Female protagonists strike or kill males. How many times do you see the opposite ; In real life though, most of women just can't , don't know how to, or are afraid to fight. In real life men are those who save women most of the times not the opposite. About the dress code, women do wear mini skirts to show their legs. They willingly expose z large part of their body. Which is okay for everybody except for extremists . Religious or other kind.

+Jeremy Bradshaw Just chiming in here with I agree that there is a certain level of creative license, there is also a certain level of responsibility. Like racism in games, it's okay to demonstrate an aboriginal male as an alcoholic, but if all the aboriginal males in the game are all alcoholics then that's racism. The game would be banned. I've never played a game where all the men were muscular without justification (soldiers, superheroes, bodybuilders etc). I don't play the games but hear through gamer grapevines about games where all the women are 'slut' characters without justification. Now if you enter a brothel, I expect them all to be slut characters because realistic or not their role is there purely for sex. If you're going through the red light district I expect the same, because it's justified. If the only justification is that they're female, it's sexist. Also demonstrative of poor design and a gamer turnoff since I wouldn't expect any plot worth a damn out of it unless I was a 12 year old and had no access to porn. I don't know what you'd consider a feminist game but there are plenty of female-friendly games out, actually most of the modern ones fall into this category and they do brilliantly well in sales. Actually as far as I know ALL the best-selling games this year fall into this category. Keeping in mind that to be female-friendly it doesn't have to have a female main character, it just needs to not be sexist. I LIKE games that let me play as a female, but I like more customizing options in general. If I can have a guy with a green mohawk, pink tutu and handlebar moustache who leads a troop of circus clowns to fight Hitler armed with machetes and the power of expolosive farts I'll die happy. I'm classy like that.

+Jessherselfable There are some people in this world that do those things because they are behind a computer. Others who are intelligent want to talk to her and debate about this issue. Yet she does not say anything, but only to respond by laughing or mocking them. Like I said before in my previous comment, we need a Face-to-Face debate about it, and Dr. Sommers is the best example of someone who is a feminist and understands gamers. She doesn't cherry pick and use other gamers videos.

+Michael Rodriguez I agree that it would be nice if she would respond to some of the arguments people hold against her videos.  Indeed, another video planned for the series is responses to common criticisms of her concerns, so I'm sure that's coming, but you're right that there hasn't been any public discussion of it.  Part of the problem is that there has been so much hate and unintelligent harassment that it drowns out those who do have legitimate arguments, and frankly, I don't blame her for not wanting to sift through all of that day in and day out just to get to the good points. But I can also understand your frustration. I've watched some of Dr. Sommers videos before and it's difficult for me because I don't really enjoy her demeanor, but I try to put that aside to see her point.  I looked up her "Are Video Games Sexist?" video as a quick look into her point of view.  (I will admit up front that this is the only video I have seen of her discussing this topic, so it's the only context I have for her RE: video games.) Her main point seems to be that since video games are a largely male-dominated industry, it makes sense that the games themselves would have a largely male audience. Anita points out that this could also be a result of the available games not appealing very much to women.  It could easily be both, but I don't think discounting Anita's point moves the discussion forward.  She is asking for the games presented to be considered critically, she's not asking for anyone to stop playing them or rally against them, she's merely pointing out common patterns that are telling about societal beliefs and stereotypes. Personally, as a girl who enjoys games, I've never found many games that I actually enjoy and appeal to me.  I never had an NES, but I played Mario as a kid on my cousin's console, and any friends who had one.  I got a Sega when I was 8 or 9 and played games like Sonic and Toe Jam & Earl (my favorite game to this day).  I played Pokemon on my Gameboy color and DS.  I played Super Monkey Ball and Mario Party on my Gamecube.  GTA is one of my favorite franchises (though I haven't played any of the games post Vice City due to living/financial situations).  I've played World of Warcraft on my PC for years.  I played through Little Big Planet on my Playstation 3 and loved it. But my memories of looking for games I would enjoy consists of digging through first person shooters, violent games or sports games that just don't do anything for me.  I remember when I was a kid with my Sega, there was a neighbor boy who also had a Sega, and our parents encouraged us to trade games, their logic being that they wouldn't have to buy as many games if we just swapped.  A great idea in theory, especially considering that he had way more games than I did.  But in his vast array of games, I didn't find a single one I actually wanted to play.  They were all fighter games, shooters, or sports games.  Meanwhile, he'd leave with my copies of Toe Jam & Earl, Ren & Stimpy, Sonic and Micky Mouse games, leaving me at home with my console and nothing to play. This is obviously just a personal anecdote and not really useful as any form of concrete evidence, but it's an example of how it can be difficult as a woman who enjoys games to find games that appeal to you, and as a result, my interest in sifting through the games not marketed to me decreased to the point that I don't really seek out games anymore and tend to just play the games I like over and over again.  (Not to mention that franchises I get a lot of pleasure out of, such as Harvest Moon, Animal Crossing and The Sims, are not considered "real games" by many.) I apologize for responding with a total wall of text comment...my point is that while it's true that men make up a large amount of the gaming population, it's entirely feasible that there are plenty of women like me who found the world of games too difficult to navigate to find it worth keeping up, and that is something Anita is pointing out in her videos and asking us to think critically about. Again, this is just my opinion, not gospel or anything. Also, if there are any Dr. Sommers videos you feel would be better to watch or further the discussion, feel free to share them.  I'll watch them.

+Jamal Lewis And goddamnit I forgot Street of Rage series. Masterpiece in every sense of the word. And yes Blaze Fielding was scantily clad by the second game, but fucking hell could she back it up with some killer moves. 

I was thinking about another game and its clearly , beyond 2 souls which was amazing and I loved it , I didnt play it but I watched it all with pewds

+Tara Elizabeth Oh so now its "your" sex? WOW. Didnt know you owned every single one of us... misogynist pig

+XxLacyxX〈3 Hopefully, that wasn't an attempt at being funny.

She's probably never even played Assassin's Creed dude let's get real. 

She mentions Assassin's Creed in another video from the same series. 

Okay, the reason in the comments...: "Like it ISNT a fact women are weaker than men." The context of this was basically saying women are PROVEN to be weaker than men, there are so many more examples of "reason" in the comments.

You should become a egalitarian because too much of the mainstream feminist ideology is professional victim-hood. You seem far to intelligent to be lumped into a group of people who blame the world for there problems.

+The peace maker No, no I should not. End of story. 

Whatever. Don't get your panties in a twist over nothing ok. 

+freyacrescent13 But twisted panties make my ass pop o:

Okay listen here tumblr asshat. He never said sexism is over. He argued that there is woman in video games that are protags. If you think about it, sexism towards men and woman will never be over. Though men are typically sexist and I and a few other people doubt anyone can change that.

Metroid?

+Darran Kern yeah, i mentioned "Issues", with quotation marks. Hopefully you know how quotation marks work in that context. Although i admit, i should have covered the word gender as well.

+Darran Kern I hate how she has corrupted so many otherwise intellectually geared people. Win religious people to ridiculous, false causes as much as you want; her mistake was recruiting from our team.

I finished watching the video, and she does mention several of the games you mention here in future videos.  My problem with this video isn't that it comes off as sexist, you make good points.  My problem is that your response is taken out of context of the larger project. Re: Having comments disabled, Anita has the right to not want to see harassment comments considering that was much of what she received for this project. There was no critical discussion, just hate, and her videos were reported as terrorism.  She actually encourages discussion such as your video on other social media. 

+Swager McSwagerson FUCK YES I LOVE GAMING MORE SO INDI (;

+Swager McSwagerson has this woman even ever touched a man?

+Burgundy Socks Because isn't it better to make a game for all anyways, wouldn't it be equal and didn't show that games had to cater to boys or girls?

+beriigirl That's bullshit Zelda helps you deliver the final blow to Ganon by holding him down with her magic at the end of the game. And besides Ganon needs to capture her so he can use her Triforce of Wisdom.

Of late? It has been for along time. Hell the second Super Mario game had Princess Peach as a protagonist. Probably the most played one due to her floating ability. She is using the same arguments Jack Thompson did when he aid games cause violence. She is a feminist saying it causes violence against women, and so people listen. That is just feminist privilege these days, They are taken seriously even when they talk nonsense.

Or Portal? Or Portal 2? Or Tomb Raider?

Perfect Dark? 

+Nahchuva Wow you have serious issues. I'm explicitly inviting you to come in the game world, and buy the games that you like. In this case games that must have a female protagonist. Yet you put the complete opposite words in my mouth. You then put more words in my mouth that you're not allowed to complain. I didn't say that. I just suggest that you stife for a solution, rather than just complain about something that seems an important issue to you. But by all means, go ahead and complain as much as you want. Just don't expect the majority of people (including most women i expect) to believe this is really about just the protagonists of videogames. You come across as if your issues run way deeper.

+pizzamannetje79 I agree times a thousand 

+GameFreak982928 You seem to have the impression that because I've just been talking about comic art, that that's all I care about ''If you don't like how women are drawn in comics, then don't read them.'' I don't have to hate something just because it sometimes has problems or things I disagree with, if that was the case I would have to hate I lot of the things I love. If I do find a comic I'm reading particulaly problematic, then I won't read it again, simple. ''Have you ever READ a comic?'' Gee now you mention it I guess all the comic books I own are just for decoration  ''you can't make a general argument over an ENTIRE industry because of 2 or 3 comics'' Those were just examples, they're many more you could find with a simple google search. And I still don't have an example of a needlessly sexualised man in comics. ''Again, I ask you, would this have ever been an issue if the comic industry was started by, and generally dominated by, women?'' It's isn't just comics that sexualises women, it's the media and a lot of other culture too. If all of this was reversed and women were sexualising men in comics, the media and other pop culture, then we would have a problem with men being over sexualised and the objectification of men. If JUST comics were being modified for the female eye, then the men would look more like a male swimsuit model rather than a bodybuilders, the women would look a little more like Olympic athletes than female swimsuit models, I think I would still be pissed off that the creators can't respect the one half characters enough to present them as human beings rather than sex objects, but it would be an exception in society rather than in keeping with it, so it wouldn't be as much as a problem(same as the sexualisation of women in comics wouldn't be as much as problem if it was JUST comics doing it) I like a shirtless guy as much as the next heterosexual woman, but if it constantly happens and has no business being in the story, it would somewhat take from the quality of the comic. If you mean women were sexualising women, they would more likely be drawn as sexually dominant rather than sexually submissive which would still be pointlessly presenting women as being always sexual creatures(which still isn't equal if the men aren't portrayed that way) but wouldn't be as objectifying, rather just odd and out of place, like the bondage in golden age Wonder Woman comics. If you mean changing nothing other than the gender of the creators, I would still be annoyed at needless sexualisation.  ''These women argue "Men aren't sexualized" and "men draw comics for men" and such but these are very generalized and false statements. They just don't hold up'' Why not? You said yourself that the comic book industry is made up mostly of men. The target audience is mostly teenage males, and comic book creators occasionally have fanservice directed at them and I don't see any fanservice for women. ''First off, how the hell do YOU know what these women stand for? Hell, one of said women took Batgirl, who was just shot in the spine by the joker, and turned her into one of the most famous disabled superheroes to date Oracle, not only because she thought what Joker did was so disgusting but also because she didn't want to see Batgirl go to waste. The fact that these women are working in a male dominated industry and are helping to create these strong, capable, independent female characters screams feminism. Maybe, just maybe, they see that there's more important things in life than bitching about how Batgirl or Wonder Woman are drawn? Such as maybe making sure that they are strong characters? You're right in one sense: they don't see the problem. Because there ISN'T one.'' No, I don't know what these women stand for, neither do you. Yeah one woman, she doesn't define all women who work in comics. Just because these women work in a male dominated industry and help create feminist characters doesn't necessarily make them feminist, they may be but they may not, you can't just decide a woman is a feminist because she was the colourist on Wonder Woman or something(I don't know if the colourist for WW was a woman, it's just an example). And yes there are more important things than complaining about comic book art, it's not like I dedicate my life to it.  If art in comics weren't important for the comics, then comics wouldn't exist. Comics are like books that have art in the place of descriptions of background, story and character-imagine if a character in a book was always described in a sexual way for no apparent reason. ''That's like if I watched one movie that had a hardcore sex scene and started protesting movies basing all my arguments on that one flick. Not only are you ignoring all of DC's other work but also Marvel, Dark Horse, all the indie comics out there, even Manga. You can't generalize like that'' A movie having a sex scene is different from sexualising a character where sex isn't relevant. If the people were having sex, then you'd expect the characters to be sexualised. I've been reading comics for a few years and I've read mostly DC, so that's where most of the examples I've used come from. From what I've read of Marvel, they same to be pretty much similar to DC when it comes to sexualisation. I can't speak for Dark Horse. When I say comics, I mean comics, not manga. And since we were talking about superhero comics, I meant those in particular when I simply said 'comics'. ''Women find different things attractive than men, and male characters are built to appeal to that '' To be honest I don't find Batman sexy, he's one of my favourite characters, but he's too hulk-like to be sexy. Women in general know what they find attractive, if men were sexualised or idealised for the female eye, then they would notice. Women like guys' butts just as much as guys like women's butts, but if you ever see a butt emphasised, it tends to be a woman's. You have really no idea what women find attractive let alone what a sexualised man looks like, Search for 'false equivalence susana polo' in google images if you already haven't seen it, or look at any fangirl blogs to see what they're drooling over, I can assure you'll rarely find comic art of Superman or Batman. ''What they wear and how they're drawn doesn't matter so long as they're strong characters'' It's not as important as the characterisation itself(there was much bigger problem back in the 60s when things like depowering Wonder Woman happened), but it doesn't mean it's unimportant, if women are always sexualised(it isn't just comic books it's other media as well) then it suggests to impressionable young girls that they have have to be look like that to be strong and appreciated, how the media portrays people you identify with and look up to has an impact on how you see yourself. In superhero comics, the costume is meant to represent that character so of course it's important. How would you like it if Spider-man fought crime in his underwear and directed his ass to the reader's view for the sake of female readers and there was no female characters presented in the same way for the sake of male readers? He's still a strong character so it clearly it doesn't matter even if it makes you uncomfortable and annoyed ''Instead of going out and getting upset over stupid things like this, go out and fight against the people trying to take away abortion rights. Go fight for equal wages. Hell, if you need to fight the comic industry, go fight for more women to be hired and have paying jobs within the industry or go find a feminist comic writer and donate her some cash or something'' Surprise surprise, talking about comic books to a stranger on the internet is not the most important thing I plan to do with my life, what I do with the rest of my spare time really doesn't matter since this argument isn't about me or what I do, for all you know, I might fight for those things, but it's not really any of your business or relevant to this conversation. I'm not replying to feel like I'm, as you say, contributing to something, if I wanted to feel like I was contributing, rather than just talking to you, I'd probably have a blog and posters and shit about the issue.  If you don't want to watch those videos, then it's your loss  You seem determined to be ignorant and just unwilling to accept that the majority of mainstream comic books don't cater to women as much as to men. You have a real misconception on what women find attractive or what sexualised is, and you seem unwilling to learn or even consider it. You are not paying attention to the other side of the argument, if you believe that men are sexualised in comics just as much as women you really need to do some more research. So if you're just going to reply with your same arguments then, yes we are finished because this conversation is pointless. Like you said, there is sexism in comics. Do you not feel it needs addressed? http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2012/02/21/she-has-no-head-no-its-not-equal/

+AMY1213141 Sorry, don't care, you're wasting your biased breath.

+SatellitePlane OK 1.Looking through that list, there were PLENTY of comments that were not sexist. 2.BOTH genders deal with subtle sexism, it is not problematic. 3.The majority of people who make threats on youtube, are trolls. Not being the least bit serious, nor should they be taken seriously by anyone. 4.Men don't get threats just because they're men???? Really? Do a little research on radical feminists who think all men should be castrated or murdered. There is plenty of gender specific violence towards men, it's just not paid as much attention to, because too many media outlets and pseudo feminist groups paint all women as victims and all men as aggressors.

"He's got a good point. But if you compare all the games that have male protagonists with all the games with female protagonists, there is obviously an inequality" What you are talking about there is called equality of outcome. Equality of outcome is not equality, so much as its an untenable form of totalitarian fascism.... It essentially demands the creation of things to fill a quota, which is the death of art. The other form of equality, the ONLY form of equality that matters is Equality of Opportunity, in which everyone one has an equal opportunity under law and custom. So no there isn't an inequality, there is an imbalance, which is a good thing because it means people are creating art that interests them. "Also the "damsel in distress" is because the females are apparently dependent of the male protagonists and are incapable of saving themselves." The obvious flaw there is in failing to recognise that you also rescue male characters. As for characters being unable to rescue themselves, of course they are incapable of recuing themselves regardless of gender, if they could do that, what role would you as the protagonist of the story possess? "That's probably why feminists are complaining about these games." No feminists are complaining about this for the same reasons feminists complain about anything: Because complaining is what feminists do. "The sexualization of women in gaming is MOSTLY true though, females are highly sexualized in video games." As are the men, so again this point is a moot one.