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Tropes vs. Women in Video Games

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Total Posts: 643

Joined 2006-09-24

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Some of you might recall last year Anita Sarkeesian’s kickstarter became a bit of a hot topic. She wanted to examine tropes of women in video games, specifically how and why female characters are relegated to limited, repetitive, and/or regressive roles. I didn’t bother to follow the controversy too closely but I remember the general gist of what was going on. I will say that if people really did say certain things to Ms. Sarkeesian and send her offensive/pornographic images, that’s quite sad. Here are a few articles on it for the curious:

http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2012/06/13/online_misogyny_reflects_women_s_realities_though_in_a_cruder_way_than_is_customary_offline_.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/02/us/sexual-harassment-in-online-gaming-stirs-anger.html?_r=0
http://www.digitaltrends.com/social-media/kickstarter-campaign-cyber-bullies/

Anyway…she released her first video today. I watched it and it’s pretty well done. As I’ve gotten older in life I’ve lamented how women are often portrayed as helpless damsels in distress or other simplistic roles all to frequently not just in games, but in various forms of entertainment. On the movie front, check out the Bechdel Test. It’s hilarious how many popular movies fail this test.

I hope Anita talks a bit about adventure games (her focus seems to be on more popular, legacy series like Mario and Zelda), which I think in a very broad, general sense have done a good job of circumventing said tropes. Numerous adventures features strong female characters (Grace in GK, Elaine in MI, April and Zoe in TLJ, Anna in TLE, Rosella in KQ4, Nico in BS, Victoria in SL, Madison in Heavy Rain, etc.). Of course many adventures have used the “damsel in distress” plot device, too.

Nevertheless, I think it’s a good discussion to have, and maybe others will enjoy the video as well. I personally haven’t dissected it too deeply like others are doing around the web, but overall I think she’s done a good job with her research and presentation. It’s just part one, so the analysis isn’t too in-depth, but I think it’ll be more interesting in subsequent videos.

It’s no secret that gaming culture has long been dominated by males, and many games allow males to vicariously live out their power fantasies (as Anita points out). It’s kind of the same reason why so many comic and fantasy female characters tend to be busty and/or scantily clad. That was probably the easiest way the men writing/creating the stories could have those women in their lives.

I’ve probably said too much…

     
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Total Posts: 129

Joined 2007-05-15

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I’ve been noticing her a bit lately.  I haven’t seen all the videos that she’s made but from what I have seen I do feel that she is inconsistent.

Her lego video didn’t make any sense to me, first she bags out that lego markets ‘almost exclusively’ to boys, and then rags on their attempts to market to girls because they use ‘girly colours’.  This while wearing a hot pink hoody… not to mention the same ‘girly colours’ are used in the ‘Feminist Frequency’ logo. Does this come off as Anita supporting the fact that this marketing strategy does in fact attract women?

She fails to mention the video game ‘Giana Sisters’ which is an almost mirrored version of ‘Mario Brothers’ but with female characters, but rather than saving the princess (or should that be prince?), their goal is to save themselves which… I don’t know… is something that Anita appears to be striving for?

If men and women were truly treated ‘equal’, I don’t think there would be any women that are able to compete in the olympics unless it’s an event that doesn’t require physical strength.  The average woman is just not built the same way the average man is.

It goes both ways, men are scoffed at for being ‘metrosexual’ and are laughed at for using their own masturbation toys.  While women are viewed as ‘empowering’ when they hold weapons and use vibrators.

I feel it comes down to parenting and society.  I grew up playing with trucks, dolls, video games and makeup thanks to my parents providing these choices.  My friend’s son loves wearing dresses when he opens the costume box at his kindergarten - the parents show more shock to that over a little girl wearing a policeman’s uniform.

Anita’s videos should be supporting both men and women, she just comes off as sexist to me.

I’m sorry for the long post, I’ve never actually posted a personal opinion before, this just really bothers me.

     

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