This is going to be a bit serious, but let me say my piece. I've been playing around on the lovely webcomic artist Megan Rose Gedris's tumblr (rosalarian, for those of you who care), and I've noticed she says a lot about the sexualization of women in classic superhero comics. I have the same hang up, only in video games. I play video games, but I wouldn't call myself a huge gamer nerd. I'm more of a casual gamer who hasn't graduated from a Wii, and I don't intend to. I like my kid-friendly platformers and my Kirby and my Pikmin. I like things like Epic Mickey and The Legend of Zelda and Super Smash Bros. Not that I'm any good at them, but I like them.
One of the reasons I like my kid friendly Nintendo games so much is because they're not softcore porn!
Now, I'm not saying that I'm a homophobe, get disgusted when I see cleavage, whatever. I don't really care about that stuff. But when I look at games like Dead or Alive and Tomb Raider (off the top of my head), I see that they blatantly and unnecessarily sexualize women who have no place in being treated like a pair of tits. I mean, when you have a company that is known for the profuse jiggling of its female characters' porn star boobs, you know there's a problem here. Is this really necessary? They're alienating an entire demographic of female gamers who ask for respect, and they don't get that much.
Let's take Dead or Alive for example. I recently got the new 3DS title, and I've honestly adored it. The controls are simple and it's fun to play as the different characters. As a game, I adore it. But the way they regard women in that series is just awful. Every single female I've played as has an unlockable playboy kitty costume, and Kasumi is crotch-shot central, not to mention her shameless cleavage. Tina has an unlockable costume that is little more than a bikini top and a cowboy hat, and her regular outfit is just a leotard and a jacket. Hitomi, my favorite character to play as, has this absolutely silly German beer girl alternate outfit that I think is supposed to be cute or sexy but it looks plain silly, especially for a martial artist. It's blatantly pandering to the male gaming community and it makes me feel very disrespected as a female.
And that's another thing. The male gaming community. I'm lucky enough to have found a boyfriend who both loves video games and has a lot of respect for women. I'm lucky because from what I've seen, male gamers have an extreme affinity for boobs and have strict requirements of how sexy their gamer ladies should be, despite the fact that I don't think that many of them have seen a real girl naked in their bedroom. At E3 and other gaming conferences/conventions, I've actually seen advertisement in the form of porn star-esque ladies running around in barely anything more than a bikini and maybe some leg warmers advertising whatever it is they were asked to promote. I find it honestly disgusting that this kind of thing has become commonplace in the gaming community. And then boys try to justify it by telling me that I'd rather see a good looking girl than an ugly mofo. Yes, it's true that I'd rather look at an attractive lady. I like ladies too. But my sexual preferences don't negate my ability to respect myself and other women. If men have a right to be respected in mainstream media, then I think I should be able to say that women deserve that same right.
And here's a hint, boys: the less you treat a lady like a pair of tits, the more likely you are to see her naked in your bedroom. Just remember that next time you want to get your nerd creep on.
