Jimquisition: Solving the Sexism Situation

[Iron Lightning]

snip

A lot of bold assertions in there without much backing, how many action films now feature a brief "hero is topless" scene? I saw Thor the other week and I didn't hear any guys complaining when he got his top off.

Selling sex to women works, selling sex to men works, but selling sex to both at the same time doesn't work. You don't see a dude's bare ass in Barb Wire for the same reason you don't see a topless chick in Top Gun.

Again bold assertions and nothing but. Have you watched legend of the seeker or sparticus? Cocks and tits all round mate.

Or maybe I'm just bi-sexual.

Yeah, but those films weren't trying to sell themselves with their sexual content. You ever seen Caligula lots of nudity from both sexes (plus a few mutants.) It wasn't supposed to be sexy though.

 

[deanzig]

This guy is the balls, and not in a good way...

 

[Ellen of Kitten]

Sooo, hey. How can I report a content provider? I'm really uncomfortable with the premise of this show starring down the front of a womans rack. I don't enjoy the show, and I'm content with letting those that do watch in peace. But I'm not comfortable with how the content is delivered; [strong]sexual objectification[/strong]. The previous show was headed with the Heavy Rain girl with "Lesbian" above her head. It's clear to me that there may be a trend of sexualizing content to drum up traffic.

 

[wizzy555]

Yeah, but those films weren't trying to sell themselves with their sexual content. You ever seen Caligula lots of nudity from both sexes (plus a few mutants.) It wasn't supposed to be sexy though.

They aren't films and if games are using sex to sell then those examples were too.

 

[GuiltBlade]

Well, I can keep watching this.
Its not deep or meaningful but that's not all I look for on the web.
Wasn't sold on the first but, hey that was a pilot.

It addressed a serious issue in at best a manner which brought to mind its own ridiculous nature.
And at worst hurt no one and made a few reasonably good, bad jokes.

Don't think the childish looking graphics did you any favours though, no real deal break for me but a bit more presentable imagery will get you further towards winning the escapists minds and hearts (I hope anyway).

 

[Hashbrick]

There is proving a point and then there is proving a point like a child. I heard more fucks then a 12yr child out of the two videos alone. I'm not sure how this guy got his interweb fame. I don't see the merit or the point. If you want to pay someone to say fuck a bunch of times, I'll gladly take the job.

 

[Nautical Honors Society]

Dudes, Escapist, I get it... he's supposed to be the asshole alternative to the smart shows for comedic effect.

Problem; it's just not funny! People don't find MovieBon and Extra Creditz funny because they're intelligent... they're funny because they are funny.

If it's been the same guy who green lit this and Game Dogs; fire them!

Russ Pitts created Game Dogs...I don't think we should fire the Editor in Chief of the Escapist.

OT: I don't like him. He tries to hard to be funny and it falls flat. At least Bob, Yahtzee, and Extra Credits make points no and again. This guy just spews out drivel for 5 minutes. I learned nothing from his video.

 

[TheEndlessSleep]

Much better, this time he sounds more like he's stating a case, rather than having a go at someone.

Much more watchable than the first, keep it up!

 

[Iron Lightning]

Well, perhaps you do. I don't think that I've ever made an assumption about the character of anonymous women.

Men in general do it, and they don't make assumptions, but fantasies.

Well, I don't (maybe I'm just not creative enough.) However that's not the point that I was trying to make. I meant to say that Jim's statement that "Men are wired to objectify women." is incorrect. Fantasizing about a woman with a personality that you find attractive is the opposite of objectifying women.

Unless you're happily bisexual I don't think you would come off feeling particularly horny.

Most pornography features man-bits too. Doesn't stop most men from enjoying it.

Of course most people find the act of sex to be sexy. However, two people being naked and not doing anything sexual is not as sexy as it could be. Consider a photograph of a naked woman next to a naked man. When confronted with such a photograph a straight male would focus entirely on the female and would likely cover up the naked man with his hand or otherwise attempt to ignore the naked man, and I daresay our straight male friend would prefer that the naked man was absent from the picture.

 

[sturminator77]

While i don't hate this show it is most likely something i will avoid in the future. It is just not entertaining, or informational enough for me to feel like sitting through any more videos

 

[Levethian]

At any rate, I like The Jimquisition, but the two videos that have been produced for the Escapist thus far aren't really the best examples.

Have to agree with you. Great reality check for nostalgia-hermits.

 

[sumanoskae]

I'd pretty much agree, but for different reasons

 

[Iron Lightning]

Yeah, but those films weren't trying to sell themselves with their sexual content. You ever seen Caligula lots of nudity from both sexes (plus a few mutants.) It wasn't supposed to be sexy though.

They aren't films and if games are using sex to sell then those examples were too.

Sparticus is a film (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054331/) so I assumed that Legend of the Seeker was too, my bad. As I haven't heard of these not-films I can assume that they weren't hugely successful. Which is my point: that it's better from a marketing standpoint to sell sex to one gender at a time.

 

[Harry Mason]

Oh and the fact she wears very skimpy clothes and corsets that push her chest out to amazing proportions.

I live in an extremely hot climate (no air conditioning) with my tall, blonde girlfriend who has the same body proportions and looks quite similar to Lisa from Top 5. The heat means she spends almost all of her time around the house wearing nothing put a single pair of black, lacy panties. If I were the type of person who was that distracted by a nice body, I WOULD HAVE AN ANEURISM EVERY DAY OF MY LIFE. As it is, I got over "boobies" by the time I turned 20 and had seen a couple hundred.

Seriously though, I found Lisa's Top 5 instantly endearing and entertaining with its combination of references to obscure games and self deprecation. This... Jim... Person... Can't even be interesting enough to offend me. Thumbs down.

I find myself thinking something along same lines. At the risk of being called shallow for preferring a video series presented by an attractive girl over the one presented by the fat bloke (hey, just saying what I see here) but not only were Lisa's top 5's entertaining in their way, the little skits that bookended them were often just as, if not more entertaining that the top 5's themselves.

Still, maybe it's just a coincidence that we haven't seen a Top 5 video in 2 weeks and this video series has being going on for the same length of time. Anyway, I guess this video series just isn't for me.

There's a good way to tell whether the reason you prefer Top 5 over Jimquistion is because Lisa is gorgeous and Jim is an overweight male. Just switch them in your mind!

Imagine a show with an overweight geek where he had an abusive relationship with a Blender, made self conscious, corny jokes, had Nerf Gun battles in his Kitchen, made constant references to games you thought no one else had ever heard of, and jokingly flashed pictures of his backyard cos-playing on the screen as a little stab at his geekyness. Would you watch that show? I know I would. I might even feel a bit of a connection with him.

Now imagine a show where a sexy, busty blonde stood behind a podium in attractive clothes and yammered about how there need to be "more fookin' naked guys in games," talked trash about Heavy Rain, drew MS paint pictures of Duke Nukem's testicles, and stuttered about the controversies of months (even years) past. Would you watch that show?

I rest my case. Also, how could they cancel the chick who came up with the phrase "Stabby-Footed-Ass-Whomper?" That almost killed me it was so funny.

 

[Don Reba]

You would think that shouldn't be the case in a website full of, well, gamers, people that tend to have had cases of obesity or been bullied in their respective childhoods.

Now, that IS offensive. I will just refer you to the appropriate episode of Extra Credits: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/extra-credits/2005-Gamer .

 

[babinro]

Terrible show...decent article material. The presentation simply isn't interesting or entertaining.

As for the topic, I fully disagree. There are almost no video games on the market that portray a realistic male. Gaming is just like TV/Movies in how unrealistically it markets the genders.

 

[AxelxGabriel]

A different, perhaps more radical, solution:

How 'bout we objectify no one, and only place men or women in revealing clothing when it is tangential to exploring their character and/or fits their cultural/geographical background. You know, as in good storytelling that is inclusive and realistic at the same time.

Oh yeah that's really good.

And while we're at it, how about JRPG's can not have brooding characters with messed up hairstyles, Nintendo can not just keep porting old games and Half Life Episode 3 will be released this year? That ll sounds just as equality realistic right?

 

[Elate]

Wow, I've never seen a more divisive video series... not even Lisa Foiles' Top Five (which is awesome).

I fall squarely on the "Urrrrgh..." side of the divide.

I'd take women in full-plate armor rather than men in metal plate skimpy clothes.

Also this. Seriously, armor is armor because it's supposed to protect you, not a third of you.

I feel the same way. I don't want guys in chainmail speedos. I want everyone who's supposed to be out in combat wearing the proper gear for that situation. I'm sure I'm not the first person to say this, but a woman can still be sexually appealing with body armor on. And frankly, I'd feel a little insulted if game developers started overly sexualizing men to try and market their games to me. That's not why I buy games at all.

Hell, Tali is the most attached I've got to a female character, and she is ALWAYS plated up, and GLaDOS, I would look past the wires and circuits and discuss her love of testing over a slice of cake... ahhhh....

 

[Jumplion]

I was hoping that the last video was a one-off; that Sterling wasn't coming back.

The Escapist: do you really need to be giving this guy a voice here? He already has Destructoid, and it's not like he's contributing a whole heap to this site.

It's also worth remembering just how qualified Sterling to talk about sexism:
http://gomakemeasandwich.blogspot.com/2011/02/in-his-words-why-jim-sterling-is-in.html

That certainly opened my eyes up to this Jim character. Thanks for linking that.

OT: Okay, this is two strikes for me. The first one was really just a pointless ramble that brought nothing new to the table. This one was just pointless and brought nothing at all.

It was just crude, stupid, and all around pointless. His main point, while having some coherent points, was completely lost in his dick jokes and was pretty much utterly stupid. Equality in sexism by making everyone show skin? The hell kind of a solution is that? It's one big joke is what it is. This is hardly an insightful, and how anyone can really think that solves anything beside making the gamer stereotype of "fat, gawking, man-children" is beyond me. I enjoy my fair share of T&A, I can get down with dick jokes, I have nothing against that, but this is just ridiculous.

If this is meant to be a parody of something, or just one big joke, then this guy is trying way too hard.

Sexism does not just mean showing skin or boobage. The constant portrayal of men as huge, beefy, athletic, etc... is equally as sexist because it shows the man as the dominant person, trying to oust the other men. The solution to sexism isn't to show men in skimpy outfits like woman. It's developing

I simply can't believe that this is a "serious" video series. The thumbnail of this show on the front page being a pair of tits doesn't help. Stop insulting our intelligence. The Escapist is not the same as Destructoid, either adjust to that or stay there.

I'm giving this one more chance. Somehow I doubt it'll redeem itself.

 

[Levethian]

I meant to say that Jim's statement that "Men are wired to objectify women" is incorrect. Fantasizing about a woman with a personality that you find attractive is the opposite of objectifying women.

I didn't make myself clear . Men create fantasy personas for women, so,
step 1: look at woman,
step 2: imagine being with woman,
step 3: what's she like? *insert ideal personality traits in dream-lover here*

When confronted with such a photograph a straight male would focus entirely on the female and would likely cover up the naked man with his hand or otherwise attempt to ignore the naked man, and I daresay our straight male friend would prefer that the naked man was absent from the picture.

An adult man secure in his sexuality is normally pretty comfortable seeing a male dong.
I'd give the naked man a look. Know your competition, etc.