Am I Sexist?

[RafaelNegrus]

Don't argue with JimB, he means well but he doesn't entirely know what he is talking about.

He's not "assigning a personality."

I know. He already said that back when he said he can't play women and he definitely can't play straight women because he can't fathom what it's like to have a vagina and he definitely can't fathom what it's like to enjoy the feeling of a penis inside a vagina, for which reason he cannot comprehend a woman's personality well enough to mimic one.

EDIT: This is my five hundredth post. I wonder how many of those posts have been about sexism. I may need to question how much good I'm actually accomplishing.

Isn't that the same reason that many female gamers are asking for more female protagonists in games? They are uncomfortable with the sexuality directed at their character that is intended for another audience?

Sexual attraction is not compatible with the notion of sexism, simply because the vast majority of the population does have a preference of gender that they area attracted to, and to argue that this is sexist is a waste of time.

However, you would argue that his choice of avatar is the sexist act, not the attraction per se. I think that his actions are more motivated by his ideas surrounding what an avatar is, rather than any sort of sexism. And of course the difference he brings up is choice. When he has no choice in the game he makes a girl, because the avatar is in that setting only something to look at. When he is given choices then he prefers to roleplay as himself, and therefore makes a male character. I think that says much more about his attitudes towards games that have little choice, (that the protagonist is just another thing to look at) than all that much else.

 

[hickwarrior]

Well, I think it's not sexist. It's what you do, your personal thing. Unless you act on it and other people are effected by it, I don't think it's harmful in any way.

Or in other words: personal fantasy. Keeping it to yourself is the best thing you can do it, unless you thik it's affecting how you behave in the wrong way.

PS: While this is going, I might add that I tend to play females, but usually groan at some of the armor on it. The best example is FireFall, for any of you who played that. Men engineers don't have anything on a piece of their arm, but females get that plus they expose leg and an ass cheek. Also, they have a hole in their back. Why is it done like that other than eye candy? I really want a reason in-game for why females have said armor, otherwise I'm going to pull the toughest skin card. That's not a card in any game's favor in my book.

Also, I tend to not pick the female character in pokémon games. Anyone know why that is?

 

[Candidus]

What is it about standing upright that seems to rob most human beings of all perspective, and fills them to the eyeballs with pretention?

It's *sexist* to look at a female form - on purpose, instead of a male form - and to be pleased by the sight of it?

I wish I could say I'd never heard the same sexually repressed self-ashamed imbecilic bullshit before, but unfortunately I have. I've heard it plenty. The only thing sadder than the arrested maturity of the people who come out with it is the way that they sling the same accusation at perfectly ordinary men - and women - behaving as they ought.

You aren't sexist OP, and neither are you homophobic. Many of the responses to your feelings and thoughts that you quoted are only 'interesting' in how unbelievably twisted they are.

"I'm SOOOO adult for never looking at someone whose appearance tittilates me- not on purpose anyway, that's just WEIRD and DISTURBED. I'm SOOOO adult. You're NOT adult because you think she's got a nice ass, OMG u sexist."

People like this can't be helped. Just let it go.

 

[Something Amyss]

If you have to ask (and especially if you have to post for reassurance), you probably are. For better or worse, it's a good rule of thumb.

 

[MrHide-Patten]

Congratulations, you?re human. You?re a male that likes staring at a girl?s ass; you're doing what your monkey brain has rigged you to do to carry on the species.

I'm in the same boat; if I have the choice to play as a gender I'll go female. Mass Effect, Saints Row, etc. It's people getting too 'sensitive' that's stopping developers from creating more female characters because they don't want to risk any backlash, "The character has a D CUP, I imagine they just chain women up in their basements like sexist pigs, BLAARRRRGH!"

In the next couple of generations of gaming when more women are in the industry orchestrating their own gaming experiences, we'll have buff dudes (basically the cast of 'Magic Mike') and then ladies will have the equality they've been asking for when dudes are complaining about sexualised males.

Captcha: which one is a number? George Washington. Yeah.

 

[JimB]

Don't argue with JimB; he means well but he doesn't entirely know what he is talking about.

Sooner or later, I'm going to figure out how to take this.

Isn't that the same reason that many female gamers are asking for more female protagonists in games? They are uncomfortable with the sexuality directed at their character that is intended for another audience?

I'm sure some gamers feel that way, but I think the larger issue is the lack of choice women have in these representations.

 

[LordLucan375]

Well, having different standards for both genders is sexism. Some would argue that you are ""objectivising" women by playing them solely to ogle them, but I personally wouldn't go that far. I mean you stated that you don't view women as inferior and there is nothing intrinsically wrong with men being attracted to women (for obvious reasons).

 

[The Lunatic]

I wouldn't say there's anything wrong with it.

I mean, yes, playing a female for some "Ogle" factor is a bit... Erm... To put it rather crassly, sad.

But, if that's your thing, whatever.

None of your opinions seem to hurt anyone nor are outwardly offensive towards women or men.

 

[Azkar Almsivi]

Personally I usually play as females because I love taking the role of something new and fresh. Allowing me a chance to jump into a role and have some fun which has some distance from my IRL. Saying this, in Mass Effect I am also a hardcore male default Shepard only person.

When it comes to you however OP, it sounds like you just love the aesthetics. Which is objectifying no matter how you try and spin it. I wouldn't whack a sexist label on you, I'd just say you're a pervert.

Also "I just stare at their ass to keep me from getting bored." is almost always an excuse. Personally my little female avatar spree started during my teen years when I secretly wished I was female and I used it as an outlet. What's your real reason OP? Or are you just in it for the eye candy?

 

[Arakasi]

I think that I am with the OP in that I am sick of this stupid existentialist notion of objectification.

Why is there something wrong with enjoying playing a female character if it harms no one else?
Not that I partake of it, but I don't see any harm in objectification.

 

[jackinmydaniels]

It's just a bunch of people being giant pretentious jerks, when I play games I tend to play with a male character just because I can connect with them better, but on occasion I like to play female just because I want something more appealing to look at. There's nothing wrong or sexist about that, it's just what you happen to be attracted to, if a girl played as a big muscular man to have something to ogle than I guarantee nobody would say its sexist.

 

[Eppy (Bored)]

My Shepard is female (I am not) and I think that she is a deeper character for it. Admittedly, it does have a lot to do with the fact that Jennifer Hale portrays an actual character and the guy who voices ManShep is a zombie, but seeing my Shepard saving the galaxy is inherently more interesting because she is a woman - whether we like it or not, the universe is a masculine-oriented place; her sexuality gives her a real diplomatic advantage, among enemies and friends alike, and it is unusual to see a woman in a position of power like that. Asari don't count since the species is monogendered, but not until ME3 did we see a female Krogan (and it was a HUGE plot point) and we STILL have yet to see a female Turian. If my memory serves me the same is true of the Volus, Elcor and Batarians, and probably the Drell and Hanar as well. Statistically speaking, in Mass Effect, the women stayed home, and Shepard went out and kicked ass, and she acts like a total BAMF, and even though it doesn't REALLY matter that she has a vagina it gives her story that much more impact.

TL;DR it's like Sigourney Weaver in Alien(s). Her role COULD be played by, say, Hicks, but that would be boring; the body horror wouldn't mean as much and we would be bored out of our minds.

And ManShep looks like a giant armored side of beef with a fuzzy potato for a head. FemShep is much easier on the eyes than he is. I like looking at my own avatar, sure, I designed her to be visually attractive, but why not? Should I have made her look like Trollface, just so nobody can accuse me of sexism? It's not like she has ass-strutting superpowers (that's what Miranda and Liara are for). Who cares? It's not sexist to enjoy looking at women more than men. Now, refusing to play Shepard because she should be in the kitchen? THAT would be sexist (And Mess Sgt. Gardner would be out of a job).

 

[90sgamer]

Anyone claiming the cited example in the OP as sexist need to look at a dictionary. Sexism is
1. Attitudes or behavior based on traditional stereotypes of sexual roles. And/or 2.
discrimination or devaluation based on a person's sex, as in restricted job opportunities; especially, such discrimination directed against women. Having a preference to view the female form while enjoying entertainment neither stuffs females into a gender roll nor does it discriminate against them.

Further, it's natural for a person of either gender to have a sexual preference. Acting on these sexual preferences in ways that are acceptable to society is normal. Anyone who says otherwise is not only a liar but a hypocrite.