List characters from games that were very sexist.

[Legion]

The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim
Not saying the game as a whole is sexist. But I have a problem with the quest given by Svana Far-Shield in Haelga's Bunkhouse in Riften. The objective is to collect the marks of Dibella given by Haelga from the men she slept with in order to confront her with it and humiliate her. The quest is making her out to be some kind of villain just because she had sex. How dare she? You would never see a quest like this relating to a man. This is an example of slut-shaming that I'm not okay with.

Nobody can deny that the quest is sexist, but it's not really the point as far as I see.

The quest is not set up so that slut shaming the woman makes you the "good guy", you are not high fived by random people telling you what a good job you did "putting the woman in her place".

Have you thought that perhaps it doesn't exist because of sexist attitudes by the developers, but to show what intolerant and sexist people there are in Skyrim (the country)?

Like how the first time you go into Windhelm, you see two racist Nords bullying a Dark Elf. The game isn't doing it because the developers are racist and want to express it, they had it to show the nastier side of the race trying to argue for "freedom".

The point I am trying to make is that the sexism is not seen as a good thing in the context of the game. It's not there to make a point, or to show the developers thoughts on women. It is there to show a darker side to the people in the world, and to emphasise the nastier elements of society.

Sexism as in, the developers having women wearing skimpy metal bikini's while their male counterparts are in armour that makes sense, is bad. But sexism (or any other ism) that is there as a plot device, or to create depth of character is not necessarily, but for some reason some people cannot tell the difference between the two.

I am not suggesting that you can't, but I feel that your example is the latter, rather than the former.

 

[DudeistBelieve]

The Hooker from Hotline Miami?

she's literally just a prop. She ends up cooking and cleaning for her would be savior/kidnapper, only to be murdered. She's the Woman In The Refrigerator Trope.

 

[Archer666]

Duke Nukem is very sexist. The game provides extremely unrealstic depictions of men and how men work. It makes women think that all men are heavily muscular, self confident, great bed partners and can do superhuman feats like downing 6 packs and have infinite money.

Pictured: Unrealistic portrayal of men.

 

[xplosive59]

I never knew Anita Sarkeesian had an Escapist account? Who'd-a-thunkit!

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Aren't they all a bit sexist? I don't remember the last game that didn't have at least one Ms. Fanservice.

 

[ToastiestZombie]

The Boss from Metal Gear Solid 3. Spoilers upcoming.

Firstly, she obviously fits the "Man but in a Woman's body" trope, which is telling everyone that for a woman to be powerful and lead a team they have to strip away all their femininity and make themselves a man. She can also be seen as the "sexy dominatrix" over Snake in some scenes where she does incredibly sexual maneuvers to take him down.

Next, her whole motivation is "THEY TOOK MAH BABEH!", which is so incredibly sexist that I can't even comprehend. They're basically saying that even if a woman makes themselves a man to fit in with the patriarchy they are still so stupid that to do anything they need their baby taken away so they can do something. The fact that the boss takes orders from the patriarchal government to do terrible things shows that Kojima thinks women are simply tools to get the patriarchy's needs.

Oh, and Kojima just couldn't hold back on that fan-service. Near the end of the game she shows her breasts in an obvious attempt to reward the horny fanboys for their hard work in the game. She also wears a tight catsuit which shows her breasts off, and when she takes her cloak off she does it in an obviously sexual way; this is just another example of the sexist fan-service. Some of her final words before she dies are "Kill me, kill me now!", and she is talking to the "big strong" big boss. This says that women aren't independent enough to die themselves, they need the patriarchal male to do it for them. Oh, and she's the only reason Big Boss becomes a villain, a clear example of the female in the fridge trope.

Finally, the last line of the game is "She was a true patriot", patriot shares a lot of the same letters as patriarchy. This is a clear attempt at showing that women can only be worthwhile if they conform to the patriarchy through patriotism, or should I say "patriarchyism".

I've never seen a more sexist character, at least the women in the Dead or Alive games have good characterization and give young women good role models.

Spoiler

If you couldn't tell this is all sarcasm. There are quite a few sexist characters in gaming on both sides, I'm not denying that.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Yes, "slut-shaming" existed in medeivil times, but this isn't medeivel times. Just because a game is set in a certain time period doesn't mean you have to have quests like that, accuracy be damned. I really don't think the game would be killed just because there isn't a quest where you make a woman out as ************ for sleeping around.

They should also take the dragons and elves out of fantasy games if they are worried about accuracy.

 

[Vanorae]

The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim
Not saying the game as a whole is sexist. But I have a problem with the quest given by Svana Far-Shield in Haelga's Bunkhouse in Riften. The objective is to collect the marks of Dibella given by Haelga from the men she slept with in order to confront her with it and humiliate her. The quest is making her out to be some kind of villain just because she had sex. How dare she? You would never see a quest like this relating to a man. This is an example of slut-shaming that I'm not okay with.

Nobody can deny that the quest is sexist, but it's not really the point as far as I see.

The quest is not set up so that slut shaming the woman makes you the "good guy", you are not high fived by random people telling you what a good job you did "putting the woman in her place".

Have you thought that perhaps it doesn't exist because of sexist attitudes by the developers, but to show what intolerant and sexist people there are in Skyrim (the country)?

Like how the first time you go into Windhelm, you see two racist Nords bullying a Dark Elf. The game isn't doing it because the developers are racist and want to express it, they had it to show the nastier side of the race trying to argue for "freedom".

The point I am trying to make is that the sexism is not seen as a good thing in the context of the game. It's not there to make a point, or to show the developers thoughts on women. It is there to show a darker side to the people in the world, and to emphasise the nastier elements of society.

Sexism as in, the developers having women wearing skimpy metal bikini's while their male counterparts are in armour that makes sense, is bad. But sexism (or any other ism) that is there as a plot device, or to create depth of character is not necessarily, but for some reason some people cannot tell the difference between the two.

I am not suggesting that you can't, but I feel that your example is the latter, rather than the former.

While the player isn't high fived and rewarded for what he did. The fact that she has sex can be used against her to humiliate her is my problem. That being said, so far I've only considered the quest itself and not so much the role it plays in the game. I guess I haven't properly thought about the role it plays in the game. I should have and for that, I feel a little silly. Points to you, Sir.

To be clear, I never thought that the producers in any way support the notion of sexism or the example of racism. I was saying that it was there, not that they supported it.

 

[Baron von Blitztank]

Y'ever considered that this might be in the wrong subforum?

You sure? Off-Topic Discussion seems to be the perfect place for pointless sexism debates! Hell, it's practically the subheading!

Anyways, my list is basically every male character from every fighting game ever made ever. Because they hit women and that's sexist... apparently... to some people...

 

[aguspal]

Orcs Must Die 2. I played this game as the Sorceress, since her powers were the most suited to my play style (long range combat and mind control ftw). If you play as the Warmage he's completely covered up with armour and yells a collection of pun-ridden catchphrases much like he did in the original game. The Sorceress, on the other hand, wears spike-heeled boots with the Shortest Skirt In The History Of The World (with the option to put her in costumes that show off even more skin) and has the waggliest bum I have ever seen. Even when she's standing still she swings her hips from side to side like an octogenarian trying to fight off arthritis, and the way she runs is incredibly stupid (spike heels plus bum obsessed developers). On top of all that, I had to listen to her shouting "More, more!" and "Oh, yes, yes!" in an orgasmic porn-star voice while she fought.

Love both games in this series, but at least in the first game the main character didn't grate on my nerves like a ... cheese grater ... on cheese (poor simile). Admittedly he's the same generic twenty-something brown-haired white male that you get in every video game, but at least some of his lines were funny. Then they introduced a playable female character for the sequel and the developers clearly had no idea what to do with her beyond showing off her bum and giving her sexy shouts.

Wow.


See one thing is to complain when they actually make the so called "sexist" acts in a serious manner, but I highly, VERY HIGHLY do belive than the dev´s intention was some kind of conspiration aganist women or something... lke, seriously, wake up.

I can understand complains about stuff such as, say, Dead or Alive (To an extent), but this...seriosuly? The character you are playing has little meaning in that game (Other than the Sorc is quite Overpowered compared to the Warmage but thats another discussion for another thread).

If anything, I thougt it was kind of funny lol XD, thats about it. Play the damned game and enjoy it! Its not like the Warmage is the personification of the perfect man, either. He is quite the idiot in fact (lol).Its a fucking JOKE, not suppused to be serious at all, if you didnt got the humor in the game.

PLUS, theres some costumes that arent revealing at all. Hell theres one thats full armor if I remember correctily. But anyways as I said you shouldt really make such a big deal about it.

 

[lacktheknack]

I haven't seen any myself but I haven't played that many games in the last year so there may be some I am not aware of.

Rules:

1.It CANNOT be a game series created by the Japanesse (mario, streetfighter, dead or alive)
2.It CANNOT be from a game series that originated approximately a decade or more ago
3. Elaborate why please.
4: must list at least two
5: Must be a popular game

You can list any female character from gaming, except for all these examples that I know prove me wrong.

He's still asking for any popular non-Japanese game from the last decade. If you're going to list stuff from the 1990s, it ruins the point of the thread, as it has no bearing on modern day industry sexism. And if you're going to enlist obscure games, then I'm sure you can find a game made by a ranting male rights advocate that still has no bearing on modern industry sexism.

And if we include Japanese games, then that would probably devolve the thread into another "Oh, Japan!" thread. Those are always "fun".

Surely you can think of popular American/Canadian/European games from 2003 and on that have sexist characters in them. It's still a wide fishing pond, after all.

OT: I can't think of any off the top of my head that I could really justify ("Lara Croft had bigger breasts than ever in 2005" is not justifiable sexism), so I can't contribute. Give me an hour to think.

 

[lacktheknack]

snip.

oh I see what your trying to do here....*sigh* really?

as far as clothing goes..thankfully most games are more or less good in that regard

as for sexist?hard to say...everyones got their own version of what is/isnt sexist


OH OH! I got one Catwoman from Batman:AC

1. her malfunctioning zipper serves no purpose other than to be stupid
2. she's a typical femne fatal..no purpose other than to fuck with the male protagonist (actually I didnt finish Batman AC so I may very well be wrong here)

or mabye ellie from borderlands 2...is it sexist that attention is drawn to her apearance? but to be fair shes not an awful charachter (villanous or anything like that)

PS: I find it hilarious you had to specify no japanease games

The game gives Catwoman a hint of a motive towards the end (ie. the same motive she has in the comics, I believe). Plus, she does actually have an extremely important role an hour before the end for a few minutes (before she disappears again). I'd also go into the whole "the zipper is part of the persona, which is part of her weaponry" schtick I used to go into, but the Escapist can't handle the idea of using sex as a weapon, apparently.

 

[Madbomber]

The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim
Not saying the game as a whole is sexist. But I have a problem with the quest given by Svana Far-Shield in Haelga's Bunkhouse in Riften. The objective is to collect the marks of Dibella given by Haelga from the men she slept with in order to confront her with it and humiliate her. The quest is making her out to be some kind of villain just because she had sex. How dare she? You would never see a quest like this relating to a man. This is an example of slut-shaming that I'm not okay with.

thing is with skyrim they are pretty much living back in anglo saxon times where religion ruled all, priests had the power to sway kings and stay there hand

in game Breva was preaching to her adopted daughter about being about chaste behaviour, and she in secret practised the worship of Dibella by having intercorse with anyone requesting it and giving them an amulet of dibella afterwards to encourage likewise worship.

now as i said she was having a go at her adopted daughter to be chaste and proper and as she says "acting all high and mighty" the quest was hers to get her back to earth

dibella worship in skyrim isnt spose to be like that hell in tamriel its a different, more on the likes of Mara

Houses of worship dedicated to her are sometimes called Houses of Dibella,though they are also known as chapels or temples.She tends to attract individuals who live and/or espouse an epicurean lifestyle. Followers of Dibella can purportedly commune with the goddess using a person designated by her, known as the Sybil of Dibella, as a medium.Worshipping her is thought of as a more personal, intimate association than worshipping some other Divines.It is said she asks us to "open your heart to the noble secrets of art and love. Treasure the gifts of friendship. Seek joy and inspiration in the mysteries of love"


anyway as with not seeing man whore shaming, ever think about the 3 people you blackmail for the amulets? your either blackmailing them paying them or persuading them with physical force

 

[DeadlyYellow]

The cop-out answer:

Any male protatonist from any game ever. Grizzled, white, athletic, perfectly toned, wielding phallic totems like guns and swords.