The Sexism within games

Although new games have now given the option of the players’ character being female, which attracts and encourages female game players to play, the games still seem quite sexist.

  


The choice of gender at the beginning of 'Fable 3'


One of the first big-selling games with a female protagonist was ‘Lara Croft: Tomb Raider’ which in hindsight seems quite revolutionary. Yet, while looking into it a bit more you can still see the sexism behind it and Lara Croft just being a “teenage boys’ dream”, still making the game and idea male-dominated. Feminists would agree that this portrayal of Lara Croft  as extremely sexist with her skimpy outfit and impossibly ‘perfect’ boys’ dream idea of what a woman ‘should’ look like.

The Sexist form of Lara Croft and her image in 'Tomb Raider: Legend'

In other games you can also see the sexism through the clothing, which although sometimes the main female character is exempt, the NPC (Non-Player Character) females are dressed in skimpy and ‘female’ outfits which only appeal to only a portion of some players. Some say that the sexism shown in some games, for example The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim and Fable 1/2/3, are just referring to the sexism within the 'medieval' times that the games are based on. This is obviously not true, in medieval Britain we did not see such women with barely any clothing, which is passed off as 'armor' in the games, but covered up from neck to ankle.

  

No wonder there are more male players of these games when there is this much flesh being shown!