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Female Characters - Empowering or Endangering Equity?
deacon_jay writes "There's an interesting article from the NY Times (registration required) about what the depiction of female protagonists in video games is doing for female empowerment. Obviously, there are opposing views put forward, such as: 'Women as hypersexualized killers distracts attention from their unequal status' or 'I do not think playing these games encourages women to be victims'. I'm tending to the latter argument, but the article raises some interesting questions." For example, Lara Croft - icon for the power of the female, or created for gamers to goggle at? This is even an academically discussed question.
"Lara Croft - icon for the power of the female, or created for gamers to goggle at?"
Sit down with every version of Tomb Raider ever made. Play them in order from oldest to most recent, and observer the increase in breast size from version to version.
Then, ask that question again with a straight face.
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Stylized killer uber women in games sells. Sex sells, its a well known advertising fact. Everyone wow'ed about how well rendered Lara's titties were when Tomb Raider first came out, and were annoyed that you couldnt get a full front view. Kids would spend hours trying to find the best position to look at. Nowadays we have Dead or Alive beach volleyball....and we can all attest to the niceness of them well rendered titties. Nothing's changed except for the graphics quality.
I'm more worried about the boys who play these games, and their warped sense of the female form. I've met some guys who watch a little too much porn, to many anime cartoons, too much GTA, too many "Maxim"-type magazines, and have no real concept of what a real women is.
Come on guys, you're getting off on a corporate logo. Go for something with a soul, something real, not a cartoon designed by dweebs in the marketing and design departments. Are you really that easy to control?
Try thinking for yourself more often.
I hate when women say "empowering". Do women not have power by default? They need something to "empower" them? Empowerment seems sexist to me b/c it implies that women don't naturally have power.
...a paper for my media studies class, discussing how women's voices were used in Homeworld: Cataclysm. I basically came to the conclusion that women were portrayed as weak:
It seems inane to be arguing equal gender representation in a video game, but such games are becoming an increasingly popular form of entertainment and can be immensely compelling. Accordingly, we should examine how female voices are portrayed. In the original Homeworld, there were 28 vessels, only one being voiced by a female. While Cataclysm has improved that ratio some, the voice acting has become more personalized. Homeworld's voice acting was very flat and devoid of individuality. However, in Cataclysm, there is definitely a characterization associated with different ship types. The Recon Probe voice sounds to be an alto in her 30's. Her voice is relatively smooth and often has an ironic tone. The Hive Frigate appears to be a soprano in her 20's, as her voice is high pitched and often seems strained. Fleet Command is personified by a female tenor in her 60's, and sounds like a self-assured chain-smoker.
The implications of these positions are extremely important to note, for they are exceedingly subtle. The Recon Probe for all intents and purposes is an expendable ship, cheap to build and for the most part superfluous. However, the voice acting is very cocky and aggressive. Responses to the attack command are "Just say the word," and "I'll take 'em out." As a result, this particular female voice is derided and mocked for having male attitudes but being unable to act them out.
The Hive Frigate is essentially designed to be bait for enemy affronts at the beginning of a battle, and then to fall back and act as a support vessel. This soprano voice is nervous and edgy, perhaps giving the impression of a young woman who is in over her head and is about to snap and start screaming. Contrary to the impression given by the Recon Probe, the Hive Frigate is a weak powerless character, once again forming negative stereotypes.
Finally, Fleet Command is the tactics officer on the Mothership, giving suggested attack strategies and fleet directives. The voice is relatively deep for a woman, but is very self-assured and confident. It's a poignant aspect that the only secure female voice in the game is an 'old' one, suggesting that women only become robust and poised in old age.
This is not to say that all the male voices in the game are cocky and confident. There are units that sound like teenagers going through puberty and even mentally insane men. However, the ratio of male voices to female voices is unbalanced, and the attributed personalities contribute to stereotypes.
Few large-scale studies have been done on the number of female video game players to male players, but the proportion is heavily weighted on the male end, and probably will continue to be for a while. Therefore, it's important that all aspects of human representation in games are carefully considered. The voice acting in Homeworld and Cataclysm is one of the last things to be noticed after the gameplay, strategy, graphics, music, and sound effects, yet its subconscious effect can be very pronounced. This is most revealing when we consider that of the three (out of sixteen) female voices in the game, only one is assertive, and she sounds like Grandma.
What do you folks think? Any ladies care to chime in?
Although the (sometimes)crappy CGI and that nipple revealing suit would fuel your statement. It is simply not true.
Who are you to say what she needs? What if she came here and read your post. How do you think she would feel? Is it right to say that about her? Is her role in life to provide you with sexual pleasure?
I think this is plain rude and insulting to her. To any woman, perhaps, who is made to feel that her worth is related to her body.
Though I shouldn't be surprised, given what I've recently seen about the American porn industry. To all you geeks who watch porn, I suggest you read this. Makes me sick.
The way they trick women, and use the lure of money to get them to do things they didn't want to do, it's sickening and depraved.
Obviously Lara Croft is for gamers to ogle at. What planet do you have to be from to not know women are the ogled ones? They know it, they wear the make-up and the pretty dresses. To say that she shouldn't, and neither should any women is some ultra-feminist idea that wants to make all women men and all men women, something that near all people - men and women - would not like.
I think this article is just riding the wave of criticizing/blaming video games for social problems, grasping at straws for attention and income.
"I don't know that atheists should be considered citizens, nor should they be considered patriots." George HW Bush
Enough of this empowering nonsense! No video games for you! Get back in the kitchen and make me dinner!
"Moderate drinking can help prevent amputated limbs" -- Abigail Zuger, NYTimes, 12/31/02
That anyone should care one way or the other. Guys like seeing semi-naked girls beat the crap out of each other. So what? We have made a form of entertainment, why should it then be tailored to include girls as well? If they are not happy with the situation, then girls are free to make and market their own entertainment that tailors itself to their needs. The bottom line is sex sells to guys. Games are just games.
On the one hand, it will be argued that there are not enough female protagonists in video games. So video game companies step up and say, "you're right, we'll put some more female characters out there." Then, the complaint is always made [by someone] that the women are just there to be eye candy and that guys love ogling them. It always makes me wonder if these people want female video game characters to be ugly or if they want them to be dressed in ugly clothes. This despite the fact that women often spend thousands per year trying to look as pretty as they possibly can. I'm a fat, ugly, pasty guy but I'm sure not out there agitating for Kilik of Soul Calibur to gain 50 virtual pounds, nor would I ask that Mario get some warts.
Another drum they like to pound is that women in fighting games send the signal that it's okay to beat up women. This one makes me think that those folks have no problem with assault when a male is the victim. Fighting games, in particular, are completely neutral in terms of gender. It's very rare that a female character is so under-powered that she's going to be beaten by any of the male characters. I can recall several successful sessions where I took on all comers as Sonja in Mortal Kombat or Chun-Li in Street Fighter (I like kicking, what can I say?).
Finally, everybody and their grandmother keeps bringing up the killing of women in Grand Theft Auto. My first response is always that if you follow the storyline missions in GTA3 and Vice City you'll find that you won't have to beat down or kill many women, especially when compared to the number of men you inevitably whack. The natural response of these whiners is "That game encourages you to beat up hookers and other women for money." I then ask what percentage of prostitutes are male, followed by pointing out that it's entirely up to the player whether or not they want to beat up female OR male civilians to get cash. If someone is a mass murderer or huge bully in the GTA games, it's because they wanted to be and not because the game encouraged them in any way.
What all this comes down to is that there are more powerful female characters in games than ever before. Whatever they look like, the message that video game women can be just as capable as video game men is being sent by the video game industry every day. As far as I'm concerned, any feminist who thinks that's a bad thing needs to take a huge pill...I'd recommend estrogen but that might be sexist...
I hate to break it to you, but she's an actor. It's her job to look good.
Repeal the DMCA!
She doesn't have breasts because she's annorexic.
Gesus, put some flesh on that girl. WHen her skin stretches over her scrawny bones it's frightening.
Gimme a girl with curves, a natural girl!
The alternative is Samus from Metroid. Do ya think anyone noticed (that 'it' was female)? Or maybe Dora the Explorer (Dear god why do I know that?) Female characters with ridiculous figures are the only ones that are noticed. There are lots of characters that are not. Samus, Dora, the woman from Zelda, the princess from Mario -- all don't have stylized figures. Hey guess what? Lara Croft was made for the women, like fark's boobies links are for women. (Anyways, I blame Anime, a really, really cool genre with some serious testosterone issues, IMO)
-Sean
Look at the pictures of the 2 women the article talks about. The one that thinks games show women in a good light looks ok and the one that is against how women are treated in games is nothing to look at.
You know the one is just jellous that she isn't hot and can't control men using that.
I'm sorry, I just don't buy the following logic:
a. An actor must look good
b. A female actor does not look good if she doesn't have "appealing size for Tuxinatorium" breasts.
conclusion. Trinity does not have big breasts so therefore she needs them.
I stand by my original post. She can and does look impressive without sexually exciting you. I disagree with both assumption a. and b. An actor can do an excellent job without looking good, and without having a breast size that you find just right.
When a female genius wins the Nobel prize.
We have equality when a female schlemiel gets promoted to her level of incompetence just as fast as a male schlemiel.
(A slight variant of someone else's quote.)
I'm not sure that the female protagonists in many current movies that make fun of the boys because they can do everything better than them *and* have ripped abs and flawless skin, are exactly a good thing.
Isn't that a bit of an unrealistic standard?
Women as hypersexualized killers distracts attention from their unequal status
As long as they've got big tits I don't see the harm in it.
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I'm sorry, I just don't buy the following logic:
a. An actor must look good
b. A female actor does not look good if she doesn't have "appealing size for Tuxinatorium" breasts.
Then you, my friend, have not been paying attention.
You'll have that sometimes...
With any -ism, sexism, ageism, racism. You're dammed if you do, and you're dammed if you dont.
jellous?
A statement such as, "Women as hypersexualized killers distracts attention from their unequal status", distracts attention from the question of why someone wants to spend time watching women as hypersexualized killers.
agreed except excess fat it bad too.
Repeal the DMCA!
The way they trick women, and use the lure of money to get them to do things they didn't want to do, it's sickening and depraved.
Yeah, my boss uses the "lure of money" to get me to do things I don't want to do, too -- like getting up in the morning and putting up with chickenshit and coding in java.
Seems that for the girls of porn, keeping their sex lives private isn't worth as much to them as easy money. They could always get a job at McDonald's. Their choice. Not mine, not yours.
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We talked about this on slashdot a couple of weeks ago, but "The Longest Journey" is a great, plot driven adventure game, with a lead female character who:
- is well acted.
- is realistic (or at least naturalistic).
- is not a mere sex object.
- has a journey of discovery that draws strength from a female perspective (I'm a male, so I could be wrong; but the writing and design are good enough that I think I'm not).
- isn't pandering to men.
- isn't pandering to women, either.
- makes you care about her and her plight.
- has LOTS of dialogue, but also good graphics and interesting story, so I wasn't bored.
- couldn't be replaced with a male character without greatly changing the story (ie. isn't a gratuitous female lead character).
- depicts, as part of the game, the complexities of male/female human interactions.
If ANYONE wants to talk about the potential that women have as "lead characters" in computer games, The Longest Journey should be held as the example of how it can be done without fear of alienating all men, and without exploiting male sexual arousal. Probably no coincidence that is was a game designed in Scandinavia. I highly recommend it.
What struck me most, was that this was a BETTER, more interesting, female lead character than ANY recent mainstream Hollywood movie with a lead female character (which are largely either gratuitous, or pandering to the perceived needs of women, or the perceived needs of men). April Ryan is a better role model for women and men, than most "role models" that are normally foisted on us all by the mass-market media.
Lara croft is an unrealistic depiction of womanhood. But male video game action characters are largely unrealistic portayals of men, too. Getting beyond the sexual elements, Lara does succeed (I think) as a character because her womanhood is not gratuitous (she has big juggs; so do some athletic female friends of mine. It isn't like they turn into missles to kill the bad guys), and her scope is limited to an action role (ie. she isn't portraying a societal 'role model', she is portraying a heroine, which are almost always romanticized ideals.)
I'm glad to see there is at least a trend towards women in computer/video games that is less purely sexual. I think, in some large part, it is because the technology is getting better at allowing "substantive" visual depictions (ie. facial expressions and interactions; see Half Life 2 trailer) that were harder to do previously. Whereas hot-looking bodies are relatively easy to do. I hope gamers are progressing towards more substantive portayals of BOTH men and women (at least as an option).
"It's overkill, of course. But you can never have too much overkill." - Anonymous Slashdot Coward
You're not being superficial enough to get this, to see what's most obvious.
What "they" want is simply to be the acknowledged--and, "they" hope, one day, legal--arbiters of righteousness.
There's no position to decipher. They're Puritans, prohibitionists, frustrated Stalins.
What most people most want is to dominate other people. When you don't understand what people are doing, that's probably what they're doing.
Your mouth is like Columbus Day.
My experience has been that the older a guy is, the lower his expectations get as to the looks of the girl he is looking to court. Listen to a group of 15 & 16 year olds sometime---or maybe even ask them. Their expectations are usually very high because thats what they see on television or on movies.
I am not judging this or anything, but its just the reality of the society we live in.
The issues are staring you straight in the eyes and you choose to ignore them.
Society puts far more pressure in women to toe the true line of how a woman should look. Any visit to a magazine shop should convince anybody that women are portrayed mainly as sex objects whose only tasks in life are to keep an eye on their weight and how to find their blue prince.
Men do not have to suffer such humiliation.
Regarding games the problem is one of violence and generalized lack of imagination from the part fo the game makers. It seems like they are addicted to violence in the first place, to make it a possible choice to beat and kill women and be rewarded for it, in spite of the amount of domestic violence everywhere, is frankly crass and irresponsible.
Since its beginnings action games are depended heavely on violence to sell, obviously the talent of most game companies to figure out new ways to entertain people while at the same time promoting positive values (or at least stop promoting negative ones) is sorely lacking.
If porno gaming is your thing, fine, but many females are uncomfortable knowing that strong industries like the gaming one can't come with better ideas but the stereotyping of women as sexual animals.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
Are they upset that the females are frequently scantily clad and/or of unlikely anatomical proportions? That doesn't really seem to be the main issue addressed.
The complaint seems to be that the females are in the same game behaving in the same way as the males. This is a problem because? I can't imagine that if developers were to follow her apparent desire and remove all females form games that feature violence that she or someone like her wouldn't be complaining that females are underrepresented in games.
I guess she wants the female characters to show up, refuse to fight, and make a speech about defying the patriarchy before exiting the arena? I'm sure that would go over _really_ well.
I'm all for feminism, but railing against the fact that girls are in the game, and they're acting exactly like the guys! seems to me to be a pretty dumb complaint. But maybe i'm just missing something.
This Space Intentionally Left Blank
... the stupid mentality of sexist people.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
Ah, I understand. So if I tempt someone to do something that is wrong, and they agree, then it's their fault and I hold no blame?
Obviously Lara Croft is for gamers to ogle at. What planet do you have to be from to not know women are the ogled ones? They know it, they wear the make-up and the pretty dresses.
You know, he put it a bit harshly, but women *do* tend to take a role of passive attractor in our society. You don't see guys spending a significant chunk of their morning sitting in front of a mirror applying makeup.
Furthermore, that role is one that cannot be reasonably blamed on a lack of action on the part of males. This is an issue that needs to be resolved by women changing if they want change.
I mean, I don't hear any complaining from *guys*, despite the fact that we are the only ones that have to fill out a selective service card and face possible forced military service and death -- the most onerous of civil duties -- yet women and men both get the privilege of voting. The feminist lobby becomes remarkably silent when true equality is on the boards, instead of just the advancement of females.
So if Mad Quacker wants to make an entirely correct observation of society, abeit somwhat rude, I'd say that he's certainly justified in doing so.
May we never see th
Well, then we get into what's "wrong". Morally wrong? You may have an entirely different set of moral. To some people in the world, a woman showing anything but her eyes is morally wrong. Those people feel that women walking around with their heads and faces uncovered are just as immoral as you view the porn actresses to be.
In general, I don't really see the problem with porn actresses. As a matter of fact, I find military tours of service much more upsetting, since it is *illegal* to leave if you find that things aren't quite what you were expecting. Heck, you can be *shot* for that.
May we never see th
Between a game that allows you to beat and kill women and one that allows you to beat and kill men ? Does it make a difference if one game allows such killing while playing as a female character ? Is it okay for women to beat and kill men ?
By the sound of your response, it looks to me like you are saying yes, it is okay for women to beat and kill men, it is okay to apply double standards when it comes to men.
What you and the games industry should be saying is that it is not okay for anyone to beat and kill anyone else. Even Grand Theft Auto makes this clear. Kill people and look what happens - your wanted rating goes up and you end up being chased by the police in overwhelming numbers.
This isn't a problem specific to the games industry. Instead of learning to value women, society has instead learned to devalue men - especially in the entertainment media.
Here in London, our own Mayor has stated that existing facilities to help and support victims of domestic violence will never be available to men because "the majority of victims are women". Incidents of domestic violence perpetrated by women against men are rarely even investigated, let alone punished.
I think that the point being made is that focussing on the adult film industry for transgressions that are common in other industries is itself misleading and wrong.
The article mentions that if you're going to be spending a lot of time looking at a single character, that character had better be pleasant to the eye. That's probably the number one reason right there.
Most importantly, most characters in video games are male. Of all those male characters, almost all have an impossibly ripped body of unnatural proportions. The torso of the video game male is usually almost double the size of what is possible. And a large majority of the time, the males are scantily clad.
Please note that the depiction of the male is as outlandish as the depiction of the female. This depiction is exploitive of the video game character. Since they're not real, it doesn't matter. It's all about fantasy. If a fantasy isn't intersting or intriguing, nobody wants to see it, let alone play with it.
Am I the only one here who finds the way most posts say "females" instead of "women" mildly disturbing?
AFAIK women prefer to chat than to play games. So games are targeted at men.
If that's because women don't like the existing computer games, hey nobody is stopping them from making games for themselves. PC hardware is cheap. Plenty of tools around. And there's Google and the Internet.
Women take 50% of the blame in
"empowering/endangering equity". You want the power, you sign up for the blame too.
Y'know there are a LOT more important things to focus on for gender equity than complaining about sexism in video games. Check out the state of women in India, Pakistan, various retrogressive muslim countries for instance. Places where it's common to have society/culturally sponsored murdering of women.
In other places (US, EU), women have enough opportunities to get where they want.
How about all those movies on the Lifetime Channel where the women kill their husbands? What kind of messages are those sending?
The Lara Croft's I've seen (I've not seen the early versions of the game) are a bit of an exagerration while the protagonist for Resident Evil: Code Veronica seems to be well potrayed.
On the other hand, the Id Software protagonist from Wolfenstein 3D through Quake II all seem to be hyper-male types while Gordon Freeman is just a scientist in an extrodinary situation.
I guess what I'm trying to say is, I'm sure this is a great topic to spur discussion but my opinion is that we are painting it with too wide a brush.
A goal is a dream with a deadline
You know what, this is true. I can attest to that, being a female myself and all. What I can say is that most females want, no *need*, attention. They need compliments and admiring looks to feel needed. That's just the way we seem to work. I work that way more often than I want to admit, and it seems that other women do too.
However, there is a difference between wanting to be admired and wanting to be sexualized. Women want to be admired, complimented, and, sometimes, to feel sexy. Most do not want to have to beat men off with clubs because they are so overdone, or to have to try to compete for attention with women who *do* need to beat men back. In my mind, there's a difference between a powerful female assasin of fairly modest to large proportions in a skin-tight leather catsuit, and a female assasin with oversized breasts, a three inch waist, and her suit unzipped to her belly button.
Attractive protagonists aren't the problem. Even powerful, sexy protagonists aren't the problem. *Oversexualized* protagonists, beyond what even most normal women would want to be, are the problem. These are what can put women off from video games.
As a game developer, I see a key reason that female characters are hyper-sexualized that has been missed. It's not really that people want huge breasts (though some people argue for that in design meetings, they are usually ignored); the real issue is that we want the characters to be attractive, and modeling a pretty face is damn hard, but a slim waist and large breasts are easy. If it was easy to make a female (or male) character attractive without exagerating their physical characteristics, many would do that instead, but there are several technical issues preventing that. Poly limits and texture resolution create a large problem here, and are compounded by having to present all this on an NTSC screen, which is 640x480 and blurry as hell. Often a face, regardless of the detail you put in, comes out on the screen as a 64x64 pink blob with dark spots for eyes. Also, what makes a face "pretty" is very subjective, while large breasts are (largely) universal.
Sure, the fact that most developers are guys has an impact, but when deadlines are tight and the publisher keeps telling you that the lead isn't pretty enough, the temptation to forgo all the hard work of reworking her face again and just stretch some "torso verts" becomes overwhelming.
Hmm. I never really thought about it that way. Interesting.
May we never see th
I think stores, restaurants, and all other businesses should stop hiring attractive women for any kind of sales position, because they are obiously only hired to take advantage of men's need to ogle them. Do you know how much useless crap I've bought from pretty girls? :-p
;-)
But, seriously...where is this going to end. People need to realize that there are differences between men and women. Does this mean that a woman is less able than a man? In some respects, yes...but a man is less able than a woman in some respects, too. Does that mean you shouldn't respect the other sex? Hell no.
If there were no differences between the sexes, we would all be hermaphrodites, or we would all reproduce with ourselves...and who would want to live in a world like that?
Video games are like epic novels...play them and enjoy them. The protagonists are idealic respresentations of heroes and heroines. The men in games are typically as unrealistic as the women, but yes, there are some games that pander to males. But if gamers weren't inside ogling the women in those games, they'd be out in the real world ogling high school girls.
All I'm saying is people who are frustrated with their own shortcomings shouldn't take out their aggression on everyone else by spewing words like "sexist" and "pigs".
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to play DOAXBV.
Maybe, but that's what happens when you work for tech support for a lot of sorority girls. The stereotypes are not always correct, but they are a LOT of the time.
pencil drawings back when I was in college. I spent a lot of time trying to get body proportions right and figuring out how to best do faces. Over time, and with the advice of some real artist, I learned a few tricks. One thing in particular about female faces was that they were easier to draw because they tended to have less fine detail - especially if you draw them assuming they are wearing make-up. (another advantage of drawing female faces is that I tended to give them earrings with reflective geometric shapes so I could practice drawing those as well).
Anyway, I would imagine that if you got down to that level of rendering detail, it's probably easier to make an attractive female face than an attractive male face.
But I could be wrong, your post just reminded me of a process I went through about 20 or so years ago.
A goal is a dream with a deadline
Action games do and have always relied upon violence because violence is far easier to simulate than creation, and the need for action is a repressed desire to be exploited. This is not necessarily a failure of imagination (it can be quite creative), but a reality of the current market. For every tetris that made it into public consciousness, there are about a hundred that were ignored in droves because the public doesn't find abstract gaming to be particularly gripping.
Since the introduction of Chun-Li in Street Fighter 2 (a reasonably endowed female, at least compared to some of the other characters in the game) fighting females have been getting more and more popular. Before then, women were largely reduced to the role of helpless princess to be rescued, medic, or very occasionally villaness (whose attempt to actualize was a defining factor in her evilness). Now they can shape their environment, go toe-to-toe with the 900 lb walking dumptrucks that pass as men in videogames and can do anything that men can do. With the general lack of women as leading action-hero roles (except in terrible game-to-movie conversions) strangely a large cultural spearhead of this has come from, well, videogames.
Does violence happen against protagonist women in videogames? Yes, but the depiction of violence against women has so often been against helpless women that the two separate concepts have become intrinsically linked. It is almost assumed in this culture that *any* violence against women will expose fragility, which is not the case (come out to boston for a women's football match sometime). The problem is the depiction of women being hit by the enemy and falling down crying, not the depiction of women being hit by the enemy and who in turn beats him to a bloody pulp. All protaganists in videogames hit back, and eventually win. That's empowering.
What's disempowering and what you touched upon was the hypersexualization of the female figure in videogames, which is a real problem. Videogaming is probably not the arena to fight this larger societal problem, however. From a purely pragmatic standpoint, the characters need gross anatomical differences with wildly differing dress styles to be able to tell the two apart. And with men and women's violation of the age old long-hair-is-woman, short-hair-is-man code, there is very little to be able to distinguish between 32 pixel by 32 pixel male and female characters besides huge hips and big breasts vs giant shoulders and stunted legs. That part probably can't be stopped any time soon. The role variation needs to be upped, as does the number of female characters whose sexuality or sex life just doesn't come up, but arguing against oversized breasts in a medium whose plumber posterboy features a nose the size of his head is like shouting at the wind.
Either way, with female empowerment but continued female sexualization we've taken one step forward and no steps back. That doesn't mean that there is no ground left to cover. That means demonizing a medium which has overall improved the perception of women in our culture is shooting your friends.
If you want a target, start with those aformentioned magazine shops, preferably "YM" and "Cosmo Girl."
The ______ Agenda
And with men and women's violation of the age old long-hair-is-woman, short-hair-is-man code
Both wore long hair, and men had beards and mustaches, up until around WWI, 1914-1918, and I believe it was because gas masks don't work well with facial hair. I am not sure why long hair got the shove at the same time, but that's the way it looks...
Infuriate left and right
Sex sells, I like staring at a beautiful woman with huge boobs when I'm playing a game. I don't want to be smashing floors, and tossing my blubber at bad guys as a 400 pound woman wearing spandex. I mean seriously, you don't like how the women are portrayed? Don't buy the game. Why do people feel the need to bitch about every single thing, and ruining others enjoyment? You don't hear me complaining about having to play as a buff guy wearing shorts and no shirt. Look at Dead or Alive 3, imo one of the best fighting games out there, along with soul calibur 2. The girls are damn hot, but the game is great too. I hear females bitch about how the females are portrayed, but they don't mention the dudes. Basically what I'm trying to say is. Shut up you fat hag, just because guys would rather stare at pixels then look at your whale of an ass in spandex, doesn't mean you have to whine and complain. Well err, gets me riled up I guess
Sorry, what is "GWD"? Games of Wide Destruction?