Poll: Sexism and your gender

[Trivea]

I think video games are more blatantly sexist towards women (see every fighting game ever) and accidentally sexist towards men (see, for example, Gears of War). You know, the fact that women can only fight when in miniskirts and high heels, and the only useful men are powerhouses with necks the size of tree trunks.

But then, look at Team Fortress 2. An entire team of really goofy looking guys. If the game had been set up with female characters, you know they would have been bombshells.

I guess I wouldn't have as much of a problem with the objectification of women in video games as pandering to male fans if they also objectified more men as pandering to female fans. I'd rather they didn't do it at all, but if they have to do it, please do it evenly on both sides...

Female here.

 

[RedEyesBlackGamer]

Not sexism, just blatant objectification. Women seem to be allergic to practical armor/clothing in games.

Spoiler

I love that pic.

Man here.

 

[mxfox408]

if your making a big deal about who shows what and who doesn't show what or what this depicts or what that depicts, all I have to say is who the fuck gives a shit, play the game enjoy it I never really gave two shits about showing more or less, granted I mostly play female characters in my RPG's, I really could give two shits about what the armor shows doesn't show because I'm not looking for what is sexist or not. you people need to grow up and just enjoy the games without knit picking saying "that's sexist""How dare they depict women/men that way". Get over it and just enjoy life without acting like the modern American prudes.

Male BTW(Who really gives a fying fuck)

PS My Profanity carried over from my year's in the Army.

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

I genuinely have no problem with either cover. Both would be marketing ploys designed to appeal to certain audiences more then others. If anything this female friendly version should have the male superheros with their top off, or at least thats what the twilight covers told me.

No the female friendly version would have Black Widow in a heroic stance. Ie on an equal footing with the male characters. The male characters look sexy okay maybe not hulk..) but they also look heroic confident and determined. I can imagine Black Widow could still pull off sexy in a heroic pose so why the hell limit her to showing off her ass...ets

 

[Frankster]

snip

snip

Female friendly was wrong term to use, better term would be "sexually exagerated male version for titilliting female audiences", a tad longer but wrote kinda in a hurry before >< My bad.

Yeh a gender neutral poster with all characters being there for being kickass rather then for their ass would have been preferable.

 

[Prosis]

To be honest, I don't look at video games for good characters, male or female.


Some games are sexist. Although personally I find the "useless damsel in distress" more annoying than chainmail bikini's. Although we could certainly use less of both. We could also use less hardcore soldier boys, and emo japanese pretty boys

I'm male

 

[hazabaza1]

I think that just having people in little clothes is not sexist by itself, but rather how the game approaches sexuality and the character makes it sexist.
For example, looking at say, Ivy from SC series, I'd probably call it sexist. She's out of place, simply there for T&A, and her attitude has no relevance to her sexualalised (is that a word?) look.
But, to make myself sound a little silly probably, I wouldn't call Bayonetta sexist. The game is so incredibly blatant about what her character is and how she expresses it that gets the major "loltits" factor out of the way incredibly quickly and focuses more on the gameplay.
Of course, I'm just so weird 17 year old in his bedroom so I may be derpin'.

 

[mxfox408]

I'm so sick of crap like this, seriously, everytime something is geared towards the male demographic(which happens to be a majority in videogames) you get outcrys of how sexist it is to have men covered and women wearing less, blah blah blah. How often do us guys crying sexism over crap? Spike tv is mostly gear towards men so it would make sense to cater towards the demographic, sex sells, I know let's go too the beach and call it sexist because I'm allowed to run around with my shirt off but women can't. See how childish and stupid that is? If i pointed out all the legal loopholes that are sexist against men then I'd be here all day but who the hell cares. Point is whining about stuff geared towards a majority demographic is getting to become stupid already.

 

[Palademon]

Male.

And I think if we're going to call for sexism in games, how exactly are women the only victims?

Whenever some white knight claims sexist, I just respond with "You've seen the men in games, right? Besides, the female gamers I know appreciate being able to play as attractive characters."

 

[plugav]

I'm male and yes, I find a lot of video games to be sexist on various levels.

I'm also reminded of this hilarious montage [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PJ0JPLg_-8].

 

[Exerzet]

Male here, and I despise the entire thing. Rightly enough some games might need to apply a dose of sexism for historical authenticity's sake, but the big-breasted-scantly-clad "warriors" is just nonsensical and a discredit to the medium as a whole. Sure let them BE big-breasted if that's how you want it, but don't make them jump around like rabbits without knocking themselves unconcious if you do.

 

[TheL0rd0fSins]

I've never come across sexism in any game that I've played. I've come across things in games that overly sensitive people might misconstrue as sexism, but other than that, no real sexism.

Male.

 

[Sectan]

Catwoman in Arkham City. ANNOYED THE FUCK OUT OF ME. Yeah we get it. "Rawr kitty meow rawr." All I could think is Catwoman is trying way too hard. Not sure if it's a sexism issue, or just terrible characterization OR that's just how the character is. Never got too much into the (lore?) of Batman and such.

Male Here.

 

[Kahunaburger]

Sort of encapsulates the problem, in my mind. Lots of male characters have no personality beyond (ballnormous), lots of female characters have no personality beyond (hot), and while other characters gets to be (swashbucklerous) or (suavemaculant), those characters are generally male.

Not a dig at borderlands, btw - really like that game, gonna play the shit out of it with my sister when the family comes home for Christmas. That game gets a pass for me because you don't really need things like "story" and "deep characterization" if you have enough guns. The trailer just illustrates the issue really well.

EDIT: Male.

 

[putowtin]

some are some arn't, I'm not that bothered, yes women will have no waist and huge..... tracks of land but hey ho!

Oh and I be female!

 

[Chemical Alia]

I'm so sick of crap like this, seriously, everytime something is geared towards the male demographic(which happens to be a majority in videogames) you get outcrys of how sexist it is to have men covered and women wearing less, blah blah blah. How often do us guys crying sexism over crap? Spike tv is mostly gear towards men so it would make sense to cater towards the demographic, sex sells, I know let's go too the beach and call it sexist because I'm allowed to run around with my shirt off but women can't. See how childish and stupid that is? If i pointed out all the legal loopholes that are sexist against men then I'd be here all day but who the hell cares. Point is whining about stuff geared towards a majority demographic is getting to become stupid already.

Some of us actually make the games you play, and invest our opinions in the creative direction and decisions that influence our careers and the products we develop. I want to hear what people in the gaming community think. I fail to see what is wrong with discussing a subject that you see a problem with or voicing your opinion. On a discussion forum.

Your examples don't even make sense. We're talking about video games. Developers should want to be expanding their demographic, not minimizing it. And if a game truly needs to rely on sex appeal to sell, it's most likely a shitty game. No wonder non-gamers seem to think we're all a bunch of maladjusted, juvenile brats.

 

[TehMagster]

Sexism in games is a problem. There's nothing wrong with having a female character who is sexy and runs around in little clothing if it fits her personality and isn't too ridiculous for whatever she's doing, but if the outfit doesn't fit at all and every female character is pretty much running around in her underwear then it's not ok. Now if every character, regardless of gender, was running around scantily clad then it also would be fine, but since male characters are often decked out in armor or at least have pants on that's not the case. I will say that the portrayal of women in games has made me love games that have strong female characters way more than I otherwise would.

Female