form and the less I see the better. Games fulfill a need to feel powerful, and as pretty as my wife is, I want to see pretty, voluptuous women. I know a lot of "men" out there are confused as to what to say or how to behave since culturally a mass castration is taking place, but I'm firm in what I know and like.

[DrJones]

Damn you're cheap

[EazyC]

So what? It's the same nonsense in every study or article with feminist/SJW/liberal subtext: they imply that people creating this stuff should be brought under some tyrannical embargo of what they can and cannot publish, stifling freedom and creativity to appease a few who didn't get enough attention (or too much) as children.

It's art: leave it to the artists. It's not for anyone to regulate.

[rainslacker]

This study didn't seem to assert that. It did make a lot of extrapalotory assumptions which actually countered the authors own conclusions though, and didn't really look at things with enough detail to form any study worthy of peer related discussion, or for others to get some takeaway that could actually serve some benefit to the overall concept that it's trying to make.

Seems more like some sophmoric study for a class that asks the students to study something, and if I had turned in a study like this, that came to the conclusions it did without backing them up with facts or used singular variables for my analytical study in the actual conduction of the project, I would have gotten an F.

So big secret I'll let everyone in on. Just because a study is conducted at a university, does not make it a valid and reputable study. Reputable studies are peer reviewed, and can be replicated to the point where the same conclusions can be made, or the same data refute the originals conclusions(as it means the data itself is sound, just the conclusion is wrong). If the data can be dissected, requires more data to form the same conclusion as the author, and isn't qualified enough to be able to verify what is concluded because it uses selective data instead of taking a broad spectrum of analytical data, and applying that to a number of factors which could effect the actual outcome, it's a hack job, and not really worth much attention.

[Kokyu]

Wierd how no one really cares. Keep your SJW political additudes and problems out of gaming thanks.

[Tankbusta40]

But....But....its totally fat shaming women!!!! Video game women should reflect the average woman, I.E. every character should have the body and face of Melissa McCarthy!

[SinkingSage]

In what country? Every woman I know is either thin or medium.

[ShaunCameron]

*vomits*

[Kokyu]

Mmmm I have no problem with plus size women, in fact Im a chubby chaser . Id love to see some plus size women (size 16 and over). I think Melissa McCarthy is pretty but yeah she could stand to lose some weight.

[Asuka]

And males are still overly masculine in videogames...so your point? Can't claim there is a problem without acknowledging both sides of the arguement, or else you just invalidate your own point coming off as showing a biase. Otherwise, don't make a issue that isn't really there Smh

[Big_Game_Hunters]

Good

[Cy]

I love how these people are still on the "unrealistic proportions" thing when A) stylization exists, and B) "big boobs, small waist, and big butt" isn't at all unrealistic. Just look at pornstars and models. Hell, look at some regular people who do cosplay. Or not even cosplay, because I've been to restaurants where the waitresses all have these supposedly unrealistic body types. Most non-stylized video game character bodies are achievable by real people, it just takes good genetics, dieting, and/or exercise. Does everyone have that body type? Of course not. Because humans are...oh god, what's that word? Oh, right. Diverse. Humans are diverse. Not everyone is a paragon of beauty and not everyone is a fat slob with two tone hair and a nose ring. And that's not even getting into the talk about people who do the kinds of physical activities most video game characters do and the fitness levels they have to have to pull them off. You wanna complain about armor not serving its function in favor of having a boob window? Fine, that's a discussion that can be had, but the unrealistic body type thing has got to go.

[Tankbusta40]

The attitude in today's society is one that promotes mediocrity and average. Its true every one is different, but there is a perfect version of everyone that can be achieved. Sure a female might never get a size 0 waist or a man might not get 20 inch pythons, but they can achieve their genetic perfection with hard work. The Greeks believed in this as did many ancient cultures. However; today people are so content with being average they have gotten lazy and thus we have this over weight epidemic and those people just get angry that beautiful and fit people exist because they don't want to even try anymore to look decent

[Fierce Musashi]

That was very well said.

[rainslacker]

Too true. When I was in college(both times) I held jobs that had younger people between 16-24 or so, and a great number of them would have what would be considered over sexualized in a game. For those that worked for tips, the ones that made the most, outside those who gave impeccable service, were always the one's who made sure that was noticeable. I have a girl that sometimes delivers us our pizzas at the house now who looks like she stepped straight out of Maxim...albeit more dressed....sadly.

What I find is that people often want to be, or at least, feel sexy or attractive. They will decide for themselves what that is, but a lot of that is going to be what society as a whole finds attractive or sexy. While the media perpetuates and does often promote those ideals, those ideals are still accepted by society at large as what is considered sexy or attractive, so it's not as evil as some people make it sound, rather it becomes a consensus opinion.

Despite any number of generations you look at, for the most part, the tame, modest, female, has never been considered overly attractive or sexy. In every generation, going back hundreds of years, if not thousands, has always been the one who accentuated their body more. Different societies have had different things that they considered sexy....whether it's the neck, butt, hips, etc, and there was a time when heavier women were considered more attractive because it meant they were better equipped to bear children.....but without fail, in all those times, anything that represented them as attractive, represented and often brought attention to that particular feature of them and often in provocative ways. Without fail.

[Chexs1990]

And? Who gives a s**T as long as the game is good

[dedicatedtogamers]

What defines "over-sexualized"? Are these games 10% over the "sexualization limit", or -- gasp! -- 50% over the limit? Are there 10 "too sexualized" things or 45 "too sexualized" things? Where's the itemized list?

I gotta know! Seems like people love throwing around the term "over-sexualized" but no one feels comfortable asking how we came to these conclusions. In fact, the body of research acknowledges the fact that "hypersexualized" representations in videogames have been on the decline since 1995.

If people are concerned about fairer representation of women and minorities, go out and make something. Stop policing and start creating. Stop censoring and start developing.

Granted, I have no objections to people who would like to analyze certain social/cultural issues like gender representation. That's fine! But at some point, it's time to go beyond this sterile, lazy academia and actually go out and CREATE the thing that you want to see.

[rainslacker]

"In fact, the body of research acknowledges the fact that "hypersexualized" representations in videogames have been on the decline since 1995."

The study itself acknowledges that. It still asserts that it's presense exists, and is somehow related to the how prevelant women are in the industry.

But it contradicts itself. While giving no specific numbers on the make up of over sexualized content in relation to the past, it still also says that females that play games has been on the rise....which is has based on the industries own reports....and that they make up almost half of all gamers across the board.

So despite making some rather spurious conclusions, it fails to address the discrepency between the fact that the decline in hyper sexualized characters isn't in proportion to the increase in female gamers, and completely ignores the fact that there are more choices for everyone out there now than before, and that the existence of these sexualized characters isn't having an effect in keeping women away from gaming...despite concluding that the inclusion of such things is actually alienating to the female gamer as a whole.

There are many things wrong with this study beyond it's criteria for classification.

[Ogygian]

No, no, no.

A study CANNOT say that video games *over*-sexualise characters.

It can say that they sexualise them, but judgment on whether this is a good or bad thing (over or under) is outside the remit of of science; it is nothing more than an opinion by a faux-academic using whatever flimsy credibility they have to push their dogmatic prejudices.

[rainslacker]

It's actually going to be a published study. I'm not familiar with the actual publication, so can't speak to it's worth, but it's not just some student project(although it may have come from that)....although a student project would fail based on the conclusions, so I'm questioning if the standards of the university myself. I doubt it would stand up to peer review...but since it will probably never receive a peer review, it likely doesn't matter.

[Ogygian]

The concerning thing about peer review is that it requires competent "peers".

Academia is no longer the bastion of reason it once was. Some fields are better than others, of course.

[rainslacker]

True.

When I was in college we had to do a "peer" review of a published study and try to replicate the results. It wasn't hard to get the data, because the studies we used were quite thorough, and we were allowed to use the same sources if the study was built using outside sources. We did have to research more sources though, to either support or disprove the study.

The only requirement for what study to pick was that it had to be a subject that we felt we were knowledgeable on, or at least aware of beyond the cursory, and had an actual opinion on...whether it be agree or disagree with the review. The professor gave us about 30 studies to choose from, and he encouraged us to partner with someone who would work on the same study, but had a different opinion on said study, but we had to work independently and couldn't discuss our results or research with one another until after the project was submitted.

After the project was done, the professor said the purpose of the assignment wasn't to try and actually be a peer review, or even teach us how to do one(we had already done that), but so that he could find out who would use their own data to try and come to their own conclusion that they believed to be true based on reading the initial study based on their own opinion of the topic. For the most part, everyone in the class came to the conclusion that they believed to be the case before ever going in....myself included.

It was quite the enlightening experience, because it showed that most people tend to look for things that validate their own beliefs, and more importantly, that studies should not be taken at face value without all the details being presented, or taken into account. He said if a study has a conclusion that doesn't use copious amounts of data from the data collected to support it's argument, then it's probably flawed. Also said that any study that tries to make a broad conclusion on society and has data which counters that conclusion is definitely flawed.

I really loved that class. It's the one that made me think about things.

For the most part, there are a lot of good studies out there from academia. But today we see a lot of cursory studies which aren't actually funded studies being promoted as actual research that is worth using to form conclusions on. While some of the data they collect is worthy of examining, the actual conclusions tend to be very sophomoric and don't stand up to reason for anyone who actually tries to connect the data to the conclusions. Good studies tend to be rock solid in their conclusions, or are very liberal in also discussing the variances that arise but aren't supported by the overall findings.....which can be used by others to perform other studies which may clarify the topic better.

[rainslacker]

There was a time when the media wouldn't report on these studies until they had a chance to go through peer review. Although peer review doesn't always mean redoing the study, just means other people knowledgeable in the field accept it as a proper performed study with conclusions that matched the data collected. Not sure how this one will end up. Probably will never hear about it again to be honest.

Technically, I was speaking more of being able to replicate the data, but with outside sources of data, the data itself is sound, so in this case, the peer review is just deciding if the data correlates to the conclusions. The examining of games is the only collected data source In this case, and I'm not sure what the definition of over sexualized is. Since the study doesn't examine the things which have kept out women from the industry, or what games the increase of female gamers are playing, it's hard to accept the corollary that the lowering of objectified women is in any way connected, or that the reduction of over sexualized women is due to more women in the industry or some other factor It really doesn't do anything to try and reason out why there are fewer over sexualized characters, and at best, can be taken as something to prove what is obvious....that there are still over sexualized female characters, but even the term over-sexualized isn't clearly defined.

[annoyedgamer]

Burkas on female characters or it gets banned. Which will it be cavemen?

Sincerely, a statist SJW.

[spade749]

So what would count as an over-sexualised male in gaming then? Conan the Barbarian? Raiden from MGS 2 (he's freaking naked in one part!)? Zevran from Dragon Age (lanky and submissive and he's a damn whore!)? Unless there's an equal example, you're just complaining that men have unrealistic desires in their fantasy women. How many men live up to the fantasy desires of women? Few I imagine.

[fatsodubmo]

Great point! How about all those sappy love movies? Ban them cause I cant be like Hugh Grant lol

[zodiac909]

Cause its WRONG for women to be sexy in this day n age apparently.

[ShaunCameron]

Actually, it's because it's wrong for men to hold women to higher standards. It's oppression.

[DrJones]

"Higher standards" What about personality and not just eye candy. Seems very superficial

[Greyfoxdbz]

ever heard someone say "sex sells"? it's true. Some ladies put cleavage in their youtube videos because they know people will click. Sex is not evil so just shut the hell up. For every sexualised character there is a character that isn't so why is this even a topic of discussion.

[DevilVergilX]

Why are these crap article being approved?

[Babadook7]

There are times when it fits the narrative and style imo. Other times, like the last of us or horizon there isn't any sexualization. Let's be glad there is at least a choice these days. Everyone should be happy then? :D

[rainslacker]

I dunno...that one clicker was pretty hot.

[Babadook7]

:D

[gigoran]

have fun when nobody buys your games and you lose millions of dollars when you put plain, fully clothed women in the games. thats gonna be HILARIOUS!

[DrJones]

So that's the only reason not to buy a game? You make gamers seem like a really immature audience

[FPS_D3TH]

Sorry but guys are too. Btw 2014 is calling and they want their dead horse back.

[stormshadow1981]

Feminism movement is just another fascist corrupted movement.

[Maxor]

Nothing wrong with over sexualizing females. It's the rise of SJWs that's the real problem with today's gaming industry.

[Scatpants]

Thank god.

[strayanalog]

It's simple: sex sells. Video games are still seen as a male dominant community, even though woman make up just as much of it now. Which is probably why we've been hearing about over-sexualise female characters for the past few years.

[chuckyj1]

Because it sells to the predominately male videogame players. Did they really need to conduct a survey to know this?

[stalepie]

They should be sexualized further, just to spite them.

[Pro_TactX]

Because it's profitable, says common sense.

[Fist4achin]

Exactly. Sex sells...

[jokerisalive]

Its a video game people...get over yourselves. Go watch the movies that come out and see how many of them dont have smoking hot girls dressed up sexy at some point in the film. These overly sensitive overly critical haters just want to find something to complain about and take any enjoyment out of something that other people actually do enjoy. Get a life people.

[GrimDragon]

finally some good news for a change.

[Casepbx]

And there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. It's all fantasy for the sole purpose of entertainment nothing more. No harm has ever come from any of it and I wish people like this would stop acting like it has. There isn't a single human that has ever been hurt from fantasy women being sexy.

[kaizokuspy]

Yes because I want to play a game with dumpy realistic character models. If I wanted that, I'd go walk around my mall instead of whiterun.

[Negativecool]

Jeez. We are human. We are sexual animals. Sexual imagery appeals to us; sex sells. Welcome to marketing since ever.

[DrJones]

Good stories, interesting characters. No?

[Negativecool]

Lacking that, sex will sell it. Again, welcome to marketing since EVER.

[DrJones]

Make it so it doesn't lack that

[Germany7]

Just stop with this SJW's nonsense.

[Soulrakk]

Art has been doing this for centuries. Video Games are another form of it. It's a natural instinct to be attracted to such. Be proud of who you are and you won't care about this. I certainly don't look like male characters depicted as ripped & powerful characters and I couldn't care less. People who say that doesn't attract to females is lying to prove their case. It's been done for eons. We're talking about video games here, it's supposed to be a complete fantasy that anyone can put themselves into. People are too hung up on what the characters look like. It's all about you.

[BrianOBlivion]

Most game characters in general are exaggerated archetypes to make them more appealing; to look at, to control and to be.

Males characters are usually ridiculously overly muscular, super aggressive uber-indomitable caricatures of men. How would you sexualise a male character beyond that? I certainly wouldn't want to play as the power-suited metro-sexual alpha-type male that's regularly presented to me in popular culture as something we should aspire to be.

The female characters tend to have strong sexualised features because how else does one exaggerate femininity? Female protagonists in video games are rarely expressed as stereotypical characteristic exaggerations of gentle, nurturing, super soft and sweet because that doesn't usually lend to the requirements of the most gameplay. Waifs, male or female don't generally kick ass in games (unless there's magic involved or it's a jrpg).

All that being said, I personally appreciate the recent trend in games to have average joes like Joel and Lara stepping up to extraordinary circumstances. It's much more immersive when I can relate to the character that much more.

[Antifan]

Has anyone ever seen a 300 pound female soldier is real life? Or a 300 pound female martial artist? Nope and nope. So why should video games follow this idealism that real society doesn't even find realistic?

[DrJones]

There is a line between super fat and skinny

[hazelamy]

of course they are.
but the thing is, those women are usually strong arse kicking women.

if you ask me, the most problematic representation of women in gaming doesn't come from these half naked women in beat em ups and such, it's actually princess peach.
maybe yorda.

nobody could say either of those characters are overexualised, but they do only exist as prizes or burdens for the male hero.
they have no agency, they have no purpose other than something to motivate the male hero.
they are just, and yes, i'm going to use those words you all hate, just damsels in distress.

[BrianOBlivion]

Agreed and well said, but sometimes guys REALLY want/need to be the hero that saves the damsel in distress.
Maybe there ought to be the option to switch or mix up the roles/sexes.

[Chaos_Order]

Just what is the endgame here? Is it a future where no video game characters are allowed to look sexy? Is it a future where we glorify violence constantly but get up in arms about a skirt that's above the knee? Gimme a break... People like looking at attractive characters in sexy outfits, men and women included. So long as the content is appropriately age restricted just what is the problem?

[mochachino]

Male characters have also have much smaller waists and much broader shoulders compared to real life people

http://66.media.tumblr.com/...

https://s-media-cache-ak0.p...

Know why? Because they're FICTIONAL computer drawings.

These people need to get over their body image issues and insecurities and allow artists to create whatever-the-F-they want. Games characters don't have to be the average person to be right. They can be super humanly sexy like comic book characters if they want.

EVERY person in entertainment is sexualized, which is 75% of the reason they're on TV or in a Movie, and not the average looking Jane and Jo who can have just as much, and often more talent.

The attack and focus on videogames for this is one of the worst double standards I've seen.

[Chaos_Order]

It's funny that there's a call for "average" characters and yet they only use the US average for their examples... If you base everything on the most obese country in the world of course game characters look super fit and skinny, lol.

[Surt]

I see nothing wrong with it.

[PowerNerd101]

Video gamers still fed up of hearing this same, tired old argument, says new study I did just now.

[Nathan_Hale53]

Both genders are over-sexualized but I never cared about the overly muscular shirtless man or the skinny, curvy, cleavage showing girls, it goes both ways and I honestly don't care, except that nobody bring up the fact that men are the same way.

[cimerians]

I don't see what the problem is.

[SaveFerris]

Humans are, for the most part, sexual creatures. In any case, isn't it better to over sexualise, than under sexualise?

[mochachino]

Yes.