As said in the article “Gender and Video Games: How is gender generally represented in various genres of video games?” the author states, “In these kinds of games, women are dressed in provocative clothing and are created to serve males as an aid or even as a sexual object. As an example, Grand Theft Auto III Vice City allows the player’s character to have sex with a prostitute, afterward kill her, and from this act get a health bonus” (Kondrat 172). Sometimes, when we hear these things we write them off with phrases such as, “not all video games are like that” or “it’s just a game,” but are we examining the correlation between the players who are playing these games to their actions? What better place to look at than the online gaming community.
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While most companies tend to believe women are only interested in playing games that fit within their gender roles, such as Sims or certain Wii games that are advertised with mothers playing with their families, the truth may very well be that women do not feel welcome playing games that from all outward appearances shun them. Therefore, it is difficult to try to integrate yourself into an environment that appears hostile towards you, “this happens because based on the established social norms, video games are perceived to belong in a male domain, and female players and male players alike experience greater social acceptance by staying within sex-role expectations” (Kondrat 178). There are entire websites dedicated to sharing the horrific things sent to female gamers from male players such as the site Fat, Ugly or Slutty where women are told to get back in the kitchen, to show their private parts, and they are even threatened with physical violence and rape simply for being a woman online. The article “Sexual Harassment in the World of Video Gaming” mentions a video competition where competitors met face to face and one female competitor dropped out due to sexual harassment; the man who was harassing the fellow player said, “sexual harassment is part of the culture” and that …show more content…
When the game Tomb Raider came out in 1996 it was the first game with a playable female protagonist. At a young age, I only saw Lara Croft as having a “woman’s body” and even as I grew up, developed my own woman’s body, saw friends grow into women’s bodies that image of being strong and capable like Lara was still associated with her physique. For instance, she possessed long legs, a round shapely bottom, a tiny waist, and large breast; she was the brand new digital Barbie that could not possibly exist outside the animation studio. Some still believe that nothing is wrong with how Lara is depicted, however, “scholars have argued that Lara represents a strong, bold female archetype, her sexualized portrayal in the video game and promotional materials in the 1990s supports the notion that video games primarily serve male interests” (Lynch 576). So, how did it take me twenty-one years to realize that Lara Croft was all wrong, that she did not represent strong female women who kicked butt and could take care of anything without the help of a man? After all, that is exactly what Lara Croft was supposed to convey to the players that sat behind a screen and directed her through the action-packed story. The problem being that developers did not think that a female protagonist
While most companies tend to believe women are only interested in playing games that fit within their gender roles, such as Sims or certain Wii games that are advertised with mothers playing with their families, the truth may very well be that women do not feel welcome playing games that from all outward appearances shun them. Therefore, it is difficult to try to integrate yourself into an environment that appears hostile towards you, “this happens because based on the established social norms, video games are perceived to belong in a male domain, and female players and male players alike experience greater social acceptance by staying within sex-role expectations” (Kondrat 178). There are entire websites dedicated to sharing the horrific things sent to female gamers from male players such as the site Fat, Ugly or Slutty where women are told to get back in the kitchen, to show their private parts, and they are even threatened with physical violence and rape simply for being a woman online. The article “Sexual Harassment in the World of Video Gaming” mentions a video competition where competitors met face to face and one female competitor dropped out due to sexual harassment; the man who was harassing the fellow player said, “sexual harassment is part of the culture” and that …show more content…
When the game Tomb Raider came out in 1996 it was the first game with a playable female protagonist. At a young age, I only saw Lara Croft as having a “woman’s body” and even as I grew up, developed my own woman’s body, saw friends grow into women’s bodies that image of being strong and capable like Lara was still associated with her physique. For instance, she possessed long legs, a round shapely bottom, a tiny waist, and large breast; she was the brand new digital Barbie that could not possibly exist outside the animation studio. Some still believe that nothing is wrong with how Lara is depicted, however, “scholars have argued that Lara represents a strong, bold female archetype, her sexualized portrayal in the video game and promotional materials in the 1990s supports the notion that video games primarily serve male interests” (Lynch 576). So, how did it take me twenty-one years to realize that Lara Croft was all wrong, that she did not represent strong female women who kicked butt and could take care of anything without the help of a man? After all, that is exactly what Lara Croft was supposed to convey to the players that sat behind a screen and directed her through the action-packed story. The problem being that developers did not think that a female protagonist