So if feminism has its dirty, dirty way in video games, what is going to happen to your favorite characters? Will Lara Croft have to wear a button up shirt? Will bras be taken off and burned in the least sexy way possible? Will all fighting game characters suddenly talk about how their personal heroes are Hillary Clinton and Elizabeth Cady Stanton? Will, shiver, all characters end up looking like this?
Feminism is such a ridiculously dirty word at this point, it’s difficult to bring up in conversation without people getting defensive. But it’s a relevant word. What is the key to feminism? Equality. It should really be called people-ism, but that doesn’t have quite the same ring to it.
A world with feminist games isn’t a world without sex appeal. It’s a world where your favorite over-sexualized characters are also accompanied by reasonable, female characters with human emotions and attitudes. We’re sick of only ever being the damsel, and never being the hero. It’s almost as if video game writers can’t fathom a character who is female and not a sex object.
For example, take GTA V. There have been a couple of discussions on women’s forums asking why Trevor wasn’t a woman. It wouldn’t be difficult. A psychopathic meth head female, possibly a lesbian to explain why there’s no sexual tension between her and Michael? That would be fantastic. But it would never happen. Not just because GTA V developers Rockstar think that women can’t be in a hyper masculine tale, but also because it would never occur to them to make a completely hideous female character.
I’m tired of being treated like a minority, like a special interest group. Women make up half of the population, and whenever we talk about games, it’s like asking developers to make games for an alien race. And maybe that’s because we’re some sort of foreign creature, especially since polls indicate that most developers are in fact male. It’s a complicated issue, but maybe they’re not telling the stories of non-Playboy centerfold women because it’s not their story.
There’s a great quote from Mary Sue writer Becky Chambers:
I want a character who makes me feel emboldened on sight. If I’m a soldier, I want to look like the rest of my squad. If I’m escaping a zombie apocalypse, I want shoes I can run in and clothes that minimize the likelihood of getting bitten. If I’m a warrior of song and legend, I want a set of plate mail that will silence a room when I walk in. None of these things require a trade-off of my sexuality or femininity. I want my character to be beautiful, but I also want her to wear what I would want to wear in her circumstances.
But none of this is to say that women in games can’t be sexy. In fact, there are some characters for which a subdued wardrobe would not make sense. At this point, Lara Croft would look absolutely ridiculous if you put more clothing on her. She’s basically an archetype at this point, and if you were to put her in a baggy t-shirt and loose jeans, she would lose all context.
Creating feminist games isn’t about taking away from the games you love. It’s about adding to them. It’s about creating a richer, more well rounded experience. At this point, we can have games like GTA V that explore untold richness in story-telling and craft, but we still don’t have a female playable character? C’mon.
