Article #4: Gamer Culture Is Sexist

I can already hear most people going "well, duh.", but bear with me here. Let me start by this shocker of an intro to all that is wrong with the gaming culture as dominated by boys, because men should be a little more mature than that.

Gaijin Goomba asked a really dumb, really offensive question.

"Women in games [...] are oversexualized. But girls, I have a question to ask. Don't you want to be sexy? Don't you want to be hot? Don't you want to turn men's heads? Is that not an objective that women have?"

Are you fucking serious here? This is a guy's justification to have women with giant tits in chainmail bikini and leather catsuits and leg-showing cocktail dresses. This is all about the men. This is telling women they can't be women without doing it for a man's pleasure. It is telling women that their value lies with being attractive to men. This is not empowerment. This is the phenomenon called the goddamned male gaze.

I'm non-binary and genderfluid, but I'm aware I look more like a woman than androgyne or a man. I am not dressing up for the sake of mouth-breathing basement dwellers. I'm dressing up because I like wearing red, because my hoodie makes me feel comfortable and safe, because my sundress fits me right and I like the breeze on my legs and arms, because garish red lipstick and eyeliner and nailpolish makes me unusual and not dolled up.

I refuse to listen to this shit that the media is trying to shovel down my throat, and I really don't appreciate that the excuse to keep women enfeebled is that being sexy is empowering. It isn't empowering when it's for the sake of a male fantasy.

"The biggest thing is completing the challenge. We don't care about the girl."

I see this sentiment echoed far and wide by male gamers. Then let me ask you, guys. Why are you so bothered with not using women as masturbatory male power fantasies, then?! Because you want tits and ass. That's why. Because your fragile manly ego won't withstand not having high-definition polygonal females to fap to whenever you want as you live out your superhero power trip. Because you aren't half as interested in a game with a female lead on the cover if the female lead doesn't have tight shorts and boobs straining to stay contained in her t-shirt. Who bought Tomb Raider for the screenshots on the back of the box versus the ones buying it for the sexy lady on the cover?

Think on this. A male character who is locked up will break himself out of jail. A female character who is locked up will be broken out of jail by a male character. The only time I've met the reverse of the trope was in Chrono Trigger, where Lucca can break you out if you didn't already do it yourself. Which is harder to trigger than you'd think, because who stays passive and waits for their execution?

And go check out the first episode of Tropes VS Women in Video Games! Anita definitely deserves the views! I may not agree with everything said, but I am 100% behind the general message.

(For the clueless, that episode's message is "don't make women into objects just so you have a plot for your hero".)