Female Objectification in Games

For those few who are actually following this blog, you may remember a little piece I did about the 'Damsel in Distress' trope and how some feminist thinks that women are objectified in games. Personally, I don't believe that women are objectified that much but, I can see how some might get that idea... And it's not always from the games themselves...

These pics I came across on Facebook in the last few weeks definitely exemplify 'female objectification' in games... And in some often hilarious ways...

First and foremost, female characters from fighting games. They've always more closely resembled male fantasy than a female that can really fight. Big boobs will probably get in the way when she tries to use her upper body for an attack or block. They are damned nice to look at, though. Also, I don't like Princess Peach trying to pass a value judgment on the other characters in that pic. Being a perpetual kidnap victim and a cock-tease (just ask Mario about that one), I somehow suspect that she is the last female game character who should pass judgment. ;)

Then, there's this pic of Samus Aran from the original Metroid game. Obviously, it's only a joke but, it does reference how Samus became a Sex symbol for horny nerds over the years. Especially after we started seeing the gorgeous blonde inside the Power Suit in some of the later games of the series on the GameCube and Wii.

Even little cartoon girls aren't totally immune... This joke pic did a good job lining up various different Powerpuff Girls with a system that reflected their personality... Except the one at the end. That one was mean. That poor cartoon character is already a freak of nature. She didn't need to be compared to an XBOX ONE... [/Burn]

And finally, a pic I have used to make jokes in this blog before... Naturally, Lara Croft would be the character that gets used to make a sex joke of some kind. She is the female character most likely to be parodied in Porn. Numerous Playboy models have dressed up like her. Eidos Interactive even hired former Playboy models to portray her at various real life events.

So, does any of this prove that feminist's point about women being objectified in games? No, not really... The games themselves aren't necessarily objectifying anyone. The players are the ones making these jokes. And since the idea of treating women like property or 'a piece of ass' was around long before video games, I choose to blame people's bad behavior instead of interactive entertainment.

- Lord Publius