Sexualization of Females in Video Games

                In class we discussed the portrayal of women in video games.  Women characters in games may be characterized in a few different ways.  One of those characters is the damsel in distress which is completely helpless and must depend on a male character to save her.  The next typical women character is the crone, sometimes good and sometimes evil, she is usually an older women.  Then there is the manic pixie dream girl who saves the main male character and then disappears.  And finally, the sex icon like the character Laura Croft.  This type of character is overly sexualized with little clothing and emphasized breasts, hips, and buts, as well as small waists.

                In the Ted Talk we watched in class, Anita Sarkeesian told her story about wanting to change the way women are portrayed in video games and the backlash she received as a result.  Her computer and accounts were hacked and she received death threats and threats of sexual assault.  If anything I think this reaction proves that changes need to be made in the gaming industry.  As discussed in the Ted Talk and the New York Times article The One-Sided Problem of Oversexualizationin Video Games, there are very few women game developers and many women gamers face discrimination.  Sarkeesian discusses how gaming is a “boys club” in which males create a hostile environment to keep girls out. 

Women are slowly entering male dominated fields, however, gaming is not one where females have made much progress.  I think there are many reasons for this, such that boys are socialized to like video games and girls are socialized to play with dolls.  Furthermore, boys are also socialized to be more aggressive and thus the violence of video games is more enticing.  However, when a female is interested in gaming she is often rejected.  People like Sarkeesian are working on changing this divide and encouraging women who are interested to pursue careers as game developers as well as change the way women are portrayed as sex icons in games.

The author of the The One-sided Problem of Oversexualizationin Video Games took a very different stance then I expected when I first read saw the article.  He argues that the lack of women developers in the gaming industry is a problem, but the sexualization of women characters is not.  He reasons, just as we discussed in class, that male characters also have idealized bodies.  They are extremely muscular and attractive, and women would most likely “swoon over” them if they were in flesh in blood.  And although, male characters also have unrealistic idealized bodies in games they are not viewed as sexy the way female characters are.  Though I agree this is true, I do not agree with his point that it is not a problem.  This is not just a problem in the gaming world but in society in general.  Women’s bodies are sexualized in ways the men’s bodies are not.  Though it may not seem like an issue it is one that I have discussed in many of my criminology and psychology classes at Penn State.  When women’s bodies are sexualized it leads to this ideal that women’s bodies are sexual objects to be used for male pleasure.  These ideals are not just instilled in men but women as well.  And until these ideals are broken women will also be viewed as lesser than men.