The number of female protagonists in video games has sharply increased in recent years. From Lara Croft to D. Va and Widowmaker in Overwatch or Ellie in Last of Us, there’s no denying the move to cast women characters in the lead in many of today’s gaming franchises. The question I have is whether this is in fact a shift in the direction towards gender equality and a real desire to branch out the target client base to include female consumers. The evidence to the contrary lies in the character design of these string, intelligent, independent women and girls who nevertheless remain depicted in what constitute for CIS male players as erotically charged and sexually arousing body types and outfits. Further proof of this underlying trend can be seen in the fact that all of these “empowering” characters are extremely popular in rape based hentai games and videos. Is the gaming industry (designers and consumers) still in the end just a cesspit of misogynistic desires despite the work of women challenging gamer culture through a history of conflicts as #gamergate?
I do not much play many games, but I believe that females characters in games have been and continue to be portrayed sexually. In most games, a female character's outfit reveals more skin than a male character's outfit. In some cases, the strength of a female is lower than a male character's strength. In some sense, this brings up the concept of male domination and female subordination. Although this is not true to all cases, I still believe that it is a reoccurring theme. It also leaves a negative effect on individuals because they might not want to choose a female character because it is weaker than the other male characters. – decalcomania5 years ago
