By: Puyan Hao and Tianli Zhu
It is a Win-Win for Everyone
The Portrayal of Women in Video Games
Nowadays, “the over sexualization of women in
video games” has been widely debated by the public. It is
fair to say that not many subjects cause as much
controversy between gamers as whether or not blatant sex
appeal in video games is “nothing but harmless
entertainment” or “discrimination of women everywhere.”
There are typically three main characteristics that are
consistent of women in video games: sex appeal, scantily
clad, and large breasts.
The first thing we think we need to consider here
is, is there actually such a thing as “acceptable
sexualization”? Or does the very fact that a character was
designed to look sexually appealing in the first place
already classify such a character as “over sexualized”?
Now our personal take on the matter is, no, we do not
believe that a female character who was designed to look
sexually appealing should automatically be labeled as
“over sexualized” games are entertainment after all, and
sex appeal is as valid a part of entertainment as any other.
So with that being said, we can now go about setting the
defining parameters regarding what is “acceptable
sexualization” and what is “over sexualization.”
But then does this mean that a female character’s
attributes must be covered up in order for her to be
acceptable? Not at all, we have many games with
attractive women who needn’t hide themselves behind a
few inches of steel. One such female character is Lara
Croft of the critically acclaimed Tomb Raider franchise,
“Lara Croft!” We hear you gasp, “but isn’t she practically
the original over sexualized female characters of video
games? Surely the big breasts present on her original
character design serve to define her as over sexualized!”