the gaming muse

the gaming muse: Soul Calibur V: Sexism and Stereotypes

robbieggg:

thegamingmuse:

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.

I guess I can understand how you feel… but you just described way more than video games. You described the world.

“Constantly being reminded that women are supposed to be desirable, beautiful, in love with a man”

Hell, that’s practically every Disney Princess. This is a “formula” that’s been here since the beginning of time. 

I just don’t get it… Like I understand the hatred of stereotypes. (I have to deal with it because I’m not exactly the typical gay) but I don’t think I’ve ever heard someone compare a video game to real life. They’re nearly all fictional, based in fictional worlds, and just fantasy. Getting upset about it just seems ridiculous to me.

Also, no one is forcing you to play them.

“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.”

I like my games as they are, I don’t see the issues you do.

If you don’t see any issues, you aren’t paying enough attention.  I can promise you I’m not the only one critiquing games this way; as I said, do some research and you’ll find plenty of sites dedicated to ridding video games of homophobia, transphobia, racism, sexism, ableism, and many other issues which exist.

The world is like this, yes, but I’m not trying to fix the world.  I don’t have the knowledge or the strength.  I’m only trying to make video games - my favorite industry - better.

‘I don’t have to play video games’?  I want to - and I should be able to without feeling out of place, or unrepresented.  By your logic, anyone who is angry about not being represented in video games should just suck it up, and keep playing games which ignore them, and focus only on straight cis white males.  News flash:  That’s not right.

Change is already happening my friend, whether you see the need for it or not.  Some video game developers have already felt the change in the wind and are starting to diversify slowly but surely.  Keeping your head in the sand and saying you don’t see reason for it doesn’t change the fact that there are problems - it just makes you ignorant.

But I’m afraid I’ve wasted quite enough time in this discussion.  The internet is there for you, my blog is there - I have many more essays like this which point out flaws, including games that are homophobic, racist, sexist, and so on - and it might help you to read some of them.  If you want to educate yourself, you will.  If you don’t, no amount of responses from me will help.

Posted 3 months ago — 48 notes