the gaming muse

the gaming muse: Soul Calibur V: Sexism and Stereotypes

robbieggg:

I just don’t understand how you are “harmed” by a video game over sexualizing/stereotyping women…

Sexualization, on its own, isn’t inherently evil.  It’s the fact that sexualization is the only characterization most female video game characters are given that makes it bad.

Some male characters - very few - are sexualized.  But they are also a million other things: heroes, matyrs, rebels, soldiers, wanderers, gods, demons, nerds, playboys, and so on.  

The first thing female characters are is sexy - almost every game developer creates females for this purpose.  Look it up on google: more female characters are sexualized and/or stereotyped, than not. On top of that, most female characters are love interests, damsels in need of rescue, or are otherwise subordinate to male characters.  Very few of them are actually the focus of the game, and even then, female protagonists are sexualized a great deal of the time as well.

Can you imagine how it might be to be a gamer who, time and time and time again, plays games and finds every person of their gender sexualized, stereotyped, and kept in the same roles?  Can you imagine how that might hurt?  To constantly be faced with the idea that females are only for sex, only for romance, only to be saved or kept on the sidelines, never anything outside those strict lines.  Can you imagine growing up with that?  Constantly being shown characters who are this way?  Constantly being reminded that women are supposed to be desirable, beautiful, in love with a man, and that their worth is defined by this.  Imagine being unable to find strong female characters to relate to and look up to and be inspired by.

If you can’t see why sexualization hurts I’m not sure what to tell you.  Perhaps do a little research, read some blog posts and check out places like The Border House.  There’s a lot about gaming that is problematic, but if gamers can inform themselves and begin to think more critically about what is in the games they play, change might start, slowly and surely.

Posted 3 months ago — 48 notes