Did you know that during 2006 the ratio of girls to boys playing videogames was 38:62? In addition, over the past 8 years it has it has increased to 48:52. Even though the gaming community has always been a place for girls just as much as boys, there is still a lot of sexism in it. It has been said that by next year women will become the majority in the gaming community. Sexism in videogames is posing a problem in many more ways than one. It has created hostile gaming environments, overly sexualized or demoralized women, and it could taint the minds of children. Sexism has created many hostile environments in the gaming community. Especially in massive multiplayer online games. Mics have made it much easier to harass or make poor comments
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Anita Sarkeesian, feminist media critic, blogger, and public speaker, was once sent into hiding by a death threat because of her views on women in video games. She created videos called Tropes vs. Women. In her videos, she explains how women are portrayed in video games. She says in one of her videos that most damsel in distress based games follow the Subject-Object Dichotomy. Saying that the subject, or main character that is usually a male, must find the object, or the girl. A great example of this would be the game Super Mario Bros. where Mario is the Subject and Princess Peach is the Object. Using this plot device makes the women more of a prize to be won or a goal to be accomplished. To tell whether this is being used you must be able to change the girl into something like a ball without changing the actual story. Then you have the games where the female characters are playable but are overly sexualized. Take Mileena’s third costume in Mortal Kombat 9, Flesh Pit. It is literally just an unfished mummy costume while she is wearing nothing under the wrap. “Dead or Alive uses more computer power to model Kasumi 's breasts than NASA had for the moon landings. That 's actually not a joke” (Cracked Staff). Everyone knows the saying ‘Sex Sells’ but when is it enough. If we do not find a way to tone it down, we may end up with unwanted
Anita Sarkeesian, feminist media critic, blogger, and public speaker, was once sent into hiding by a death threat because of her views on women in video games. She created videos called Tropes vs. Women. In her videos, she explains how women are portrayed in video games. She says in one of her videos that most damsel in distress based games follow the Subject-Object Dichotomy. Saying that the subject, or main character that is usually a male, must find the object, or the girl. A great example of this would be the game Super Mario Bros. where Mario is the Subject and Princess Peach is the Object. Using this plot device makes the women more of a prize to be won or a goal to be accomplished. To tell whether this is being used you must be able to change the girl into something like a ball without changing the actual story. Then you have the games where the female characters are playable but are overly sexualized. Take Mileena’s third costume in Mortal Kombat 9, Flesh Pit. It is literally just an unfished mummy costume while she is wearing nothing under the wrap. “Dead or Alive uses more computer power to model Kasumi 's breasts than NASA had for the moon landings. That 's actually not a joke” (Cracked Staff). Everyone knows the saying ‘Sex Sells’ but when is it enough. If we do not find a way to tone it down, we may end up with unwanted