Sexism and Stereotypes in Video Games?

Frequent questions:
1.) "Video games aren't only for fun!"
I address this in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTEFh2...
But video games are for fun; they are created to entertain and have great gameplay to keep you glued to the monitor. Above all, they are created and meant to be fun. Of course they more than that; anyone who has been watching my channel for a while would know that I think of games as so much more than that. I talk about the way they impact our lives, how they've influenced our childhood, how they inspire us to think even after a game is over. But this video isn't about the significance of video games, it is a response to a view about the way female characters are portrayed. Treating characters as a serious statement on stereotypes in society is to completely forget what their main purpose is, which is why I put emphasis on video games being created to be fun [and make money]. Why judge something against society's standards if it wasn't even made for that in the first place?

2.) "You can't actually believe misogyny doesn't exist in video games."
I have seen several people reply that to deny misogyny exists in the character creation process is to live in some rose-colored glasses world. Do you really think concept artists sit around about think, "hmm, how offensive can I make this female character?" To claim that characters were created from sexist stereotypes is to ultimately accuse the artists/designers/programmers/developers­/producers-- everyone who had some part in creating all aspects of that character, of being a misogynist. Unless you want to argue that without any direction, the character just turned into a stereotype all of its own, you are making some very strong accusations about the individuals behind the creation process.

3.) "The music is too loud."
Captions are available! Big thanks to a viewer that took his time to transcribe them for everyone. :)

4.) "Great music!"
Thank you! The list in order:

a. "Left Bank TWO," Little Big Planet (composed by Wayne Hill and performed by The Noveltones)
b. "Fairy Fountain Theme," Legend of Zelda OoT (and onwards)
c. "Goron City," Legend of Zelda OoT
d. "Song of Memories," Final Fantasy IX
e. "Orb of Dreamers," Little Big Planet
f. "To Far Away Times," Chrono Trigger
g. "Shop Theme," Legend of Zelda OoT
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This is my response (and personal opinion on the matter) to Anita Sarkeesian's video on the subject of stereotypical representations of female characters in video games: http://youtu.be/l8I0Wy58adM

My opinion is that sexism and misogyny do not exist in games and that such perceived portrayals are not done to stereotype women but are simply a part of the art and style of characters in general.

This subject and her video have been under somewhat recent fire and I do not want to add any more fuel to the flame but seek to present a more positive outlook on the issue. Share your views on the topic below!

• Category

  Gaming

[Satan's Taint]

A lot of classic RPG music in the video. Good stuff.

[Satan's Taint]

Dante wears a bro like Frank Costanza.

[dreamfall77]

Yes, it is normal for an artist to embellish reality.

Most men are portrayed in video games as a backdrop, whipping boys and colleagues. Harry Potter as a character invented by a woman at all. What, is it so unbelievable that people of both sexes have similar ideals?

[zizzleplix]

Ah, as Anita puts it this is "retro/ironic" sexism. In my opinion, it's not making fun of serious issues or "normalizing" misogynistic behaviors, if this were true then were's the facts and statistics to back this up? The argument with retro/ironic stuff seems to hinge on personal interpretation rather then facts,statistics, etc. And in my opinion, that hypothetical show's not using ironic self-aware racism, they're just being blatantly racist, there's a difference so the comparison isn't valid.

[Naltia]

Anita mentions in an interview for gamespot that the "ironic self-aware objectification is in some ways more damaging than the non-ironic forms of yesteryear."

Simply put, it makes light of what is actually a very serious issue, and even mocks said issue. It's like an African-American stating that he's offended by the blackface make-up used in a show, and the show responds by making the show even sillier. It's insulting and disrespectful.

[NoCutCard612]

No, she's dead wrong. The Amazing Atheist, Snakepliskinist, DangerousAnalysis, MundaneMatt and others have all, quite easily debunked her laughable rhetoric. The woman is a scam artist. I'm surprised she can keep a straight face when she claims Legos are sexst. But then, this a woman who complained about seeing pornographic adverts on a bit torrent site that she was using to download pirated content. LOL!

[dreamfall77]

In my view, the differences between the personality and character more than between trope and stereotype. And it is not very correct to use the term objectification to living only in the imagination of the artist images. In the end, the objectification comes to the treatment of a living person as a slave robot. And in the case of the artist there is a reverse process when it creates the character's personality and puts it into a separate virtual voyage by sea fan fiction.

[disagreeablesob]

Feminism requires myopia,narrow mindedness,a persecution complex,a paranoid phobia of males,and the conceit that men really have nothing better to do than spend every minute of their lives conspiring and imagining ways to destroy women's self-esteem.

[zizzleplix]

With Bayonetta, she overall didn't seem like she was really that interested and almost let her personal emotion get into the analysis. Reviewing the video, it still sounds like a kneejerk reaction to me. Bayonetta is meant to be over the top, in fact the whole game is over the top, so in no way is Bayonetta a realistic portrayal of women. It would be like saying Demoman from TF2 is a realistic portrayal of blacks/Scotsman.

[zizzleplix]

Well it sounded like it was initially failing based on an interview I saw of her saying she almost initially wanted to lower the goal to $4,000 because she thought it wouldn't make it so it made it sound like it was failing. I guess you got me on that one (I'm not afraid to admit I'm wrong). But I'm still technically right on the surge of donations that happened soon after she posted the kickstarter promo video. (cont.)