Since the uproar of video games in the 1980’s, the quality of the games have sky rocketed. The graphics dramatically improved along side the increase of technology and technology use, including a better variety of game consoles. But what has most importantly (and unfortunately) increased is the sexualization and wrongful gender representation in video games, a problem that is giving children and young men and women the wrong idea of how women are supposed to behave and dress to accomplish unique success.
According to a study by NPD, 91% of children from the ages of 2-17 play video games, blowing out at about 64 million kids. These kids play video games such as Mortal Kombat and Soul Caliber that give them to the option to play as a man with a full suit of armor for protection, or, a woman wearing a bikini, heeled boots, and metal knee pads. Realistically, if either of these characters were to go into a battle, such as one in Mortal Kombat, the man would likely win over the woman given that his armor would protect him. The woman in the bikini is more exposed and is more likely to be hit and then killed immediately.
The man will win the fight. And every boy and girl of the 63 million children will be taught that men win battles and women wear heels.
So why aren’t the woman characters wearing a full suit of armor like the men?
You may have heard the term “sex sells,” coined in the 1960’s, which is the idea that sex appeal draws in an audience and therefore helps sell a product. Particularly, the sex of women. Women characters in video games wear little to no armor in video games for the sole purpose of objectifying them to an audience of heterosexual male gamers. The skill level of the women may be equal to the male characters, but that doesn’t change the fact that women to not need to be wearing a bikini, in fact, they shouldn’t be. Objectifying women to aid the satisfaction of the male consumer is a direct offense to any and all women.
Let’s not forget the problem of the “damsel in distress.” You may have noticed in Mario games the character of Peach appears in 14 of the core games, and is kidnapped in 13 of them. Thus needing to be saved by Mario’s character. Or the character of Princess Zelda in Legend of Zelda, who has been kidnapped and cursed and has never been a leading character. Portraying women in video games as one who needs to rely on men to be rescued, sends a perfectly wrong message to the 63 child gamers of the next generation.
In fact, Canada’s Center for Digital and Media Literacy did research that shows a direct correlation between the objectification and victimization of women and violence against them.
Doctor Karen Dill puts it like this:
“When women are consistently showed as sex objects rather then agents, consistently depicted in demeaning and degrading ways, and consistently shown as submissive, the result is to condone and support violence against women…”
Especially in M rated video games such as Grand Theft Auto, where women are visibly abused and male characters are rewarded with prostitutes.
It’s been almost 30 years since the rise of game culture. Although there have been improvements in technology, and even some improvements involving female character progression, there has not been enough. Women deserve to protect ourselves from harm, whether with armor or with attitude. We are not the damsel in distress. We are women.
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