Sexism in Nerd Culture

I'm pretty sure by now

That everyone knows that the way ladies are depicted in games and comics is a little more than unfair. In many cases, it can be downright offensive. That isn't to say that there isn't a fair share of strong leading ladies at the heart of nerd culture, there are. But more often than not, movies, comic books, video games, and other sources of media depict women in less than desirable ways.

I bring this up because my boyfriend is currently playing Fire Emblem: Awakening. Meanwhile, I've been replaying through the .hack series. It occurred to me while looking through the art book for Fire Emblem that many of the female characters are well designed. Very well designed. As in fully clothed.

Now, the game's designs aren't entirely without faults. Some characters are not exactly dressed in a way that you would expect a fighter to wear, in some cases I would consider it gratuitous. But for some characters it makes more sense than others.

The main characters that I want to point out are Sumia, Lissa, Lucina, and Sully. There are of course other well designed characters, but these are the more main characters that play a part in the story. As you can see, these ladies all have very defined and different styles, and, miracle of miracles, they're all dressed for their classes!

Now, there are downsides, some characters are a little scantily clad, but the game doesn't inherently approach the women of the game as inferior, nor does it pander to a male audience by objectifying them. Completely to the contrary, the game gives you characters that all range in personality and don't fall into the typical cliches women tend to get plopped into as a result of lazy writing.

I mentioned before that I'm currently playing through the .hack series. And while some characters aren't exactly battle dressed in the original games, the games are meant to be designed in the same way an MMO would be, and that is a trademark of female characters in MMOs. I'll get around to them later in in this post. As for the first set of .hack games, all of the characters also have defined personalities, even the ones that don't play a huge role in the story. So I give it a pass, even though some of them aren't really dressed to be battle ready.

But the .hack//GU games approaches the topic of women in a way the previous games didn't. I don't know what happened to the writing here, but it's quite lacking to be honest. The characters again are designed in a way that in most cases isn't exactly flattering, but I couldn't give the first games a pass if I didn't do the same here for the exact same reason: it's designed to mimic an MMO. But the characters themselves are the ones I have issue with. Atoli, the main female interest in the game, has damsel in distress syndrome to the max. A woman who is overly kind, speaks at frequencies that would make dogs uncomfortable, and doesn't just depend on the men in her online life but clings to them as if her life depends on it. Alkaid plays the part of Atoli's counterpoint, a woman who falls into the tsundere category. She starts out hating the main character, and with very good reason: he's a prick! But, surprise surprise, it's a love/hate relationship. Originally meant to be a rival to Hasaeo, she of course gives up on that half assed rivalry and becomes content to become a love interest, giving up her one and only defining character trait. Pi is the older woman, jaded and overly serious. And Bordeaux, the angry one who outright hates your character and attempts to kill him at every turn. She's really the only character in the game who doesn't completely fall into a stereotype, but ultimately at the end of the game (spoilers) she too becomes a love interest through completely inexplicable means. The story gives you the option of really having just about every female character become a love interest at the end of the game, which I feel plays into the harem fantasy a bit too much. To the game's credit, Enderance, a male character, is also a love interest. But he plays into the stereotype of being the effeminate gay man who spends most of his time "comically" making the main character uncomfortable. All in all, the female characters at the end all end up being available to the main character in some way, which is a little bit annoying to me. What happened to men and women being platonic? Why do all the female characters end up falling for Hasaeo, even though he's a totally unlikable prick through most of the series?

Still, the games aren't nearly as guilty as actual MMOs. Now, there's no one writing your character in an MMO, so there aren't really any cheesy cliches to fall into. But the problem with MMOs isn't in the writing, it's in the actual design of the characters themselves. If you've ever played World of Warcraft or Guild Wars (I'm guilty of both), you may have noticed that the designers think of breast plate as literally being plate metal that holds your character's breasts and not much else. Exposed legs, chest, stomach, and almost everything else pretty much comes standard on these characters. But why? There's been many times I've been envious of another player's gear, only to find out that it certainly doesn't look the same on my female avatar. Frequently I've been asked why I don't just play a male character instead. It's just a character model, right? Short answer: I don't want to, and I should have that choice. Now, if the game provided a number of choices in what a female avatar could equip, I'd be much less likely to bitch about it. After all, that's the way it works for the most part in real life, and dressing in a sexy way in the real world doesn't make a person inherently sexualized, for some women it's the way they prefer to dress and I respect it as such. But in the game world, often time the highest level armor and items barely cover anything at all. If I want to go traipsing around the Barrens with my Bare End (ha!) I should have my ass handed to me faster than the chat in that area devolves into racial slurs (oooo, burn). But no, most of the time the characters wandering around looking like they're a pixel away from the game being rated M are in the highest level gear. I don't really understand what the point of that is. I suppose if the game gave a little more customization in that aspect I could see why some people would want it. But as it stands, there's barely any choice. Even the most conservative armor clings to your character model like latex to show off their lovely lady lumps. And because they're all built like a light post with basketballs taped to it, there's a lot of assets to be shown off. I suppose that's a little unfair, some of the races are built fairly similar to the male character models. But if I want to be an elf or a space goat, I should be able to do so without the fear of indecent avatar exposure.

Comics and anime are bleak in this aspect too, with a large number of women falling into the damsel in distress cliche, the complete airhead cliche, or the "I hate men, penis = bad, look at how tough I am!" cliche. And I'm really a fan of anime and comics, but as I get older I find myself getting pickier about what I watch and read. People who know me will know that I'm super stoked for the new Sailor Moon later this year. The main question I get asked is: "If you're so against sexism, why do you like Sailor Moon? They're all dressed in tiny outfits and save the world with the power of pink wands and tiaras!" And I would reply to that the same way I reply to people who misunderstand feminism. It's not the absence of feminine traits in order to be more equal to men. Sailor Moon might be saving the world in a mini skirt and thigh high boots, but she's saving the freaking world! Occasionally Tuxedo Mask has to pop in and help out, sure. And the main character can sometimes fall into the air head category. But at the same time, Tuxedo Mask isn't always the one who swoops in to save her. More often than not, her female supporting characters are there to save the day, reinforcing the fact that women are the driving force in the series.

All in all, for females in gaming culture, it can seem pretty frustrating to be handed the short end of the media stick. But more and more strong female characters are working their way into the main stream. And that should be our focus. As consumers, our desires are being met more and more often. Gone are the days of Princess Peaches and Mary Jane Watsons clouding up our fandoms. We don't have to support sexist comic book artists, nor do we have to fall into the girl gamer stereotypes being pushed to the forefront by the internet. We're here, and our voices can make an impact in what makes it to the mainstream.

Have an opinion? Is there a point I didn't make, or one you disagree with? Feel free to leave it in the comments!

-ShayleeSunshine