Game'boys'...

Sooooo last weeks tutorial brought up some interesting thoughts for me, and quite possibly the other 3 people in the room ... As we go on about gaming, violence, geeks, and blame for mass murders, I take the general drift that Gaminig is for BOYS... Not saying that girls do not play them or enjoy them, but a quick look in any Video games store and its clear as day that Grand Theft Auto, Warcraft, Rugby 07 and Street Fighter were most probably not marketed to be played by girls. Hell even walking into the store, i felt the piercing stares of 4 or 5 pimply 13yr old boys wondering what the heck I was doing on 'their' turf.

Anyways... in our tutorial we began talking about gaming and Sexism. and without a doubt we have to concede that there is a certain sense of male domination in the gaming world. whether it be the violent fighting games that I'm sure most girls would not agree with or the anti-feminine narratives like Grand Theft Auto where lo and behold the women are most probably prostitutes (that you can press a few buttons to 'rape' her) or are pedestrians which are easily run onver, shot and killed. Lovely... now i myself am neither a raging feminist nor gaming addict and yet my small introductions into the gaming world have left me quite astounded at the overall representation of women in video games. Take for example, Tekken 5 (a game I actually CAN play), the women are all dressed in tight little dresses that accentuate both chest and butt area, yes I agree that they fight but the graphics have been so enhanced that not only are these women 'fighting machines' but they're sexy and visually stimulating for the boys that play them. now realistically I've never seen a kapoeira or karate master with the same size chest as any of the women in the Playboy mansion, but in Gaming world - this is fine... Too my shock not only are the women characters dressed like hookers but before and after fights they say some saucy little line like 'you want some more baby' or 'come and get me' (with the character bending over to show cleavage)... So what exactly are my little brothers learning about women I wonder?

so i take a step back and look at games like Lara Croft... Female protagonist... and what do we have her chest is enhanced, there are special moves to make her bend down and actions that accentuate both her 'booty jiggle' and cleavage. Kevin had the pleasure of learning about this too, if you don't believe me.

I suppouse all media have some sort of anti-feminist readings its just a matter of how subtle it is. However after all the talking of violence and guns etc in class, none of which particularly appeal to me. I thought i'd share an observation that I found rather intriguing. So who says gaming isn't for girls, perhaps it is only us that can stop these insults against us!?

Lena W