Blogpost 7: Game Gender Portrayal

While playing video games with my older brother I took the liberty to always play second player and pick out only women in a variety of characters in the game. I didn’t know why but I never picked out male characters in games because they don’t look like I am capable of using them, while the female role I can actually be them and idolize them. It puzzled me when my brother told me why do they look like that slutty and every time they are being hit they shed clothes or better yet have bouncing breast in every game we play.  

While browsing through the internet I stumbled upon an article “She Has No Head! – No, It’sNot Equal” written by Kelly Thompson in CBR (Comic Book Resources). In her article she cited why women are viewed as a sexual object through men on of it is the women’s body type, for in fact men want these kinds of body where they would look sexy and sluttier. First in her article she showed that Men are viewed as the strong bulky and athletic, on the other hand Women are seen as a sex toy and they are portrayed as a Porn Star to the eyes of many. I would make sense why comic book artist didn’t put muscular women in their comics because of what they see in them, but couldn’t they just give women a little respect on what they look like. Second she showed that all of the heroes wear spandex clothes, but why do females have to look sexy in that to be frank it spandex are worn to make you look sexier and they said this is equal to what male heroes are wearing. Also almost all of the female heroes have their cleavage shown and most of the female heroes have bigger breasts. Third is about female heroes beauty in comics, while male heroes look muscular and terrifying. Women are seen as helpless idols because of their beauty and their body poses. Lastly posing of female heroes where they would look slutty and portray a more sexual vision. “I’ve frequently heard the argument that superhero comics are primarily male power fantasies – that men want to be those powerful men and they want to have those beautiful sexy submissive women on their arm and I’m sure there’s a certain amount of truth to that.” Said Kelly, we shouldn’t have to stereotype everything we have to respect each one, one way or another.

I have also read in another site article titled “Damsels In Distress: Female Representation inVideo Games” written by Eugenia Zobel de Ayala in HASTAC. In her article she cited that women in video games are less picked and unfavorable when men play fighting or different types of game. Women in video games are weaker and they sometimes dress lesser than a man who’s just wearing shorts to a fight. Also she showed that women in games are more vulnerable where men are more equipped with different kinds of powers and gadgets, just like her example where Sonic the hedgehog have this sneaker of speed and swiftness while Princess Peach in super Mario wore a dress in a racing and she looked pretty in pink. Eugenia said they are basic kind of heroes where the disadvantages of women take place. She also cited different characters too like the ones in DOA. “By lifting the 'damsel in distress' heuristic from female video game characters and designing female characters that are as capable and badass as are present in real life, women could easily take the role of the hero- and could absolutely sell video games.” Said Eugenia, where she would hope that the makers of video games improve more on the female characters.

Growing up is hard when people put things in your brain that would make you feel comfortable and uncomfortable. Being a girl with an older brother I always chose to be the girl in playing video games, I took notice that when I also played again in a role of a girl, the girls are weaker in videogames rather than picking the male characters where they would have different statistics. Movements aren’t the same and they look more seductive as ever. I can see now why women want to look sexier and some of them what breast implants. female heroes posing it’s not frightening but seductive in a disturbing manner, where we would ask why would we be afraid of these kinds of heroes where we could just have sex with them.