Gender Representations in Videogames
March 26th, 2008 Beth
Something I found interesting about Tuesday’s reading assignment was the discussion of the different ways in which men and women are represented in videogames. The main point seemed to be that both male and female characters in videogames conformed to traditional gender archetypes. One of the earliest and most common themes in games is that of the main player character being a male who is on a journey to rescue a kidnapped or otherwise endangered female character. Even when female characters are not portrayed in passive roles, they are clearly designed to be sexual objects of the male gaze. Females characters can be aggressive but never by sacrificing their physical attractiveness. I don’t necessarily find any of this offensive, but it is interesting to try to analyze. (So goes the standard disclaimer to prove you’re not a feminazi.)
This over-exaggeration of gender characteristics is a trend that exists outside of just vidoegames. Women in comic books have impossibly giant torpedo breasts and most of the male actors on television or the big screen are bulging with muscles. In all forms of media, it seems, the men are getting beefier and the women are getting bustier. I’ve seen this phenomenon of over-exaggerating gender characteristics referred to as “hypermasculinity” and “hyperfemininity,” respectively. Of course media in the past also celebrated strength in men and beauty in women, but those traits were never emphasized to such a degree. Maybe this was because, back then, “men were men and women were women,” as they say. Today the distinctions between the appropriate realm of behavior for either gender are not so clearly defined, and along with this comes a certain amount of confusion in how the sexes should interact with each other. Perhaps the glorification of traditionally gendered traits in videogame characters reflects an anxiety created by this blur between gender roles. Or maybe teenage boys just like boobs.
Entry Filed under: Game Log
3 Comments
1. jbodholdt | March 26th, 2008 at 11:33 pm
You raise an interesting point about how gender representation has evolved from its traditional depiction in videogames. Although most games do still feature female characters as sexualized objects for the male gaze and male characters who are masculine, musculer and powerful, more recent productions have given female player-characters a voice and a brain. Basically, these female player-characters have "girl-power," and can effectively "kick-ass." For example, Jen from Primal and Buffy from Buffy the Vampire Slayer are ordinary girls with extra-ordinary slaying powers (King 183). Most notably, these games "…reverse the gendering of the background rescue scenario: Jen’s primary motivation…is to save her boyfriend from the clutches of an agent of chaos; Buffy saves various male and female characters from marauding vampires and demons" (King 183). These heroines serve as a relief from the traditional male hero by reversing the primary roles that are typically expected from each gender in videogames.
Although these two examples seem to be really great, progressive, and even feminist, I think it is important to ask why exactly are game producers doing this? Do they feel pressure from society to be more fair, feminist, and subjective?
To some degree they do. However, I think game designers are more concerned with earning profit. Both Jen and Buffy, for instance, are not just powerful- they are very pretty. It is quite obvious that they directly appeal to the male gaze. These "sexualized bodies" are what sell the most. And in a competitive marketplace that is dominated by teenage boys, the most appealing leading-lady will surely be put into play.
2. Beth | April 12th, 2008 at 3:27 pm
I think this theme of gender roles in the realm of vidoegames can be explored even further. Not only are there issues about the way gender representations are formed within vidoegames themselves, but it is interesting to look at who plays what videogames and why. I remember one of our very first readings mentioned a study in which little boys and girls responded better to the appropriately "gendered" aspects of an otherwise neutral videogame. Another of our assigned book readings once said something like "videogames have replaced the backyard in the landscape of boy-play." Boys certainly do seem to make up the bulk of the gaming population. Females seem to be attracted mostly to games like the Sims while males hold dominion over almost everything else.
Teenage boys are obviously the prime target for most vidoegames, as well as for gaming magazines and the like, and the content of most vidoegames reflects this. Why is this? Do videogame marketers traget teenage boys because they are the demographic that likes gaming the most or do the teenage boys like videogames so much because they are responding to the male-centric themes employed by most marketers? Does the active nature of videogames jive with the traditionally passive roles of females? Or are women just less attracted to violently-themed entertainment? I can’t really say I have any idea; it is just interesting to think about.
I have been looking through the interwebs and have found a number of blogs for "girl gamers." They are pretty stupid, but one of them mentioned something interesting about a Super Mario Brothers character called Birdo, a big pink dinosaur thing with a gaping mouth and a bow. Apparently, part of his description in the instruction manual was that "he thinks he is a girl and he spits eggs from his mouth." Is this the first genderqueer/tranny character in a game?
3. Mhiggin6 | April 14th, 2008 at 12:54 pm
After reading through this blog post and some of the comments I felt like I really wanted to respond as well. This discussion in class brought back quite a few memories from another Honor’s Class–Reading Cultural Signs. In one of our lectures our professor, Dr. Jen Leeman brought up the idea of the male gaze and the cultural signifigance of the colors blue and pink. Going back over these themes in our class gave me some interesting flashbacks, and made me think about video games even more as cultural texts.
I’ve always agreed with what was said in the first post– female characters in video games are usually relegated to the ‘damsel in distress’ role. They hardly ever get to play the main character. When they do however their bodies are "Barbie" proportioned and there is plenty of detail (and maybe a little slow-motion?) when they’re shown jumping up and down. Playing a game like "Tomb Raider" is like watching "Bay Watch" with weapons and monsters.
This can’t possibly be for the benefit of most females playing the game, which is what made me think further into the idea of video games as cultural texts. What does this aspect of video gaming say about our culture?
Clearly, the vast majority of comercial video games are aimed at young men, and the same gender roles found in old movies can be found in modern games.
I had already thought about writing my final paper on the relationship between women and video games, and now I am set on finding games that are appealing to women, and figuring out what makes them different.