“Last year U.S. consumers spent $16.6 billion on video games, according to the Entertainment Software Association” (Dockterman). Video game culture has become mainstream and very influential in modern lifestyles. Video game characters are featured on merchandise and apparel. Games have also been adapted into films and books, such as Resident Evil and Halo. Of the visitors to a fandom convention, almost half are women (Wiseman). But, only around 15% of characters in video games are women (Gittleson). “In 2013 the Boston Globe reported that in the U.S. women made up 3% of video-game programmers and 11% designers” (Feeney). In Sweden’s $935 million dollar video game industry, women only make up 16% of is workforce (Feeney). Playing video games
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“[P]articularly in genres like shooter games, female characters are rare, and when they appear they’re often damsels in distress or decorative temptresses within the male-centered story-lines” (Ferguson). Such a large amount of games have sexist portrayals of women that labels may be created by a Swedish agency called Dataspelsbranchen to help identify and warn of sexist material in the game (Feeney). In some of the games which had women characters, the women were made to be wicked and unappealing. For almost all cases men tended to be the main protagonist while the females were supporting or minor roles. For example, the male Power Rangers wore colors that are considered masculine and held the leadership positions of the group while the female Power Rangers wore pink, which is considered a feminine color in western culture, and were not considered as important as the males (Norris 715). “Overall, the roles of women played in the games were stereotyped and secondary to male characters” (Norris 715). Games infrequently depict women and when they do the characters wear sexist outfits and are illustrated as sex objects, according to a survey by T.L. Dietz. The sexist outfits may include wearing feminine colors or suggestive clothing (Norris 715). “A 2009 census of characters in 150 leading video games, conducted by Dmitri …show more content…
Their position has been supported by studies published by the University of Oxford. The Oxford researchers released that children who play violent video games are actually less aggressive than children who do not play video games. Another Oxford study exposed that video games do not cause the player to become more sexist (Beard). Whether or not the studies have found evidence of increased sexism or violence in videogamers, the video game content is sexist. The opposition also believes that “women have always been welcome in gaming” (Beard) and “the gaming community doesn’t see them as ‘women in gaming’” (Beard). Game making companies must be mindful of their female consumers, even if the use of sexist characters or the lack of female characters in its entirety is unintentional. The player may not be sexist in real life, but in a virtual reality they have the anonymity to say appropriate and harassing things to women with any
“[P]articularly in genres like shooter games, female characters are rare, and when they appear they’re often damsels in distress or decorative temptresses within the male-centered story-lines” (Ferguson). Such a large amount of games have sexist portrayals of women that labels may be created by a Swedish agency called Dataspelsbranchen to help identify and warn of sexist material in the game (Feeney). In some of the games which had women characters, the women were made to be wicked and unappealing. For almost all cases men tended to be the main protagonist while the females were supporting or minor roles. For example, the male Power Rangers wore colors that are considered masculine and held the leadership positions of the group while the female Power Rangers wore pink, which is considered a feminine color in western culture, and were not considered as important as the males (Norris 715). “Overall, the roles of women played in the games were stereotyped and secondary to male characters” (Norris 715). Games infrequently depict women and when they do the characters wear sexist outfits and are illustrated as sex objects, according to a survey by T.L. Dietz. The sexist outfits may include wearing feminine colors or suggestive clothing (Norris 715). “A 2009 census of characters in 150 leading video games, conducted by Dmitri …show more content…
Their position has been supported by studies published by the University of Oxford. The Oxford researchers released that children who play violent video games are actually less aggressive than children who do not play video games. Another Oxford study exposed that video games do not cause the player to become more sexist (Beard). Whether or not the studies have found evidence of increased sexism or violence in videogamers, the video game content is sexist. The opposition also believes that “women have always been welcome in gaming” (Beard) and “the gaming community doesn’t see them as ‘women in gaming’” (Beard). Game making companies must be mindful of their female consumers, even if the use of sexist characters or the lack of female characters in its entirety is unintentional. The player may not be sexist in real life, but in a virtual reality they have the anonymity to say appropriate and harassing things to women with any