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Men Incapable Of Portraying Videogame Women Fairly?
Thanks to GameSpot for its 'GameSpotting' editorial discussing whether men can be trusted to portray women fairly in videogames. The author references Metroid ("I don't appreciate that Samus being a woman is a punch line"), and Ico ("Yorda... [is] this supposedly sympathetic female character in a video game that can do absolutely nothing for herself and is constantly in danger of being kidnapped"), and ends by leveling the charge: "I think men are inherently incapable of doing an adequate job of properly presenting female characters in games."
Samus being a woman is not a joke, it's a realization that a woman CAN do powerful things and CAN be a hero. It's not an insult, it's something that makes you think.
...two things that are inherently "Male-Centric". Get over it or write your own video game. The world is driven by sex & greed. People (males) buy games that are sexy.
Women are inherently incapable of driving cars
Men are inherently incapable of getting in touch with their feeling
Women are inherently incapable of logical thought
Yeah, let's polarize and call each other names.
As a kid I spent quite a while playing this game, had come to know and like this character, and when I found out the hero was female I thought, "Cool, that's unique. I don't see why the ass kicking protagonist /can't/ be a woman." Ever since then, any instance of female action heros has never struck me as being out of the ordinary. I think if anything, it in some way helped break down the gender wall. At least for some of us.
- Cigar chomping muscle-brains
- Weasley little pick-pocket wimps
- Corpse-obsessed psychopaths
- Spineless cannon-fodder clones
- Sex-obsessed jocks
- Coke-bottle glasses nerds that love computers
Etc, etc, etc. It isn't a sexism thing, it's a "the story writers are stupider than the game's AI" thing.Goddammit. Next thing we'll have articles about women complaining that it is so cliché to have periods, and that it's only to seem interesting they do it.
I miss stupidpeopledie.com
A study in The New England Journal of Medicine shows that fully 64.3% of all persons born female, show markedly below average, or even undetectable, senses of humor. Their hyper-emotional nature and comparitively large hormonal fluctuations appear to impede the detection of the logical discontinuity necessary for humor.
The worst thing about today's games is that they're developed almost exclusively by men. "Theory" is actually much too strong of a word, as it's really nothing more than a hunch. I didn't know it was some big secret. I'm too lazy to look up actual figures on this. But its hard enough to find female gamers, or female programmers, let alone someone who decides to combine those two. Personally, I'd love to see more females in the art. Perhaps games would be able to produce a more emotional impact w/ the player. But alas, this is something that does not appear to be happening. But don't complain about it, there is nothing stopping females from entering the industry. Kent
Kent Simon Multitheft Auto
When it comes to video games, I am not looking for female characters that I can take home to mom.
I want big titties on a tough as nails ass kicking chick like Lara Croft or B. Orchid, or big titties on a soft helpless babes like the babe in Final Fight or the hookers in GTA:3 and VC.
Video games are like porno, the target market is mostly male. As a result the contents are going to be geared towards male fantasies.
LK
"Hi. This is my friend, Jack Shit, and you don't know him." - Lord Kano
Seriously, not only should it be rather obvious that the majority of game developers lack any and all ability to portray real women AT ALL, but the author of this article choose some really poor choices of women in games to prove his point.
Why not attack the games laced with idiot-centric content like women with oversized breasts who are always the victims.
Samus is the one, true video-game heroin that hasn't, (yet), fallen to the same traps as nearly every other female in most other games. She is strong, silent, confident, and not a sex symbol. (Some may argue that the removing of her suit at the end of a quickly completed game is leaning in this direction, and I could understand that, but I still respect Nintendo for at least throwing her in a modest single piece bathing suite when most other developers would have her sporting a scant bikini or a lace nightie).
Yorda from Ico could be seen as a weak female in a game, but she is still infinitely more interesting and unique as a supporting character than most of the aforementioned bad examples. Her character is successfully timid without becoming a weak, victim-ish sex-symbol.
I can't wait to see more *real* women in games, but this will most likely come with the arrival of more mature developers.
Why not get a female perspective? Some oversight in all things female... I think if there were female producers looking for jobs in Gaming they would be hired. Give it a try girls... it's a good job and pays reasonably well, I here 60k and up is normal for a game producer.. if you're experienced it goes to 6 digits.
A fool throws a stone into a well and a thousand sages can not remove it.
"I think men are inherently incapable of doing an adequate job of properly presenting female characters in games." Perhaps you could make that case if they were TRYING to properly represent a female in thier game. But they were not. They typically make games geared towards males. As for Metroid, Samus being female was a small tiny part of the game MOST people didn't know about for the first five years the game was out. I remember hearing Samus was female 3 years after I first played it.
What of Alys Brangwin from the 4th installment of the series? The article cites Alis Landale as a strong female protagonist, but then goes on to say that her gender was largely a non-issue. Alys was proud to be a woman, and knew damn well that she could kick the asses of anybody who got in her way, regardless of their chromosomes. Furthermore, she had a lean, athletic figure and dressed very modestly-below her neck, no skin showed at all.
Help protect civil rights from abuse by the TSA - visit TSA News Blog.
http://www.tsanewsblog.com
My friends and I didnt not take it as a joke when we found out, after playing the original metroid for years that Samus was a female.
You're right. Perpetuating stereotypes just because they are what's expected is par for the course when it comes to any form of simple entertainment. Breaking stereotypes is considered tantamount to playing discordiant music: It makes people feel uncomfortable at some level, whether we like it or not. And such things don't sell, again, whether we like it or not.
Now, racism and sexism are the obvious things to point out, so I won't harp on about them. But I'll say this: It is natural for those who are commonly represented by widely-held stereotypes not to be bound by the same ignorance that affects those outside their group. So, when women say they are being disenfranchised, I think it's less important to focus on the words they use in their defense. Such words are bound to seem biased, because they are. Rather, we should try to understand why they are speaking them in the first place.
The reason there are "stereotypical" female characters is because it's a fairly well defined and recognizeable archetype, and it's something people are drawn to. So... you connect with games that follow that archetype, and tend to ignore (or possibly just shrug your shoulders at) counterexamples. There are lots of them... many of them mentioned in this thread already.
Should we be complaining about all archetypes in all forms of entertainment which portray a group unfairly? Not by a long shot. It's like writing a piece of music with instruments that you make up entirely on your own for that particular piece: an unnecessary amount of work for very little (read: possibly negative) payoff.
This is my sig. There are many others like it, but this one is mine.
I mean, male game developers get crucified for portraying a female character as helpless, feminine, whatever.
Then, they go and make a gung-ho asskicker--university educated, genius, speaks multiple Asian languages fluently, is a straight shot, knows several martial arts, drives cars like Fangio, jumps off bridges, climbs buildings, and generally unleashes whupass.
And lo and behold, pandemonium breaks loose among the PC crowd, just because she's clad in a tiny thong and miniskirt and has enormous bazoombas? I mean geez, make up your minds....
Cole's Law: Thinly sliced cabbage
An example (note: I live in DK):
In the neighbourhood I grew up in, there are a lot of immigrants, and since 1997 (long story) these have mainly been from Somalia.
From what I understand, Somalia is not a nice place to be, for anyone. People die from famine.
So of course, people emigrate to another country.
They come to Denmark and become as complacent and decadent as us. They watch TV with their kids. (80% of the TV shows in DK are from the US) Their kids see black people acting a certain way. They think it's cool.
Suddenly, they're walking around with bandanas and FUBUs and shit I've never wanted to know about, trying to even sound like the actors on TV. Hell, it's even more pitiful to see than when I was in Greenland and saw Greenlandish Niggers*.
Talk about your off-topic-I-haven't-slept-all-night rant.
* Note: I've been to Greenland 13 times. Never saw a black person there.
Warning: Some moderate (possibly heavy) Ico spoilers will ensue after the quote.
I never finished ICO. Not only did I get stuck at a certain point about halfway through, but more to the point, I grew sick and tired of the girl, Yorda, and her uselessness. This character was so pathetic, it almost made me angry. I admit that this is not the effect the game was intended to have on me or on anyone; however, here's this supposedly sympathetic female character in a video game that can do absolutely nothing for herself and is constantly in danger of being kidnapped. Who better than a man--or in this case, just a boy--to come to her rescue.
If Greg had played Ico all the way through, he would've realized that Yorda was only pathetic because she had been repeatedly injured and abused. The real Yorda was quite a bit more capable, just as the injured, abused Ico was just as pathetic (if not more so) than she was when she was injured.
This is what happens when someone starts their analysis of a game with the words, "I never finished..." That's like watching the first two minutes of the Spider-Man movie, turning your DVD player off, and then devoting two paragraphs to asking why someone would want to watch Peter Parker act like a geeky loser for two hours. If you're going to review or analyze something, you should at least have the maturity to take in the whole thing before gracing us with your ignorant opinion.
That's pathetic. It really is. Why does he feel the way he does? What kind of horrible psychology has warped his mind into this sad state?
He feels guilty that Samus is a woman? And that Samus *can* be seen in a bathing suit? Oh dear lord! Someone call the thought-police, he might start forming an attraction to the opposite sex! How horrible! -- Though the true horror is that he feels this way. That, every time he views an in game portrayal of a woman even REMOTELY attractive, it is somehow a violation of "womens rights".
Let me tell you something guys. Not as a woman, because i'm not. But because i'm a MAN, and I no longer tolerate this "acceptable society" bullshit. Women in games? Thats great. SEXY women in games? Thats even fucking BETTER! Now before the "facist-femme militia of well-whipped men" decends on me, i'd like to point out one interesting fact: Women LIKE sexy portrayals of women. Women LIKE to feel sexy. They LIKE to feel attractive, they fucking ENJOY the power to reduce a man to a quivering puddle of goo with their bodies. Come on men, don't you too? All
I know, I know... a lot of you probably don't believe me. Well look right here. Its a page all about female characters in video games. Browse through the ratings, go ahead. Check out some good examples and some bad. Notice anything? Notice any attractive females with high ratings? Women are not offended by their own genders display of sexuality and power. They love that shit just as much as guys do. What's offensive is unrealistic images and blatant focuses on sexuality. Guys, a woman is a mind and a soul as well as a body, and if they're going to play games then thats the kind of avatars they expect.
I strongly encourage poeple to read this article if you haven't already. And check out some of the quotes too. This one was on the infamous Lara Croft (sp. the box art):
Whoa whoa whoa - back that up there. She LIKES the cover art? Lara Croft? What the hell? Look at her breasts! They're huge! And those shorts are TINY! How could any woman *LIKE* Lara Croft's signature pose? Its so blatantly sexual! By definition, all women should hate it, right?! WRONG. Like I said again and again: Women do not mind attractive females in games. They enjoy their sexuality too, because its *part* of how they define themselves as a woman. They IDENTIFY with a woman's sexual power. So what do they hate? Read on:
And BINGO! It was the marketing! The focus! Here, a female gamer was impressed not only with the attractiveness of Lara, but with her strength and confidence as well. For a b
That's like saying that male authors are inherently incapable of doing an adequate job of properly presenting female characters in books. It may be true for many male authors, but I can't believe that's true for all of them.
Just because the article author believes (rightly or wrongly) that it hasn't been done yet, doesn't mean that men are inherently incapable of doing it.
The problem isn't that attractive female characters are shown, it's rather the very narrow definition of attractiveness that plauges all media. Most attractive women seem to be come from the same mold. I personally find the girl-next-door geeky girl infinitely more attractive, but then again, I'm a geek myself.
Objectification is another problem. I completely agree with the criticism against Lara Croft and how a strong, capable kick ass woman is reduced to drool material by stupid marketing. It's perfectly fine with me to drool over her body, but when that's all there is to her, something's wrong.
As for Yorda in Ico, I agree that not playing the full game is unfair, but she's also a product of a society (Japan) that still is very inequal. I believe her passiveness and inability is as much a game device as it is a reflection of the view of girls in Japan. Compared to other kinds of oppression, Ico is a harmless fantasy for boys in the end. I mean, who hasn't dreamed of being a hero and saving the girl?
The author of this article is obviously gay! I don't hear him complaining about having to look at male character's perfectly chiseled features and gleaming chest muscles as he carries a 6 foot long double-barreled gun of justice.
If you aren't in the group what you think or say or do does not matter since your opinion is somehow tainted.
Hold on a moment, since it gets worse as far as women's studies go. (I took a class...more below.)
Right or wrong, supported by evidence or not, the mere support by evidence or the rightness or wrongness comes from your perspective. In the case of women's studies, statements -- right/wrong/evidence/... -- are even 'male constructions'.
If you are a woman you can't give the male perspective completely...if you are a man, your whole 'male dominiated thought process that ignores shades of grey' works against you being able to comment effectively.
You might agree or disagree...it doesn't matter. You agree, that's nice. You disagree, you obviously don't understand you poor schmuck.
(The class on women's issues: Entering the class, I was sympathetic and thought I understood. Yet, as 1 of 2 men in the class I was constantly told any opinion I had -- including having an opinion at all -- was wrong since I should not comment since I'm not a woman. I left with a whole lot less sympathy for women after that.)
A firewall can not protect you from yourself. Turn off what you do not need. Do not use the firewall to do your work.
"The author references Metroid ("I don't appreciate that Samus being a woman is a punch line")"
Yeah, that Metroid game, nothin' but a barrel of laughs...
If Samus' sex is a "punch line," what was the joke?
I admit that the character art at the end of the two GBA games makes me roll my eyes (a little too "cheesecake" for my tastes), but here he's arguing that the entire premise is flawed, that her sex is a gimmick no matter what she may look like. This makes me wonder just what he thinks about women in general. He seems to be awfully sensitive to Samus' lack of a Y-chromosone and I wonder if this means that he finds the idea of a woman doing all those things to be unbelievable. After all, he's the only one I've seen who thinks her sex is a "punch line" to begin with.
"each game in the series encourages them to reach the finish line as quickly as possible to catch a glimpse of the woman beneath the suit."
Personally, I try to get the endings so I can catch a glimpse of the person beneath the suit. One of the series' cornerstone is the tantalizingly little information on just who she is and why she does what she does. I'm more interested in situations and facial expressions than her body (and on that note I'm happier with what Retro did with her than what Nintendo has done in the last two GBA installments). I chalk the cheesecake up as a failing by Nintendo to understand just what makes the games popular outside of Japan to begin with, the inability of a group of Japanese programmers to quite relate to gaijin gamers, not a failing of men in general.
Being as sensitive as he is to the pictures at the end, why exactly does the author himself play through the games? How many other gamers here are actually encouraged by the drawings of a scantilly-dressed woman at the end of the game?
Ah, wait a second...
"That's also not what I've been taught by my parents. My mother is a neurologist. Her mother is a physician, as well. The women have always worn the pants in my family, so to speak. Perhaps this helps you understand my perspective."
Now this is interesting. Here he implies that women must "wear the pants" in order to be worth something.
"Alis wears a pink hair band, lipstick, and a skirt, but she's still OK in my book."
I'm as sick of seeing women in pink as much as the next guy, but I didn't realize that actually liking pink is such a black mark against a woman. They can have any favorite color in the spectrum so long as it's not pink?
I think his problem is that he's equating strong female characters with characters acting more male, that men are inherently better and women must act more like men to be better themselves.
Personally, the more I think of what I've seen Samus do so far, I'm not sure if she could have been a man.
I think men are inherently incapable of doing an adequate job of properly presenting female characters in games."
!
If we're going to be sexist, how about we also field the equally-ignorant "women are inherently weaker and more in need of rescue than men."
Was Laura Croft, Tifa, or the women in Soulcalibur (or other fighting games) programmed by a woman? Are they somehow "adequate" depictions of women--in a way that the same depictions of men are adequate?
...because I can think of several "fair" portrayals of women in games.
First, let's look at the Final Fantasy series. I can only speak to the ones I've played, so here goes:
- Tina--strong woman, though she has some emotional baggage due to
being only half-human. Never portrayed as particularly "sexy," though she's
quite pretty in most official images of her (kind of hard to tell from her
sprite
;-) )
- Celes--definitely a strong woman! She was a general in the army, for
Mu's sake! Not only that, but she can use every bit as big a sword as any
guy in the game (same goes for Tina).
- Relm--she may only be 10 (or so; I forget her exact age), but she's
awesome. She takes the womanizing Edgar down a few notches with her wit, and
has more spirit in her than any roomful of "typical" videogame
characters.
Don't see much to fret over there.- Aeri(s|th)--She may not be physically strong, but she certainly has a
strong personality. Not to mention she sacrifices her life to save the
planet. A bit more stereotypically "weak needs-to-be-protected girl," but
hey, some girls really DO need to be protected.
- Tifa--OK, here we're getting into kind of shaky ground, not for her
character, which I think is fantastic, but for her looks, which are a little
over the top...take that how you will...especially in FMVs.
- Yuffie--heh, you've gotta love Yuffie. She's cute, tough, and funny;
what more do you want?
Again, no real indication that men are "incapable" of portraying women fairly.- Dagger/Garnet: She's beautiful, tough, strong, and still vulnerable at times. I can find no unfairness whatsoever in the portrayal of Garnet's character. Nor is she visually portrayed as anything stereotypical.
- Freya: Not particularly feminine (and not even human); however, she's also both strong and sensitive. Included because she's technically female
;-)
- Eiko: Cross Relm with Yuffie, and you've got Eiko. 'Nuf said.
Still not seeing much problem here.Well, that's all the Final Fantasies I've played through, and in all of that, there isn't a single example of the kind of "unfair" treatment the article was talking about. True, some of them are visually portrayed as "sexy" (though only Tifa, I think, is specifically made sexy without being especially pretty), but this is not at the expense of their character.
Maybe it just goes to show that in the type of action games he's talking about, no one bothers to make the story or characters believable. (I know that's not universally true, but I also know it is true in some cases) RPGs, I have found, tend to make more of an effort than other genres to make their stories and characters if not realistic, at least believable and human. This is probably because their primary purpose is to tell a story.
Dan Aris
Fun. Free. Online. RPG. BattleMaster.
Someone has already discussed ICO. So here's some other games Greg apparently didn't play.
Beyond Good & Evil: Not only is the main character strong, forceful, and not sexualized, there are several other characters in the game that are as active in the resistance movement as she is. I guess Greg was one of those people who didn't buy it.
Prince of Persia: So you save the Princess. But once you do (and she kind of saves you, the male), she's forthwright, mostly capable, and witty. And exhibits a remarkable ability to slide through cracks. Still, it's quite obvious as you play the game that your character, male character, is an obnoxious idiot, and that the Princess has been right all along.
KOTOR: Not only can your main character be a female, but one of the primary NPCs is also a Princess-Leia-esque female. Sure, you save her, but she doesn't really need it. Same goes for another female member of your party. They're both quite capable. Well, as long as you level them up. So I guess Greg was focusing on the stereotypical macho Mandalorin?
Deus Ex: IW: Again, main character can be female or male. One of the supporting female characters is diplomat of one of the paths you can take, and is quite forceful.
There's many others, but I'm getting bored of listing them for someone who probably doesn't care. Immediately I'm thinking of Anachronox, Panzeer Dragoon Orta, and then there's a large portion of the old Sierra adventure games. The King's Quest series, the Gabriel Knight series, Phantasmagoria series, and the Quest for Glory series were all developed by women. If I thought a little harder than Greg did in his article, I think I could conjure up some more.
So Greg might have a point: in the games he plays, which doesn't seem like many save the original Metroid and the first 2 hours of ICO, women are probably under-represented. For the rest of us, you know, the people that play games, I think it's fair to say that while it's not an equal representation yet, it's far better than it was even 5 years ago. And oh yeah Greg, you make mention of it, but apparently not enough to convince yourself. There are quite a few women in leadership positions in the game industry, who are approving these "embarassing" "malecentric" games. For example, the president of Activision is a women . Hmm. Greg doesn't play games, and he doesn't know about the people that make them. Can I be executive editor too?
What does he want? A butch dyke chewing on a cigar, wearing camo and a black tank top and with one combat boot-clad foot propped up on a dead Ridley's head?
The fellow's intentions are good, but he undercuts himself in most of his argument. By simply saying Samus, as presented, cannot be a tough bounty hunter is, in itself, discriminatory. Hypocrite.
So a man writes an article about how men are inherently incapable of portraying women properly in a videogame.
He knows this because so far, no man has ever portrayed a woman properly in a video game.
He knows that women have never been properly portrayed because he has a good idea as to how they should be portrayed and none of the women in videogames has ever measured up.
He is a man so he inherently doesn't know how to portray women properly.
But he knows how they should be portrayed.
But he can't know how they should be portrayed.
But...BRAIN EXPLODY
Thank you GameSpotting. Your amazing Zen koan has caused me to reach enlightenment.
I have a lot of opinions about Cyborgs and Architects
The portrayal of women in media is not accurate, in general. While mediums such as books and music have reached a point where women are dealt with as honestly as men (which is often not very honest, mind you), games and films (to a lesser extent) have a long way to go towards balancing their portrayal of the sexes.
The issue here is not necessarily that women should portrayed in complete honesty, but that they should be subject to no more or no less exaggeration than men. Men in films are typically clever/intelligent, physically gifted, or a sort of underdog type loser. Films are certainly slanted toward the first two categories, but the last one shows up more frequently and I feel that it grounds the portrayal of men in films overall.
I feel that the film industry isn't as honest with women. In most films, it seems like they are still paraded as sexual beings that are passed around as love interests. Case in point Pirates of the Carribean, a thoroughly entertaining film with some slanted gender roles. While the men are not particularly heroic (clumsy, but witty and endearing), the female lead doesn't seem to make any significant decisions other than who to fall in love with.
Video games, because of a mostly male audience, can get away with more imbalanced depictions. Women in games, even if they are intelligent, brave, and strong-willed, are still almost always shown with ridiculously large breasts and buttocks and seem to wear outfits that emphasize these qualtities. While this is okay in small doses, the fact that nearly all women in games are shown this way disappoints me
The shining exception in my mind (as a guy who's played a lot of games) is Alice. The hero was a female whose dialogue and appearance were completely believable and admirable. Alice wasn't a "bimbo", but she wasn't a man in a dress either. Rather, she was an average-looking eighteen year-old with well-written dialogue that showed the character of this occasionally headstrong and feral young women tempered with strong feeling of guilt and depression, as is to be expected as a resident of an insane asylum in late Victorian England.
Okay, this post is long enough. That's the state of the art, as I see it. I think that women will be more fairly portrayed in games as the audience and developer base widens, just as with the film industry. It's a long way to go still, but it will happen someday.
njord
If we stick with the Lara Crofts, we will still be relegated as "oh, stupid, mindless videogame players". We need smarter games.
Want to know why women play the Sims and Sim City? Because they are just good games (without stupid or ditzy or whorish women).
God Bless America. Why? Did it sneeze?
Yorda was a pathetic character, useless in every possible way.
Yorda is super cool. She glows in the dark and can make giant stones move by shooting electric arcs from her body.
Also, when the shadows are coming to kidnap her (and therefore turn you to stone), if she gets close to the green doors her electric arcs vaporise the shadow ghosts. Yeah, those guys you have to beat forever with a big stick to kill them? She can zap 'em all in an instant.
Ico needs Yorda and Yorda needs Ico. She can unlock the doors, he can jump and fight.
Just when you start getting up to a good jog, she slows you down by jerking on your arm.
That is because you are a jerk.
If you pull her along gently and give her time to get running too, she'll run as fast as you. If you start running and forcibly pull her along, yeah, she'll slow you down. But you obviously never even tried to be gentle, or else you would know that.
You can't take the sky from me...
I agree with you, but we would be remiss to leave out these other examples:
Aerith Gainsborough (Final Fantasy VII)-- please, for the love of God, don't make me spell this one out.
Shion Uzuki (Xenosaga)-- She's not oversexualized, she's a smart and capable character, and through the entire game the only real reference to her gender is the address "Miss Vector".
Aribeth (Neverwinter Nights)-- a female rising to supreme commander of a military force, plus she has an actual backstory as opposed to being a one-dimensional "commanding officer" stereotype.
Cecilia Adlehyde, Lilka Eleniak, Virginia Maxwell (Wild ARMs series)-- strong female leads without overblown costumes or weak reasons for adventuring. On an off-note, Wild ARMs and Phantasy Star are two of the very few series that really get characterization dead-on.
There are others in games I haven't played (Valkyrie Profile, Suikoden III's Chris, etc.) but you get the idea. I suppose a better sweepingly false overgeneralization would be to say that "Game Designers Who Don't Make RPGs Don't Portray Women Realistically".
"Why Subscribe?" Good question...
Are games full of "big titties" because the market is mostly male, or is the market mostly male because the games are full of big titties and therefore are unappealing to women?
Chicken. I grew up in the 70's and the market for video games was mostly male then too. There were no breasts in Space Invaders but I remember seeing a line of teenage boys plunking quarters into it for hours on end. In fact, my mother is the only woman that I can remember seeing in the old school arcades and she was only there because I was.
LK
"Hi. This is my friend, Jack Shit, and you don't know him." - Lord Kano
I think this is a good example of using a word ("men") to stand for an entire group of people. In a sense use of such words are stereotyping, but I don't think the negative connotation of "stereotype" is appropriate.
Here the author is using the word "men" to describe something that all of us readily understand. But try to come up with an example of a man. Perhaps like me, you can choose yourself. Regardless, is that man one of the "men" she's referring to? Probably not. The word "men" and "man" (or others: "women," "blacks," "Americans," "Asians") have little connection to reality. These words are an amalgam of different connotations and meanings from culture that could very well conflict.
Note that I'm not blaming the author on this one; we all do it. It's a natural thing to lump things into groups. It's just that with people it is very hard to come up with good groupings because everyone really is unique.
So remember, even if you're a guy, you're probably not a "man." It's impossible to be such a thing; it doesn't really exist anywhere except in the collective minds of people in a culture.
Comic fans debate how to get some respect for comics as a legitimate story telling medium. I've long held that so long as the average female character has breasts larger than her head, the medium is going to be regarded as purile.
The same issue confronts videogames. No, they are not all marketed solely at 13 year old males with power fantasies. But most are. And that's precisely why both comics and videogames are regarded as illegitimate mediums.
"Inattention makes clowns of us all" -Bean
well, at the risk of getting flamed...
;)
I thought the female Juggernauts in Unreal Tournament are a spot-on representation of some lesbian activists I've met in the past.
If a female (or male) character is portrayed in a game as being helpless, it's that way for a reason. A game without some form of conflict wouldn't be very interesting in my opinion. Its not just females that are portrayed as weak anyways. Off hand, Half-Life comes to mind; the scientists (male) are quite helpless. This of course could be in some respects contributed to AI, but never the less is still a good example that this happens on both ends. It was mentioned earlier, but women are portrayed as being quite strong in many a game. I can remember getting owned quite a bit by female characters in Diablo 2, etc.
28:06:42:12 - That is when the world will end...