Jane Hollier
Sexist attitudes towards women in the gaming industry have existed ever since they realised a few extra dollars could be made by slapping a bow on top of the infamous yellow orb Pac-Man, and marketing ‘him’ as a ‘her.’ But at least in the 1980s graphics were limited, and the only obvious distinction between male and female was a bow. Fast forward 30 years and the difference is clear.
Now when a woman engages in game playing, she can look forward to being scantily clad, having big breasts, a tiny waist and curvaceous hips. Or she can be a damsel in distress, a bimbo, a prostitute, a rape victim or beaten to a pulp (oh, the choices!). But the options don’t end there; a woman can also be the target of verbal assault, harassment and death threats from male gamers, simply for acknowledging the indisputable fact that sexism exists in the gaming industry.
For the most part, the gaming world slips under the mainstream radar. Aside from the occasional mass murderer who credits a particular video game as the inspiration behind their violent rampage, the subculture goes almost entirely unnoticed. However that’s changed in the last few months with the industry finally being outed for its blatantly misogynistic attitudes towards females and female gamers.
Here is a summary:
– ‘Topgirl,’ a gaming app aimed at young girls was released. The opening text on the screen says, “Welcome to Topgirl. Perfect your modelling career, get hot clothes, and date handsome men! Let’s get started by creating your fabulous look!” No, not violent as such, but introducing girls early to gender stereotypes and limited roles. And it’s downhill from here.
– One of the most highly anticipated gaming releases this year, ‘Hitman Absolution,’ unveiled their trailer to give fans a sneak peak of what is to come. They can expect a major visual assault, with nuns dressed in tiny outfits, in leather and high heels, being choked, punched and shot at. Because violence is sexy.
– The gaming world’s toughest (and possibly most overly-sexualised) female protagonist, Lara Croft, has had a revamp. In the new ‘Tomb Raider’ game –a prequel of sorts – Lara will be a victim of sexual assault. We even get to see a part of it in action. Why? So the players will “want to protect” her. Apparently male gamers can’t relate or connect to a female character who kicks butt ‘just because.’ She needs a traumatic catalyst in order to have the will to fight for and defend herself.
– Feminist and social commentator, Anita Sarkeesian, decided she wanted to make a documentary on sexism and stereotypes in gaming, called ‘Tropes Vs Women in Video Games.’ She created a Kickstarter page and made a YouTube clip, and naturally, both of these sites (plus her Wikipedia page) were vandalised with gems such as: “I hope you get cancer” and “f**k you feminist f**ks you already have equality…we talk to men like that too so f**k off f*ggot…I mean lesbian.” Charming.
– It has been announced that our favourite women’s sport, Lingerie Football League, will be coming to a console near you. Because the real thing isn’t already bad enough, they’re releasing a video game.
And all of this in just one month.
You might be wondering what the problem is. Sure, women are treated poorly in the gaming industry, but not that many girls like games anyway, do they? Well according to The Entertainment Software Association, 42% of gamers a female. That’s a number too large to dismiss, and the negative effect it is having on women cannot be ignored.
In a blog post on Shaping Youth, Billy Shoemaker Richards writes:
Psychology of Popular Media Culture’s article, SeX-Box: Exposure to Sexist Video Games Predicts Benevolent Sexism studied a group of regular video game players and found that greater exposure to video games with a higher amount of self-rated perceived sexist content correlated with an increase of benevolent sexism in men, but not in women…it confirms again that men are more likely to have sexist attitudes increased by sexist material than women, because women are members of an out-group with regards to the privileged audience, and most women recognize sexism for what it is. The sexualization of violence in video games is a trend that alienates many of the women who play regularly”
Sexualised violence isn’t the only way in which women are marginalized by game development, however…Women characters are often depicted as submissive to the game’s male protagonist, or as prizes to be won: the glut of princesses needing rescued speaks for itself; there are other instances of this, however. Duke Nukem Forever has ‘Capture the Babe,’ where the players have to compete for a schoolgirl and spank her to ‘put her in her place.’ Developers create these messages about the expected role of women: objects to be won or conquered, victims or targets of gender-based violence, eye candy. Challenging this portrayal of women in-game is something that the community at large must work on; insisting that we see more [well developed, non stereotypical] characters is imperative if we want to improve the experience of playing games for everyone.
Sexist mind-sets have infiltrated just about every nook and cranny of the media and entertainment arena, so is it really surprising that the gaming industry is just another notch on the misogynist belt? In a word; yes. The gaming world is responsible for sensory technology that could significantly decrease the recovery time of stroke victims; they are brains behind an online gaming community that has simultaneously connected over 12 million people worldwide; they are the creators of awe-inspiring graphics so realistic you almost expect to be able to reach out and run your fingers across the frown lines of your character.
This is an industry that has been built by some of the greatest creative and intellectual minds, yet at the same time is harbouring a seedy underbelly that flourishes on pigeonholing and sexualising women. How can a community that thrives on progress hold such regressive attitudes?
This is not to say that the entire male gaming community consists of chauvinists. Many men are appalled by the lack of diverse female characters and poor treatment of female gamers. However, as always, the group embracing troll-like and sexist behaviour is the group that manages to yell the loudest. But if the last few weeks shows us anything, it’s that female gamers are no longer being silenced, and those propagating stereotypes are being held accountable.
Meanwhile, Luke Plunkett of gaming website Kotaku sums the situation up best: “It’s enough to make you want to go dunk your head in a bucket of rainbows just to wash the taste out.” And then some.
Jane Hollier is a freelance writer.
See also: ‘Sexually assaulting Lara Croft’, Clem Bastow, Daily Life, June 27, 2012
‘It’s a man’s (virtual) world’, Lucy Meyer, The Age, July 2, 2012
7 Responses
I’m a female gamer, and honestly this post is pretty extreme.
Yes, there are plenty of games that have been made with a porn-consuming adolescent male audience in mind (which is stupid, because most gamers are adults, and as you rightly pointed out, 42% are female), but you are ignoring the plethora of excellent games that don’t rely on misogyny to sell copies. Last year’s most successful game, Skyrim, presents women as independent, strong and completely equal with men on all counts. There is no sexism in the game whatsoever. Other instalments in the Elder Scrolls series are the same. Fallout 3, Fallout New Vegas, Dragon Age 1 and 2, the Mass Effect series, Half Life, Portal, Left4Dead, the Assassins Creed series, Fable 1, 2, and 3..
These are just what I can think of right now, there are many more. The video game industry is not as bad as you make it out to be. There is a huge amount of developers making excellent games and working to eradicate sexism in the industry.
Bernardette,
That women/girls are gamers and that some games do not objectify women misses the point (and I would put little faith in industry self-reporting). The problem with many games is that it promotes certain images and roles for women. Yes, women watch films and we can all provide long lists of good films: but this does not mean that porn and misogyny in film is not a problem.
Does the Entertainment Software Association publish other figures such as which games are preferred by other demographics – age, sex &c.? That would be more revealing to see which games are preferred by men and how long they spend playing these games.
There is also a cultural impact of games – a very popular game like Tomb Raider provides a very particular sort of female protagonist (Laura Croft) which is presented to girls as being the ideal of an independent woman (with large breasts). If this were not bad enough, there was a demand among male gamers to “rescue” her from sexual assault. This speaks volumes about the culture among male gamers – they are not comfortable with strong, independent women who do not need men.
There are many other games, however, that promote misogyny, and some of these are very popular. Often these are played by adolescent males whose views on women are being formed: and that they are exposed to these attitudes by the passive watching of porn and these attitudes are reinforced by active gaming. This is why it is such a problem.
Firstly, good article Jane, as a pretty hardcore gamer this is an issue that weights heavily on my heart. I so often try and speak about gaming in a positive, grown up light but the things you ahve highlighted above just make me feel like one of my favourite passtimes is still quite immature.
The good news is there are lots of people out there like me who recognise this is a problem in the industry and want it to change.
I don’t believe in sticking up for this kind of behaviour but I will stick up for the industry in general and say it does more good than bad but as you very clearly pointed out Jane this is one of the dark underbellys of the gaming world.
Also just as a sidenote Bernadete I would agree with some of the sentiment in your post, there are indeed some great examples of games that treat women equally. Mass Effect and Portal being the shining examples in my opinion. However I would take some of your suggestions with a grain of salt, particularly Assasin’s Creed, where it seems 90% of the women that are featured in the game are prostitutes (or running the bordello) or sex objects for Ezio (as in not the nameless, pointless NPC’s the ones who are in cutscenes and play a role in gameplay). Also Dragon Age is a pretty bad offender with women’s clothing, have you seen Morrigan’s outfit?
Jane
Thanks for the article.
I’ll admit to not having really noticed the lack of playable female characters (as I tend to play male ones), but I can agree with the point about how women are portrayed in video games (body shape, clothing, sexualised roles etc…).
The unfortunate thing with the gaming (online) community is the anonymity allows people to say things with no real life consequences (only a slap on the wrist). This creates a culture where ‘trolling’ and ‘flaming’ (i.e. verbal abuse) are normal. If someone ‘admits’ to being a girl it then attracts all sorts of attention and unwanted comments.
There is lots of work to be done!
Maybe more the issue is sexaulisation in games, it is true that many games are sexist but many more are hyper sexual with both male and female, looking at dragon age how many of the men are in tight leathers and arn’t all the characters male and female quick to jump into bed with anyone? Like Jane says it would be good if these inovators would be leading rather than trailing in this aspect.
Bernadette – You are right, this post is extreme. But that’s exactly the side of the gaming world I was trying to expose. It’s true, there are some really great games out there, and plenty of gamers that aren’t harbouring misogynistic tendencies. But the existence of a few good games doesn’t exempt the rest of the gaming industry from the overwhelming level of sexism. And unfortunately the majority of games out there simply do not cater for a female audience. However, in saying that, (and as Sam said), Mass Effect and Portal are great examples of good games that aren’t putting women in a box, and it’s very exciting that these two are extremely popular. It gives hope that game creators will take the hint that women (and men) want more games just like this.
Bare – I had another look at that study and it does not say which games are preferred by which demographic. I had a brief search online to see if I could find any but the stats seem to be a bit vague in that area. Which is a shame because I think it would be really interesting.
David – you know, I’ve always wondered what the internet would be like if everyone had to attach their email address to their comments, abolishing anonymity. People would no doubt think twice before posting.
One question for the author of this text . Tell me exactly how do you see a female player character?
Because ,for example Lara.Who would like to play a game(male or female) if she’s a normal next door girl? Point is-no one.Same is with movie stars.90% of them are pretty faces,good bodies…what we want to imagine is perfect.And about sexual assault in next game.Why it have to be a bad thing when mature themes are covered in games? If it was a movie nobody would complain,or even better if it was a book you would probably praise it because it would add credibility to character,making Lara more realistic. Bernadette is right,this text is too extreme because not just games are sexist,every part of every industry is sexist.They even try to sell you food through sex….