As much as I definitely think there's a huge amount of sexism that needs to be addressed, I don't think removing sex from video games is the way to do it. I can applaud Bioware if for nothing else making all their sex scenes completely optional content. To me people who find nudity and sex scenes distasteful in games and want them removed is the same with people who wish they would quit making JRPGs because they don't like anime. It's a preference, it's always been a preference. Sure not all mature games need sex and nudity to be mature but arguing that they shouldn't be there or that they need to always be tastefully done is kind of bogus. I'm sorry if you want your Mass Effect and Dragon Age sex free, you're not getting it... oh wait... you are, just don't follow that particular quest line.
This kind of relationship style has been perpetuated in games for years. Harvest Moon, an E rated game, a game suitable for children who are still developing their social and sexual identity had relationships far more basic, give enough gifts until they marry you then have a child. What about the game The Sims, a T Rated game suitable for anyone 13 and older, "Teens" in their primary sexual identification age, who could play a game where you can make whoopie on a heart shaped bed after one good night of conversation and dancing.
But now suddenly games with Mature ratings have the audacity to corrupt our world viewpoint of sex because they dare include optional sexual encounters in them? This is the same argument of gratuity in video games, and how is it that violence is more socially acceptable in media than nudity or sex? These are bigger sociological issues than just video games however, but I implore people claiming sex scenes in M Rated games are tasteless, pointless, and shouldn't be there to take a step back and realize they don't need to play those games just like I don't need to play games that glorify violence if I so choose. Then having the audacity to claim that M Rated games set a poor precedent role model for people to approach sex and gender issues, well that goes hand in hand with blaming violent video games for crime doesn't it?
I have been in a happy relationship for over 6 years, I never have once asserted that women are sex objects or that sex is a reward. I have never in any way, shape, or form considered one gender superior to another, yet I completely enjoy sex, pornography, and yes even sex in video games because like anything else, it can carry an emotional experience for roleplaying. You may be hanging around too many 4Chan users with their waifus if you think otherwise. It's true there's a huge amount of sexist stupid people in the world who truly believe women are sexual slot machines that take emotional and material currency, but video games having or not having "tasteful sex scenes" is certainly not going to change that.
I would actually argue that making sex scenes in games "tasteful" is undermining the very audience who enjoys them. I mean honestly I'm not sitting there with my trousers down wanking it to Mass Effect's love scenes but they're already pretty tasteful as it is (if you tried to post screenshots from them on a porn site people would laugh at you). Dumbing them down further seems an attempt at pandering to one audience while losing the other. Either go all out or not at all. I'm not saying full blown porn in a game (we have porn games thank you), but what's a little late night cinemax style grinding gonna hurt anyone?
I don't feel sex is a problem in video games, yes you can do RELATIONSHIPS more tastefully but we've always been in an uncanny valley as far as relationships go. The best relationship I've ever had with a video game character came from a player made MOD for Skyrim called Vilja. There's simply too much you have to put into characters to make this level of relationship work, and it can be done but should it be done when it's not the meat and potatoes of the game? Does the fact that a game has a central focus mean that you should cut auxillary content solely on the grounds that it's not as fleshed out? I don't think so, and while yes I understand, and I can see that the relationships in Bioware games are lacking, I am thankful they are included because I enjoyed them for what they are. More importantly I'm an adult and I know if I tried to seduce my girlfriend the same way I seduced Liara, I'd probably get slapped.
Thank God for Jim.